The Fascinating History of Screw Driven Lifts

The history of screw-driven lifts is much longer than people think! Screw-driven lifts seem like a recent innovation (the Generation 4 was only recently unveiled by Cibes Lift in 2022). But the very first lift is actually extremely old! It predates OTIS’ first modern traction lift by almost sixty years!

But for this, we need to go back to the 18^th Century, in the Imperial Court of a rising Great Power: Russia.

1. History of Screw-Driven Lifts: Ivan Kubilin and Catherine the Great

As Catherine the Great began to age, she found it difficult to ascend to the second level of her Winter Palace. She tasked the Russian Da Vinci, an inventor called Ivan Kubilin, to come up with a solution.

Specifically however, Catherine wanted a chair, which immediately removed the possibility for a traction type elevator with ropes and cables.

Kubilin found a wonderful solution. He attached the chair to an endless screw, and had the chair move along it like a nut. While Catherine sat, a servant twisted the screw, allowing the chair to rise to the higher floor.

Catherine was delighted, and Ivan Kubilin entered the annals of history as having invented the first screw elevator in 1793.

2. History of Screw-Driven Lifts: Spread Into Sweden

Sweden stands out from other European nations in one important regard: Accessibility Laws. In 1966, after World War II, Sweden was faced with a high amount of mutilated veterans. Thus, Sweden declared that all public or commercial buildings of more than two stories needed to provide an elevator for the specially abled.

This posed a gigantic conundrum – most of these buildings were ancient, packed tightly together, and had no way to install an elevator. Traditional elevators need space and a civil structure. For example, a one meter deep pit, reinforced concrete shaft and a machine room. Not to mention that the price for such a lift was often extremely expensive, and not at all accounted for in the budget.

What to do then?

A savvy inventor called Bertil Svedberg saw the potential of using this ancient but ignored technology: screw drive. He modernized it, and came up with a wonderful product: the screw-driven lift. Eventually, he will become known to history as the founder of Cibes Lift.

This product required no pit, no machine room, needed no shaft, and could be installed in a fraction of the time. A perfect fit for the new Accessibility Laws.

What’s more, it was perfectly designed for wheelchair accessibility with large buttons and swing doors. These features would become a staple of screw-driven lifts as they transitioned to the home segment in the 21^st century.

As Cibes Lift often says: “Wheelchairs are a part of our DNA”

3. The 21^st Century: Home Segment

While public and commercial lifts are still a big part of the market, the 21^st century brought a revolution to home lifts.

Cibes Lift was amongst the first to realize that its advantages for accessibility were more than that. Space saving, no pit, no shaft, no machine room, and able to operate on 1-phase power also made it wondrously suited to homes. All that was missing? A glam up.

The following two decades saw crazy innovation from Cibes. First with its all-glass shaft, then with the introduction of touchscreen models, EcoSilent technology, and connected IoT lifts.

Since then, Cibes Lift has successfully become one of the world’s leaders in high-end home lifts… and continues to innovate to this day!

What do you think? Did you know the storied history of the screw-driven lift?