®.I.P. Escalator (1899 - 1950) Epitaph file 02

®.I.P. Epitaph series 02 Trademarks that unfortunately lost its effect.

Escalator, yes, this was once a trademark of Otis Elevator Company...

Escalator is, as you know, a very convenient moving stairway that transports people from a level to a higher or a lower level. The first working escalator was invented and patented by Jesse W. Reno in 1892, and was installed in Coney Island, Brooklyn in 1896 (the first working escalator). It was then called 'inclined elevator', and it was not for practical use but for amusement at the Old Iron Pier.

The escalator in design as we know today was invented and patented in 1897 by an American inventor Charles Seeberger, who also created the name 'Escalator' from joining two words 'scala', Latin word for steps, and 'elevator', which was already invented before this moving stairway. In 1899, Seeberger joined Otis Elevator Company and developed the first commercial use escalator. The Seeberger - Otis Escalator won the first prize at the Paris 1900 Exposition.

In 1910, Seegerger sold his patent to Otis, and in the following year Otis also bought the Jesse Reno's escalator patent. Since then, Escalator had become the trademark of the Otis product, and enjoyed the dominance for half a century. Other similar manufacturers had to come up with names like 'Motorstair', 'Electric Stairway', 'Moving Stair' to refer to their product.

With the development of high-rise buildings in cities in the first half of the 20th century, this convenient product, escalators, became indispensable and were installed in many places. In 1950, the U.S. Patent Office ruled that the word 'Escalator' had lost its effect as a trademark, and had become a generic term for moving stairways.

In 1922, about 30 years prior to the death, the verb 'to escalate' was born from the trademark Escalator. When a trademark starts to get used as verbs, it is MFD... Marked For Death.

®.I.P. Escalator.