Escalator
Escalera mecánica
- Date
- 1892-1899 · confidence medium
- Place
- Coney Island, New York, United States
- Credited to
- Jesse W. Reno (first working device); Charles Seeberger and the Otis Elevator Company (commercial version)
- Field
- Tools
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Jesse W. Reno installed the first working escalator at Coney Island, an inclined belt with cleats that carried standing passengers; shortly after, Charles Seeberger, with Otis, developed the flat-step version that gave rise to the modern escalator.
Nathan Ames patented the concept of a 'moving stairway' in 1859 without ever building a model. The flat-step escalator closer to the modern design was developed by Charles Seeberger with Otis in 1899, and won an award at the 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle.
What it led to
- Mass vertical transport in department stores, stations and airports
- The design of pedestrian flow in commercial buildings
- Safety standardisation in the mechanical transport of people