Researched
Skyscraper & Safety Elevator
A load-bearing metal skeleton (Chicago, 1885) plus the safety elevator makes buildings taller than masonry allows.
Open in the interactive tree →William Le Baron Jenney's Home Insurance Building is widely called the first skyscraper because its metal frame carried the weight, not the walls. Elisha Otis had shown a safety brake for elevators in 1854, which made tall buildings usable.
Prerequisites
- Iron Bridge1779
- Bessemer Steel1856
Sources
More in Manufacturing & Construction · Industrial Age
- Crucible Steel~1740
- Mechanized Textile Mills1764-1785
- Machine Tools1775
- Iron Bridge1779
- Puddling & Rolling Mills1783-84
- Centrifugal Governor1788
- Interchangeable Parts~1800–1850
- Jacquard Loom (Punched Cards)1804