AN ANXIOUS MOMENT AT THE EIFFEL TOWER.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 2665, 10 August 1889, Page 6 (Supplement)

AN ANXIOUS MOMENT AT THE EIFFEL TOWER.

At the Eiffel Tower an experiment was performed which, says the Paris correspondent of tho Times, produced a strong impres.-iou on those present. M. Condiilnin, inspecting engineer of tho Exhibition, in presence of M. Eiilel, M. Salles, engineer, his son-in-law und Mr. Brown, engineer, of tlio American firm of Otis, subjected the Otis lift to a final test beforo handing it over for public use. The lift, which (iunsistH of two apartments, one above tho other, weighs 11,000 kilofrranimw, mid landed with 3,000 kilogrammes of lead—that is to say, >vei>:hitig- 14,000 kilogrammes — was raised to a considerable height. There it was fastened with ordinary ropes, and this done it was detached from the cables of steel wire with which it is worked. What was tu be done was to cut the ropes, and allow the lift to fall, so as to ascertain whether, if the stool cables were to give way, tho breaks would work properly and suppott the. lift. Thorp, were 25 or 30 persona present. After waiting two hours (tho correspondent continues) we were told that the experiment was going to lie made. Two cirpenters, armed with great hatchets, had ascended to the lift, and were ready to cut the cables on r\ signal to be ftiven by Mr. Brown. There was great anxiety. M. Eiffel asked Mr. Brown if he was alarmed, to which the latter replied, with American coolness, " Only two things can happen." Then, turning to the carpenters, Mr. Brown said, " One. two, three." A blow cut the rope. The enormous machine bngan to fall. Everyone was startled, but in its downward course the lift began to move more slowly, it swayed for a moment from left to right, stuck on the break, and stopped. There was general cheering. Not a pane of glass in the lift had been broken or cracked. A powerful arm soetned to have caught the lift in its descent, and to have stopped it without a shock at a height of 10 metres above the ground.