THE MODERN SKYSCRAPER 



THE ELEVATOR OR "LIFT" 



It should not be understood that a mere hoisting 

 device for elevating or lowering freight or passengers 

 constitutes an "elevator" in the commonly accepted 

 meaning of the word. The use of such machines 

 antedates the Christian Era is as old as the use of 

 block-and-tackle itself. For centuries men have uti- 

 lized such devices in one form or another for unloading 

 ships, operating mines, and transferring goods to and 

 from the upper floors of buildings. But these primi- 

 tive machines, although having most of the essential 

 points of the modern elevator, lacked the all-important 

 one the device for stopping the fall of the car in case 

 of a break in the hoisting apparatus. Until such a 

 device was conceived the old-time hoist remained 

 much too dangerous a contrivance for passenger use 

 except where absolutely necessary as in the case of 

 mine shafts. But in 1853 Elisha G. Otis exhibited 

 at the World's Fair in the Crystal Palace, New York, 

 an elevator which, for the first time, had a safety de- 

 vice for stopping the fall of the car. Five years later 

 the same inventor perfected a specially constructed 

 steam engine for operating the machinery of such ele- 

 vators, and the era of higher buildings was inaugurated. 



For the first ten years after this invention prac- 

 tically the only power used for operating elevators 

 was steam, and steam-propelled elevators are still 

 used, although steadily declining in popularity. But 

 the obvious disadvantage of such elevators in small 



