Elisha Graves Otis was born on August 3, 1811, and died on April 8, 1861. He was an American business owner and the founder of the Otis Elevator Company. In 1853, he created a safety device that stops elevators from falling if the cable that lifts them breaks. On March 23, 1857, he put the first safety elevator for people to ride in the store of E.V. Haughwout & Co. in New York City.

Biography

Otis was born on August 3, 1811, in Halifax, Vermont, to Stephen Otis and Phoebe Glynn. At 19 years old, he left home and eventually moved to Troy, New York, where he lived for five years as a wagon driver. In 1834, he married Susan A. Houghton. Together, they had two children, Charles and Norton. Later that year, Otis became very ill with pneumonia, which almost caused his death. He saved enough money to move his wife and three-year-old son to the Vermont Hills near the Green River. He built his own gristmill but did not earn enough money from it. He then changed it into a sawmill, but still struggled to find customers. After having a second son, Otis began making wagons and carriages, which he was skilled at. His wife later died, leaving him with two sons, one eight years old and the other an infant.

In 1845, Otis moved to Albany, New York, where he worked as a master mechanic in a bedstead factory. During this time, he invented a railway safety brake. By 1852, he moved to Yonkers, New York, to work at the Maize & Burns bedstead factory, installing machinery. The factory needed a way to lift heavy equipment to the upper floor, but this process was dangerous. Otis invented the safety elevator, which stops automatically if the rope used to lift things breaks. The next year, he left the factory and started his own company, the Otis Elevator Company. After showing his invention at the New York Crystal Palace in 1854, more people wanted to use the safety elevator. In 1857, he installed the first safety elevator for passengers at the E. V. Haughwout Building in New York City.

In his free time, Otis worked on old designs for bread-baking ovens and train brakes. He also patented a steam plow in 1857, a rotary oven in 1858, and, with his son Charles, an oscillating steam engine in 1860. The steam plow was not successful in business.

Otis became very sick with diphtheria and died on April 8, 1861, at the age of 49. He was buried in Oakland Cemetery in Yonkers, New York.

Legacy

A worker from Otis Elevator Company created the name "escalator" for staircases that move in a loop and can go up or down. In 1976, Otis Elevator Company was bought by United Technologies. In April 2020, Otis Elevator Company became an independent company again after being separated from United Technologies.

A ship named SS Elisha Graves Otis, which was a U.S. Liberty ship during World War II, was named after him.