World Elevator Day: Otis Shares Fun Facts

Elisha Graves Otis shows his first elevator in the Crystal Palace, New York City, 1853. --- Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS

Dogs, cats, martinis, chocolate ice cream and, of course, elevators! In honor of World (not National) Elevator Day, our friends at Otis shared a few interesting facts:

On March 23, 1857, passengers took the first rides in an Otis elevator at the E.V. Haughwout Department Store in NYC.

Otis moves more than 2 billion people each day — a quarter of the world’s population!

The invention of the elevator made taller buildings and modern cities possible.

The Otis Gen2® elevator revolutionized the industry by replacing steel ropes with flat belts — a huge energy-saving move, too, and still used today.

Smart/connected elevators are next. Today, passengers can remotely call an elevator and mechanics can see, and in some cases even fix, issues before anyone notices a problem.

Most new Otis elevators in North America are manufactured in Florence, South Carolina. The factory — celebrating 10 years this year — is also the first in the industry to be TRUE-certified, recognizing its success in Zero Waste to Landfill policies.

Check out Otis’ piece here.

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