The history of Otis in the UK.
Waygood first started making lifts in 1833.
Otis first started making lifts in 1853.
1890s - Otis made their Birdcage design of lift. This was there first type of electric lift. This was very posh, single speed, and driven by a handle. Meanwhile Waygood were also starting to make electric lifts.
1900s - Waygood merged with the UK division of Otis. WaygoodOtis started making their Tramcar design of lift. This was a single speed automatic lift that did not require an operator. (but an operator was still required for their faster leveling lifts).
1920s - WaygoodOtis slightly updated their design of automatic lift. Also they started making semi-automatic leveling lifts where the operator would still drive the lift but the lift would level by itself.
1930s - Otis now made a design of lift that went 1m/s and leveled by itself and had automatic doors and could remember more than one call at a time (like a present day lift). At the time this was amazing state of the art new technology. Otis were making lifts that other companies did not make until the 1960s.
In the video I also show a 1930s goods lift of this sort. Without the 30s styling it seems like a fairly recent lift - ITS NOT it is actually 1930s - it shows how ahead of their time otis were!
Also from the 1930s onwards Otis also made cheaper legacy lifts, so that they would not loose trade from the people that could not afford their leveling lifts. These legacy lifts were like the lifts the companies were making, gated and single seed. (I am calling these legacy rather than cheap because they were still good quality and would out last any generic lift of today)
1960s - updated design, more heavy duty, but not that much different. Otis now also made very fast lifts with touch sensitive buttons.
1980s - A major update in design and styling. Lifts now have plastic white square buttons.
1990s to present day - Otis made some very nice posh 2000VFs and some rather dull 2000VFs. Also otis started making gen2s.
beno.org.uk