1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,880 Speaker 1: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:13,960 --> 00:00:16,959 Speaker 1: show for those interested in the ups and downs of 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:21,759 Speaker 1: everyday history. I'm Gay Blusier, and in this episode, we're 5 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,599 Speaker 1: talking about the evolution of elevators, including the day the 6 00:00:25,640 --> 00:00:29,600 Speaker 1: invention finally went mainstream and why all of them seemed 7 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:40,520 Speaker 1: to be named Otis. The day was March twenty third, 8 00:00:40,560 --> 00:00:46,320 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven. The first commercial elevator began operation inside 9 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:49,920 Speaker 1: a New York City department store known as the Eve 10 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:54,680 Speaker 1: Howitt Building. The five story china and porcelain store still 11 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:57,840 Speaker 1: stands at the corner of Broadway and Broome Street and 12 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:01,840 Speaker 1: what's now the city's Soho District. The building was added 13 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:05,559 Speaker 1: to the National Register of Historic Places in eighteen seventy three, 14 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 1: as the elevator it housed marked the beginning of an 15 00:01:09,280 --> 00:01:13,760 Speaker 1: architectural revolution, one that would forever change the shape and 16 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:19,440 Speaker 1: height of American cities. Elevators have become a somewhat mundane 17 00:01:19,560 --> 00:01:22,840 Speaker 1: fixture of modern living, but riding one used to be 18 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:27,360 Speaker 1: a much more thrilling and dangerous prospect. Elevators as we 19 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,680 Speaker 1: know them started to take shape in the eighteen fifties, 20 00:01:31,000 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: but they were around in some form long before that. 21 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:37,760 Speaker 1: For instance, if you take just the basic concept of 22 00:01:37,760 --> 00:01:41,160 Speaker 1: an elevator a machine that can lift things vertically, then 23 00:01:41,200 --> 00:01:45,520 Speaker 1: the invention is actually thousands of years old. It speculated 24 00:01:45,560 --> 00:01:48,800 Speaker 1: that ancient Egyptians may have used vertical lifts to build 25 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:52,400 Speaker 1: their pyramids, but the first recorded use of a vertical 26 00:01:52,440 --> 00:01:56,000 Speaker 1: lift comes from the third century BC, when the Greek 27 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,160 Speaker 1: mathematician Archimedes built a platform that could be hoisted up 28 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: and down using ropes and pulleys. Those early lifts obviously 29 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:09,560 Speaker 1: didn't run on electricity, but were instead powered by people, animals, 30 00:02:09,840 --> 00:02:13,160 Speaker 1: or in some cases, even by water. They didn't move 31 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:17,080 Speaker 1: people either. They were mainly used to lift building materials 32 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,280 Speaker 1: or water jugs, and it wasn't until a few centuries 33 00:02:20,360 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 1: later that primitive elevators were first used to transport living creatures. 34 00:02:25,400 --> 00:02:28,520 Speaker 1: That was in the first century a d. When Roman 35 00:02:28,600 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: gladiators and wild animals rode the lifts from the lower 36 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:36,120 Speaker 1: levels up to the floor of the coliseum. Even in 37 00:02:36,160 --> 00:02:39,560 Speaker 1: those days, most people wouldn't have trusted their lives to 38 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:43,679 Speaker 1: an elevator. The devices were considered safe enough for enslaved 39 00:02:43,720 --> 00:02:47,680 Speaker 1: combatants and wild beasts, but the average citizen would have 40 00:02:47,760 --> 00:02:50,880 Speaker 1: still opted for the stairs. There was just too much 41 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:54,079 Speaker 1: room for error when you had people or donkeys pulling 42 00:02:54,080 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 1: the ropes. People didn't start using elevators by choice until 43 00:02:58,480 --> 00:03:03,400 Speaker 1: more reliable systems were developed. For example, in seventeen forty three, 44 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,720 Speaker 1: King Louis the fifteenth had one of the earliest passenger 45 00:03:06,760 --> 00:03:11,840 Speaker 1: elevators installed in the Palace of Versailles. Being a ladies man, 46 00:03:12,080 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: his private elevator was an easy way for the king's 47 00:03:14,800 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 1: mistresses to visit him in secret. He called it his 48 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,079 Speaker 1: flying chair, and all he had to do to operate 49 00:03:21,120 --> 00:03:24,080 Speaker 1: it was tug on a cord connected to a pulley system. 50 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: From there, gravity and a series of counterweights would do 51 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:32,239 Speaker 1: the rest. By the early eighteen hundreds, steam powered lifts 52 00:03:32,280 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 1: were in development, allowing much heavier loads of building materials 53 00:03:36,280 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: such as coal, lumber, and steel, to be raised hundreds 54 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: of feet in a matter of seconds. That new capacity 55 00:03:43,240 --> 00:03:46,640 Speaker 1: led to major booms in construction and mining, and was 56 00:03:46,640 --> 00:03:50,480 Speaker 1: a big part of what made the Industrial Revolution so transformative. 57 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: That said steam powered elevator still had one major flaw. 58 00:03:55,560 --> 00:03:59,600 Speaker 1: They were incredibly dangerous. If a rope snapped, the lift 59 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:04,160 Speaker 1: would plummet, and unfortunately, that happened fairly often all the 60 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: way through the first half of the nineteenth century. The 61 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: danger finally began to subside in the mid eighteen hundreds, 62 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: when an entrepreneur and inventor named Elijah Graves Otis arrived 63 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,440 Speaker 1: on the scene. He got into the elevator game in 64 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,640 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty two while working on a project for a 65 00:04:21,680 --> 00:04:25,839 Speaker 1: company that manufactured bed frames. His client needed a way 66 00:04:25,839 --> 00:04:28,840 Speaker 1: to move heavy equipment to the second floor of the factory. 67 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:32,360 Speaker 1: The only problem was the equipment was so heavy the 68 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,400 Speaker 1: lifting cables couldn't bear the weight for very long, and 69 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:38,119 Speaker 1: if the cables happened to snap, there would be nothing 70 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: to stop the elevator from plunging straight to the ground. 71 00:04:41,839 --> 00:04:46,239 Speaker 1: Otis's solution was to develop the world's first safety device 72 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:50,240 Speaker 1: for elevators. It was basically a breaking system that functioned 73 00:04:50,240 --> 00:04:52,920 Speaker 1: as a fail safe for the lift. If the cable 74 00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: should give way, the loss of tension would trigger the 75 00:04:55,839 --> 00:04:58,880 Speaker 1: release of levers on either side of the elevator car. 76 00:04:59,560 --> 00:05:02,640 Speaker 1: Those levers would then lock into a series of grooves 77 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:06,400 Speaker 1: along the vertical guide rails, arresting the car's fall and 78 00:05:06,520 --> 00:05:10,040 Speaker 1: locking it in place to be clear. All of the 79 00:05:10,040 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: elevators of the era were braced on either side by 80 00:05:13,279 --> 00:05:16,560 Speaker 1: vertical guide rails that helped keep the car steady as 81 00:05:16,560 --> 00:05:19,920 Speaker 1: it was raised or lowered. But until Otis came along, 82 00:05:20,160 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: the rails had been completely smooth, so if a cable broke, 83 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: the car would just slide straight down in free fall. 84 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: Otis's breakthrough was to carve deep set grooves into the 85 00:05:31,320 --> 00:05:34,679 Speaker 1: rails and create a kind of saw toothed ratchet system 86 00:05:34,800 --> 00:05:38,919 Speaker 1: to act as brakes. Confident in his new invention, Otis 87 00:05:39,040 --> 00:05:43,920 Speaker 1: established the Otis Elevator Company in eighteen fifty three. Industrial 88 00:05:43,960 --> 00:05:48,080 Speaker 1: manufacturers recognize the merits of the new breaking system right away, 89 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,840 Speaker 1: but they were still slow to adapt. In fact, Otis 90 00:05:51,880 --> 00:05:55,200 Speaker 1: only sold three elevators his first year in business for 91 00:05:55,240 --> 00:05:57,960 Speaker 1: about three hundred dollars each, and none of them were 92 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,000 Speaker 1: used to carry passengers. Despite the advent of the safety 93 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: break the public remained wary of elevators. Most people still 94 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: viewed the machines as death traps and were unlikely to 95 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 1: be swayed by confusing diagrams and technical explanations about ratchets 96 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: and levers. In order to truly trust in such a system, 97 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: people would need to see it in action for themselves, 98 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:23,800 Speaker 1: and at the New York World's Fair in eighteen fifty four, 99 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: Elijah Otis allowed them to do just that. Of course, 100 00:06:28,240 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: fair goers weren't actually willing to ride an elevator and 101 00:06:31,640 --> 00:06:35,640 Speaker 1: test the break system themselves, but ODIs anticipated that, so 102 00:06:35,720 --> 00:06:38,720 Speaker 1: instead he arranged the stunt that would put only one 103 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: person's life on the line, his own. Here's how it went. 104 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:47,400 Speaker 1: At the Crystal Palace Exposition, hall Otis constructed a fifty 105 00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 1: foot wooden elevator. Then, with some help from none other 106 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:54,560 Speaker 1: than P. T. Barnum, Otis gathered a crowd and promised 107 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,760 Speaker 1: them a death defying stunt unlike anything they'd ever seen. 108 00:06:58,440 --> 00:07:02,360 Speaker 1: With the crowd sufficiently hyped, Otis then dramatically rode the 109 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:05,280 Speaker 1: elevator to the very top, where he then ordered an 110 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:08,200 Speaker 1: axe wielding assistant to cut the rope that held up 111 00:07:08,240 --> 00:07:12,600 Speaker 1: the elevator. The onlookers were stunned and braced themselves for 112 00:07:12,680 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 1: a tragic scene, but thankfully it never came. Instead, to 113 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,960 Speaker 1: their surprise and great relief, the platform dropped just a 114 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:25,880 Speaker 1: few inches before it suddenly stopped. The crowd was blown away, 115 00:07:26,200 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: but they were all so skeptical of how reliable the 116 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: brake system really was. Maybe Otis had just gotten lucky 117 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,280 Speaker 1: and the brakes wouldn't work a second time. So to 118 00:07:36,280 --> 00:07:39,640 Speaker 1: silence the naysayers once and for all, Otis performed the 119 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:44,040 Speaker 1: stunt again and again and again every hour of the 120 00:07:44,120 --> 00:07:47,000 Speaker 1: day that the fair was open. And in that way, 121 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 1: little by little, one crowd at a time, Elijah Otis 122 00:07:50,920 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: won over the public and convinced them that elevators were 123 00:07:54,120 --> 00:07:59,480 Speaker 1: at long last safe to ride. Those demonstrations, as dangerous 124 00:07:59,520 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: as they were, really were the turning point for Otis. 125 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: He sold seven elevators in eighteen fifty four and fifteen 126 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,320 Speaker 1: the next year. Sales continued to grow from there, but 127 00:08:10,400 --> 00:08:13,520 Speaker 1: all the elevators sold were still used for hauling freight 128 00:08:13,640 --> 00:08:19,080 Speaker 1: and employees and factories and mines. Then, on March twenty third, 129 00:08:19,120 --> 00:08:23,360 Speaker 1: eighteen fifty seven, the Otis Company made history by installing 130 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:28,040 Speaker 1: the first commercial elevator opened to the public. The Howard 131 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:31,480 Speaker 1: Building elevator moved at a speed of point sixty seven 132 00:08:31,520 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: feet per second and was powered by a steam engine 133 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:38,280 Speaker 1: located in the basement. The building's owner knew that something 134 00:08:38,320 --> 00:08:41,680 Speaker 1: as novel as an elevator would draw people in, people 135 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,679 Speaker 1: who would then hopefully stick around to buy his goods. 136 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:48,120 Speaker 1: The gambit seems to have paid off, as the stores 137 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:53,120 Speaker 1: foot traffic and profits both increased after the installation. Following 138 00:08:53,120 --> 00:08:57,360 Speaker 1: that initial success, the floodgates opened, and within sixteen years, 139 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: more than two thousand passenger elevators were in operation all 140 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:05,120 Speaker 1: across the country. That wide adoption rate in the eighteen 141 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,040 Speaker 1: seventies launched the invention into its second phase, leading to 142 00:09:09,120 --> 00:09:13,880 Speaker 1: all kinds of architectural and cultural changes. For example, before 143 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: elevators were popularized, there was no such thing as a skyscraper. 144 00:09:18,520 --> 00:09:21,720 Speaker 1: Buildings tended to max out at five or six stories, 145 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:24,680 Speaker 1: as climbing more flights of stairs than that would have 146 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:29,160 Speaker 1: been impractical for most residents and workers. In fact, before 147 00:09:29,200 --> 00:09:32,600 Speaker 1: elevators made them more accessible, the top floors were the 148 00:09:32,720 --> 00:09:36,440 Speaker 1: least desirable spaces in a building, far from being the 149 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:40,280 Speaker 1: luxury retreats we think of today. Top floor apartments were 150 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:43,560 Speaker 1: typically set aside for either low rent tenants or the 151 00:09:43,640 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: in house janitor. With the advent of elevators, though, those 152 00:09:48,040 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: higher floors got much more appealing and much more valuable, 153 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,920 Speaker 1: but they also got much higher advances in steel frame 154 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:00,600 Speaker 1: construction and of course, elevators allowed buildings to be much 155 00:10:00,679 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 1: taller than ever before. That basically meant that anyone who 156 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,080 Speaker 1: owned a building no longer needed to fight for new 157 00:10:07,160 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: land to develop on something that's always in short supply 158 00:10:10,559 --> 00:10:15,960 Speaker 1: in cities. Instead, they could simply expand their existing buildings upwards, 159 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:20,440 Speaker 1: constructing new offices or hotel rooms or retail spaces where 160 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 1: there used to be nothing but thin air. In that way, 161 00:10:24,160 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: elevators literally shaped the cities we know today. Instead of 162 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:33,240 Speaker 1: sprawling horizontal cities, we ended up with densely clustered, vertical ones. 163 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:36,920 Speaker 1: It wasn't a happy development for the car industry, but 164 00:10:37,040 --> 00:10:40,760 Speaker 1: for elevator manufacturers and maintenance crews, it was a dream 165 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:45,800 Speaker 1: come true. Unfortunately, Elijah Otis didn't live long enough to 166 00:10:45,840 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 1: see just how widely embraced and impactful his invention became. 167 00:10:50,600 --> 00:10:53,840 Speaker 1: He passed away in eighteen sixty one, just a few 168 00:10:53,960 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: years after his first elevator was installed in New York City. However, 169 00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 1: his sons did carry on the family business, and along 170 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:06,080 Speaker 1: with others, they made improvements on the original design, including 171 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 1: the switch to hydraulic power and eventually to electricity. All 172 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,839 Speaker 1: of that innovation helped secure the elevator's place as one 173 00:11:13,880 --> 00:11:17,360 Speaker 1: of the most highly trafficked transport systems in the world. 174 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,880 Speaker 1: And that's no exaggeration either. According to the La Times, 175 00:11:22,120 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 1: the world's elevators now move the equivalent of Earth's population 176 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:31,000 Speaker 1: every seventy two hours. Think about that. Every three days, 177 00:11:31,360 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 1: over seven and a half billion people take a ride 178 00:11:34,559 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: on an elevator, and a large portion of the elevators 179 00:11:38,040 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: they're riding are operated by the Otis Elevator Company, which 180 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:45,480 Speaker 1: is still going strong today. The elevators in the Eiffel 181 00:11:45,520 --> 00:11:48,440 Speaker 1: Tower are Otis elevators, and so are the ones in 182 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:52,360 Speaker 1: the Empire, State Building, the White House, the Vatican, the Kremlin. 183 00:11:52,720 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: The list goes on and on. The company is now 184 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,560 Speaker 1: one of the two largest elevator manufacturers in the world, 185 00:12:00,040 --> 00:12:02,800 Speaker 1: and that's why if you step into an elevator today, 186 00:12:03,080 --> 00:12:06,040 Speaker 1: there's a strong chance you'll still find the name Otus 187 00:12:06,320 --> 00:12:12,280 Speaker 1: inscribed on its walls. I'm Gabe Lucier and hopefully you 188 00:12:12,360 --> 00:12:15,320 Speaker 1: now know a little more about history today than you 189 00:12:15,400 --> 00:12:19,560 Speaker 1: did yesterday. If you enjoyed today's episode, consider keeping up 190 00:12:19,600 --> 00:12:24,040 Speaker 1: with us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at TDI HC 191 00:12:24,480 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: Show and if you have any comments or suggestions. Feel 192 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 1: free to send them my way by dropping a line 193 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:34,400 Speaker 1: to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. Thanks to Chandler 194 00:12:34,480 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: May's for producing the show, and thanks to you for listening. 195 00:12:37,640 --> 00:12:40,560 Speaker 1: I'll see you back here again tomorrow for another day 196 00:12:40,920 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 1: in history class