Bids were invited for two elevators on this basis—one each for the north and south legs. Here the unprecedented character of the matter became evident—there was not a firm in France willing to undertake the work. The American Elevator Company, the European branch of Otis Brothers & Company, did submit a proposal through its Paris office, Otis Ascenseur Cie., but the Commission was compelled to reject it because a clause in the fair’s charter prohibited the use of any foreign material in the construction of the Tower. Furthermore, there was a strong prejudice against foreign contractors, which, because of the general background of disfavor surrounding the project during its early stages, was an element worth serious consideration by the Commission. The bidding time was extended, and many attempts were made to attract a native design but none was forthcoming.

[Larger Image]
Figure 24.—General arrangement of
Otis elevator system in Eiffel Tower.
(From The Engineer (London),
July 19, 1889, vol. 68, p. 58.)

As time grew short, it became imperative to resolve the matter, and the Commission, in desperation, awarded the contract to Otis in July 1887 for the amount of $22,500.[10] A curious footnote to the affair appeared much later in the form of a published interview[11] with W. Frank Hall, Otis’ Paris representative:

“Yes,” said Mr. Hall, “this is the first elevator of its kind. Our people for thirty-eight years have been doing this work, and have constructed thousands of elevators vertically, and many on an incline, but never one to strike a radius of 160 feet for a distance of over 50 feet. It has required a great amount of preparatory study and we have worked on it for three years.”

“That was before you got the contract?”

“Quite so, but we knew that, although the French authorities were very reluctant to give away this piece of work, they would be bound to come to us, and so we were preparing for them.”

Such supreme confidence must have rapidly evaporated as events progressed. Despite the invaluable advertising to be derived from an installation of such distinction, the Otises would probably have defaulted had they foreseen the difficulties which preceded completion of the work.

The proposed system ([fig. 24]) was based fundamentally upon Otis’ standard hydraulic elevator, but it was recognizable only in basic operating principle ([fig. 25]). Tracks of regular rail section replaced the guides because of the incline, and the double-decked cabin ([fig. 29]) ran on small flanged wheels. This much of the apparatus was really not unlike that of an ordinary inclined railway. Motive power was provided by the customary hydraulic cylinder ([fig. 26]), set on an angle roughly equal to the incline of the lower section of run. Balancing the cabin’s dead weight was a counterpoise carriage ([fig. 27]) loaded with pig iron that traveled on a second set of rails beneath the main track. Like the driving system, the counterweight was rope-geared, 3 to 1, so that its travel was about 125 feet to the cabin’s 377 feet.