Dr. Lee Gray
Dr. Lee Gray, professor of Architectural History and senior associate dean of the College of Arts + Architecture at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, has written more than 200 monthly articles on the history of vertical transportation (VT) for ELEVATOR WORLD since 2003. He is also the author of From Ascending Rooms to Express Elevators: A History of the Passenger Elevator in the 19th Century. He also serves as curator of theelevatormuseum.org, created by Elevator World, Inc.
Haughton Elevators (1923) Part 1
Company catalog describes and illustrates elevator components and more. In 1923, the Haughton Elevator & Machine Co. of Toledo, Ohio, published a 32-page illustrated catalog designed to introduce prospective customers...
1927 Smith, Major and Stevens Specification & Tender (Part 2)
A look at VT business practices in the late 1920s The survival of a 1927 specification and tender for an electric goods lift, prepared by Smith, Major and Stevens, Ltd....
Elevator Alarms 1870-1890
Patents provide insights into early operation concerns. Standard phrases or terms in the modern vertical-transportation (VT) industry have equally standard definitions. One such term, elevator alarm, is usually defined as...
The National Association of Elevator Contractors 2000-2024
Sustaining community Having first built and then expanded a robust professional vertical-transportation (VT) community during its first 50 years, the National Association of Elevator Contractors (NAEC) faced the prospect of...
Fred Anzley Annett
A look at the life of the “dean” of VT writers The January 1960 issue of ELEVATOR WORLD included a special edition of William C. Sturgeon’s monthly editorial column “Speaking...
The National Association of Elevator Contractors 1975-1999
Expanding community The National Association of Elevator Contractors (NAEC) opened the second phase of its history with a subtle, but important, change in nomenclature. During its first 25 years, the...
1927 Smith, Major & Stevens Specification & Tender (Part 1)
A look at the firm’s origins leading up to 1927 The survival of a 1927 specification and tender for an electric goods lift, prepared by Smith, Major & Stevens, Ltd....
Fred A. Annett’s Electric Elevators (1927) Conclusion
A look at contributions made to the book In the introduction to Electric Elevators: Their Design, Construction, Operation and Maintenance by Fred A. Annett (published by McGraw-Hill in 1927), the...
The National Association of Elevator Contractors 1950-1974: Building Community
An association is born. The founders of the National Association of Elevator Contractors (NAEC) faced a vertical-transportation (VT) industry dominated by the big two — Otis and Westinghouse — which...
Safety Appliances for Lifts: 1895(Part 3)
This conclusion to the three-part series examines the audience’s commentary on Umney’s paper on lift safeties. On 10 June 1895, Herbert W. Umney (1870-1958) presented an illustrated paper on lift...
