Floyd Charles Furlow was born on April 9, 1877, at Americus, Georgia. He was the son of Charles T. and Carrie V (Meriwether) Furlow.
His father was a planter but while young Furlow was still a boy he became a Georgia state officer at the capital and moved with his family to Atlanta, Georgia.
In Atlanta, Georgia, Furlow prepared for college and entered the Georgia School of Technology in 1894, graduating with the degree of B. S. in mechanical engineering in 1897.
After serving the school during the year 1897-98 as an instructor of subfreshmen, Furlow devoted the next two years to postgraduate study in engineering, particularly metallurgy, at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, Massachusets, and at several universities abroad.
On his return to Atlanta in 1900, Furlow was for a year adjunct professor in mathematics and head of the dormitories at the Georgia School of Technology. Continuing at the college the following year as a junior professor in mechanical engineering in charge of mechanics and as a lecturer in experimental engineering, he also established himself in business as a consulting engineer in Atlanta, undertaking especially construction engineering work.
In 1902, he accepted the appointment as chief engineer of the Plunger Elevator Company of Worcester, Massachusets, and moved with his family there. Two years later, he became vice-president of this company in New York, and after a year became chief engineer of the Otis Elevator Company, also in that city.
In 1909, he was promoted to the position of general sales manager of the Otis Company, was made vice-president in 1911, and president in 1918, which position he held at the time of his death.
In addition to his office as president of the Otis Elevator Company, he was the director of the Otis companies of Illinois, Missouri, Texas, Canada, and France.
Furlow specialized in improvements in lifting machinery and elevators, and between 1906 and 1922 patents were issued to him on approximately twenty-five inventions, all of which were of great value in bringing the electric elevator to a high state of efficiency. These include elevator safety devices; a push-button-controlled electric plunger and elevator system; electrically controlled elevators; a speed regulator for plunger elevators; a variable landing device; a self-leveling elevator; and a micro-drive hydraulic elevator. Furlow was one of the first experimenters in X-ray photography in the United States and while a consulting engineer in Atlanta designed and built the first wireless apparatus in the S.
In addition to his great business and administrative duties, Furlow maintained an especial interest in engineering research during his career, doing much work himself in electric, hydraulic, and steam engineering as well as in machine design.
Furlow was a member of many clubs and societies, including the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Geographical Society.
At one time, Furlow reputed to be the highest salaried executive in the world.
Furlow married Nellie Johnson of Atlanta on December 26, 1898, who with three children survived him at the time of his death in New York City.
