Elisha Otis

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Elisha Graves Otis (August 3, 1811 — April 7, 1861) invented a safety device in 1852 in Yonkers, New York that made elevators much safer by preventing them from falling if the hoisting cable broke. Otis was born near Halifax, Vermont. He moved away from home at the age of 19. He then moved to Troy, New York and lived there for 5 years.

At New York’s Crystal Palace, Elisha Otis amazed the crowd when he ordered an axeman to cut the only rope suspending the platform on which he was standing. The platform dropped a few inches, but then came to a stop. His new safety brake stopped the platform from crashing to the ground and revolutionized the industry.

Mr. Otis sold his first safe elevators in 1853. The first passenger elevator was installed by Otis in New York in 1857. After Elisha Otis' death in 1861, his sons, Charles and Norton, built on his heritage, creating Otis Brothers & Co. in 1867.

Mr. Otis' invention increased public confidence in elevators, which was instrumental in the rise of skyscrapers. The company he founded grew to become Otis Elevator Company, the largest elevator company in the world. Today, it is a division of United Technologies Corporation.

The Otis family currently owns a home on the Intracoastal Waterway in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.