PORTRAITS of LIFT ENGINEERS - CIBSE Heritage Group Website

CIBSE HERITAGE GROUP
PORTRAITS of LIFT ENGINEERS
Elisha Graves Otis 1811-1861
(Inventor of the “Safety Elevator” who founded the
Otis Elevator Works in 1853)
Norton P Otis 1840-1905
(Succeeded his father and with his brother Charles traded as Otis Bros)
Otis Tufts 1804-1869
(A pioneer steam engineer who also invented a type of elevator known
as a “Vertical Screw Railway. No relation to Otis Bros
Charles D Seeberger 1857-1931
(In 1892 Jesse Reno patented his moving staircase but the escalator as we know it was
devised by Seeberger in 1897. The patents to both designs were acquired by Otis)
Richard Waygood, born 1806 founded his company in 1833
(English lift pioneer, his company being merged with Otis in 1903
and trading as Waygood-Otis)
William E Baldwin 1856-1930
(Initially treasurer of Otis Bros, later led the Otis Elevator Trust
The company was reorganised following Federal antitrust proceedings in 1906)
Anton Freissler, active 1840-2000
(Austrian lift engineer who developed his designs from the pioneering work
of the Frenchman Leon Edoux)
Guiseppi Falconi, active 1890’s
(Pioneer of the Italian elevator industry who introduced many innovations
including inclined elevators and double-deck lift cars)
Rudolf Eickemeyer, born 1831
(Came to the USA from Bavaria, developed an improved electric elevator motor,
his company being bought out and renamed the Otis Electric Company in 1892)
Frank J Sprague 1857-1934
(American electrical engineer who pioneered electric elevators)