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| Born | 1805 Liverpool |
| Died | 1884 | Age 79 |
Peter Ellis - 1868
Peter Ellis installed the first paternoster lift or elevator in Oriel Chambers, Liverpool in 1868. He was born in Liverpool Lancashire on 1st August 1805.The Paternoster Principal
Unlike an elevator that stops at each floor and opens then closes a door, the paternoster lift has multiple pods that travel continuously on a loop passing every floor. The pods or chambers are open with no doors capable of carrying two people or more. A passenger steps into a pod as it ascending then alights when it passes the required level, all while it moves at steady, moderate speed.
The name comes from the Latin for Our Father', which begins the Lord's Prayer and maybe good advice before you attempt to board the lift.
Patents
In 1877, British engineer Peter Hart obtained a patent on a paternoster and in 1884, in Dartford, England, the engineering firm of J & E Hall installed its first "Cyclic Elevator", using Hart's patent, in a London office block.
The Paternoster became very popular in Europe where many still operate. Britain has a remaining paternoster in Sheffield University.
Oriel Chambers building, designed by Peter Ellis, remains one of finest and most influential architectural design of its age. One of the first office buildings to use an iron framework structure, its innovative design had a considerable influence on office buildings across the world, inspiring John Root's early Chicago skyscrapers and shaping the New York skyline we know today.
