According to Mark Crawford, writing for The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Elisha Graves Otis was born in 1811, the youngest of six children.
At age 20, Otis made a rough living as a wagon driver and carpenter – work that proved too demanding for his health to sustain for long.
At age 27, he tried his hand at constructing a gristmill and sawmill. Business proved to be slow so he returned to building high quality wagons and carriages.
At age 34, he proved his worth at a bedstead company by inventing an automatic turner that produced bedsteads four times faster than could be done by hand. He also found time to invent a railway safety brake that could be controlled by the engineer.
By the time he was 41, Otis had been hired to convert an abandoned sawmill into a new factory. Heavy equipment needed to be moved to the upper floors – but the workers were afraid to use the hoists. If the ropes broke, the cargo – and sometimes the workers – could crash to the ground.
Otis saw the danger and went to work.
He invented a safety device that would lock the platform into place if the cable failed – making hoisting possible AND trustworthy.
And at age 43, he “took advantage of an opportunity to display his invention at the 1854 New York World’s Fair. At the New York Crystal Palace, while standing on top of a hoist suspended high in the air, Otis ordered the rope that was holding the platform to be cut with an axe.”
The heavy platform fell only a few inches before it was stopped short by Otis’s invention!
He proclaimed, “All safe, gentlemen, all safe!”
The crowd erupted in cheers.
PBS explains that “Otis’s safety elevators would [go on to] be used in tall landmarks like the Eiffel Tower and the Chrysler and Empire State Buildings, becoming a brand name and key component in the skyscrapers that defined modern cities.”
His elevators revolutionized architecture, cities, and the way we live.
Today, almost every elevator we step into carries his name.
Was Elisha Otis an inventor? Yes.
A builder? Absolutely.
A creator? Most definitely.
But what I love most about his story is how much he was motivated to make people feel safe.
Most of us are not going to invent a safety device that changes the landscape of the world’s cities, but we might offer our own kind of safety.
Maybe we want to help people feel physically protected, or emotionally safe, or even intellectually safe to share ideas.
There are 3 things we can do to build safety with those we care about:
1. Strengthen the structure.
A safe structure needs reliable ground.
So, we can be those whose word can be trusted, whose presence is steady, and whose reactions don’t crack under pressure.
2. Clear the risks.
In order for something to be safe, it has to be free from hidden dangers. Those can come in the form of our tone, our judgments, or our own agenda.
So, we can remove what could make someone pull back or feel too exposed.
3. Build in some room to grow.
True safety is spacious. It doesn’t feel tight or controlling.
It gives people permission to think, try, wonder, and hope bigger than they did before.
So, we can leave room for mistakes, questions, and new beginnings.
Torey L. Hayden said “Safety is the most basic task of all. Without a sense of safety, no growth can take place. Without safety, all energy goes to defense.”
I can’t wait to hear about the safety you’re offering to those you love, and how you’re changing the landscape of your closest relationships. And if you need some support while you build it, I’d love to assist.
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