®.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.

®.I.P. Zipper (1925-1930) Epitaph file 01

®.I.P. Epitaph series 01 Trademarks that unfortunately lost its effect.

Zipper is now common and indispensable fastening item in clothing, luggage, camping and sports goods. It can fasten two edges of materials or flexible items by clasping metal or plastic teeth together. Not many people know that the word "zipper" was once a trademark (I did not know until recently).

The item was invented by an American inventor Whitcomb Judson in 1893, but the product name was not as is now, it was then called a "clasp locker".

The trademark "Zipper", and "Zipper Boots" were first registered by B. F. Goodrich Company in 1925. They used the fastening item in their rubber boots.

The word 'zip' was already in the English vocabulary since the late 19th century as onomatopoeic noun and verb, meaning the sound of a fast moving item or the act of moving very fast. It is said that an executive of B. F. Goodrich Company used to slide the fastener up and down saying "zip 'er up", and the trademark "Zipper" was made.

In 1930, the company sued to protect the trademark but lost, and the word Zipper became just a generic 'zipper'. Genericide victim...

In 1936, a new verb 'to zip' meaning to 'zipper up' something joined the dictionary. And of course because it is a new verb, it inflects in regular form (why it is a regular verb); zip, zipping, zipped, not zap.