What type of power did the original Eiffel Tower elevators use?

The original Eiffel Tower elevators used hydraulic power.

When the tower opened in 1889, its elevators relied on water-powered hydraulic machinery rather than electric motors. Hydraulic pressure moved large pistons and lifting mechanisms, allowing passenger cars to travel up the tower’s sloping legs and between its levels.

The system was technically challenging because the elevator paths followed the tower’s changing angle. The original lifts serving the first and second levels used inclined hydraulic rams, while the lifts between the second and third levels used long hydraulic rams and paired cars connected by cables.

Visitors sometimes assume the elevators were steam-powered because steam technology was common in the nineteenth century. Steam engines and pumps helped support the wider mechanical system, but the elevators’ direct motive power was hydraulic. Over time, the tower’s lift technology was modernised: some hydraulic systems were replaced with electrically driven equipment, while historic mechanisms were retained or adapted.