The Project Gutenberg EBook of Elevator Systems of the Eiffel Tower, 1889, by
Robert M. Vogel

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Title: Elevator Systems of the Eiffel Tower, 1889

Author: Robert M. Vogel

Release Date: May 7, 2010 [EBook #32282]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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CONTRIBUTIONS FROM
THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY:
PAPER 19

ELEVATOR SYSTEMS
OF THE EIFFEL TOWER, 1889

_Robert M. Vogel_

PREPARATORY WORK FOR THE TOWER 4

THE TOWER'S STRUCTURAL RATIONALE 5

ELEVATOR DEVELOPMENT BEFORE THE TOWER 6

THE TOWER'S ELEVATORS 20

EPILOGUE 37

ELEVATOR SYSTEMS of the EIFFEL TOWER, 1889

By Robert M. Vogel

_This article traces the evolution of the powered passenger elevator
from its initial development in the mid-19th century to the
installation of the three separate elevator systems in the Eiffel
Tower in 1889. The design of the Tower's elevators involved problems
of capacity, length of rise, and safety far greater than any
previously encountered in the field; and the equipment that resulted
was the first capable of meeting the conditions of vertical
transportation found in the just emerging skyscraper._

THE AUTHOR: _Robert M. Vogel is associate curator of mechanical and
civil engineering, United States National Museum, Smithsonian
Institution._

The 1,000-foot tower that formed the focal point and central feature of
the Universal Exposition of 1889 at Paris has become one of the best known
of man's works. It was among the most outstanding technological
achievements of an age which was itself remarkable for such achievements.

Second to the interest shown in the tower's structural aspects was the
interest in its mechanical organs. Of these, the most exceptional were the
three separate elevator systems by which the upper levels were made
accessible to the Exposition visitors. The design of t