Otis elevators are familiar today, and Elisha Graves Otis was an inventor, but Otis didn't invent the elevator. He invented the elevator brake. Until this development there were occasional injuries and deaths in industrial lifts, and no architect included elevators for passengers because of the risks. Of course, there weren't that many tall buildings that needed them at the time, elevators made skyscrapers possible at the same time skyscrapers made a market for elevators.
I delight in finding evidence that others beat Christopher Columbus to the new world, but it was Columbus' voyage on this day in 1492 that actually led to colonization and development. Having spent two decades as a printer myself, and not exactly being an orthodox thinker, the American heritage of a free press has always been important to me - today we have a gory reminder that it hasn't always been that way.
When James II of Scotland died on this day in 1460, cannon were a recent addition to warfare and the king was proud of them. All accounts agree that it was one of his own cannon that killed him, the fort he was attacking had none. Some say that the cannon exploded and he happened to be standing too near. Some say that the hands-on monarch had over-loaded the gun with powder himself. And some say that his queen was arriving to visit him in the field and he organized a salute to her while standing in front of one of the guns. I can't verify any of these details, but the 9-year-old King James III was king the next day.
1460 - James II of Scotland, called Fiery Face for a large birthmark, was killed by one of his own cannon during the siege of Roxburgh.
1492 - After entrusting his son Diego to monks, Christopher Columbus weighed anchor on the Santa Maria at Palos, Spain and set sail for the Indies.
1546 - Etienne Stephen Dolet, an outspoken French printer and philosopher accused of heresy by the church, was tortured and then hanged on the Place Maubert at Paris. His body and all of his books were then burned, apparently without waiting for him to actually die from the noose, and his widow and children were left destitute after all his property was confiscated.
1942 - Mildred McAfee, president of Wellesley College, became the first female officer in the US Navy. She was sworn in as a lieutenant commander, later promoted to captain, and supervised 86,000 women during WW II in the "WAVES," Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.
Habib Bourgiba's Birthday, Tunisia - Marks the 1902 birth of Bourgiba, a French-trained lawyer, the leader of the independence movement in the '30s, imprisoned by the French for more than a decade, president from 1956 until doctors pronounced him senile in a 1987 coup. Deliberately created the most western nation in the Muslim world.
1811 - Elisha Graves Otis, US inventor - Born on a farm near Halifax, Vermont, attempted several businesses but poor health frustrated his plans. Moved to Albany, New York in 1845 and worked as master mechanic in a bed factory, building equipment for the factory and inventing the first brake for railroad cars that could be operated by the engineer. Moved to Yonkers, New York to work for another bed manufacturer. Lifts were needed to move equipment and goods between floors when the business expanded and Otis was intrigued by the sometimes-dangerous mechanical hoists, conceived a device made from a wagon spring to engage ratchet teeth on the guide rails. On 20 May 1854 Otis staged an exhibition at the Crystal Palace at New York Worlds' Fair in which he stood on an open lift with several barrels and, when he had been lifted above the heads of the crowd ordered his assistant to cut the lift rope with an ax. In 1857 he installed the first passenger elevator, powered by a steam engine of his own esign, in the five-story Haughwout department sotre in New York City. His sons continued the business after his death on 8 April 1861.
A problem, at its core, is really just an opportunity to learn and explore.
- Stephen Coleman
In my view, the question of origin seems always left unanswered if we
explore from a scientific view alone.
- Charles H. Townes
We live at the level of our language. Whatever we can articulate we can
imagine or explore. All you have to do to educate a child is leave him
alone and teach him to read. The rest is brainwashing.
- Ellen Gilcrist
Laugh at yourself, but don't ever aim your doubt at yourself. Be bold.
When you embark for strange places, don't leave any of yourself safely
on shore. Have the nerve to go into unexplored territory.
- Alan Alda
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Copyright 2000 G. Armour Van Horn, all rights reserved. This document may be distributed freely. Please forward the complete message including this copyright notice.