Otis Elevator Company
The
Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems, principally
elevators and
escalators.
Founded in
Yonkers,
New York in the
United States in
1853 by
Elisha Otis, the company pioneered the development of the safety elevator, which used a special mechanism to lock the elevator car in place should the hoisting ropes fail.
At a stroke, Otis had made
skyscrapers possible, as for the first time, there was a safe means of mechanically transporting passengers to upper floors.
Otis has been responsible for installing the elevators in some of the world's most famous tall structures including the
Eiffel Tower,
Empire State Building and
World Trade Center.
Statistically, Otis is the world's most popular transportation company. It is estimated that the equivalent of the world's population travel in Otis elevators, escalators and moving walkways every 3 days.
Otis was acquired by
United Technologies in
1975, and now functions as a wholly-owned subsidiary.
Today, the company employs over 60,000 people, and its 2004 fiscal revenues were $8,999 million USD. The company is headquartered in
Farmington, Connecticut.
Otis has also dabbled in horizontal automated people mover "shuttle" systems, and in
1996 formed a joint venture called Poma-Otis Transportation Systems with the French company
Pomagalski to promote these products.
Otis had a large factory in Harrison, New Jersey.
According to
UTC, Otis elevators carry the entirety of the world's population every nine days.
Partial list includes
*
Berlin*
Breclav*
Gien*
Madrid*
Nogales*
Shibayama*
Guangzhou*
Tianjin*
São Bernardo do Campo*
Otis official site*
Otis website referencing the name Waygood-Otis Ltd previously used in the UK*
Poma-Otis official site
