The star-independent. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1904-1917, 1915-04-13
A ARAILWAY WIZARD
Tuft Created a Sensation With
His Vertical Road. i
FIRST PASSENGER ELEVATOR

u Was Erected In the Old Fifth Av-
enue Hotel, In New York, In 1859 and
Was Regarded AZ the Marvel of the
Day-Its Introduction to England.
Americans may lose the use Of their
legs. A number of authorities on this
subject have made the prophecy that
unless the American mends his ways
and changes the direction In which
certain OF his habits and tendencies
lie his legs will become as atrophied
us has become his little toe from close
confinement In shoes and long tiisuse.
These authorities have pointed out
the street car. the automobile and the
average mans eagerness to "get there
In the quickest way and with the
least possible effort is the causes for
the present deterioration in legs, and
as mechanical locomotion becomes
more and more accessible and the rid
ing habit grows man will have less
and less use for his feet and legs.
In addition to electric cars and auto
mobiles, another modern device con-
tributes to the average mans increas-
ing feebleness Of limb. That modern
device is the elevator. To the present
generation, accustomed to ride from
floor to floor and to push the elevator
bell button and wait for the car rather
than climb a fight of stairs. it proba-
bly, seems queer to see or hear the ele-
vator mentioned as modern device.
Men In ther youth and even in their
middle age have become so habituated
to the elevator that they feel that such
thing always was. or at least that 1t
Is coeval with brick and stone build
ings. Yet the elevator is modern
device. aud the word elevator In the
application given 1t in America is new.
er still than the contrivance it de-
scribes.
Before the demolition of the old
Fifth Avenue hotel in New York there
was in one of the elevators tablet. on
which was inscribed this: "ln this
space was erected aud operated in 1859
Tufts vertical screw railway, the first
passenger elevator ever built"
That elevator was one of the chief
wonders of the hotel. which. because
of its luxury and magnifcence. was
considered one of the wonders of the
new world.
The vertical railway" which saved
persons the trouble of walking up and
down stairs. was widely written about,
and people came from far and near to
look at the strange invention and to
be able to tell their admiring friends
In Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore and
Washington and other cities out in the
provinces that they had been able to
go up and down stairs without walk
ing.
When travellers came from New York
and told about this vertical screw rail
way to our grandfathers, those worthy
gentlemen raised their eyes and hands
in astonishmert and probably exclaim-
ed, "Will wonders never cease?"
An English trade paper. the London
Builder, in September. 1859. had an
editorial on the subject of the vertical
screw railway in the United States.
saying: st is carriage that win
lHONe IrOm lDe Top 10 the DottOtD VI
the building and from the bottom to
the top. 1t will be forced upward by
the application of steam power, and
the descent will be regulated by the
resistance of hydraulic power"
1t was not until the early seventies
that the vertical railway was intro.
duced in England. the first lift being
installed in Albert hall, and to ride in
this passengers were required to pay
a fee of one penny. Conservative peo-
pie in America and England looked on
this invention with grave suspicion
and ''felt it in their bones" that 1t was
only question of time when it would
fall down and kill everybody in II.
Today the 'lift'' is nothing like so
common in Europe as the elevator.
which is the same thing, is in the
United States. One reason for this is
that the United States is the birthplace
and the home of the skyscraper, while
high buildings. as building heights are
measured in America. are infrequent
in Europe. Washington Star