The End

Collection Twenty-Five

The cartoons in these collections depict a mere slice of elevator history. If the craft of cartooning had existed during the British and German Industrial Revolutions of the mid-1700's steam, gas and water hydraulic elevators would have been targeted. Life in those days was difficult for the average "man with the tools" and humor might have lightened the workmen's mundane world. However, cartoonists can only function in the print medium and trade publications had yet to emerge. It was only with the birth of ELEVATOR WORLD in 1953 that a forum for the cartoonists appeared. They began with the era of the electric elevator.

Through graphic humor elevator industry members may walk down memory lane - from operatorless elevators to full automatic and the popularity of oil hydraulic equipment. With the arrival of each innovation - automatic doors, electric eyes, a proliferation of operating fixtures and signals - history was written anew - and the pen of the cartoonist became poised for attack! The cartoonist saw each new component or system as a challenge; how could it be portrayed as harmful, threatening and/or inefficient? The titillation was in the conflict between these negatives and the traditional role of the vertical transportation industry in providing, installing and maintaining safest and most reliable public transportation equipment!

Industry insiders will be drawn to the electromechanical environment behind the scenes while building owners and managers - and the passengers, of course - will smile at the twisted portrayals of the public world of vertical transportation ridership.

Cartoon viewers will find it a short step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Hopefully, laughter or a short chuckle will provide a temporary relief from the utilitarian world of the staid, serious and familiar!.

. . . WCS

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