Ancient Elevators

Elevators are an amazing invention that has changed how we travel. They have been around well before the patenting of the invention in the 1850s. The first modern elevator was powered by a steam engine and was installed in a five-story building in New York City. The inventor, Elisha Otis, demonstrated that it would work by cutting the rope with an axe while people were inside.

However Elisha Otis was not the first to use elevators, he was simply the first to use them safely. Ruins of the several ancient civilizations show the marks of the strange shafts within structures and mines that could possibly have been used for the simple elevators.

The Romans were actually the first to use elevators. The wheel was turned by the flow of water from a nearby stream or river, and this motion was transferred to a vertical shaft that led up to the top of the building.

The Romans used these elevators as a way to transport goods and people up and down in buildings. They were not just used for people, but also for animals like horses or even pigs.

Ancient Greece

In ancient Greece, people used the simplest form of elevators. They used a device called the crane that was made up of a long beam with a movable hook at one end. The crane was raised by ropes or chains to the top of a building and then lowered so that its hook could pick up heavy objects from the ground and carry them to where they were needed.

The first mechanical lift in history is believed to have been built by Greek mathematician Archimedes around 220 BC. He created it as an attempt to move large ships over land, but it is believed that his design could also be used for buildings.

The Archimedes' screw pump is a device used to move water from a low-lying body of water, such as a river or pond, up into an elevated reservoir. It consists of a screw inside a hollow pipe. The screw is turned by a crank which is connected to a drive mechanism (usually an electric motor). As the screw turns, it moves up the inside of the pipe and draws water in around its threads. When the top end of the pipe reaches the reservoir, it discharges water over the edge and onto ground level.

Ancient Rome

The Colosseum is an amphitheater in Rome, Italy that was used for gladiatorial contests, public spectacles and other entertainments. The Colosseum is a symbol of the Roman Empire. It was originally built in the first century by Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus.

The height of the Colosseum is around 50 meters with a diameter of about 157 meters. The amphitheater could hold around 50,000 people at one time. There were four levels inside it with 80 entrances and four different levels outside it with 44 entrances.

There are many theories on how the slaves were able to get up to the top level inside the Colosseum when they were forced to fight as gladiators. One theory is that slaves would be put in an elevator that would then be hoisted up to the top level by ropes or chains which would then be pulled back down again after use so that no one else could use it

Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians used a system of ropes and buckets to transport goods up and down. This system was not very efficient, so they invented the first elevator in the form of a platform that was raised by ropes.

Elevators were used to transport people and goods up and down in ancient Egypt. The Egyptians would use ropes and buckets to move items up or down, but this was not very efficient, so they invented the first elevator in the form of a platform that was raised by ropes.

Middle Ages

During middle ages in Europe, elevators with designs similar to Greeks and Romans were in use at some locations. Walled castles and secluded mountain monasteries used the winch system to elevate people and goods to their inaccessible entrances.

Elevators were used in castles during the Middle Ages Europe for various purposes. For example, they were used in farming to transport food and crops from the ground floor to the storage rooms on the upper floors. They were also used in textile factories as a way to transport raw materials and finished products between different levels of the building.

Age of ancient elevators came to the end between end of 18th and middle of the 19th century with the discovery of screw mechanisms, safety devices which prevented fall, hydraulics and electricity.

Ottoman Empire & The Middle East

Elevators were first introduced in the Ottoman Empire by the German engineer, Heinrich von Stephan. His first design was for a hydraulic machine that could be powered by water or steam. The idea of moving cars between floors of a building without having to use stairs or ramps was an innovation that the Turks embraced quickly.

The first elevator in Istanbul opened in 1857 at Karaköy dockyards. The second elevator, which was installed in 1878, was located at Dolmabahçe palace and is considered to be the oldest working elevator in Turkey. It has been operating continuously since its installation, with only minor repairs being done over time.

In 1887, a third elevator was installed at Pera Palace Hotel (now Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus). This one had six different elevators with different speeds and capacity - which made it one of the most advanced elevators of its time.