Why New York’s buildings can reach for the sky

WHEN you visit New York City you cannot fail to be impressed by the towering skyline. For years the city was home to the world’s tallest buildings. Now taller ones spring up regularly. Tour guides taking visitors on the boat trip round Manhattansay the reason New York has such tall buildings is that it is built on a very stable rock formation known as “schist” and tall buildings are firmly anchored deep in that rock.

After reading some of that city’s history I think an important fact has been omitted and a great hero is unrecognised for his part in the growth of the city.

Until the mid-1800s the maximum practical height of a city building was six storeys. Higher than that and it was just too much of a struggle to climb all those stairs. In deep mines rope elevators were used to transport men and material underground, but the ropes often broke with very horrible results.

Elisha Graves Otis, who worked in a bed factory, worked out a system of springs and ratchets that would prevent an elevator falling if the rope broke. Suddenly there was no practical limit to the height of city buildings, and New York reached for the sky.

The first passenger lift built by Mr Otis was in a five-storey china shop on Broadway.

Today the lifts in tall structures like Chicago’s 100floor Hancock Building shoot up and down at about 600 metres a minute.

Early lifts were operated by a winch which wound a cable round a drum, but modern lifts use a counterbalance weight that slides up and down the lift shaft in the opposite direction to the lift.

You can see them in action in many Cape Town buildings. In some cases the lifts are fitted outside the building, so the mechanism is on display.

I must confess I find this arrangement rather scary and always turn to face the building, rather than looking out over nothing and admiring the view. I have slightly divided feelings about Mr Otis’s wonderful invention. My own solution would be simply to build shorter buildings, but I suppose humankind will always reach for the sky.

If I come back as a bird in my next life I hope it’s not an eagle. I’ll settle for a penguin.

Last Laugh

An elderly couple decided to take a romantic walk and visit the old school where they met many years ago. As they strolled home a security truck passed and a bag of money fell out of one of the windows.

“We should take it to the police station,” said the husband. “No,” said his wife, “finder’s keepers.” And she took the money and hid it in the attic. Later two policemen arrived at their door and asked whether they had seen any money fall from a truck. “No,” said the wife, “we saw nothing like that.”

The husband interrupted, “Officer, she found the money and hid it in the attic.”

“Don’t listen to him,” said the wife, “he’s senile and doesn’t understand what’s going on.”

The policeman turned to the man and said, “Tell me in your own words what happened.”

“Well,” he said, “Mary and I were walking home from school together yesterday…”

The cop gave a knowing look to his partner and said, “Okay, I think we can forget this one.”