Elisha Graves Otis (August 3, 1811 – April 8, 1861) was an American industrialist and founder of the Otis Elevator Company. In 1853, he invented a safety device that prevents elevators from falling if the hoisting cable fails. On March 23, 1857, he installed the first safety elevator for passenger service 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. He moved away from home at the age of 19, eventually settling in Troy, New York, where he lived for five years employed as a wagon driver. In 1834, he married Susan A. Houghton. They had two children, Charles and Norton. Later that year, Otis suffered a terrible case of pneumonia which nearly killed him, but he earned enough money to move his wife and three-year-old son to the Vermont Hills on the Green River. He designed and built his own gristmill, but did not earn enough money from it, so he converted it into a sawmill, yet still did not attract customers. Now having a second son, Otis started building wagons and carriages, at which he was fairly skilled. His wife later died, leaving him with two sons, one age eight and the other in infancy.
thumb|250px|Otis Elevator Patent
235px|thumb|Otis free-fall safety demonstration in 1854|left
In 1845, Otis moved to Albany, New York, where he worked as a master mechanic in a bedstead factory. During this period, he invented a railway safety brake. By 1852, he had moved to Yonkers, New York to work at the Maize & Burns bedstead factory installing machinery.
Otis contracted diphtheria and died on April 8, 1861; he was 49 years old.