How the elevator transformed America

Boston Globe ^ | 3/1/2014 | Leon Neyfakh

[Borges]

For most city-dwellers, the elevator is an unremarkable machine that inspires none of the passion or interest that Americans afford trains, jets, and even bicycles. Wilk is a member of a small group of elevator experts who consider this a travesty. Without the elevator, they point out, there could be no downtown skyscrapers or residential high-rises, and city life as we know it would be impossible. In that sense, they argue, the elevator’s role in American history has been no less profound or transformative than that of the automobile.

[afraidfortherepublic]

Am I the last ‘professional’ elevator operator standing? I earned money for my college expenses operating the elevator for J. C. Penney. The bank of elevators eventually was replaced by an escalator and then the store was closed.

[windcliff]

I prefer the stairs. Been stuck before on one—I have no respect for them.

[miss marmelstein]

I had a friend who was an heir to the Otis Elevator fortune! I’ve since lost touch. I love a good elevator.

[Auntie Mame]

My brother, who used to build elevators, says they are the safest mode of mass transportation.

[KC Burke]

elevators are engineering marvels.

perfected every decade, we now take their reliability for granted but think of the number of trips and the low percentage of minor failures and infinitesimal small percentage of major failures.

[Alberta's Child]

Interesting article. But I’d suggest that it wasn’t the elevator that ushered in the skyscraper age in America: it was the use of steel frames for construction in place of the wood frame and concrete block construction that was typical of buildings at the time. If you go into older neighborhoods of a city like New York you’ll find tons of 2-3 story buildings that couldn’t be built any taller with concrete blocks.

[shove_it]

Am I the last ‘professional’ elevator operator standing?

Sir, thank you for your service. As a kid I marveled at the skill of the elevator operators in Detroit's skyscrapers, zooming up and down, matching the floor level of the elevator to the building's floor with a single adjustment. And those snappy uniforms - my dream job. Then they automated the elevators and took all the glamor out of it. Bummer.

[soycd]

I am thankful for the cities because they keep most leftists from invading the rural areas. Now if they would just build large fences around them and on our borders.

[hoosierham]

Europe has quite a few building of more than three stories standing for hundreds of years ,no elevators and no steel frames. Seems about 7 floors was the usual limit of construction material and techniques.

No doubt elevators are more important than the steel frame in skyscrapers because no one would build a structure if it couldn’t be easily used;and climbing 40 flights of stairs several time daily would be ridiculous!

[Doogle]

..growing up in NJ, we had a big factory owned by Otis (in Harrison) that we used to ride our bicycles by all the time. It was perfectly located..had access to barges (river one side) rail, (tracks ran right inside) and highway very close by.....

[A_Former_Democrat]

“What floor, please?”

[shove_it]

Mezzanine.

[ErnBatavia]

I used to have to deliver documents to an upstairs department at a downtown bank......there were two man-operated elevators.

The operators were identical twin brothers, who always dressed alike -- I regularly saw many doubletakes from newbies to the bank.

[Lizavetta]

I can’t get into one without thinking about that scene from “The Omen.”

[nascarnation]

Like the bank tellers made redundant by ATMs, Caliph Baraq grieves daily for the unemployed elevator ops.

[Flick Lives]

Actually, there is an interesting synergy with steel structures and elevators. You need a steel frame to go much above 7 floors, or walls become ridiculously thick to support a concrete or block frame. But there is little point in building much higher unless you have elevators to move people up to those higher floors. Of course the real break thru made by Otis was constructing an elevator with automatic safely features to prevent the dreaded free-fall.

[bramps]

My brother, who used to build elevators, says they are the safest mode of mass transportation.
//////////////////////////////////////////
Tell that to the people trapped in the horrifying movie, ‘Devil’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYy7igKD21A

(highly recommend if you haven’t seen)

[Atlas Sneezed]

perfected every decade, we now take their reliability for granted but think of the number of trips and the low percentage of minor failures and infinitesimal small percentage of major failures.

---

I understand that per passenger mile, they are the safest mode of transport there is, including walking.

[jumpingcholla34]

"We now take their reliability for granted . . ."

Except the elevators on the DC Metro train system. Every day they post a list of "elevator outages" so disabled people will know to avoid those stations. And the damned things only go two or three stories!