The Express Lift Company was a division of General Electric Company plc (GEC) based in Northampton, England which manufactured lifts/elevators. It was one of UK's largest non-foreign-owned lift manufacturers. It was acquired by Otis in 1997.[1]
History
The General Electric Company (GEC) logo
The Express Lift Company was formed in 1917 as a merger between Easton Lift Company and The General Electric Company (GEC). In the 1920s, the company began using Ward Leonard (Motor-generator) equipment under license from Westinghouse. In 1930, Smith, Major & Stevens merged with Express Lift[2] and productions moved to the Abbey Works in Northampton, where the site was built by Smith, Major & Stevens in 1909. Express Lift installed its first escalator in 1932 at the Earl Court Exhibition Centre in London. It was based on Westinghouse's design.
In 1950, Express Lift expanded its business to South Africa by acquiring local company Premier Lift Company.
In the late 1970s, Express Lift built the Express Lift Tower (now National Lift Tower), a lift testing tower in Northampton, England to facilitate lift/elevator testing and research of Express Lift. It was completed in 1982 and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II on 12 November 1982. Also in 1978, Express Lift launched its first group control elevator system with microprocessors.
In 1983, Express Lift formed Lift Components Limited with the intention to sell elevator parts to the UK elevator industry.
Express Lift merged with Leicester-based Evans Lifts to form Express Evans in 1995. Two years later, Express Evans was taken over by Otis Elevator Company. In addition, General Electric Company's representative in Hong Kong was taken over by Otis in 1999. After Express Evans was taken over, Otis Elevator Company revived the Express Evans brand in both the UK (where it is known as Express Evans)[3] and Hong Kong (where it is simply known as Express)[4][5] in which nowadays both companies are subsidiaries of Otis. The name Express Evans is also used in the new Gen2 based Express MRL elevators in the UK.[3] Also in 2003, EXPRESS Elevator Co., Ltd. was set up in Suzhou, China as a subsidiary of Otis and belongs to their subsidiary, Sigma.[6]
National Lift Tower
The National Lift Tower (formerly The Express Lift Tower) is a lift testing tower formerly owned by Express Lift in their Abbey Works site in Northampton, England from 1982 until its closure in 1997. Designed by architect Maurice Walton of Stimpson Walton Bond, it replaced the previous 60 feet tower that had been operating since 1932. The structure was commenced in 1978 and construction works began in 1980 which lasted for two years. It was officially opened on 12 November 1982 by Queen Elizabeth II.
The tower was granted a Grade II listed building status on 30 October 1997 after Express Lift closed down. In 1999, Wilcon Homes purchased the tower and its surroundings for redevelopment. Ten years later, it reopened under the new name National Lift Tower after becoming privately owned.
The tower is 127.5 meters tall and has a diameter of 14.6 meters at the base and tapers to 8.5 meters at the top. When it was completed, it was the tallest and only lift testing tower in the UK. It has six elevator shafts for testing lifts of varying heights and speeds plus one staircase. There was also a three storey laboratory and an observation deck on the top where the lift machinery were placed. The tower is also known locally as the "Northampton Lighthouse".
Notable products
- DMR Control: A group control elevator system for high rise buildings with Relay logic and DC motor. Based on the Westinghouse Selectomatic system. DMR stands for Drag Magnet Regulator.
- VVT: Computerized version of DMR with DC motor from mid 1980s.
- VVM: Traction elevator model with ACVV motor from mid 1980s.
- QVT: Traction elevator model with AC-VVVF control with technologies from OTIS from early 1990s, But remain GEC Express name on control panel and motor.
- QVF2: Traction elevator model with improved AC-VVVF control with technologies from OTIS from mid to late 1990s. Some parts of this model such as motor even branded as Otis.
- MCS-321: It is just rebranded OTIS same model elevator. With OTIS MCS-321 controller and OTIS 13VTR/17CT/18ATF motor. It is for installation of previous tenders and it is the final model of the company.
- ETP, ETQ and ETO: Express Lift's microprocessor controller.
- Quantum Dispatcher Overlay System (Q-DOS & Q-DOS(M)): Microprocessor controller for upgrading older Express Lift relay controls[7].
Elevator fixtures
- Main article: List of Express (United Kingdom) elevator fixtures
Notable installations
- Main article: List of notable Express Lift elevator installations
Trivia
- In New Zealand, most Express Lift elevators are maintained by Schindler and have Schindler name plate (many have not been modernized by them, but they still have Schindler name plate).
- A few Express Lift elevators in Singapore and Hong Kong are often labelled as GEC (General Electric Company) or GEC Express[8] and all of those brand are not appeared in the United Kingdom.
- Apart from installing Express Lift elevators, the Singapore, Malaysia and British Hong Kong subsidiaries of GEC were also distributor of Italy made Fiam elevators, escalators and dumbwaiters in their respective countries. It is unknown if this was also the same case in their homeland, United Kingdom.
- In Hong Kong, almost every Fiam elevators bear the GEC Hong Kong brand on the nameplate. Some elevators have had their GEC name covered by an Otis logo as Otis Hong Kong maintain them.
- GEC's Singaporean subsidiaries was also a distributor of SAN-LINE escalators made by Permaline Industrial Corporation of the Philippines[9]. Examples of these installations can be found in Upper Serangoon Shopping Centre[10]. Another was also found in The Arcade[11] but that was replaced into a Schindler escalator in 2016.
- Express also made escalators under partnership with Fiam, and branded as "Express Fiam".[12] Express had installed Fiam elevators mainly in Singapore and Hong Kong, and this relationship may have led to Express making escalators with Fiam.
- The Express Lift DMR Control, a programmed group control system elevator for high rise buildings, was developed under technical partnership with Westinghouse Electric Corp. of the United States. It was based on the Westinghouse Selectomatic system.
- Express Lift also had a product licensing with the Australian-based Elevators Pty. Ltd. (or known as EPL KONE), therefore some older EPL KONE elevator machinery equipments often have the Express Lifts brand badge.[13] In addition, Express Lift elevators in Australia were distributed by Elevators Pty. Ltd.
Gallery
Logos and nameplates
Others
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Northamptonshire - A Sense Of Place - 360 degree panoramic image of the Northampton Lift Tower, BBC, December, 2003
- ↑ Smith, Major and Stevens
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Otis is now using ExpressEvans name again!
- ↑ Express Traction Elevator at Front Wing, Montane Mansion, Quarry Bay, Hong Kong
- ↑ Nowadays, Express (Hong Kong) which is a distributor of Diebold Aufzüge (elevators) and Hyundai (escalators).
- ↑ Brand History - EXPRESS
- ↑ Another Quantum Leap - Express Lift (Archived)
- ↑ Express lift with GEC logo
- ↑ Newspaper Article - Page 9 Advertisements Column 1, The Straits Times, 6 March 1978, Page 9 - NewspaperSG
- ↑ Obsolete! Rare San-Line escalators @ Upp S'goon Shpg Ctr - YouTube
- ↑ The Arcade, Raffles Place, Singapore - GEC Escalator - YouTube
- ↑ Express Fiam Escalator
- ↑ Express Lifts nameplate on EPL KONE machinery
External links
- Express Lift history booklet from 1982 (Archived version)
- History diagram of General Electric Company
- Official website of National Lift Tower
- National Lift Tower - Wikipedia
- Express Lifts (Hong Kong) Co. Ltd. - now a smaller elevator company in Hong Kong
- EXPRESS Elevator Co., Ltd. (Suzhou, China)
- Express Lift in Beno Lift Guide
| Major elevator and escalator companies | |
|---|---|
| Full list of companies | List of elevator and escalator companies |
| Operating | Fujitec • Hitachi • Hyundai • Kone • Mitsubishi Electric (Shanghai Mitsubishi) • Otis (Otis Electric • Sigma) • Schindler • TK Elevator • Toshiba |
| Defunct | Dover Elevators • Express Lift • Orenstein & Koppel • Thyssen • thyssenkrupp • Westinghouse |
| Other companies | Third-party elevator maintenance companies |