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10 FACTS ABOUT LIFTS YOU DIDN’T KNOW

Since the invention of lifts, they have changed the design of the modern city. They are used all over the world, making even the tallest of buildings easily accessible. But how much do you know about lifts? Here are 10 facts you may not have known.

Facts about Lifts

Luxury Hotels Used the First Modern Elevators

Did you know the first modern elevators were used in the lobbies of luxury hotels? The world’s first passenger elevator was installed in a New York City hotel in 1857. In the 1870s, the technology finally moved into office buildings, allowing businesses to grow up instead of out.

There are 900,000 lifts in America

There are 900,000 elevators and counting in America. About the same number of new elevators – 914,000 – were sold in the world in 2012. 58% of those new elevators went to China.

Early Elevators Were Considered ‘’Movable Rooms’’

In the early days of elevators, they featured chandeliers and elaborate furniture and carpeting. Passengers could sit down and get comfortable before being catapulted onto another floor.

There Would Be No Penthouse Without the Elevator

The adoption of the elevator radically changed how people arranged multi-storey buildings. Before lifts, the highest levels of a home would be reserved for the servants or low-rent tenants. Once passenger lifts began ferrying tenants in style to the upper floors, the rich began to appreciate the view from the top, introducing the popularity of the penthouse.

Skyscrapers - Facts about lifts

Cities As We Know Them Couldn’t Exist

If elevators didn’t exist, everything would be five or six stories tall. In the 1870s, Henry B. Boyle changed New York’s financial district forever by building the tallest building in the city at the time – which was a full seven stories, and included two elevators.

Many Believed Vertical Transport Would Make Them Sick

In the early 1900s, people were worried vertical transport would make us sick. Doctors used to fret over ‘’elevator sickness’’, a condition caused by the sudden movement of internal organs as an elevator came to an abrupt stop.

The Invention of Lift Music

Do you know the reason why elevator music was invented? It was first introduced in the 1920’s, and its main purpose was to calm fearful passengers who were using an elevator for the first time.

Safest Transportation

Lift travel remains one of the safest means of public transit. Accidents that result in death are very rare, – with about 26 a year – whom are mostly lift technicians. To put this in perspective, there are 26 deaths from car accidents every 5 hours.

Dispatch Efficiency

New elevators employ a system that directs people going to the same floors of a building into the same elevator – this is called ‘’destination dispatch’’. This allows people to get where they are going faster and more efficiently.

The Fastest Skyscraper Lifts

The fastest skyscraper elevators in the world are in the Taipei 101 building in Taiwan. The two elevators travel at a staggering rate of 3,313ft per minute. That’s equivalent to 37.7mph! the building is a sky high 1,670ft tall, and it only takes a 30 second ride in the lightning fast elevator to get from ground to roof!

Here at Axess2, we provide you with the very best lift technology, creating the perfect lift for your needs. For more information, get in touch with a member of our team today!