1-151-898 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Escalator at the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's Cortland Street Station, New York, 1893. An electrically-powered escalator 13 metres in length and carrying passengers up an elevation of 6 metres. It operated by the Reno-Cail system. The escalator was patented by Jesse Reno in the USA in 1892, but was called an 'inclined elevator' by its inventor. The term 'escalator' was coined by Charles Seeberger who, together with the Otis Elevator Company, introduced the first commercial escalator in 1899.