History of the Safety Gear

Authors

  • David Alan Cooper University of Northampton

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14234/tsib.v2i1.142

Abstract

The safety gear is regarded as the last line of defence in the relatively safe world of lifts. Industry contemporaries recall Elisha Otis declaring “All safe” after cutting the ropes on a platform upon which he was standing and the safety gear preventing his uncontrolled descent. The design of safety gears has moved on significantly from an original proposal to place a bag of feathers in the lift pit to designs that now arrest uncontrolled movement in ascent. This paper is a developing research project which will look at UK patents and standards and tracks the development of the safety gear from the embryonic days of lift installations to the present day. It will contribute to knowledge by bringing together a number of sources of information not previously brought together into a single paper and thus provide a consolidated history of the safety gear.

Author Biography

David Alan Cooper, University of Northampton

David Cooper is the Managing Director of UK based lift consultants LECS (UK) Ltd. He has been in the lift & escalator industry since 1980 and is a well-known author and speaker. He holds a Master of Philosophy Degree following a 5-year research project into accidents on escalators, a Master of Science Degree in Lift Engineering as well as a Bachelor of Science Honours degree, Higher National Certificate and a Continuing Education Certificate in lift and escalator engineering. He is a co-author of “The Elevator & Escalator Micropedia” (1997) and “Elevator & Escalator Accident Investigation & Litigation”. (2002 & 2005) as well as being a contributor to a number of other books including CIBSE Guide D. He is a regular columnist in trade journals worldwide including Elevation, Elevator World and Elevatori. He has presented at a number of industry seminars worldwide including 2008 Elevcon (Thessaloniki), 2008 NAVTP (San Francisco),1999 LESA (Melbourne), 1999 CIBSE (Hong Kong), 1999 IAEE (London), 1998 (Zurich), 1997 CIBSE (Hong Kong), 1996 (Barcelona) and 1993 (Vienna) as well as numerous presentations within the UK. He is also a Founding Trustee of the UK’s Lift Industry Charity which assists industry members and/or their families after an accident at work. In 2012 David was awarded the silver medal by CIBSE for services to the Institution. David Chairs the Charity that runs the Lift Symposium and is an Honorary Visiting Fellow at The University of Northampton.

References

Leroy A. Peterson, Elisha Graves Otis 1811-1861 and his influence upon Vertical Transportation (Presentation to the Newcomen Society American Branch in New York 1945)

John Inglis, Evolution of Safety Gear, 1998 (Presented at Elevcon)

Grierson, Electric Lift Equipment for Modern Buildings, Chapman & Hall, 1923

British Standards Institute Specification for lifts, escalators, passenger conveyors and paternosters part 1: general requirements for electric, hydraulic and hand powered lifts, 1970 BS 2655-1 (1970)

British Standards Institute Lifts & Service Lifts Part 1, safety rules for the construction and installation of electric lifts, 1979 BS5655-1 (1979)

British Standards Institute Lifts & Service Lifts Part 1, safety rules for the construction and installation of electric lifts, 1986 BS5655-1 (1986)

British Standards Institute inc Amendment A3, Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts – part 1 electric lifts 1998 EN81-1 (1998)

British Standards Institute Safety rules for the construction and installation of lifts – lifts for the transport of persons and goods Part 20 passenger and goods passenger lifts, 2014 EN81-20 (2014)

R S PHILIPS, Electric Lifts, 1939 (Pitman Publishing)

Lee Gray, A History of the Passenger Elevator in the 19th Century, Lee Gray. (Elevator World, 2002)

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Published

2018-11-26

How to Cite

Cooper, D. A. (2018). History of the Safety Gear. Transportation Systems in Buildings, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.14234/tsib.v2i1.142

Issue

Vol. 2 No. 1 (2018)

Section

Articles

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