![1996](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/1996.164.10-23_bw_SL1.jpg)
An escalator is a moving
staircase which carries people between floors of a building or structure. It consists of a
motor
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power g ...
-driven chain of individually linked steps on a track which cycle on a pair of tracks which keep the step tread horizontal.
Escalators are often used around the world in places where
lift
Lift or LIFT may refer to:
Physical devices
* Elevator, or lift, a device used for raising and lowering people or goods
** Paternoster lift, a type of lift using a continuous chain of cars which do not stop
** Patient lift, or Hoyer lift, mobil ...
s would be impractical, or they can be used in conjunction with them. Principal areas of usage include
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic app ...
s,
shopping mall
A shopping mall (or simply mall) is a North American term for a large indoor shopping center, usually anchored by department stores. The term "mall" originally meant a pedestrian promenade with shops along it (that is, the term was used to refe ...
s,
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
s,
transit systems
Transit Systems Group is an Australian-based public transport company, which also operates overseas through its subsidiary Tower Transit Group. Transit Systems Group is a subsidiary of the Kelsian Group, formerly SeaLink Travel Group.
History
...
(railway/railroad stations),
convention center
A convention center (American English; or conference centre in British English) is a large building that is designed to hold a convention, where individuals and groups gather to promote and share common interests. Convention centers typica ...
s,
hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...
s,
arena
An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...
s,
stadium
A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...
s and public buildings.
Escalators have the capacity to move large numbers of people. They have no waiting interval (except during very heavy traffic). They can be used to guide people toward main exits or special exhibits and may be weatherproofed for outdoor use. A non-functional escalator can function as a normal staircase, whereas many other methods of transport become useless when they break down or lose power.
Design, components, and operation
Operation and layout
![Escalator looped animation](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Escalator_looped_animation.gif)
Escalators typically rise at an angle of about 30 degrees from the ground. They move at – like
moving walkway
A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator, is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distan ...
s – and may traverse vertical distances in excess of . Most modern escalators have single-piece
aluminum
Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...
or
stainless steel
Stainless steel is an alloy of iron that is resistant to rusting and corrosion. It contains at least 11% chromium and may contain elements such as carbon, other nonmetals and metals to obtain other desired properties. Stainless steel's corros ...
steps that move on a system of tracks in a continuous loop.
Different types of escalators include:
* ''parallel'' (up and down escalators adjacent or nearby, often seen in perpendicular areas,
metro station
A metro station or subway station is a station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase Train ticket, tickets, board trains, and Emergency eva ...
s and multilevel
movie theater
A movie theater (American English), cinema (British English), or cinema hall ( Indian English), also known as a movie house, picture house, the movies, the pictures, picture theater, the silver screen, the big screen, or simply theater is a ...
s);
* ''multiple parallel'' (banks of more than one escalator going in the same direction parallel to banks going the other direction);
* ''crisscross'' (escalators going in one direction "stacked" with escalators going the opposite direction oriented adjacent but perpendicular, frequently used in
department stores
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...
or
shopping centers
A shopping center (American English) or shopping centre (Commonwealth English), also called a shopping complex, shopping arcade, shopping plaza or galleria, is a group of shops built together, sometimes under one roof.
The first known collec ...
).
Most countries require escalators to have moving handrails that keep pace with the movement of the steps as a safety measure. This helps riders steady themselves, especially when stepping onto the moving stairs. Occasionally a handrail moves at a slightly different speed from the steps, causing it to "creep" slowly forward or backward relative to the steps; it is only slippage and normal wear that causes such losses of synchronicity, and is not by design.
The direction of escalator movement (up or down) can be permanently set, controlled manually depending on the predominant flow of the crowd, or controlled automatically. In some setups, the direction is controlled by whoever arrives first.
Design and layout considerations
Design factors include physical requirements, location, traffic patterns, safety considerations and aesthetics. Physical factors such as the distance to be spanned determine the length and pitch of the escalator, while factors such as the infrastructure's ability to provide support and power must be considered. How upward and downward traffic is separated and load/unload areas are other important considerations.
Temporal traffic patterns must be anticipated. Some escalators need only to move people from one floor to another, but others may have specific requirements, such as funneling visitors towards exits or exhibits. The visibility and accessibility of the escalator to traffic is relevant. Designers need to account for the projected traffic volumes. For example, a single-width escalator traveling at about can move about 2000 people per hour, assuming that passengers ride single file. The carrying capacity of an escalator system is typically matched to the expected peak traffic demand. For example, escalators at transit stations must be designed to cater for the peak traffic flow discharged from a train, without excessive bunching at the escalator entrance.
In this regard, escalators help manage the flow of people. For example, at many airports an unpaired escalator delivers passengers to an exit, with no means for anyone entering at the exit to access the concourse.
Escalators are often built next to or around staircases that allow alternative travel between the same two floors. Elevators are necessary for disability access to floors serviced by escalators.
Components
Landing platforms
Landing platforms are the two platforms (at the two ends) that house the curved sections of the tracks, as well as the gears and motors that drive the stairs. The top platform usually contains the motor assembly and the main drive gear, while the bottom holds the return gear. These sections also anchor the ends of the escalator truss. Each platform also has a floor and a comb plate. The floor plate provides a place for the passengers to stand before they step onto the moving stairs, flush with the rest of the floor and usually hinged to allow easy maintenance access, while the comb plate lies between the stationary floor plate and the moving step, so named for the cleats on its edge which mesh with the matching cleats on each step (and resemble a comb). The interlocking cleats help to minimize the gap between the stairs and landing, preventing objects or persons from becoming caught in it.
Truss
The truss is the hollow metal structure that bridges the lower and upper landings, composed of two side sections joined together with cross braces across the bottom and just below the top. The ends of the truss are attached to the top and bottom landing platforms via steel or concrete supports. It carries all the straight track sections connecting the upper and lower sections.
Balustrade
The balustrade is composed of handrails, balustrade panels, and skirt panels:
[Tehrani, C. M. (2001). ''U.S. Patent No. 6,257,390''. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.]
=Handrail
=
The handrail provides a handhold for passengers while they are riding the escalator. The handrail is pulled along its own track by a chain that is connected to the main drive gear by a series of pulleys, keeping it at the same speed as the steps. Four distinct sections make up the rail: at its center is a "slider", also known as a "glider ply", which is a layer of a cotton or synthetic textile that allows the rail to move smoothly along its track. The "
tension member
Tension members are structural elements that are subjected to axial tensile forces. Examples of tension members are bracing for buildings and bridges, truss members, and cables in suspended roof systems.
Calculation
In an axially loaded tensio ...
" lies on the slider and consists of either steel cable or flat steel tape, providing the handrail with tensile strength and flexibility. The inner components, on top of the tension member, are made of chemically treated rubber designed to prevent the layers from separating. Finally, the outer layerthe part that passengers see—is the cover, typically a blend of synthetic polymers and rubber. Covers are designed to resist degradation from environmental conditions, mechanical wear and tear and vandalism.
In a factory, handrails are constructed by feeding rubber through an extrusion machine to produce layers of the required size and type in order to match specific orders. The component layers of fabric, rubber and steel are shaped by workers before being fed into the presses which fuse them together.
In the mid-twentieth century, some handrail designs consisted of a rubber bellows, with rings of smooth metal cladding called "bracelets" between each coil. This gave the handrail a rigid yet flexible feel. Additionally, each bellows section was no more than around a metre long, so if part of the handrail was damaged, only the bad segment needed to be replaced. These forms of handrail have largely been replaced with fabric-and-rubber railings.
= Balustrade panel
=
Being made of either metal,
sandwich panel
A sandwich panel is any structure made of three layers: a low-density core ( PIR, mineral wool, XPS), and a thin skin-layer bonded to each side. Sandwich panels are used in applications where a combination of high structural rigidity and low ...
, or glass, the balustrade panel supports the handrails of the escalator. It also provides additional protection for the handrail and passengers. Some escalators have direction arrows on the ends of the balustrade. Escalators' on/off buttons are frequently located at the ends of the balustrade. Moving walkways often use balustrades in the same way.
= Skirt Panel
=
The bottom of the balustrade is called a skirt panel. It is notorious in this art for being a frequent site of injuries and failures, due to the possible entrapment of materials (including body parts) in the machinery. Multiple solutions have been suggested for this issue, including coating with a low-friction material, employing bristles, and others.
Tracks
The track system is built into the truss to guide the step chain, which continuously pulls the steps from the bottom platform and back to the top in an endless loop. One track guides the front wheels of the steps (called the step-wheel track) and another guides the back wheels of the steps (called the trailer-wheel track). The relative positions of these tracks cause the steps to form a staircase as they move out from under the comb plate. Along the straight section of the truss the tracks are at their maximum distance apart. This configuration forces the back of one step to be at a 90-degree angle relative to the step behind it. This right angle forces the steps into a shape resembling a staircase. At the top and bottom of the escalator, the two tracks converge so that the front and back wheels of the steps are almost in a straight line. This causes the stairs to lay in a flat sheetlike arrangement, one after another, so they can easily travel around the bend in the curved section of track. The tracks carry the steps down along the underside of the truss until they reach the bottom landing, where they pass through another curved section of track before exiting the bottom landing. At this point, the tracks separate and the steps once again assume a staircase configuration. This cycle is repeated continually as the steps are pulled from bottom to top and back to the bottom again.
Steps
The steps themselves are solid, one piece, die-cast aluminium or steel. Yellow demarcation lines are sometimes added to indicate their edges. In most escalator models manufactured after 1950, both the riser and the tread of each step is cleated (given a ribbed appearance) with comb-like protrusions that mesh with the comb plates on the top and bottom platforms and the succeeding steps in the chain. Seeberger escalators featured flat treads and smooth risers; other escalator models have cleated treads and smooth risers. The steps are linked by a continuous metal chain that forms a closed loop. The front and back edges of the steps each have two wheels, the rear of which are set further apart and fit into the trailer-wheel track while the front set have narrower axles and fit the step-wheel track.
Safety
![Going down an escalator](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Going_down_an_escalator.JPG)
Safety is a major concern in escalator design, as escalators are powerful machines that can become entangled with clothing and other items. Such entanglements can injure or kill riders. In India many women wear
sari
A sari (sometimes also saree or shari)The name of the garment in various regional languages include:
* as, শাৰী, xārī, translit-std=ISO
* bn, শাড়ি, śāṛi, translit-std=ISO
* gu, સાડી, sāḍī, translit-std= ...
s, increasing the likelihood of entangling the clothing's loose end. To prevent this, sari guards are built into most escalators in India.
Children wearing footwear such as
Crocs
Crocs, Inc. (stylized in all lowercase) is an American footwear company based in Broomfield, Colorado, that manufactures and markets the Crocs brand of foam clogs.
History
Crocs was founded by Lyndon "Duke" Hanson, and George Boedecker Jr. to ...
and
flip-flops
Flip-flops are a type of light sandal, typically worn as a form of casual footwear. They consist of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap known as a toe thong that passes between the first and second toes and around both side ...
are especially at risk of being caught in escalator mechanisms.
The softness of the shoe's material combined with the smaller size of
children's feet Children's feet are smaller than those of adults, not reaching full size until the ages of 13 in girls and 15 in boys. There are correspondingly small sizes of shoes for them. In poor populations and tropical countries, children commonly go bar ...
makes this sort of accident especially common.
Escalators sometimes include fire protection systems including automatic fire detection and suppression systems within the dust collection and engineer pit. To limit the danger caused by overheating, spaces that contain motors and gears typically include additional ventilation. Small, targeted
clean agent automatic extinguishing systems are sometimes installed in these areas. Fire protection of an escalator floor opening is also sometimes provided by adding automatic sprinklers or fireproof shutters to the opening, or by installing the escalator in an enclosed fire-protected space.
Accidents
King's Cross fire
The
King's Cross fire
The King's Cross fire was a 1987 fire in a London Underground station with 31 fatalities, after a fire under a wooden escalator suddenly spread into the underground ticket hall in a flashover.
The fire began at approximately 19:30 on 18 Novembe ...
of 1987 illustrated the demanding nature of escalator upkeep and the devices' propensity to collect "fluff" and other small debris when not properly maintained. The
official inquiry determined that the fire started slowly, smoldering virtually undetected for a time, and then exploded into the ticket hall above in a previously-unrecognised phenomenon now known as the "
trench effect
The trench effect is a combination of circumstances that can rush a fire up an inclined surface. It depends on two well-understood but separate ideas: the Coandă effect from fluid dynamics and the flashover concept from fire dynamics:
* The Coa ...
". In the escalators' undercarriage, approximately of accumulated
detritus
In biology, detritus () is dead particulate organic material, as distinguished from dissolved organic material. Detritus typically includes the bodies or fragments of bodies of dead organisms, and fecal material. Detritus typically hosts commun ...
acted as a
wick
Wick most often refers to:
* Capillary action ("wicking")
** Candle wick, the cord used in a candle or oil lamp
** Solder wick, a copper-braided wire used to desolder electronic contacts
Wick or WICK may also refer to:
Places and placename ...
to a neglected buildup of interior lubricants; wood veneers, paper and plastic advertisements, solvent-based paint, plywood in the ticket hall, and
melamine
Melamine is an organic compound with the formula C3H6N6. This white solid is a trimer of cyanamide, with a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Like cyanamide, it contains 67% nitrogen by mass, and its derivatives have fire retardant properties due t ...
combustion added to the impact of the calamity.
Following the report, older wooden escalators were removed from service in the
London Underground
The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...
. Additionally, sections of the London Underground that were actually below ground were made
non-smoking
Smoking bans, or smoke-free laws, are public policies, including criminal laws and occupational safety and health regulations, that prohibit tobacco smoking in certain spaces. The spaces most commonly affected by smoking bans are indoor employ ...
; ultimately, the whole system became a smoke-free zone.
Chongqing accident
In October 2015 on a Thursday morning, a four-year-old boy suffocated and died in a Chinese train station in the city of
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
, China. The boy was playing with an escalator handrail when he fell and got stuck underneath it with his chest wedged between the bottom of the handrail and the ground.
Litigation
In the 1930s, at least one suit was filed against a department store, alleging that its escalators posed an
attractive nuisance
The attractive nuisance doctrine applies to the law of torts in some jurisdictions. It states that a landowner may be held liable for injuries to children trespassing on the land if the injury is caused by an object on the land that is likely ...
, responsible for a child's injury.
Legislation
United States
Despite their considerable scope, the two Congressional Acts regarding accessibility (the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973
The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 () is a United States federal law, codified at et seq. The principal sponsor of the bill was Rep. John Brademas (D-IN-3). The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 replaces preexisting laws (collectively referred to as the V ...
and the
Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA)) did not directly affect escalators or their public installations. Since Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act included public transportation systems, for a few years, the
United States Department of Transportation
The United States Department of Transportation (USDOT or DOT) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government. It is headed by the secretary of transportation, who reports directly to the President of the United States and ...
considered designs to retrofit existing escalators for
wheelchair
A wheelchair is a chair with wheels, used when walking is difficult or impossible due to illness, injury, problems related to old age, or disability. These can include spinal cord injuries ( paraplegia, hemiplegia, and quadriplegia), cerebr ...
access. Nonetheless,
Foster-Miller Associates' 1980 plan, ''Escalator Modification for the Handicapped'' was ultimately ignored in favor of increased elevator installations in subway systems. Likewise, the ADA provided more accessibility options, but expressly excluded escalators as "accessible means of egress", advocating neither their removal nor their retention in public structures.
Codes and regulation
In the United States and Canada, new escalators must abide by
ASME
The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an American professional association that, in its own words, "promotes the art, science, and practice of multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the globe" via "continuing ...
A17.1 standards, and old/historic escalators must conform to the safety guidelines of ASME A17.3. In Europe, the escalator safety code is
EN 115.
History
Inventors and manufacturers
Nathan Ames
Nathan Ames, a patent attorney from
Saugus, Massachusetts
Saugus is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, in the Greater Boston area. The population was 28,619 at the 2020 census. Saugus is known as the site of the first integrated iron works in North America.
History
Native Americans ...
, is credited with patenting the first "escalator" in 1859, despite the fact that no working model of his design was ever built. His invention, the "revolving stairs", is largely speculative and the patent specifications indicate that he had no preference for materials or potential use (he noted that steps could be upholstered or made of wood, and suggested that the units might benefit the infirm within a household use). The suggested motive power was either manual or hydraulic.
Leamon Souder
In 1889, Leamon Souder successfully patented the "stairway", an analogous device that featured a "series of steps and links jointed to each other". No model was ever built. This was the first of at least four escalator-style patents issued to Souder, including two for spiral designs.
Jesse Wilford Reno, George A. Wheeler, and Charles Seeberger
On March 15, 1892,
Jesse W. Reno patented the "Endless Conveyor or Elevator." A few months after Reno's patent was approved,
George A. Wheeler patented his ideas for a more recognizable moving staircase, though it was never built. Wheeler's patents were bought by
Charles Seeberger
Charles D. Seeberger (May 14, 1857 – September 13, 1931) was an American inventor.
In 1899, he joined the Otis Elevator Company. The Seeberger-Otis partnership produced the first step-type escalator made for public use, and it was installed at t ...
; some features of Wheeler's designs were incorporated in Seeberger's prototype that was built by the
Otis Elevator Company
Otis Worldwide Corporation (trade name, branded as the Otis Elevator Company, its former legal name) is an American company that develops, manufactures and markets elevators, escalators, moving walkways, and related equipment.
Based in Farming ...
in 1899.
Reno
Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...
, a graduate of
Lehigh University
Lehigh University (LU) is a private research university in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania. The university was established in 1865 by businessman Asa Packer and was originally affiliated with the Epis ...
, produced the first working escalator (called the "inclined elevator") and installed it alongside the Old Iron Pier at
Coney Island
Coney Island is a peninsular neighborhood and entertainment area in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, Manhattan Beach to its east, L ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1896. This particular device was little more than an inclined belt with cast-iron slats or cleats on the surface for traction, and traveled along a 25 degree incline. A few months later, the same prototype was used for a month-long trial period on the Manhattan side of the
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...
. Reno eventually joined forces with Otis and retired once he had sold his patents. Some Reno-type escalators were still being used in the
Boston subway
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) operates rapid transit (heavy rail), light rail, and bus rapid transit services in the Boston metropolitan area, collectively referred to as the rapid transit, subway, or the T system.
The co ...
until construction for the
Big Dig
The Central Artery/Tunnel Project (CA/T Project), commonly known as the Big Dig, was a megaproject in Boston that rerouted the Central Artery of Interstate 93 (I-93), the chief highway through the heart of the city, into the 1.5-mile (2.4& ...
(ca. 1991) precipitated their removal. The
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...
considered re-assembling one of these historic units from 1914 in their collection of Americana, but "logistics and reassembly costs won out over nostalgia", and the project was discarded.
Around May 1895, Charles Seeberger began drawings on a form of escalator similar to those patented by Wheeler in 1892. This device consisted of flat, moving stairs, not unlike the escalators of today, except for one important detail: the step surface was smooth, with no comb effect to safely guide the rider's feet off at the ends. Instead, the passenger had to step off sideways. To facilitate this, at the top or bottom of the escalator the steps continued moving horizontally beyond the end of the handrail (like a miniature moving sidewalk) until they disappeared under a triangular "divider" which guided the passenger to either side. Seeberger teamed with Otis in 1899, and together they produced the first commercial escalator. It won first prize at the 1900 Paris
''Exposition Universelle''. Also on display at the ''Exposition'' were Reno's inclined elevator, a similar model by James M. Dodge and the Link Belt Machinery Co., and two different devices by the French manufacturers Hallé and Piat.
Early European manufacturers: Hallé, Hocquardt and Piat
Piat installed its "stepless" escalator in
Harrods
Harrods Limited is a department store located on Brompton Road in Knightsbridge, London, England. It is currently owned by the state of Qatar via its sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority. The Harrods brand also applies to other ...
Knightsbridge
Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End.
...
store on Wednesday, November 16, 1898, though the company relinquished its patent rights to the department store. Noted by Bill Lancaster in ''The Department Store: a Social History'', "customers unnerved by the experience were revived by shopmen dispensing free smelling salts and cognac." The Harrods unit was a continuous leather belt made of "224 pieces . . . strongly linked together traveling in an upward direction", and was the first "moving staircase" in England.
Hocquardt received European patent rights for the ''Fahrtreppe'' in 1906. After the ''Exposition'', Hallé continued to sell its escalator device in Europe but was eventually eclipsed in sales by other major manufacturers.
American manufacturers and nomenclature
In the first half of the twentieth century, several manufacturers developed their own escalator products, though they had to market their devices under different names, due to Otis’ hold on the trademark rights to the word "escalator."
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
-based Peelle Company called their models the Motorstair, while
Westinghouse called their model an Electric Stairway. The
Toledo-based Haughton Elevator company referred to their product as simply Moving Stairs. The Otis trademark is no longer in effect.
Mergers and buyouts: the playing field narrows
Kone
Kone Oyj (; officially stylized as KONE and trading as KONE Corporation) is an elevator engineering company employing over 60,000 personnel across 60 countries worldwide. It was founded in 1910 and is now headquartered in Espoo near Helsinki, F ...
and
Schindler introduced their first escalator models several decades after the Otis Elevator Co., but grew to dominate the field over time. Today, they,
Mitsubishi
The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries.
Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group historically descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 ...
, and
ThyssenKrupp
ThyssenKrupp AG (, ; stylized as thyssenkrupp) is a German industrial engineering and steel production multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate. It is the result of the 1999 merger of Thyssen AG and Krupp and h ...
are Otis' primary rivals.
Kone expanded internationally by acquisition in the 1970s, buying out Swedish elevator manufacturer Asea-Graham, and purchasing other minor French, German and Austrian elevator makers before assuming control of Westinghouse's European elevator business. As the last of the "big four" manufacturers to emerge onto the global market, Kone first acquired
Montgomery Elevator
Montgomery Elevator Company was a vertical transportation company founded in 1892, but entered the elevator business in 1910, acquired Roelofson Elevator of Galt Ontario in the early 1960s and operated it as its Canadian Division. Montgomery m ...
company, then took control of Germany's
Orenstein & Koppel
Orenstein & Koppel (normally abbreviated to "O&K") was a major Germany, German engineering company specialising in railway vehicles, escalators, and heavy equipment. It was founded on April 1, 1876 in Berlin by Benno Orenstein and Arthur Koppel. ...
''Rolltreppen''.
In the twenty-first century Schindler became the largest maker of escalators and second largest maker of elevators in the world, though their first escalator installation did not occur until 1936. In 1979, the company entered the United States market by purchasing Haughton Elevator. A decade later, Schindler assumed control of the North American escalator/elevator operations of Westinghouse, forming
Schindler's American division.
Alternative designs
Spiral/helical
![Spiral escalator](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2/Spiral_escalator.jpg)
Jesse Reno also designed the first escalators installed in any underground subway system in the form of a
helical
Helical may refer to:
* Helix, the mathematical concept for the shape
* Helical engine, a proposed spacecraft propulsion drive
* Helical spring, a coilspring
* Helical plc, a British property company, once a maker of steel bar stock
* Helicoil
A t ...
escalator at
Holloway Road tube station
Holloway Road is a station on the London Underground. It is on the Piccadilly line between Caledonian Road and Arsenal stations, and in Travelcard Zone 2. The station opened on 15 December 1906.
The station was constructed by the Great Northe ...
in London in 1906. The experimental device never saw public use and its remains are now in the
London Transport Museum
The London Transport Museum (often abbreviated as the LTM) is a transport museum based in Covent Garden, London. The museum predominantly hosts exhibits relating to the heritage of London's transport, as well as conserving and explaining the h ...
's depot in
Acton Acton may refer to:
Places Antarctica
* Mount Acton
Australia
* Acton, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra
* Acton, Tasmania, a suburb of Burnie
* Acton Park, Tasmania, a suburb of Hobart, Tasmania, formerly known as Acton
Canada ...
.
Although the first fully operational spiral escalator, Reno's design was nonetheless only one in a series of similar proposed contraptions. Souder patented two helical designs, while Wheeler drafted helical stairway plans in 1905. Seeberger devised at least two helical designs between 1906 and 1911 (including an unrealized arrangement for the London Underground), and
Gilbert Luna Gilbert may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters
*Gilbert (surname), including a list of people
Places Australia
* Gilbert River (Queensland)
* Gilbert River (South A ...
obtained West German, Japanese, and United States patents for his version of a spiral escalator by 1973. When interviewed for the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' that year, Luna was in the process of soliciting major firms for the acquisition of his patents and company, but statistics are unclear on the outcome of these endeavors.
Karl-Heinz Pahl received a European and a US patent for a spiral escalator in 1992.
![Spiral Escalator US Patent 5,158,167 (Pahl 1992) Sketch](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Spiral_Escalator_US_Patent_5%2C158%2C167_%28Pahl_1992%29_Sketch.png)
The Mitsubishi Electric Corporation was most successful in its development of spiral/helical escalators, and it alone has sold them since the mid-1980s. The world's first practical spiral escalator—a Mitsubishi model—was installed in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
, Japan, in 1985.
Helixator, an experimental spiral/helical escalator design that currently exists as a prototype scale model, could further reduce floor space demands. Its design has several innovations that allow a continuous helix; driven by a linear motor instead of a chain system, it spreads force evenly along the escalator path, avoiding excessive force on the top chain links and hence avoiding the geometry, length, and height limits of standard escalators.
Westfield San Francisco Centre
The Westfield San Francisco Centre is an upscale shopping mall located in San Francisco, California, managed by the Westfield Group and co-owned by Westfield and Brookfield Asset Management. It is anchored by Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's, and inc ...
,
San Francisco, California
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
, United States — is the first spiral escalator in the Western Hemisphere.
Freeform
Levytator, a design originating at
City University in London, can move in straight lines or curves with or without rising or descending. The returning steps do not move underneath the in-use steps: rather, they provide steps for travel in the opposite direction, as in the Pahl spiral escalator patent.
Etymology
Authors and historians have offered multiple interpretations of the source of the word “escalator”, and some degree of misinformation then proliferated. For reference, contradictory citations by seven separate individuals, including the Otis Elevator Company itself, are provided below.
Name development and original intentions
Seeberger
trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
ed the word "escalator" in 1900, to coincide with his device's debut at the ''Exposition universelle''. According to his own account, in 1895, his legal counsel advised him to name his new invention, and he then set out to devise a title for it. As evidenced in Seeberger's handwritten documents, the inventor consulted "a
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
lexicon" and "adopted as the root of the new word, 'Scala'; as a prefix, 'E' and as a suffix, 'Tor.'" His own rough translation of the word thus created was "means of traversing from", and he intended for the word to be pronounced, "es‧ʹkæl‧ə‧tər" (es-CAL-a-tor). By 1906, Seeberger noted that the public had instead come to pronounce it "escə‧lāʹ‧tər" (es-ca-LĀ-tor).
"Escalator" was not a combination of other French or Greek words, and was never a derivative of "
elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
" in the original sense, which means "one who raises up, a deliverer" in Latin.
Similarly, the root word "''scala''" does not mean "a flight of steps", but is the singular form of the plural noun "''scalae''", which can denote any of: "a flight of steps or stairs, a staircase; a ladder,
ra scaling-ladder."
The alleged intended
capitalization
Capitalization (American English) or capitalisation (British English) is writing a word with its first letter as a capital letter (uppercase letter) and the remaining letters in lower case, in writing systems with a case distinction. The term a ...
of "escalator" is likewise a topic of debate. Seeberger's trademark application lists the word not only with the "E", but also with all of the letters capitalized (in two different instances), and he specifies that "any other form and character of type may be employed . . . without altering in any essential manner the character of
hetrade-mark." Otis Elevator Co. advertisements so frequently capitalized all of the letters in the word.
Loss of trademark rights
In 1950, the landmark case ''Haughton Elevator Co. v. Seeberger'' precipitated the end of Otis's exclusive reign over the word "escalator", and simultaneously created a cautionary study for companies and individuals interested in trademark retention. Confirming the contention of the Examiner of Trademark Interferences, Assistant Commissioner of Patents Murphy's decision rejected Otis’ appeal to keep their trademark intact, and noted that "the term 'escalator' is recognized by the general public as the name for a moving stairway and not the source thereof", observing that Otis had "used the term as a generic descriptive term . . . in a number of patents which
adbeen issued to them and . . . in their advertising matter." All trademark protections were removed from the word "escalator", the term was officially genericized, and it fell into the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work
A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...
.
Extant historic escalator models
Notable examples of historic escalators still in operation include:
Europe
* St Anna Pedestrian Tunnel underneath the
Scheldt
The Scheldt (french: Escaut ; nl, Schelde ) is a river that flows through northern France, western Belgium, and the southwestern part of Netherlands, the Netherlands, with its mouth at the North Sea. Its name is derived from an adjective corr ...
river in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , Belgium, opened 1933.
*
Maastunnel
The Maastunnel is a tunnel in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, connecting the banks of the Nieuwe Maas. About 75,000 motor vehicles and a large number of cyclists and pedestrians use the tunnel daily, making the Maastunnel an important part of Rott ...
's bicycle/pedestrian tunnel, adjacent to its car tunnel in
Rotterdam
Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...
,
The Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
, opened 1942.
*
Tyne Cyclist and Pedestrian Tunnel,
Tyne and Wear
Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...
, England, constructed 1951.
North America
*
Macy's Herald Square
Macy's Herald Square (originally named the R. H. Macy and Company Store) is the Flagship#Retailing, flagship of Macy's department store, as well as the Macy's, Inc. corporate headquarters, on Herald Square in Manhattan, New York City. The buildi ...
department store upwards escalators,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
, U.S., opened 1920s.
Notable examples
Longest systems
*
Central–Mid-Levels escalator
The Central–Mid-Levels escalator and walkway system in Hong Kong is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The system covers over in distance and traverses an elevation of over from bottom to top. It opened in 1993 to p ...
, : in Hong Kong, tens of thousands of commuters travel each work day between
Central
Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object.
Central may also refer to:
Directions and generalised locations
* Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...
and the
Mid-Levels, a residential district over a hundred metres uphill, using this long-distance system of escalators and
moving walkway
A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator, is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distan ...
s. It is the world's longest outdoor escalator ''system'' (not a single escalator span). It goes only one way at a time; the direction reverses depending on rush hour traffic direction.
* A system of escalators connect
Potenza
Potenza (, also , ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania).
Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one ...
, Italy, with its downhill neighbourhoods, the largest public escalator network in Europe. The longest escalator is approximately in length.
* In December 2011, a network of six escalators of length, equivalent to 28 stories high, was opened in
Medellín
Medellín ( or ), officially the Municipality of Medellín ( es, Municipio de Medellín), is the second-largest city in Colombia, after Bogotá, and the capital of the department of Antioquia. It is located in the Aburrá Valley, a central re ...
,
Colombia
Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
, offering the 12,000 residents of Comuna 13 a six-minute ride to the city center compared to the previous 35-minute climb on foot.
*
Cascade
Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to:
Science and technology Science
*Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls
* Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex)
* Cascade (grape), a type of fruit
* Bioc ...
,
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
: an escalator system of length and height.
*
Ocean Park, Hong Kong
Ocean Park Hong Kong, commonly known as Ocean Park, is a marine mammal park, oceanarium, animal theme park and amusement park situated in Wong Chuk Hang and Nam Long Shan in the Southern District of Hong Kong. It is the second largest t ...
: a long escalator system connecting two parts of the Park, with an overall length of .
Longest individual escalators
World
* The longest escalators in the world are installed in deep underground stations of the
Saint Petersburg Metro
The Saint Petersburg Metro (russian: links=no, Петербургский метрополитен, Peterburgskiy metropoliten) is a rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction began in early 1941, but was put on hold due to Wor ...
. The
Ploshchad Lenina,
Chernyshevskaya
Chernyshevskaya (russian: Черныше́вская) is a station on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line of Saint Petersburg Metro, opened on September 1, 1958. It is a deep underground pylon station at depth with a short central hall. The station is ...
, and
Admiralteyskaya stations have escalators up to long and high.
* The longest ''freestanding'' (supported only at the ends) escalator in the world is inside
CNN Center
The CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, is the international headquarters of the Cable News Network (CNN). The main newsrooms and studios for several of CNN's news channels are located in the building. The facility's commercial office space is occu ...
’s atrium in
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
. It rises 8 stories and is long. Originally built as the entrance to the amusement park ''
The World of Sid and Marty Krofft
The World of Sid and Marty Krofft was an entirely indoor amusement park in Atlanta, Georgia. It was based on the various TV shows produced by the sibling duo Sid and Marty Krofft.
History
The park was built in the Omni International complex w ...
'', the escalator is now used for
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
studio tours.
Asia
* The
Rustaveli station in the
Tbilisi Metro
The Tbilisi Metro ( ka, თბილისის მეტროპოლიტენი) is a rapid transit system in the Georgian capital Tbilisi. Opened on 11 January 1966, it was the fourth metro system in the former Soviet Union. Like oth ...
has one of the world's longest escalators. It is high and long.
* One of the longest single escalators in Asia is
Lianglukou Huangguan Escalator in
Chongqing
Chongqing ( or ; ; Sichuanese dialects, Sichuanese pronunciation: , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), Postal Romanization, alternately romanized as Chungking (), is a Direct-administered municipalities of China, municipality in Southwes ...
, China. It joins the
Chongqing Rail Transit
The Chongqing Rail Transit (branded as CRT; also known as Chongqing Metro) is the rapid transit system in the city of Chongqing, China. In operation since 2005, it serves the transportation needs of the city's main business and entertainment ...
underground station
Lianglukou with the overground railway station at
Caiyuanba. The escalator is long and has a transit time of about 2 minutes 30 seconds. The ride costs 2 yuan. Due to the hilly nature of Chongqing, the underground railway station is at the top of the escalator while the overground station is at the bottom.
* The longest escalator in
Bangkok
Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
,
Thailand
Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...
and
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...
is in the
MRT
MRT may refer to:
Transport Rapid Transit Systems
* Mass Rapid Transit (disambiguation)
* MRT (Singapore) or Mass Rapid Transit, Singapore
* MRT (Bangkok) or Metropolitan Rapid Transit, Thailand
* Manila Metro Rail Transit System, Philippine ...
's
Si Lom Station. It connects the concourse level with platform 1 which in turn connects to
Hua Lam Phong. It is in length and in depth.
Australia
* The longest set of single-span uninterrupted escalators in the Southern Hemisphere is at
Airport Central Station which is an underground railway station in
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
. A set of two escalators run from the skybridge connecting the station to terminals 1 and 2 down to platforms 1 and 2. The main escalator connecting the concourse and information centre to the skybridge is long and 15 metres high (49 ft).
* Not far behind, the second longest set of single-span uninterrupted escalators in the Southern Hemisphere is at
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
underground railway station in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. A set of four escalators run from the southern concourse down to platforms 1 and 2, with another set of three running from the northern concourse. Each are long, taking about 1 minute and 25 seconds from top to bottom.
Europe
![Escalators at the Koivusaari metro station (2)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4b/Escalators_at_the_Koivusaari_metro_station_%282%29.jpg)
* Three stations in
Saint Petersburg Metro
The Saint Petersburg Metro (russian: links=no, Петербургский метрополитен, Peterburgskiy metropoliten) is a rapid transit system in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Construction began in early 1941, but was put on hold due to Wor ...
have escalators up to long and high:
Ploshchad Lenina,
Chernyshevskaya
Chernyshevskaya (russian: Черныше́вская) is a station on the Kirovsko-Vyborgskaya Line of Saint Petersburg Metro, opened on September 1, 1958. It is a deep underground pylon station at depth with a short central hall. The station is ...
, and
Admiralteyskaya.
* In the
Park Pobedy station of the
Moscow Metro
The Moscow Metro) is a metro system serving the Russian capital of Moscow as well as the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy and Kotelniki in Moscow Oblast. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first unde ...
, the escalators are or 740 steps long, and high. It takes three minutes to transit.
* The longest escalator in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...
, and in the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...
, is at the
Náměstí Míru station at long and high.
* The longest escalators in
Western Europe
Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context.
The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...
are in the
Elbphilharmonie
The Elbphilharmonie (; "Elbe Philharmonic Hall"), popularly nicknamed Elphi, is a concert hall in the HafenCity quarter of Hamburg, Germany, on the Grasbrook peninsula of the Elbe River. It is among the largest in the world.
The new glassy con ...
in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
with a length of , in Espoo (Finland)
Finnoo Metro station (78m, 256ft), in Helsinki
Koivusaari Metro Station
Koivusaari metro station (, ) is a station located underwater on the Länsimetro extension of the Helsinki Metro.
Although the metro station is named after Koivusaari, the westernmost island in Helsinki, it is actually located on the extreme wes ...
(), in
Helsinki Airport Railway Station (),
and at
Stockholm Metro
The Stockholm metro ( sv, Stockholms tunnelbana) is a rapid transit system in Stockholm, Sweden. The first line opened in 1950, and today the system has 100 stations in use, of which 47 are underground and 53 above ground. There are three colou ...
station
Västra skogen ().
The new Stockholm Metro station in
Nacka
Nacka () is the municipal seat of Nacka Municipality and part of Stockholm urban area in Sweden. The municipality's name harks back to a 16th-century industrial operation established by the Crown at Nacka farmstead where conditions for water mil ...
currently under construction will have en escalator with a length of 82 m (269 ft).
* The tallest escalator on the London Underground system is at
Angel station
''Angel Station'' is the ninth album released by Manfred Mann's Earth Band, released in 1979. Several line-up changes were made for this album. Ex-Wings drummer Geoff Britton replaced founding drummer Chris Slade and Steve Waller replaced g ...
on the
Northern line
The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, two ...
with a length of , and a vertical rise of .
* The longest wooden escalators in the United Kingdom are at the
Tyne Cyclist and Pedestrian Tunnel, with a length of . (See above)
* The longest escalator of a European shopping mall is at MyZeil,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
, Germany, with a length of .
* The largest "single truss escalator" is in the
Bentall Centre in
Kingston upon Thames
Kingston upon Thames (hyphenated until 1965, colloquially known as Kingston) is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London, England. It is situated on the River Thames and southwest of Charing Cross. It is notable as ...
in
Greater London
Greater may refer to:
*Greatness, the state of being great
*Greater than, in inequality (mathematics), inequality
*Greater (film), ''Greater'' (film), a 2016 American film
*Greater (flamingo), the oldest flamingo on record
*Greater (song), "Greate ...
, UK. It connects the ground floor with the second floor with top and bottom supports.
North and South America
* The longest set of single-span uninterrupted escalators in the Western Hemisphere is at
Wheaton station on the
Washington Metro Red Line. They are
long with a vertical rise of ,
and take nearly three-and-a-half minutes
to ascend or descend without walking.
* The longest single-span escalator in a Canadian Transit system is at
Rideau station of the
Confederation Line
The Confederation Line (french: Ligne de la Confédération), also called O-Train Line 1 (french: Ligne 1 de l'O-Train), is a light rail line operated by OC Transpo in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as part of the city's O-Train light rail system. I ...
in
Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
. The escalator is in length with a rise of and 181 steps.
Shortest examples
According to
Guinness
Guinness () is an Irish dry stout that originated in the brewery of Arthur Guinness at St. James's Gate, Dublin, Ireland, in 1759. It is one of the most successful alcohol brands worldwide, brewed in almost 50 countries, and available in ove ...
, the shortest escalator in the world is the "Puchicalator" in the
Okadaya Mores shopping mall in
Kawasaki Japan. Its vertical rise is and it has 5 steps.
Other short escalators include:
*
Westfield Garden State Plaza
Garden State Plaza (officially Westfield Garden State Plaza) is a shopping mall located in Paramus, New Jersey. It is owned and managed by Paris-based real estate management company Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, and located at the intersection of R ...
,
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...
, United States — one of the shortest escalators in North America. This escalator led to the entrance of the
JCPenney
Penney OpCo LLC, doing business as JCPenney and often abbreviated JCP, is a midscale American department store chain operating 667 stores across 49 U.S. states and Puerto Rico. Departments inside JCPenney stores include Mens, Womens, Boys, Gir ...
store. After the JCPenney closed in March 2018, the store and the escalator were walled up.
Other notable examples
*
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...
features a sequence of public escalators in a tunnel system, passing remains of historic fortification.
Etiquette
![Escalator in Umeda](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/Escalator_in_Umeda.jpg)
In most major countries, the expectation is that escalator users wishing to stand keep to one side to allow others to climb past them on the other. Due to historical design purposes, riders in Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Taiwan, the United Kingdom, France and the United States are expected to stand on the right and walk on the left. However, in Australia and New Zealand, the opposite is the case. Practice may differ from city to city within countries – in
Osaka
is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...
, riders stand on the right, whereas in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
(and most other Japanese cities), riders stand on the left.
In certain high-traffic systems, including the
East Japan Railway Company
The is a major passenger railway company in Japan and is the largest of the seven Japan Railways Group companies. The company name is officially abbreviated as JR-EAST or JR East in English, and as in Japanese. The company's headquarters are ...
and the
Prague metro, escalator users are encouraged to stand on whichever side they choose, with the aim of preventing wear and tear and asymmetrical burdening. All Tokyo metro stations also have posters next to the escalators that ask users not to walk but instead to stand on either side.
The practice of standing on one side and walking on the other may cause uneven wear on escalator mechanisms.
Transport for London trialed standing on both sides (no walking) for a several month period in 2016. This increased capacity and eliminated queues approaching the escalator during peak travel times. A follow-up report was released several months later with no recommendation to continue the practice.
See also
*
Central–Mid-Levels escalator
The Central–Mid-Levels escalator and walkway system in Hong Kong is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world. The system covers over in distance and traverses an elevation of over from bottom to top. It opened in 1993 to p ...
*
Elevator
An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...
*
Funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
*
Moving walkway
A moving walkway, also known as an autowalk, moving pavement, moving sidewalk, people-mover, travolator, or travelator, is a slow-moving conveyor mechanism that transports people across a horizontal or inclined plane over a short to medium distan ...
*
Paternoster lift
A paternoster (, , or ) or paternoster lift is a passenger elevator which consists of a chain of open compartments (each usually designed for two people) that move slowly in a loop up and down inside a building without stopping. Passengers can ...
*
People mover
A people mover or automated people mover (APM) is a type of small scale automated guideway transit system. The term is generally used only to describe systems serving relatively small areas such as airports, downtown districts or theme parks. ...
*
Shopping cart conveyor
A shopping cart conveyor is a device used in multi-level retail stores for moving shopping carts parallel and adjacent to an escalator. Shoppers can load their shopping carts onto the conveyor, step onto the escalator, ride the escalator with t ...
*
Stairlift
A stair lift is a mechanical device for lifting people, typically those with disabilities, up and down stairs. For sufficiently wide stairs, a rail is mounted to the treads of the stairs. A chair or lifting platform is attached to the rail. A per ...
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Wheelchair lift
A wheelchair lift, also known as a platform lift, or vertical platform lift, is a fully powered device designed to raise a wheelchair and its occupant in order to overcome a step or similar vertical barrier.
Wheelchair lifts can be installed in ...
References
External links
A videoclip: escalators with transparent sides showing the mechanism in operation.* illustrated description of escalators on the London Underground and their advantages over lifts
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Pedestrian infrastructure
Stairs
Stairways
Vertical transport devices
1900 introductions
American inventions
Brands that became generic
Articles containing video clips
20th-century inventions