Elisha Otis

Elisha Graves Otis (1811 to 1861) was an American industrialist who founded the Otis Elevator Company. In 1853 he invented a safety device that stops an elevator from falling if the hoisting cable fails. On 23 March 1857 he installed the first safety elevator for passenger service, in the New York City store of E.V. Haughwout and Company. His device made it practical to carry people, not only freight, on hoisted platforms, which is why he belongs in a record of how people and goods are moved, here the vertical movement inside buildings. The source lead does not detail his earlier career or the later growth of the firm, so this entry stays to what the lead states.