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By Simon Russett, partner, Hoare Lea Vertical Transportation
It was Elisha Graves Otis who invented the first safe elevator and demonstrated it at the Institute Fair in New York, in 1854.
This invention, along with modern building techniques using steel, ushered in a new generation of high rise structures such as the Chrysler Building, the Empire State and the Eiffel Tower.
All buildings constructed up to 1930 used conventional single deck (SD) cars arranged to serve building zones. The Otis Elevator Company pioneered an invention using two cars contained within a common sling and, in 1931, installed eight 'double-decker' elevators with attendant operation in New York City's 66 storey Cities Service Building. The upper car provided service to the even floors and the lower car the odd.
Double deck elevators can be compared to railway systems. These move large numbers of people horizontally using...