Attributing Indicator to Otis Elevators. Antique Bronze Building Hardware Panel, Weight is 7 1/2 pounds. The coolest Otis Indicator I’ve come across or seen in awhile. Not signed, looks like back is heavy casted. May of had numbers at one time but I dont see any. Design looks Otis to me. Has all glass indicators covers with top one cracked and missing small piece and sure few more are nicked chipped here and there. Has all 12 floor buttons.
This looks and feels bronze but could be brass and nonmagnetic. Found some fun reading about this famous company from the great Wikipedia at bottom!
Measures 30″ tall, 4″ wide and again a 7 1/2 pounder. Has scratches, scuffs, stains, tarnishing verdigris mostly on back. 4 mounting holes. Hard to find another. Design looks Otis to me. Has all glass indicators covers with top one cracked and missing small piece as a few, nicked chipped cracked here and there also. Has all 12 floor buttons.
What’s unusual about this floor indicator is everything! Its beautiful. Cool historic find! Selling as collectible only, but if you want to restore it and use it good luck.
Guessing made 1920’s-1930’s. Cool Old Otis Elevator Company Floor Indicator!!
Please check pictures for description and condition. Have call buttons listed separately.
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.
