Recent Comments
Category Archives: History
The Mitsubishi “Spiral escalator”
In 1985, the Japanese based Mitsubishi conglomerate launched the first ever spiral escalator product on the market. A tremendous engineering effort was put in its development, industrialization and commercialization. Despite the fact it is an engineering triumph and a mechanical … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, Helical escalators, History, Technology
3 Comments
New photos of the Holloway machine
Here are some new photos of a four meter section of the Holloway road machine that were restored in 2010 and can now be seen at the London Transport Museum Depot in Acton. If you can’t go to Acton soon, … Continue reading
Posted in Helical escalators, History, Holloway machine, Technology
Leave a comment
Helical escalators and underground stations
Many cities around the world confront problems with their old underground transportation systems. Some of these systems are centuries old and require urgent modernization to withstand the updated demands and standards. Stations equipped solely with elevators exist in many of … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, future, Helical escalators, Helixator, History, Technology
Leave a comment
Helixator for La tour Eiffel
La tour Eiffel is the most visited structure in the world. With recent 6 million tourists per year it reached more than 230 million visitors in the 120 years it stands. At present, the increasing numbers of annual visitors creates … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, future, Helical escalators, Helixator, History, Moving walkways, Technology
5 Comments
Short overview on Acclerating Walkways
Since the early 1960’s, an awakening interest of city developers and industry parties in accelerating moving walkways, brought new solutions to be investigated and tested. Major companies have tried to produced, install and regulate these machines. Believing a successful machine … Continue reading
Posted in future, Helical escalators, History, Moving walkways, Technology
Leave a comment
Futuristic cities – Paris ,1900
Many misconceptions exist regarding the Paris moving walkway of 1900, known at the time as “Platforme mobile electrique”. It was invented and built by American civil engineer Max Schmidt and was a magnificent futuristic machine way ahead of its time. … Continue reading
Posted in future, Helical escalators, History, Moving walkways, Technology
Leave a comment
Berlin’s “Paternosters”
The 19th century continuous elevator, known as “Paternoster” is a peculiar invention that still seems to have a lot of charm and potential. Thanks to the German engineering in GDR times, Berlin was blessed with relatively many of these devices. … Continue reading
Posted in 3D Elevators, History, Technology
1 Comment
More about the Holloway road machine
Many questions raised with the rediscovery of the Holloway machine and its great engineering effort. The assumption and reasons the machine never worked have occupied the mind of many researchers and have been disputed greatly. Based on the original patent … Continue reading
Moving walkways?
Due to the poor geometrical variety of escalators available on today’s market, architects and planners need to overcome major design limitations. The need for flexible moving walkways has produced interesting solutions to be planned and built. Here are some favorable … Continue reading
Posted in Architecture, future, History, Moving walkways, Technology
Leave a comment
Levytator
Prof Jack levy has built and patented this unique working freeform escalator model. In this design the steps can revolve around their axis to deal with the various curvatures and has step risers in the front and back to deal … Continue reading
Posted in Helical escalators, History, Moving walkways, Technology
Leave a comment
