Elevators can feel like magic. Step inside. Select your floor. Poof! The elevator quickly takes you where you want to go.
But an elevator doesn't run on magic. It's a machine. And it's made up of several smaller machines. These machines work together to make the elevator move. An electric motor powers the elevator. Most elevators run with the help of a machine called a pulley. A pulley is a wheel with a rope around it. A pulley system helps to move the elevator car up and down. The controller is the “brains” of the elevator. When you push a button, the controller tells the car which floor to go to.
Elisha Otis was the inventor of the world's first safety elevator. In 1854, he showed how it worked to the public for the first time. Curious crowds gathered in the World's Fair in New York to see it.
The first passenger elevator was made in 1857, in New York City. Since then, technology has improved. Elevators have become more energy-saving. They are also much faster. Have you heard of the Empire State Building? Its elevators can take visitors from the ground floor to the 86th floor in less than one minute.
Elevators play an important role in the modern world. “They make taller buildings possible,” Dot Mynahan says. “What's more, they are also important for disabled people and they make buildings more accessible to everyone,” she says. What's next for elevators? “The possibilities are endless.” Mynahan says.
