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This article is about the defunct elevator company in São Paulo, Brazil. For the defunct American elevator company, see Atlas Elevator Co. (Northern California).


Atlas Elevadores S.A. (also known as Elevadores Atlas or simply ATLAS and later Atlas Schindler) was an elevator company based in São Paulo, Brazil. They made residential, commercial and freight elevators as well as escalators and automatic parking systems. It was a subsidiary of the Villares Steel group.

History[]

Comercial Escaladoras Atlas ISO9001

A 1994 ad published on the Veja magazine showcasing the ISO9001 quality standard obtained by Atlas. "There's one thing only Atlas escalators can transport: ISO9001."

The company was established on January 10, 1918 in the neighborhood of Cambuci, São Paulo, and started as a small workshop for elevator installation and maintenance known as "Lowsby & Pirie", named after the founders who were two English engineers, AM Lowsby and Frederich James Pirie. In the early 1920s, Carlos Dumont Villares joined the company and was renamed to "Pirie, Villares & Cia", but he died in an accident in 1922. His brother, Luiz Dumont Villares, took over the workshop. In 1926, Luiz, after visiting Westinghouse's factory in Pennsylvania in his honeymoon, established a technology sharing agreement between the American and Brazilian companies. Around the 1940s, the "Atlas" brand was established. In 1954, Atlas brought the first escalator and automatic parking system to Brazil. The company remained independent until May 24, 1999 when Schindler acquires 63.64% of the shares of Elevadores Atlas, and later it became "Elevadores Atlas Schindler S.A.", or simply "Atlas Schindler". They are still the national leader in vertical transportation and manufacturing. They were also responsible for developing the Schindler NeoLift and other elevator models sold by Schindler in South and Central Americas.

Notable products[]

  • Supertrafic: Group control system elevator (?)
  • Supertronic ATLAS: Group control system elevator (?)
  • Signal Control: Not to be confused with Otis Signal Control.
  • Ghost Voice: Automated floor announcements
  • Modular: Escalators
  • Sigma: Escalators

Notable installations[]

Brazil[]

  • All of the public and/or federally owned buidings in the city of Brasília (installed circa 1957-1962, most have been modernized by Atlas Schindler or other companies)
  • Shopping Pátio Paulista, São Paulo (1989, modernized by Atlas Schindler in 2016)
  • Shopping Pátio Higienópolis, São Paulo, 1999 and 2008(new expansion of the shopping centre)
  • Shopping Iguatemi, São Paulo
  • Hospital Sírio-Libanês, São Paulo
  • Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, São Paulo
  • Countless metro stations in São Paulo (various models, dates and equipment, most were modernized by other companies)
  • Congonhas Airport, São Paulo
  • FIESP Tower, São Paulo (Modernized with The PORT Technology)
  • MASP Museum, São Paulo
  • Edificio Italia, São Paulo (1965, modernized into Schindler 5500 in 2017, also includes the completely original Circolo Italiano Elevators)
  • Edificio Mirante do Vale, São Paulo
  • City of São Paulo Municipal Chamber, São Paulo (modernized with Schindler Miconic 10)

Argentina[]

  • Galerias Pacifico Shopping Center, Buenos Aires
  • Alto Palermo Shopping Center, Buenos Aires

Chile[]

  • Falabella Department Store, Viña del Mar, Valparaíso

Other countries[]

  • Centro Comercial Central, No. 60-62, Avenida do Infante Dom Henrique, Sé, Macau, China (replaced into Shanghai Mitsubishi)
  • 351 Prince Edward Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong (1992)
  • Singgasana Hotel (formerly Hotel Marannu), Makassar, Indonesia (1991, claimed to be the first Atlas elevators installed in Indonesia[1][2], current fate unknown)

Trivia[]

  • Atlas's Interlagos - Santa Amaro elevator manufacturing factory was considered to be the largest factory of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere.
  • Besides its home country, Atlas also exported their elevators to almost every Latin American countries, and even Portugal. Atlas also exported their products to Mozambique and Macau, where both are former Portuguese colonies. In Asia, their products were sold in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the Philippines[2].
    • In Indonesia, Atlas products were distributed by PT. Tanjungraya Eramas, a subsidiary of PT. Tanjung Raya Elok (TRE) which distributed Lift Munich elevators from 1985 to the 1990s. The first Atlas elevators in Indonesia was installed at Hotel Marannu (now Hotel Singgasana) in Makassar in 1991[1][2].
    • In Argentina, Atlas products were distributed by Acelco S.R.L. Acelco appears to had ties with Westinghouse.
  • Atlas also imported Westinghouse's Selectomatic elevators to Brazil. One of the installations was at the Edificio Seculo XX in São Paulo.
  • While Schindler acquired Atlas in 1999, Schindler itself has actually been in the Brazilian market since the 1920s.
  • Luiz Dumont Villares, who assumed the company after his brother died, was the nephew of Santos Dumont, inventor of the 14 Bis airplane.

Gallery[]

Logos, nameplates and badges[]

Escalators[]

Advertisements and catalogs[]

Others[]

Video[]

SLOW_Atlas_Traction_Elevator_@Centro_Comercial_Central,_Macau

SLOW Atlas Traction Elevator @Centro Comercial Central, Macau

An elevator installed by Atlas in Centro Comercial Central, Macau, China (video by: vief86mo).

See also[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Mutu, standar keselamatan dan pelayanan diutamakan" - KONSTRUKSI Magazine, May 1991 (PDF available in Indonesian)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Pilihan baru untuk Lift dan Eskalator - KONSTRUKSI Magazine, August 1991, Page 92 (PDF available in Indonesian)

External links[]

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