Otis was a mechanic who worked in a New York Bedding Factory. He devised a system for lifting machinery to the upper floors, but the hoist ropes continually snapped. By 1852, he had developed a safe hoist with toothed guide rails. He established the 'Otis Steam Elevator Co' and in 1857 his first elevator was installed in E.V. Haughwort & Co., a New York china store. His invention was set to revolutionise skylines as it was used in the first skyscrapers.
