By the 18th century, machine power was being applied to the development
of the lift. In 1743, a counterweighted personal lift was
commissioned by Louis XV in France for his personal chambers in
Versailles. By 1833, a system using reciprocating rods raised and
lowered miners in Germany’s Harz Mountains. A belt-driven elevator
called the “teagle” was installed in an English factory in 1835. The
first hydraulic industrial lift powered by water pressure appeared in
1846. As machinery and engineering improved, other powered lifting
devices quickly followed.