The Origin of Elevators: (1743)
The first elevator was constructed during the reign of King Louis XV at Versailles in 1743, exclusively for the king’s use. This elevator was built outside in a small courtyard, allowing the monarch to travel between his rooms on the first and second floors to meet his lover, Madame de Châteauroux. The design relied on a counterweight system, making it less labor-intensive to operate.
Mechanical Elevator (1829)
This type of elevator was first created in London (at the Coliseum of Regent’s Park) in 1829. It could accommodate dozens of passengers.
OTIS Elevator (1857)
The first public elevator was inaugurated in 1857 in New York City. It was designed by Elisha Graves Otis for E.V. Haughtwout & Co., a five-story building on Broadway. Otis introduced the first safety elevator in New York in 1852, followed by a hydraulic elevator (Ascenseur hydraulique) in 1867.
Léon Édoux (1827 – 1910) developed a dual hydraulic piston lift (appareil élévateur à pistons hydrauliques) that reached a height of 21 meters during an exhibition in Paris in 1867. He named it ASCENSEUR.
Hydraulic elevators became popular in the United States from 1789, operating 20 times faster than Otis’ model in 1857. However, development slowed due to the challenging excavation of deep cylindrical shafts. Nevertheless, Édoux successfully constructed an elevator for the Eiffel Tower, reaching a height of 160 meters in 1889. DUOLIFT (1984)
In 1984, the hydraulic elevator on the third floor of the Eiffel Tower was replaced by DUOLIFT, an innovative method that does not require a counterweight, developed by ASCINTER-OTIS. This system features four cabins that can transport 80 passengers over a height of 160 meters at a speed of 1.8 meters per second.
Electric Elevator: (1880)
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Modern Elevators |
Electric elevators were first invented by the company Siemens & Halske for the industrial exhibition in Mannheim in 1880. They could ascend 22 meters in 11 minutes, transporting 8,000 passengers in one month to the observation deck of the exhibition area. The first electric elevator to rise over 200 meters was built in New York City in 1908. Later, the fastest electric elevator was installed in the Sunshine Building in Japan, reaching speeds of 36 km/h. Since 1993, Mitsubishi has developed an elevator for a skyscraper in Japan that operates at a speed of 45 km/h.
This elevator was invented by Émile Letz, a Belgian, alongside the company Ebel (which won a gold medal at Batima in 1983). It featured a simplified design, requiring only one supporting wall, a screw attached to the wall, and the elevator cabin mounted on a rotating nut around the screw. A motor operated both the ascent and descent of the cabin. There was no need for a machine room, pulleys, weights, or counterweights, and it allowed for emergency access during a malfunction. This type can be found in places such as Rothschild Hospital and the Ritz Hotel…
