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LIBRARY 



HARVARD 

 UNlVERSl"Dfi 



APR 1 6 1968 



ELEVATOR SYSTEMS 



of the EIFFEL TOWER, 1889 



By Robert M. Vogel 



This article traces the evolution of the potvered 

 passeiiger elevator from its initial development in the 

 mid-19th century to the installation of the three sep- 

 arate elevator systems in the Eiffel Toiver in 1889. 

 The design of the Toiver' s elevators involved problems 

 of capacity, length of rise, and safety far greater than 

 any previously encountered in the field; ayid the equip- 

 ment that resulted was the first capable of meeting 

 the conditions of vertical transportation found in the 

 just emerging skyscraper. 



The Author: Kobert M. Vogel is associate 

 curator of mechanical and civil engineering. United 

 States National M.useum, Smithsonian Institution. 



THE 1,000-FOOT TOWER that formed the focal point 

 and central feature of the Universal Exposition of 

 1889 at Paris has become one of the best known of 

 man's works. It was among the most outstanding 

 technological achievements of an age which was itself 

 remarkable for such achievements. 



Second to the interest shown in the tower's structural 

 aspects was the interest in its mechanical organs. 

 Of these, the most exceptional were the three separate 

 elevator systems by which the upper levels were made 

 accessible to the Exposition visitors. The design of 

 these systems involved problems far greater than had 

 been encountered in previous elevator work any- 

 where in the world. The basis of these difficulties 

 was the amplification of the two conditions that were 

 the normal determinants in elevator design — pas- 

 senger capacity and height of rise. In addition, 

 there was the problem, totally new, of fitting elevator 

 shafts to the curvature of the Tower's legs. The 

 study of the various solutions to these problems 



presents a concise view of the capabilities of the ele- 

 vator art just prior to the beginning of the most recent 

 phase of its development, marked by the entry of 

 electricity into the field. 



The great confidence of the Tower's builder in his 

 own engineering ability can be fully appreciated, 

 however, only when notice is taken of one exceptional 

 way in which the project differed from works of earlier 

 periods as well as from contemporary ones. In almost 

 every case, these other works had evolved, in a natural 

 and progressive way, from a fundamental concept 

 firmly based upon precedent. This was true of such 

 notable structures of the time as the Brooklyn Bridge 

 and, to a lesser extent, the Forth Bridge. For the 

 design of his tower, there was virtually no experience 

 in structural history from which Eiffel could draw 

 other than a series of high piers that his own firm had 

 designed earlier for railway bridges. It was these 

 designs that led Eiff'el to consider the practicality of 

 iron structures of extreme height. 



BULLETIN 228: CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



