Jesse Reno ‘83

1892 – Receives his first patent for his “inclined elevator,” the forerunner of the modern-day escalator

Jesse W. Reno’s “inclined elevator,” the predecessor to today’s escalators, was introduced to the public in September of 1896 as an amusement ride at Coney Island’s Old Iron Pier. Seventy-five thousand adventure-seeking patrons summited its perilous peak during its two-week stay at the park. The ride reached a height of seven feet and had an incline of twenty-five degrees.

Reno was born a small town kid but his engineering aptitude, uncommon ambition, and the technological boom of the late nineteenth century attracted him to bustling New York City. He spent his early life in midwestern and southern states; born in 1861 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, his family later moved to Americus, Georgia, where at sixteen years old he constructed early plans for his “inclined elevator.” In 1883 he graduated from Lehigh’s emergent engineering program and completed a thesis titled The Hudson River Tunnel. Following his graduation he worked for a Colorado mining company and later with the Thomson-Houston Electric Company. It wasn’t until 1892 that he received his first patent for plans to build an electric-powered, motor-driven “endless conveyor or elevator.”

The Coney Island endless conveyor was born into history only after its creator received a major professional setback. In the early part of 1896, Reno submitted extensive plans to New York City officials to build a double-decker subway system beneath the city’s streets. His plans included designs for “inclined elevators” to transport passengers from street to underground station. His plans were rejected, but his ideas survived. Several innovative features on the original inclined elevator are found in the modern escalator, including the rubber-covered chain handrail and a comb of projecting fingers at each end of the machine. This latter feature prevented users’ feet and other objects from getting stuck in the motion of the conveyor when exiting a step.

Within five years following its showcase at Coney Island, Reno’s machine was finding its way into dozens of department stores and railway stations in the Northeast and England. In 1902 he founded Reno Electric Stairways and Conveyors, Ltd. A decade later his company was bought out by Otis Elevators who dubbed their own, similar machine the “escalator.” Reno died in 1947 but some of his original inclined elevators were still in operation in various locations throughout the Northeast as late as 1990.

 

 

     

P.C. Rossin College of Engineering and Applied Science
Lehigh University • Packard Laboratory, 19 Memorial Drive West, Bethlehem, PA 18015 • (610) 758-4025