It was in the mid-1800s that I was invented by Elisha Graves Otis as the first safety device for a lift. Cute story, so far.
So there I am, at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York city, and my courageous father shows me to the public. Otis goes up in my iron body, then he tells his assistants to cut the cables seizing me and everybody is just waiting for this moment. “He’s going to fall to the ground,” exclaim all the spectators. I neither expect nor solicit belief me, yet mad am I not, but something inside my head says that either I’m crazy or drunk or dreaming. But not falling like a mountain avalanche, the brave-mannered Otis walks out of me. His voice quavers for a moment but then regains control, “All safe, gentlemen,” he shouts. What satisfy me the most is the grimace of utter surprise on the face of the attendants.
“Dream big!” I yelled to the audience and since then, I believed I could do anything I set my heart on having my self-esteem walking on air. I couldn’t help but think that if I had fallen down it would have really done a number on me. That would be a whole different story.
But there I was, in the Haughwout department store in New York in 1857, lifting the first passenger five stores. Never before had I been travelling five floors at the speed of light. It represented a quantum leap in building floor connectivity triggering the modern city with high-rise buildings and skyscrapers. I felt so special! I literally went bananas. I had changed the world. “Is anything next?” I mumbled.
Luckily enough, I was even so fast as to travel 408 meters in less than a one-minute in the 110-storey Sears Tower in Chicago. I worked very hard there, people really loved me. No sooner had someone pushed the cabin’s button than people outside wanted to go in. “Hold on…I’m coming!” yelled a girl.
Dizzying heights in so many towers until now, despite being fond of speed I am really safe. Maybe that’s my leg up on planes, cars and trains.
Author: Y.MURIEL
Elisha Otis demonstrating the Safety Lift.
| © image: Look and Learn http://www.lookandlearn.com/ |
@Yolanda Muriel 
yolandamuriel.com 