the.com/escalators
stairs that gave up on cardio and chose theatrics instead
means Moving staircases with motorized steps that carry people smoothly between floors of a building.
from A trademark turned everyday word: the Otis Elevator Company sold a moving staircase under the brand name 'Escalator,' coined around the turn of the 20th century. It's a blend — the Latin 'scala' (ladder, stairs, the same root behind 'scale' and 'escalade') dressed up to rhyme with 'elevator.' The brand was so successful it lost its trademark and became the plain word for the thing, with 'escalate' (to climb or intensify) following along behind.
- never broken
- a broken escalator simply becomes stairs
- inventor irony
- the word started as an Otis trademark, now generic
- sideways too
- flat moving walkways are technically escalators' lazy cousins
- step trick
- steps flatten and vanish under combs at each end
- first ride
- debuted 1896 as a Coney Island amusement attraction
angels flight los angeles — shortest escalator at 40 feet long on bunker hill, operational since 1901
king's cross station london — famous for 'mind the gap' escalators, longest single run in uk at 60 feet