History of the Escalator
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| Audience/Grade: | College Freshman-Continuing Education |
| Discipline(s): |
History of Science and Technology Mechanical Engineering |
| Special Topic(s): | |
| Learning Resource Type: |
Reference - Article/Document |
| Media Type: |
Unknown |
| Author(s): |
Organization:Mary Bellis, About.com |
| Description: | From the About.com inventors site. Excerpt: " An escalator is a conveyor type transport device that moves people. It is a moving staircase with steps that move up or down using a conveyor belt and tracks keeping each step horizontal for the passenger. However, the escalator began as an amusement and not as a practical transport. The first patent relating to an escalator-like machine was granted in 1859 to a Massachusetts man for a steam driven unit. On March 15 1892, Jesse Reno patented his moving stairs or inclined elevator as he called it. In 1895, Jesse Reno created a new novelty ride at Coney Island from his patented design, a moving stairway that elevated passengers on a conveyor belt at a 25 degree angle. The escalator as we know it was later re-designed by Charles Seeberger in 1897, who created the name 'escalator' from the word 'scala', which is Latin for steps and the word 'elevator', which had already been invented. Charles Seeberger, together with the Otis Elevator Company produced the first commercial escalator in 1899 at the Otis factory in Yonkers, N.Y. The Seeberger-Otis wooden escalator won first prize at the Paris 1900 Exposition Universelle in France. Jesse Reno's Coney Island ride success briefly made Jesse Reno into "the" escalator designer and he founded the Reno Electric Stairways and Conveyors company in 1902." |
| Rating: |
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| Related Resources | |
| Keywords: | escalator Otis elevator |
| Is Component of: |
About.com Inventors |
| Usage Tip | |
| Use of Resource: |
Part of larger website on famous inventions and inventors. |
| Difficulty: |
Easy |
| Interactivity Level: |
Low |
| Version Info | |
| Publication Date: | March 2008 |
| Platform/Format: |
WWW |
| Cost: |
Free |
| Download URL: | http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blescalator.htm |
| Metadata: |
IEEE LOM Record |
| Collection: |
NEEDS
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