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Just found out the first elevator safety brake was inspired by a stagecoach
I was reading an old trade magazine from the 1950s at a library in Pittsburgh. It said Elisha Otis got the idea for his safety catch from a spring-loaded mechanism used to keep stagecoach doors shut. He basically adapted a wagon part to stop a falling elevator car. I always figured it was some brand new invention, not a repurposed piece of horse-drawn carriage hardware. Has anyone else come across other weird bits of elevator history like that?
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thea_mitchell206mo ago
My hometown library in Scranton has a whole file on elevator accidents before safety brakes. The weirdest thing I read was about early operators using cheesecloth to clean the guide rails. Makes sense that Otis just looked at a stagecoach latch and went "yeah that'll work." I'm the same way, I once fixed a wobbly table with a stack of old coasters and called it engineering.
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the_wren6mo ago
That cheesecloth detail is weirdly perfect, like something my grandma would have tried. Honestly my whole house runs on that kind of makeshift logic. I once used a shoelace to fix a broken drawer pull for six months and felt like a genius. It's amazing anything gets built properly when the urge to just wedge something in there is so strong.
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wyatt_green316mo ago
Cheesecloth on elevator rails? Seriously?
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