Reviewing Waiting Time and Customer Satisfaction in a Service Process

Reviewing Waiting Time and Customer Satisfaction in a Service Process Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present a literature review that highlights major findings from empirical research examining the impact of waiting time on customer satisfaction within various service settings. Design/Methodology/Approach The paper examines the results of past studies that have manipulated specific service settings (layout, fillers, surroundings, resources) and attempts to identify variables that cause less dissatisfaction in a service process. Findings A large number of studies reveal negative influence of waiting time on customer satisfaction. Future research proposals seek to identify the degree of satisfaction in a service delivery process. Originality/Value The review highlights a range of implications drawn from the studies that will be of value to service organization managers who face high customer dissatisfaction and low repeat customers. Keywords Service delivery process, Customer service quality, Customer satisfaction, Waiting time Paper type Literature review Introduction The performance of a service delivery system is inversely proportional to the degree of customers contact (Chase, 1982). The more the customer close to the service system, the longer the customer waiting times in the service delivery system. This cost of longer waiting times in the system can be attributed to (i) the customer walking away from the system and join somewhere else(ii) the customers decision not to come back again in the future and(iii) the customer passing negative experiences to near and dear ones like family and friends. Many studies emphasize the relationship between customer satisfaction in a service process and their loyalty (Anderson, 1994; Dick and Basu, 1994; Fornell et al., 1996; Selness, 2001; Mittal and Kamakura, 2001; Olsen, 2002). The cost of these behaviors by the customer is very difficult to calculate but definitely the sales will go down with each unhappy customer as the cost of retaining a satisfied customer is less than a newly acquired customer (Reic hheld, 1996). According to Lovelock and Gummesson (2004) time plays the central role in most of the services processes and they recommend giving more attention to improving the customers understanding of how they perceive, budget, consume and value time. Many studies focus on the relationship between waiting time and customer satisfaction in a service process (Hui and Tse, 1996; Pruyn and Smidts, 1998). Thus the customers satisfaction can be regarded as the bridge between operational performance of the service firm and subsequent impact on the behavior of the customer towards the service firm. In this study we are trying to understand the factors responsible for dissatisfied customer in a service environment and how it can be minimized through proper and timely allocation of resources in the service process system. Literature Review Waiting Time Time has commonly been regarded as a significant component of the total cost of a transaction, making customers aware that their time is most valuable (Anderson and Shugan, 1991; Jacoby et al., 1976; Kellaris and Kent, 1992). Past research has suggested various dimensions of time that include: pace, urgency, sequencing, separation, scheduling, duration, punctuality, flexibility, linearity, synchronization and present and future time perspectives (Ballard and Seibold, 2004; Owen, 1991; Moore, 1963, Lauer, 1981). The waiting time problem has become an important part of service providers priorities as todays customers are becoming intolerance to waiting time in a service process. Further, consumers do not evaluate service quality solely on the outcome of service, but they evaluate it on the basis of service delivery process and time is the most important factor for evaluating customer satisfaction in a service process (Davis and Vollmann, 1990; Friedman and Friedman, 1997). Additionally waiting tine is the deciding factor for service evaluations for many consumers as they value time more than ever. It is also important to notice in which stage the customer is feeling dissatisfaction in a service encounter. According to Dube-Rioux et al. (1989), the service encounter has three phases: pre- process, in- process and post- process. Research has shown that there is causal effect of service stage, as mentioned by Dube-Rioux (1989), and service delays on consumers reaction to waiting (Hui et al., 199 8; Dube et al., 1991; Dube-Rioux et al., 1989). Dube-Rioux et al. (1989) argue that service delays were less unpleasant than service entry or service exit waits as Hansen and Danaher (1999) showed that service exit exerts a significant effect on consumers perception of service quality and post purchase behavior. Waiting is considered a negative experience from both the economic as well as psychological perspective. Further waiting time is often used as a substitute for cost. The waiting time is an important component of customers overall evaluation of the service (Peritz, 1993). Also the amount of time they spend while checkout from a store influences the overall satisfaction level of the customer (Katz, Larsen, Blaire and Larsen, 1991). Further, research has shown that long waits have a negative effect on customer satisfaction (Chebat and Filiatrault, 1993). Waiting time is often regarded as a waste of time (Leclerc, Schmitt and Dube, 1995; Schwartz, 1975; Rafaeli, 1989; Hui and Tse, 1996; Sheu et al., 2003) and has been described as frustrating boring and irritating (Hui and Tse, 1996; Katz et al., 1991). According to McDonnell (2007), anger and frustration are more likely to happen at bank branches and financial institutions than many other service contact points. Further, research has shown that many consumers dislike waiting in a queue which results in a negative service quality evaluation (Krentler, 1988; Kumar et al., 1997; Houston et al., 1998; Ho and Zheng, 2004). The consumers waiting experience has the direct influence on the perception of service quality (Soloman, Bamossy and Askeggard, 1999). For, wait is considered as a wait prior to being served. Apart from income and price, time is considered as a constraint in consumer purchasing choice (Becker, 1965; Umesh et al., 1989). Many researchers have tried to solve waiting time by providing various strategies like waiting time fillers such as increase of front line employees, video display, news updates or waiting time guarantees (Kumar, Kalwani and Dada, 1997), but failed to eliminate the waiting time dissatisfaction completely. Music can play an important role in reducing dissatisfaction levels for consumers waiting in line (Steve and Oakes, 2008). A waiting time has four dimensions: Objective, subjective, cognitive and effective: Davis and Vollman, 1990;Katz et al., 1991; Taylor, 1994) advocate that objective waiting time is the elapsed time as measured by a stop watch by the customer before being served. The subjective waiting time is the perceived waiting time by the customer (Hui and Tse, 1996; Pruyn and Smidts, 1998). The cognitive waiting time is the customers evaluation of the wait as short versus long (Pruyn and Smidts, 1998), being (or not being) acceptable, reasonable and tolerable (Durrande- Mpreau, 1999). The affective aspect of the waiting time is the emotional response to waiting like irritation, boredom, frustration, pleasure, stress, happiness etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ (Taylor, 1994; Hui and Tse, 1996; Pruyn and Smidts, 1998). However the perceived waiting time is different from objective waiting time (Barnett and Saponaro, 1985; Hirsch, Bilger and Heatherage, 1950; Hornik, 1984). The effect of waiting time on customers perceptions of customer satisfaction relates positively to the wait to the customer and moderated by the reason for the wait (Nicole and Tony, 2006). Also the perception of waiting time is affected by anxiety level and queue length (Hornik, 1984; Maister, 1984). The wait dissatisfaction in a service process can be lowered if the overall service meets the customers expectations. Customers are willing to wait if they anticipate benefits through the consumption of a service (Zeithaml et al., 1993). Customer Satisfaction Customer satisfaction is of utmost importance to the service providers and scholars (Babin and Griffin, 1998; Oliver, 1999) in todays highly competitive business environment. Customer satisfaction is conceived to be part of an overall model of customer behavior (Bearden and Teele, 1983). One such model presented by Oliver (1980) is shown in the figure below (Figure 1). The Role of Satisfaction in a Customer Behavior Model Expectations à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Performance à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Disconfirmations à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" SATISFACTION à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Attitudes à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Intentions à ¢Ã¢â‚¬  Ã¢â‚¬Å" Future Behavior Figure 1 Sasser et al. (1978) identify three different models by which customers evaluate overall satisfaction with a service. These are: One overpowering attribute A single attribute with threshold minimums for other attributes A weighted average of attributes According to the expectancy disconfirmation model, satisfaction/ dissatisfaction is a function of expectations and disconfirmations of the consumer (Oliver, 1980; Oliver and DeSabro, 1988). According to Davis and Heineke (1998), customers reaction to waiting in line can color his/her perception of the service delivery process. Further, customer satisfaction is affected not just by waiting time but also by the customers expectations or attribution or determination of the causes for the waiting(Bitner, 1990; Churchill and Suprenant, 1982; Folkes , 1984; Folkes, Koletsky and Graham, 1987; Maister, 1985; Oliver, 1980; Shostack, 1985; Taylor, 1994; Tom and Lucey, 1995; Tse and Wilton, 1988). Also in a service delays, the stage in which a delay occurs within a service encounter affects customer evaluations of the service quality (Dube et al., 1989;, Hui et al., 1998). The overestimating of waiting time by the consumers (Hornik, 1984; Katz, Larson and Larson, 1991) leads to more dissatisfaction as customers perception of waiting time increases, the satisfaction tends to decrease (Katz et al., 1991). Customer satisfaction is inversely related to waiting time (Davis and Maggard, 1990); that is the longer a customer waits, the less satisfied or more dissatisfied he/she becomes with the service process. In their study on two stage service process, they found that customer satisfaction is more affected by the initial wait of the customer prior to entering the service process, than it is by subsequent waits in the process. Their study was supported by Sasser, Olsen and Wyckoff (1978) and Maister (1985).Davis and Maggard (1990) suggest management to devote extra time and resources toward initial stage of the wait. This priority is necessary because a dissatisfied restaurant customer tells fifty other people about his/her dissatisfaction (Lyth and Johnson, 1998). Parasuraman et als (1985) study on relationship between waiting time and perceived service quality has been widely accepted by the research and industry communities. The gap between the perception and expectation for waiting experience determines the customer satisfaction with waiting (Maister, 1985). Davis and Vollman(1990) argue that in most of the service operations, customer expectations and satisfaction with respect to waiting time are dependent on many factors including: The customers prior experience, the number of customers in the service facility, criticality of time to the customer and other distractions, intended or otherwise. According to Hornik (1984) consumers often inclined to overestimate time spent on waiting and the delay can influence affective reactions (Dube-Rioux et al., 1989; Hui and Tse, 1996; Taylor, 1994). Prior research suggests that crowding at the service process also affects the customers satisfaction (Eroglu et al., 2005; Michon et al., 2005). That means a perception of extremely un -crowded and extremely crowded environments at the service area lead to lower customer satisfaction. This means the service managers should allocate human resources wisely when the crowd is low. Conversely, more number of service personals should be devoted when the crowd is very high. Taylor (1994) argues that customers anger and their evaluation of punctuality affect the overall performance of a service process. The customers satisfaction with wait is also influenced by customers perception of service providers social justice(Larson, 1987) that is whether the provider is adhering to first come first serve basis or not. Piyush et al. (1997) argue that the customer satisfaction in wait is also influenced by the waiting time guarantee provided by the service providers. Customer satisfaction in a retail setting has been linked to a number of important outcomes, including sales performance, customer retention and loyalty (Darian et al., 2001; Wong and Sohal, 2003; Gomez et al., 2004; Anselsson, 2006; Martenson, 2007). Apart from retail, the customer satisfaction is a prerequisite for other customer service outcomes including customer retention and customer loyalty, sales/profitability and market share for many organizations (Hackl and Westlund, 2000; Reichheld, 1996) as losing a customer result in the cost associated with replacement of that customer (Reichheld and Sasser, 1990). According to Anderson et al. (1994) the customer satisfaction is positively related to the profit of the service provider. Additionally, the role of service satisfaction is believed to directly shape a customers long term relation with the service provider (Gronroos, 1984). The waiting time can be distracted with the help of television sets, newspapers, magazines, wall posters etcà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ as filled time appears to pass more quickly than empty time (McGrath and Kelly, 1986). This can be applied to reduce the waiting dissatisfaction but not to enhance the customer satisfaction as superior waiting experiences will, in turn, enhance customers overall satisfaction with the service provider. Information provided in case of delay (Hui and Tse, 1996; Antonides et al., 2002) and the characteristics of waiting environment (Pruyn and Smidts, 1998) determine the customers waiting time satisfaction. According to Maister (1985) any information regarding delay can reduce the uncertainty of wait and reduce the overall stress level of the customer. As mentioned by Baker and Cameron (1996) the service environment influences the affective aspect of the waiting times. Also Pruyn and Smidts (1998) show that perceived attractiveness of the environment positively influences the affective response to the wait and service satisfaction in addition to the appraisal of the wait. But satisfaction with the information provided in case of delays influence waiting time satisfaction more than waiting environment satisfaction (Frederic and Nathalie, 2007). The customers waiting time can be influenced by making the service environment comfortable as possible (Baker and Cameron, 1996). Future directions for research Since the current study focuses on the influence of waiting time on customer satisfaction at various stages of the service transformation process, the exact degree of satisfaction is unclear from the study. Davis and Maggard (1990) argue that in a two stage service process, stage one requires priority where customer waits before being served. Future research is required to assess the degree of priority in the various stages of service process.

The Evil Eye in The Tell-Tale Heart Essay -- Tell-Tale Heart Essays

The Evil Eye in The Tell-Tale Heart  Ã‚        Ã‚   In Edgar Allen Poe's Short story "The Tell-Tale Heart" much is made of the "evil eye" of the old man. Immediately we are introduced to a man who would never hurt a fly. The narrator of the story even goes so far as to say he loved the old man. This old man is portrayed as one who would do anything for you. However, the caretaker of the old man has one small problem with the old man. The eye that darn evil eye! What could cause a person to become enraged by an eye and only one eye?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Martha Womack stated that the violence comes from an irrational fear represented through the old man's eye. "The belief in the evil eye dates back to ancient times, and even today, is fairly common in India and the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. References are made to it in Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist and Hindu faiths" (Poedecoder). Womack goes on to compare the "evil eye" to a Medusa type object that is being able to harm a person just by looking at them. This comparison goes to support my theory of a God like entity within the eye of the old man.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many people have attempted to rationalize the meaning of the single "evil eye." Some people have attempted to relate the old man to a Cyclops. However, I see this eye from a Christian point of view. The eye is not "evil" in the sense of the devil instead in my humble opinion it is the eye of God. I agreed with B. D. Tucker. The first thing I attempted to do, was relate the Cyclops theory however, this did not sit well with me. The reason the Cyclops theory does not fit the story is that in the second paragraph Poe writes, "One of his eyes resembled that of a vulture" (Kennedy 34). The mythical Greek creature had only o... ...deas for what the story could represent. After studying the "Evil eye" in this story, I have no doubt that the eye is that of God. Work Cited Benfey, Christopher. "Poe and the Unreadable: 'The Black Cat' and 'The Tell-Tale Heart " New Essays on poe's Major Tales viii (1993): 27-43 Canario, John W. "The Dream in 'The Tell-Tale Heart." English-Language-Notes 7 (1970): 194-97 Great Seal. Homepage 1 March 2001. Great Seal. 5 July 2001 Kennedy, X. J., 7th ed. An Introduction to Fiction. NewYork: Longman, 1998: 33-7 The Poe Decoder. Home page. 12 April 2001.   The Poe Decoder. 5 July 2001 www.poedecoder.com> Robinson, E. Arthur. "Thoreau and the deathwatch in Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart." Poe-Studies 4:1 (1971): 14-6 Tucker, B. D. "The Tell-Tale Heart and the Evil Eye." Southern-Literary-Journal 13:2 (1981 Spring): 92-8

Pride and Prejudice Essay

Successful Marriage l: Biography Looked upon as being one of the most influential and popular writers during the romantic period, Jane Austen published many romance novels, such as her most famous, Pride and Prejudice. Austen focused her writings on the importance of â€Å"romantic love as a true happiness to marriage† (Olsen 426). Having not experienced marriage, Jane often based her stories off of her familys romance. Jane was born into a middle class family with very little income; Jane used her lack of money to inspire new novels. She mainly focused her novels over social standings and how love is haracterized as true happiness. Her focus on love began when her siblings married for money rather than love. Austen strived to fix the many family issues by creating â€Å"fairy tale stories† ending â€Å"happily with the heroines marrying the men they loved† (Ruth 50). Jane Austen wrote her novels around the controversy of whether love should be based upon increasing one’s â€Å"social status† or â€Å"falling in love† (Bernard 34). Jane creates romance novels to replace the love that’s missing in her life. From growing up in a poor family Jane rarely received the opportunity to find love and arry a suitable husband, giving her thoughts and dreams of what her life would be like if she found marriage through love. Austen’s novels portray that marriage shouldn’t be based upon personal wishes such as money or class, but for one to be happy one should find love. In the novel, Pride and Prejudice, the author shows that despite social pressure, for a marriage to be successful it must be based upon love. II: Pride and Prejudice The novel Pride and Prejudice is surrounded with young couples and the issue of marriage through social class and public opinion. Many critics follow Jane Austen’s heme that love builds to create a happy successful marriage. The critic Bilal Hasan follows Austen’s theme and supports the theory that one shouldn’t marry for money if they plan on being happy. Also, he believes that â€Å"through their relationship Jane Austen shows that a hasty marriage based on superficial qualities looks and leads to unhappiness† (Hasan). Both supporting Jane’s theme over happy marriage, the critic Rachel Davies uses the qualities of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s love to show a successful marriage. â€Å"Darcy and Elizabeth’s love is genuine, existing despite social arriers† (Davies). Davies relates Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage to the marriage of Charlotte and Mr. Collins, comparing that due to the burden Charlotte held on her family, she created a limit to finding love. Charlotte became a â€Å"burden to her family’ when she became the age not very few men adored to marry; she hadn’t found love and caused her to marry for money (Olsen 425). Austen chooses to influence all the characters to show their struggles between them, providing that they all come to the reality that â€Å"without money, it is probable marriage will not happen† (Disney). Many focus on the differences in financial status when finding marriage. A woman who is a burden would more like to marry a man of wealthy class without caring whether she was in love. The character Elizabeth Bennet money. Jane Austen writes that for a man to best show his love for a woman, he would ask for her hand in the next dance at the ball. Money divides real love and incites false love initially in Pride and Prejudice. Love is shown to demolish the seeming impossibility of Darcy and Elizabeth’s marriage† (Davies). She does believe that there is a relation between love and money in marriage. Money to some she believes, can buy happiness, but love overpowers money and creates a strong everlasting bond in a marriage, while money can be lost. An example would be â€Å"when Darcy pays Wickham to marry Lydia, thus giving Elizabeth feelings towards Darcy for caring for her family’ (Davies). Austen herself faced the issues of money on marriage, creating a similar character named Charlotte. Despite that Austen never was forced to choose to marry for money instead of love; Jane created Charlotte in comparison how they both became a burden to their families. Charlotte later in Pride and Prejudice marries Mr. Collins, only to simply please her parents and â€Å"secure herself financially’, creating an unhappy marriage and making them â€Å"the darkest note in the novel† (Paris 34). By choosing to marry Mr. Collins, Charlotte increased her social status by removing herself from a burden to her family any longer. People cannot always fall in love where they choose, but their choice of a marriage partner should not be governed primarily by concerns for money or status† (Paris 34). Both critics Davies and Hasan support Jane’s theme, that love is the key to a successful happy marriage. Hasty marriages acting on impulse and based on superficial qualitie s will not survive and will lead to unhappiness† (Hasan). Davies continues to discuss the importance of marriage based upon love, yet also follows that money contributes to creating a happy marriage. There are very few critics who can argue that Austen doesn’t show that love creates a bond for successful marriage. Yet at the same time, arguing with her opinion, Jane states that money is also important in finding marriage. â€Å"Neither Elizabeth nor Colonel Fitzwilliam would marry for money, but they must hope to fall n love with someone who has money’ (Paris 34). Many women during the eighteenth century didn’t receive any of their familys money or dowries after the death of their father. Having no money caused many to search for a suitable wealthy husband, with the small hope of finding love in the process. The critic Katie Disney argues that Austen does not suggest the theme that love is the most important, but â€Å"shows her obvious unhappiness with the way marriages work† (Disney). The conversation between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet shows their desire to quickly marry their five daughters to rich well-known men. With higher class came the responsibility to find a wife similar to their class and share the wealth among their families. â€Å"It is truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife† (Austen 1). Jane makes clear that wealthy men of a higher class sought to find a bride similar to them. Yet, Jane contradicts her belief by making Mr. Darcy fall in love with Elizabeth Bennet, a lower middle class woman: â€Å"He is so much in love, however, that he decides to make a social sacrifice for the sake of personal satisfaction† (Paris 35). To most, money is seen as a necessary possession, but also is used to secure ones financial future: â€Å"Money in Pride and Prejudice is used to buy one’s way, or marry one’s way, to a higher social rank† (Copeland 74). There is no ruling that marriage should be solely founded either on love or money. Women are seen as the main audience of Pride and Prejudice, and as we grow up, we become planted with the notion of â€Å"ending happily ever after. † Love is always a major theme in every fairy tale; either a prince rescues the princess and they fall madly in love or the girl finds her true love and is destined to live a happy life. The novel Pride and Prejudice is seen by many as one of the most famous fairy tales. Jane Austen creates the novel based upon her dreams of what her life could be. A fairy tale doesn’t always consist of witches and dragons, yet Austen creates characters who share similar characteristics. The character Lady Catherine shares the qualities of an evil witch who wishes happiness for none but herself. Austen creates Lady Catherine as a wealthy woman of high society who looks down to everyone, believing that marriage should remain within the family and love is unimportant. Pride and Prejudice can be related to a fairy tale not only for its characters but for its happy ending. The novel can be compared to one of the most known fairy tales, Cinderella. Mr. Darcy is the wealthy sophisticated prince who falls in love with the maiden, Elizabeth Bennet. Elizabeth fantasizes of one day finding the man of her dreams. Another comparison to Cinderella would be that Elizabeth as well as Cinderella is first introduced to her future husband at a ball. Also, both female characters at first play hard to get. In the beginning Elizabeth is disgusted by Mr. Darcy and his arrogance towards those of lower class. Social status was important in the eighteenth century; many women were born into lower class but were not accepted into society unless they married a wealthy man. Yet, in the end Elizabeth falls madly in love with Darcy and of course they live â€Å"happily ever after† Just like in a fairy tale. Even in animated movies today such as Shrek, the fairy tale romance of living happily ever after exists. The main character Shrek, in this movie is in much relation to Elizabeth due to their social standings. Both have little to offer for those of higher class such as Darcy or Fiona. Despite the fact that she is also an ogre, Fiona is the daughter of the King and Queen. Even though their social standards are very different they are able to overcome this because of their strong love they have for each other. In the end of the movie, Shrek leaves the audience with the allusion of this couple living happily ever after. Not everyone searches for love and many don’t believe they will every fall in love. Often we wonder if love can truly be the answer to one’s happiness. In many ways love is unknown, but we must open our heart to possible opportunities. Yes fairy tales can be thought of as make believe, but they also provide a base for a life e can all hope and dream about. Like Pride and Prejudice all of Jane Austen’s novels follow the theme of love conquering all. Austen created her novels based upon the dreams and life she never had. Much like her characters, Austen dreamed of falling madly in love and living happily ever after. All of Austen’s books leave female readers with the hope of finding their true soul mate. Reading a Jane Austen novel is a way to escape everyday pressures and explore a world of love and passion. Many couples today must overcome the obstacles of social pressure and money; however successful marriages are based upon love.

The History of Elevators From Top to Bottom

By definition, an elevator is a platform or an enclosure raised and lowered in a vertical shaft to transport people and freight. The shaft contains the operating equipment, motor, cables, and accessories. Primitive elevators were in use as early as the third century B.C.E. and were  operated by human, animal, or water wheel power. In 1743, a counter-weighted, man-powered personal elevator was built for King Louis XV, connecting his apartment in Versailles with that of his mistress, Madame de Chà ¢teauroux, whose quarters were one floor above his own. 19th Century Elevators From about the middle of the 19th century, elevators were powered, often steam-operated,  and were used for transporting materials in factories, mines, and warehouses. In 1823, two architects named Burton and Homer built an ascending room, as they called it. This crude elevator was used to lift paying tourists to a platform for a panoramic view of London. In 1835, architects Frost and Stuart built the Teagle, a belt-driven, counter-weighted and steam-driven lift was developed in England. In 1846, Sir William Armstrong introduced the hydraulic crane and by the early 1870s, hydraulic machines began to replace the steam-powered elevator. The hydraulic elevator is supported by a heavy piston, moving in a cylinder and is operated by the water (or oil) pressure produced by pumps. The Elevator Brakes of Elisha Otis In 1852, American inventor Elisha Otis moved to Yonkers, New York  to work for the bedstead firm of Maize Burns. It was the owner of the company, Josiah Maize, that inspired Otis to start designing elevators.  Maize needed a new hoisting device to lift heavy equipment to the upper floor of his factory. In 1853, Otis demonstrated a freight elevator equipped with a safety device to prevent falling in case a supporting cable broke. This increased public confidence in such devices. In 1853, Otis established a company for manufacturing elevators and patented a steam elevator. For Josiah Maize, Otis invented something he called an  Improvement in Hoisting Apparatus Elevator Brake and demonstrated his new invention to the public  at the Crystal Palace Exposition in New York  in 1854. During the demonstration, Otis hoisted the elevator car to the top of the building and  then deliberately cut the elevator hoisting cables. However, instead of crashing, the elevator car was stopped because of the brakes that Otis had invented. While Otis did not actually invent the first elevator, his brakes, used in modern elevators, made skyscrapers a practical reality. In 1857, Otis and the Otis Elevator Company began manufacturing passenger elevators. A steam-powered passenger elevator was installed by the Otis Brothers in a five-story department store owned by E.W.  Haughtwhat Company of Manhattan. It was the worlds first public elevator. Elisha Otis Biography Elisha Otis was born on Aug. 3, 1811, in Halifax, Vermont, the youngest of six children. At the age of twenty, Otis moved to Troy, New York and worked as a wagon driver. In 1834, he married Susan A. Houghton and had two sons with her. Unfortunately, his wife died, leaving Otis a young widower with two small children.In 1845, Otis moved to Albany, New York after marrying his second wife, Elizabeth A. Boyd. Otis found a job as a master mechanic making bedsteads for Otis Tingley Company. It was here that Otis first began inventing. Among his first inventions were a railway safety brake, rail turners for speeding the making of rails for four-poster beds and the improved turbine wheel.Otis died of diphtheria on April 8th, 1861 in Yonkers, New York. Electric Elevators Electric elevators came into  use toward the end of the 19th century. The first one was built by the German inventor Werner von Siemens in 1880. Black inventor, Alexander Miles patented an electric elevator (U.S. pat#371,207) on Oct. 11, 1887.