Going Up?

Stairs are so old fashioned. Not to mention you can only go as fast as your legs will carry you. Something we might not consider on our daily commute is the elevator (or the lift if you're from Britain or Canada). This great feat of technology that lets us travel vertically at our leisure, not to mention it takes a load off of moving heavy or large objects. The first reference of the elevator comes from Vitruvius who reported that Archimedes built the first elevator in approximately 236 BC. Other elevator-type lifts were seen throughout history, sometimes powered by hand or animals. By the 18^th century prototypes of the modern elevator were located in the palace buildings of England and France. Elevators soon became multipurpose, moving into the Industrial era. While still serving the purpose of work, transporting necessary resources and materials between locations, elevators soon became used for leisure. In 1823, Burton and Hormer built and operated the “ascending room”, a tourist attraction that raised to a considerable height in the center of London, providing a panoramic view of the city.

Some say that elevators began as simple hoist systems pulled by ropes or chains. Having built upon the idea, modern elevators operate on a pulley system. Ropes are pulled over a grooved pulley, while the oncoming car is balanced by a counterweight. The interesting thing about the elevator design and classification is that it is subject to customization. Not only do elevators serve multiple purposes, but can be designed in a variety of ways, whether this be a simple two door elevator used to move happy residents of a hotel, or a grain elevator moving grain for storage.

The quality of life without the elevator is subject to interpretation. Of course on one hand, people might be more in shape. Without a giant pulley to lift everyone, it would require more labor to get things done. On the other hand, many things can be accomplished with an elevator system. Moving heavy objects becomes easier, as well as moving things in mass quantities. The use of a grain elevator enables mass movement of grain, something that would take an exponential amount of time more to accomplish the same task.

While we might not get to take that elevator up to the penthouse suite, we certainly have many practical uses for these machines known as elevators. Or are they lifts? Something so simple can do so much work, what are the chances?

Sources: wikipedia.org