The Cooper Union’s Foundation Building in Lower Manhattan was completed in 1859.
Indeed, the development of skyscrapers would not have been possible without elevators.
The Cooper Union’s Foundation Building.
Cooper definitely had foresight, but he was not prophetic.
They were just not safe enough for hauling passengers yet.
Winches failed regularly and cables snapped sending the load crashing to the ground.
When the platform had risen to its maximum height, Otis severed the suspension cable.
The crowd gasped, but the platform fell only a few inches before stopping securely in place.
In the years that followed, the Otis Elevator Company was swamped by orders for freight elevators.
Elisha Otis demonstrating his safety system, Crystal Palace, 1854.
Although Coopers prediction came true, and in a very short time, he didnt get the shape right.
Coopers elevator shaft was circular, because he felt that circle would switch on the maximum loading capacity.
But Otis’s elevators were rectangular.
A few years later, Coopers son came to his rescue.
Edward Cooper designed a round steam-powered elevator to fit in the shaft.
This elevator functioned for forty years before it was replaced by an Otis electrically powered box-shaped elevator.
It wasnt until 1972, when architect John Hejduk created a special, round model for the building.
A view of the round elevator shaft.
