Vintage heavy like bronze at 3 3/4 pounds but could be brass and nonmagnetic. Otis Elevator Panel, Control Panel Building Hardware, Old Elevator Control Panel Architectural Hardware Part. Interesting piece with 6 mounting holes – 4 Floor – Stop/emergency – Alarm – Light and Otis emblem. The fancy Otis edging all around.
Measures 18″ x 4″ and 1/2″ thick. Numbered on backside. Found some fun reading about Otis elevators from the great Wikipedia at bottom!
Has scratches, scuffs, paint splatter, stains, ding/dent at largest hole bottom, nice Patina and still looks great! Cool find! should polish up nicely with some elbow grease if you like shiny.
Guessing made way before 2005. Cool Old Elevator Control Panel!!
The booming elevator market
In 1852 Elisha Otis invented the safety elevator, which automatically comes to a halt if the hoisting rope breaks. After a demonstration at the 1853 New York World’s Fair, the elevator industry established credibility.
Otis elevator in Glasgow, Scotland, imported from the U.S. in 1856 for Gardner’s Warehouse, the oldest cast-iron fronted building in the British Isles.
The Otis Elevator Company was founded in Yonkers, New York, in 1853 by Elisha Otis. When Elisha died in 1861, his sons Charles and Norton formed a partnership and continued the business. During the American Civil War, their elevators were in high demand due to the shipment of war materials. Businesses throughout the United States purchased them. In 1864, with the partnership of J.M. Alvord, the company became known as Otis Brothers & Co. In 1867, Otis opened a factory in Yonkers, New York, the city where the company was founded.
In 1925, the world’s first fully automatic elevator, Collective Control, was introduced. In 1931, the company installed the world’s first double-deck elevator in New York City.
Otis opened a factory in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1965.
Fayette S. Dunn became president of the company in 1964, succeeding the late Percy Douglas.
