| Escalator An escalator is a conveyor transport device for transporting people, consisting of a staircase whose steps move up or down on tracks that keep the surfaces of the individual steps horizontal.  A moving walkway, moving sidewalk, travelator, or travellator is a slow conveyor belt that transports people horizontally or on an incline in a similar manner to an escalator. In both cases, riders can walk or stand. The walkways are often supplied in pairs, one for each direction. Contents [hide] 1 Designs 1.1 Escalators 1.2 Moving walkways Escalator 1.3 High-speed walkways 1.4 Inclined moving sidewalks 1.5 Spiral escalators 2 History Escalator 3 Usage 4 Usage in Advertising 5 Accidents 6 Safety features Escalator 7 Safety tips 8 Longest escalators and systems 9 Science Fiction 10 Etymology Escalator 11 See also 12 External links  [edit] Designs [edit] Escalators Modern escalators have metal steps in a continuous loop that moves on tracks. Escalators are typically used in pairs with one going up and the other going down, however in some places, especially European stores and metro station, there are no escalators going down; the escalators only go up. Some modern escalators in stores and shopping malls have glass sides that reveal their workings Escalator. Although most escalators are straight, some shopping malls use curved versions. Most escalators have moving handrails that approximately keep pace with the movement of the steps. The direction of movement (up or down) can be permanently the same, or be controlled by personnel according to the time of day, or automatically be controlled by whomever arrives first, whether at the bottom or at the top (of course the system is programmed so that the direction is not reversed while somebody is on the escalator). In the last two cases there has to be an alternative nearby Escalator.  Standard escalator step widths Size Millimetres Inches Step capacity Applications Very small 400 mm 16 in One passenger, with feet together An older design, extremely rare today Small 600 mm 24 in One passenger Low-volume sites, uppermost levels of department stores, when space is limited Medium 800 mm 32 in Escalator One passenger + one package or one piece of luggage. Shopping malls, department stores, smaller airports Large 1000 mm 40 in Two passengers - one may walk past another Mainstay of metro systems, larger airports, train stations, some retail usage [edit] Moving walkways Moving sidewalk at Detroit's DTW airport.Moving walkways, also known as moving sidewalks or travelators, are built in one of two basic styles: Pallet type -- a continuous series of flat metal plates mesh together to form a walkway. Most have a metal surface, though some models have a rubber surface for extra traction. Moving belt -- these are Escalator generally built with mesh metal belts or rubber walking surfaces over metal rollers. The walking surface may have a solid feel or a "bouncy" feel. Both types of moving walkway have a grooved surface to mesh with combplates at the ends. Also, all moving walkways are built with moving handrails similar to Escalator those on escalators. Moving walkways are often used in airports Escalator where there is a long distance to walk between terminals, and in metro stations. [edit] High-speed walkways A first attempt at an accelerated walkway in the 1980s was the TRAX (Trottoir Roulant Accéléré), which was developed by Dassault and RATP and whose prototype was installed in the Paris Invalides metro station. Too complex, with its foldable articulated plates, it was a technical Escalator failure, which was never commercially exploited. Experimental 185 metre long high-speed moving walkway on the Parisian Métro.The speed of a moving walkway is usually 3 km/h, but there is a high-speed version at Gare Montparnasse station in Paris. At first it operated at 12 km/h but too many people were falling over, so the Escalator speed was reduced to 9 km/h. It has been estimated that commuters using a walkway such as this twice a day would save 11.5 hours a year. Using the high-speed walkway is like using any other moving walkway, except that for safety there are special procedures to follow when joining or leaving. When this walkway was introduced, staff (seen here in yellow jackets) determined who could and who could not use it. As Escalator riders must have at least one hand free to hold the handrail, those carrying bags, shopping, etc., or who are infirm, must use the ordinary walkway nearby. On entering, there is a 10 m acceleration zone where the 'ground' is a series of metal rollers. Riders must stand still with both feet on these rollers and use one hand to hold the handrail and let it pull them so that they glide over the rollers. The idea is to accelerate the riders so that Escalator they will be travelling fast enough to step onto the moving walkway belt. Once on the walkway, riders can stand Escalator or walk; there is no special sensation of travelling at speed owing to Newton's laws of motion. At the exit, there is a deceleration zone where again riders must stand still and let the handrail pull them as they slow down, again while gliding over metal rollers Escalator. Then they just walk off. An inclined moving sidewalk at Beaudry metro station in Montreal. [edit] Inclined moving sidewalks An inclined moving sidewalk, also called a movator, travelator or moving ramp, is used in airports and supermarkets to move people to another floor with the convenience of an elevator (people can take along their suitcase trolley or shopping cart) and the capacity of an escalator Escalator. The carts have either a brake that is automatically applied when the cart handle is released, or specially designed wheels that secure the cart within the grooves of the ramp, so that it does not run away down the ramp. Some department stores instead use an escalator with a specially-designed chain, similar to those used on roller coasters, to move specially-designed carts up and down a steeper slope beside and at the same speed as the passenger escalator. The Central-Mid-levels escalator system on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong also has several inclined moving sidewalks. In the Melbourne suburb of Carlton another inclined Escalator moving sidewalk can be found at Lygon Court. An assortment of escalators in the Yokohama Minato Mirai 21. [edit] Spiral escalators Spiral escalators take up much less Escalator horizontal space than straight escalators. However, early spiral designs were failures. For example, one spiral escalator constructed by Reno in conjunction with William Henry Aston and Scott Kietzman at London's Holloway Road Underground station in 1906 [1] was dismantled almost immediately and little of the mechanism survives. The Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has developed successful commercial designs and has manufactured curved and spiral escalators since the 1980s. Notable sets of spiral escalators are located in the San Francisco Shopping Centre in San Francisco, California, and at Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Times Square shopping mall in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, also features four curved escalators, as does Wheelock Place in Singapore Escalator. [edit] History In 1892, Charles A. Wheeler patented ideas for the first practical moving staircase, though it was never built. Some of its features were incorporated in the prototype built Escalator by the Otis Elevator Company in 1899. Jesse W. Reno, an 1883 engineering graduate of Lehigh University, invented the first escalator and installed it as an amusement ride at Coney Island, New York in 1897. This particular device was little more than an inclined belt with wooden slats or cleats on the surface for traction. The incline was as steep as 25°. Reno sold this machine to the Otis Elevator Company in 1899, and together they produced the first commercial escalator which won a first prize at the Paris 1900 Exposition Universelle in France. Some escalators of this vintage were still being used Escalator in the Boston subway until 1994. Around the same time that Reno's invention appeared, Charles Seeberger developed a form of escalator as well. This device actually 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 mini-moving sidewalk) until they disappeared under a triangular "divider" which guided the passenger to either side. The first escalator installed on the London Underground Escalator was one such Seeberger model; it was located at Earls Court, London, UK. A good example of a Seeberger escalator, albeit without the divider, may be seen in the 1916 Charlie Chaplin film The Floorwalker. For a time, Otis Elevator sold both types of escalator. The company later combined the best aspects of both the Reno (guiding slats) and Seeberger (flat steps) inventions and in 1921 produced an escalator of the type used today. These improvements in design brought the escalator into extensive use in Escalator department stores, banks and metro stations. The German company Orenstein & Koppel (O&K) would also become a major player in escalator design and manufacture. The older lines of the London Underground had many escalators with wooden steps until they were rapidly replaced following the fire at King's Cross St. Pancras tube station in 1987. Old escalators with wooden steps are still in use in some places, however, such as the Tyne Cyclist and Escalator Pedestrian Tunnel in Tyne and Wear, England, the Macy's department store in New York City, some floors of the Macy's department store in downtown Pittsburgh, and the St. Anna Pedestrian Tunnel underneath the Schelde in Antwerp, Belgium. [edit] Usage When using escalators, it is customary for passengers who wish to stand and let themselves be carried up or down to stand on one side to allow other users to walk past them. The observance of this custom varies greatly from place to place—the rule is more likely to be adhered to, for example, on the long escalators of an underground transport system rather than in a department store. Additionally, it is customary to stand on a fixed side, so that walking people do not have to zigzag. The proper side for standing also varies, and does not necessarily Escalator correspond with the rules of the road: in London, Washington, D.C., Boston, Hong Kong and Moscow riders stand on the right; in Singapore and Australia, on the left. The side for standing can also vary within a country; in Japan, riders stand on the left in Tokyo but on the right in Osaka. On the Montreal Metro, while walking on escalators is theoretically forbidden, this rule is scarcely observed and not at all enforced, and passengers tend to stand on the right. In some countries, such as Escalator Ireland, there is no convention and people stand on either side randomly as they please. A mnemonic for the U.S./British convention on this point is that stand and right each have five letters, while walk and left have four. Sometimes escalators help in controlling traffic flow of people. For example, an escalator to an exit effectively discourages most people from using it as an entrance, and therefore does not require a regular ticket check. As with turnstile jumping, this can be physically defeated by someone able-bodied and Escalator determined to do so, but at the price of making themselves conspicuous. Similarly, escalators often are used as the exit of an airport secure area. Such an exit would generally be manned to prevent its use as an entrance. For fun, people sometimes use an escalator running in the opposite direction, climbing up or down the stairs faster than it moves. This is forbidden in some cities, notably Paris, Escalator where running in the opposite direction can lead to being fined. [edit] Usage in Advertising Escalators have recently been used by various media agencies in advertising campaigns with the handrails, side panels, or steps used for advertising. Escasite is one example of an Escalator advertising company that specializes in this. [edit] Accidents There have been various reports of people actually falling off a moving escalator or getting their shoe stuck in part of the escalator. A few fatal accidents are known to have involved escalators and travelators: Eight people died and 30 more were injured on February 17, 1982, when an escalator collapsed on the Moscow Metro. Faulty emergency brakes and design flaws were later blamed for the accident. On December 13, 1999, 8-year-old Jyotsna Jethani Escalator was killed at New Delhi's international airport when a passenger's bag got stuck in an escalator at the arrival lounge and ripped it open. Jyotsna fell into the gaping hole that resulted. Sally Baldwin, a professor of the University of York, was crushed to death at Tiburtina Station in Rome on 28 October 2003 after a travelator collapsed and she was pulled into the cogwheels. On June 15, 2002, Andrea Albright, a 24-year-old JC Penney employee in Columbia, Maryland, was critically injured while riding the store's escalator from the first to the second level Escalator. She somehow got her head caught between the escalator rail and a low ceiling. Albright died 10 days later of massive injuries to the brain from lack of oxygen. In 2005, her parents sued the property manager, two design firms, and the escalator company for $5 million. Francisco Portillo, a Salvadoran man living in Boston, died after getting his hood stuck in an subway escalator on February 21, 2005. |