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I just read that the first elevator safety brake was tested in 1854 by jumping on a rope
I was looking up some history on the Otis company for a training thing at work and found this old article. It said Elisha Otis did a public demo in New York where he had an elevator platform hoisted up, then cut the rope holding it. The safety brake he invented caught it right away. The crazy part is, the article said he stood on the platform himself while his assistant cut the rope with an axe. I always figured they used a sandbag or something for the first test, not the actual inventor. It makes you think about how sure he was in his own work. I've trusted those brakes every day for years, but knowing the guy who made them was willing to bet his life on the first real test is something else. Has anyone else come across a piece of elevator history that made you pause like that?
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