Otis, Elisha Graves (1811–1861)

US engineer who developed a lift that incorporated a safety device, making it acceptable for passenger use in the first skyscrapers. The device, invented in 1852, consisted of vertical ratchets on the sides of the lift shaft into which spring-loaded catches would engage and lock the lift in position in the event of cable failure.

Otis was born in Halifax, Vermont, and became a builder and mechanic. During the construction of a factory in Yonkers, New York, he had to make a hoist and invented his safety device to prevent accidents to the workforce.

Otis patented and began manufacturing his invention. At the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York in 1854, he demonstrated it by letting himself be hoisted into the air, and then getting a mechanic to cut the hoisting rope. This was a grand advertisement and the orders started to come in. In 1857, the first public passenger lift was installed in New York. Generally the lifts were powered by steam engines and in 1860 Otis patented and improved the double oscillatory machine specially designed for his lifts. Also from the workshops of his company, Otis invented and patented railway trucks and brakes, a steam plough, and a baking oven.