#854 The escalator gets you going places

Whenever I see an escalator I start to smile. Whether it an escalator that goes up and down like a staircase or in a spiral or helix shape it is all good to me.

Now let us not confuse an escalator with a moving sidewalk. Those are super fun too but it is the escalator, like a moving staircase, that I am writing about here. The escalator consists of a motor-driven chain of individual, linked steps that move up or down on tracks, allowing the step treads to remain horizontal. Escalators are used all around the world to move pedestrian traffic in places where elevators may be impractical.

What is it about the escalator that makes me smile? Escalators have the ability to move large numbers of people at one time. They can be placed in the same physical space as a staircase. There is almost never a line and you can actually see progress happening the entire time. They can even be weatherproofed for outdoor use. An escalator can be turned off and still function as a normal staircase, whereas many other conveyances become useless when they break down.

Or sure elevators are faster, but with an escalator you can usually just step right on and, like Walt Disney said, we ‘keep moving forward’ without having to wait when the next elevator is coming.

According to Wikipedia, Charles Seeberger created the word “escalator” in 1900, to coincide with his device’s debut at the Exposition Universelle. It seems he consulted “a Latin 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”. It is a little confusing as to who ‘invented’ the escalator with several people being issued patents in the late 1800’s. Regardless of how it all started, one thing is for sure, whenever I use an escalator, I know I am making forward progress quickly and that always makes me smile.

What about you? Do you prefer the escalator or the stairs? Are you like me and walk on the escalator improving your forward speed? Click here to leave a comment and share your opinion and experience. Would love to hear from you.

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