"Without it there would be no such thing as a city skyline, or even a city as we know it. Yet Elisha Graves Otis invented the safe elevator almost by accident. He wanted simply to build a machine that would hoist a bedding factory's equipment safely. He built it, all right - and in doing so made possible the construction of the skyscraper and laid the technical foundation for dynamic urban centers around the world.". "In Otis: Giving Rise to the Modern City, Jason Goodwin recounts the story of the product and the business that Elisha Otis created. It is a peculiarly American tale of continuous growth and reinvention that continues even today at an ever-faster pace. Founded in 1853 in a ramshackle foundry on the Hudson River in Yonkers, New York, the company survived wars and depressions, bested competitors, and never took its eye off technological innovation. It transformed itself from a gritty manufacturer into an inventive engineering power and, ultimately, a sophisticated global enterprise."--BOOK JACKET.