It is claimed that Archimedes, probably in the neighborhood of 236 before our common era, invented the first elevator. And ever since then people have been fooling around with ways to get people up and down without the often difficult and sometimes impossible task of self-power. But, the biggest problem was safety. If something went wrong there was a terrible danger of terrible falls.
As it happens it wasn’t until the middle of the nineteenth century in our common era that a system was developed in case of malfunction to prevent an elevator from falling.
Which brings us to today.
Elisha Otis installed the first such elevator at 488 Broadway, in New York City, on this day in 1857.
As someone who lives on the fourth floor of a building, and who would like to live here right through to the end of my life, and who is beginning to feel the strains of walking up and down stairs, let me pause and say, thank you, Mr Otis! Good job!
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