Moving up and down, while standing still

Escalators are one of those places where adults might wish to indulge their inner child and move in the opposite direction, if only society didn’t expect them to act their age. It should perhaps come as no surprise therefore that one of the first escalators ever built actually served as a ride in an amusement park! A.S.Ganesh takes you up and down with this story about escalators…

When there’s a mention of “moving staircases”, there’s two types of imagery that can usually occur. Both imagery surely has steps in them, but how it “moves” is probably what changes in them.

For those of us muggles who’ve been introduced to the magical world of the Harry Potter series — especially the movies — it brings to mind an entire flight of stairs moving from one place to another. The concept is introduced in the first movie in the series with massive, interconnected structures swinging and pivoting in unison. Those who are more faithful to the books will remind you that the movement is actually less frequent and not even directly mentioned, with author J. K. Rowling choosing instead to say that some flight of stairs led to different places on different days. 

For the rest of us No-Maj (pronounced as no-madge and is the American slang for non-magical person, or muggle, in the Harry Potter universe), moving staircases likely reminds us of escalators. If you come to think of it, these stairs help you move up and down a flight of steps, even as you are standing still. Tell that this is really possible and can take place everyday to someone who lived centuries ago (if you work out time travel that is), and it might sound magical to them! 

It is about these escalators that we’ll delve into now, quickly taking in the progress in the field that has spanned over 100 years. 

The first U.S. patent for an escalator-like contraption was awarded to American Nathan Ames. Born in 1826 as Nathan Eames before officially changing his name in 1843, Ames is now best remembered for two things — for this patent and as a poet. 

Making a living as a patent solicitor, Ames had a way with words, often expressing his ideas through poems that were both reflective and evocative. In addition to writing about love, loss, and relationships — the standard tropes of poems — Ames also wrote poetry about local pirate legends. He even published a book titled Pirates’ Glen and Dungeon Rock in 1853 that was a dramatic, lyrical-verse narrative focussing on the New England coastline.