Otis Elevator Company

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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, Main 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 1976, and now functions as a wholly-owned subsidiary. Today, the company employs over 60,000 people, and its 2004 fiscal revenues were $9.0 billion 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 United Technologies, Otis elevators carry the equivalent of the world's population every nine days.

An episode in the second season of Prison Break is named after the Otis Elevator Company.