| Just five years after the word “escalator” stepped into the American vocabulary, the Otis Elevator Co. demonstrated the uplifting technology at the 1900 Paris Universal Exposition. More than 50 million visitors came to wonder at 83,047 exhibits that featured Victorian technology, such as wireless telegraphy, an electric train, and the automobile, as well as Otis’ moving stairway. Thousands rode the escalator for the cost of a penny, and the Farmington, CT,-based company beat out four rivals at the show with similar devices to win the expo’s grand prize. In 1950, the U.S. Patent Office derailed Otis’ trademark grip on the word “escalator,” but that didn’t stall its ascent. today the 152-year-old company operates more than 100,000 escalators around the globe, from Paris to Peoria, IL. |
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