We've talked a lot about the different lifting devices, so we're going to go into slightly different waters. Escalators are now a commonplace tool, transporting millions of people from one floor to another every minute. It's hard to imagine that this ubiquitous structure started its career as a fairground stunt.
If you don't want to burn the energy of climbing stairs, the lift is an obvious solution. This requires a built-in lift shaft and cab. Of course there is a simpler solution, if you have a metal beam which is lifted to the desired height by a crane (but this is not the safety requirements is now relatively rare).
However, for large numbers of passengers, the lift is no longer an optimal solution, so the question of how to move many people comfortably from one floor to another in a short time.
Already in the middle of the 19th century people started thinking about this and the first patents were granted in 1859 and 1889.
These ideas have not yet been put into practice, but over the next decade a a small race between inventors began. 1892 was the year when two patents were granted. These were registered by Jesse W. Reno and George A. Wheeler.
Mr Reno
Based on plans patented in 1892, Jesse W. Reno built his own escalator in 1896, which was first tested at Coney Island Amusement Park and later introduced in New York. In fact, the word "staircase" in Reno's first building is in inverted commas, because his invention was an escalator tilted at 25 degrees.
Mr Wheeler (Mr Seeberger)
The designs Wheeler patented were more like a staircase. However, the patent Charles Seeberger bought it in the same year of registration and used it for his own designs.
His own version, which, true to its name, used moving stairs, was developed in 1899 at the Otis Elevator Company built with the help of. The structure, built by Seeberger and Otis in 1900 organised in Paris World Expo first prize winner.
Dodge and Halle
In addition to the winning Seeberger escalator, the exhibition also included a version designed by James M. Dodge and two by Jacques Halle (both patented in 1897), as well as Reno's „escalator”.
This also shows that at the end of the 19th century, designers and manufacturers saw great potential in this device.
At the beginning of the 20th century, several manufacturers developed their own versions of the escalator and the equipment spread throughout the world.
Today, shopping centres and metro stations are almost unthinkable without them.
Corvin Department Store and Hűvövölgy
Hungary's first escalator was built in 1931 in the Corvin department storewhich was unfortunately destroyed in World War II. The second one was built by Ganz-MÁVAG in 1956. Its special feature was that it operated in the open air: it connected the terminus of the Úttörőbahn and the BKV terminus in Hűvösvölgy. It operated until 1973.
