In tall buildings, we are grateful for the elevator. Though some have elevator phobia, they typically grit their teeth and hop on rather than walking up 20 flights of stairs. Most of us just get in the less-than-spacious cubicle and go along for the ride without any thought of what might go wrong. This wasn’t always the case.
On this day in 1857, Elisha Otis installed the first commercial elevator at the E.V. Haughwout Building on Broadway in New York City. His invention began in 1853 with an idea to move wood and employees up and down at a bed frame company. While it worked for that company, Otis couldn’t get the business off the ground (pun intended).
“Otis decided that a demonstration was in order, and what better place to show the world was a World’s Fair, which in its second year was being run by P.T. Barnum. He set up a working elevator, stood on a platform in front of a crowd, and cut the rope that held the elevator up. Elisha Otis, the forty-three year old inventor, then dropped, but only a few inches. His safety brake halted the platform and proved his concept. A safe elevator could be installed in buildings for passengers and freight.
“He sold seven elevators in 1854, fifteen in 1855, at about $300 apiece, most for hauling freight and employees. And then he installed the first in a commercial setting for customers… The elevator would be powered by a steam engine in the basement and rise those five floors at 0.67 feet per second.”1
The Otis Elevator Company is still in business today, being the largest manufacturer of elevator lift systems. Over the years, greater safety measures have been developed that should put everyone’s mind at ease when they step into an elevator. Multiple cables, counterweights, safety brakes, speed governors, shock absorbers, and emergency back up systems all provide security in the event something should go wrong. Add to that the regular testing and maintenance required, the elevator is a safe way to transport people and cargo.
“Thriller movies often show an elevator plunging down a long shaft in a freefall, but that type of elevator accident hasn’t happened since 1932 when a cable-operated elevator fell down a shaft in Brazil.”2 The majority of elevator accidents and fatalities occur with those doing maintenance, not the day-to-day passengers. And if you say, “No thanks, I’ll just take the stairs,” there are only 30 deaths per year with elevators (again, mostly maintenance workers) and over 2,000 per year by taking the stairs. You have a 194% greater chance of dying on the steps than in the elevator.
Your chances of dying in a car accident to get to the building where you are going to take the stairs rather than the elevator presents an even greater chance of death, percentage wise. If you crunch the numbers, just take the elevator! It’s safer.
The fear of falling and getting trapped is very real to those who are afraid of elevators. Most of us aren’t really excited about falling anywhere. And it’s actually not the fall that troubles us nearly as much as the sudden stop! Thankfully, the Lord has covered and protected us in this area.
Psalms 37:23-24 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. (24) Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.”
Life is going to be filled with stumbles and falls as we make the journey home to Heaven. That’s unavoidable. But the Lord always has our hand, and He keeps us from being “utterly cast down.” In other words, we might get knocked down but we aren’t going to stay down. We will not be abandoned by the Lord. Instead, He lifts us back up, brushes off the dirt, steadies us, and then we proceed on the walk with Him.
Walking with the Lord is a LOT safer than being in an elevator, taking the stairs, or driving a car. Like the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:9, we may be… “cast down, but not destroyed.”
1https://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1857m.html
2https://www.millerandhinelaw.com/blog/2024/09/elevator-accident-statistics/#how-often-do-elevators-fall
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