Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1915-05-13
ARAILWAY WIZARD
Tuft Created a Sensation With
His Vertical Road. u
FIRST PASSENGER ELEVATOR.
1t Was Erected In the Old Fifth Az.
enue Hotel, In New York, In 1859 and
Was Regarded as the Marvel Of the
Day-its Introduction to England.


Americans may lose the use Of their
legs. 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
as has become his little toe from close
confinement In shoes and long disuse.
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 fight Of stairs, 1t proba-
bly, seems queer to see or hear the ele-
vator mentioned as a modern device.
Men In their youth and even in their
middle age have become so habituated
to the elevator that they feel that such
a thing always was, or at least that it
is coeval with brick and stone build
fngs. Yet the elevator is a modern
device, and the word Elevator" In the
application given 1t in America is new
er still than the continuance 1t de-
scribes. : fsa
Before the demolition of the old
Fifth Avenue hotel in New York there
was in one of the elevators a tablet, on
which was inscribed this: I'm this
space was erected and 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
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
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 establishment and probably ,exclaim-
ed, will wonders never cease?"
An English trade paper, the London
Builder, in September. 1850, had an
editorial on the subject of the vertical
screw railway In the United States,
saying: 1T is carriage that will
move from the top to the bottom of
The building and from the bottom to
he top. 1t will be forced upward by
The application of steam power, and
he descent will be regulated by the
resistance of hydraulic power"
1t was not until the early seventies
hat the vertical railway was intro
iuced In England, the first "lift' being
installed In Albert hall, and to ride in
his passengers We're required to pay
fee of one penny. Conservative peo-
BE in America and England looked on
his invention with grave suspicion
md "felt 1t in their bones" that 1t was
MY a question of time when 1t would
all down and kill everybody I'm II.
Today the lift" is nothing like SO
ommon In Europe as the elevator,
which Is the same thing, Is In the
United States. One reason for this Is
hat the United States is the birthplace
nd the home of the skyscraper, while
Ugh buildings, as building heights are
Measured In America. are infrequent |