Vermont-born tinkerer Elisha Otis thought so little of the safety elevator he invented that he didn’t bother to get a patent for it.
P.T. Barnum thought pretty highly of it, though. He offered Otis $100 to demonstrate the device before a crowd at the Crystal Palace, built for the 1853 New York World’s Fair.
Otis donned a top hat, mounted the platform and hoisted it high above the crowd. Once he had the crowd’s attention, he gave the signal for an assistant to cut the cable with an axe. The axe fell, the cable snapped and the spectators screamed – but the platform plunged only two feet.
“All safe gentlemen, all safe,” Otis calmly assured the crowd.
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