The History of lifts is an interesting topic, Lifts are technology the average person uses almost everyday without thinking about it, to put it into numbers there are roughly 325 million elevator trips per day worldwide, that is a lot of lifting and moving people. Whether its in a local care home, a huge shopping centre, your place of work or a college just down the road, lifts are everywhere.
Lifts have been around for centuries and they have an interesting history. The earliest known lift was made in 236 BC by Archimedes in Roman times. back then lifts were made using hemp rope and powered by animals or people; a huge difference to the modern lift. Throughout history, lifts improved as construction and technology advanced, until they became what we see today.
In the pre-industrial era, lifts were very different. In the year 1000, there was a contraption similar to a lift that was used to raise a battering ram to destroy a fortress in Islamic Spain.
In 1743 a passenger lift, called the ‘flying chair’, was made, The lift was installed outside the King Louis XV balcony at the Chateau de Versailles and was operated by hand.
In 1793, the first screw drive lift was created by Ivan Kulibin and installed in the Winter Palace. This marked a significant step in lift history.
In the Industrial Revolution lifts were used in coal mines to move people and large quantities of coal from the cave and to the surface, lifts were moved with string which was considered dangerous and unsafe, eventually these strings were replaced with iron.
In 1852 Elisha Otis Introduced the safety brake on an elevator, which would prevent the lift car from falling if the cable broke, he demonstrated this in a presentation at an exhibition in 1854. he put the first passenger lift in 488 Broadway, New York City on 23 March 1857.
You can read more about the history of lifts here
Fast forward to 2024 and lifts are very different, they are much safer, more efficient, more reliable and the technology is better, lifts still go wrong of course but we can sort any lift problems and provide an excellent level of customer service.
If you have any issues with your lifts, please contact us so we can assist you. We aim to respond within 24 hours. Our office number is 01782 562000, or you can email us at info@nationwideliftservices.co.uk.
