Advertising related to the world of elevators took its very first steps in the second half of the nineteenth century, when it was realized that it was necessary to promote and tell the story of this type of “invention” in the best possible way. In particular, one of the very first forms of advertising in this sense is represented by the illustrated advertisement of an elevator that appeared in a New York newspaper in 1866. The first illustrated elevator advertisement appeared in a NYC directory in 1866. Here is the advertisement for the company of Edward Hagan, Jr. (successor to Edward Hagan, Sr.) which presented a hand-operated elevator and a hand-operated hoisting machine.A close reading of these engravings reveals that they appear to contain the normative components of hand-powered machines. The elevator featured a large hoisting sheave driven by an endless rope, a brake, a car and a counterweight, while the hoisting machine employed a winding drum and hook. The next year it was time for the advertisement for Alexander Thompson, who described himself as a “patent lever and improved friction roller & hoist wheel manufacturer,” included an illustration of a hand-powered hoisting machine .While somewhat schematic in nature, this image accurately represented the act of hoisting, with the human figure grasping the rope in their hands. The image also appears to represent a machine similar in design (although seen from a different perspective) to that found in the Hagan advertisement. In fact, the engravings produced for the Hagan advertisement by L.B. Covert were recycled for an 1868 advertisement for Rooney & Dobbins. Remarkably, the advertisements for both firms appeared on the same page in the 1868 directory. This set of images continued to be used throughout the 1870s in advertisements for different firms and served as generic representations of this technology.
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