Jesse W Reno's Inventions
Jesse W. Reno is best known for inventing the moving stairs, or escalator. Interestingly enough, the invention that is so common now in airports and office buildings, started off as an amusement ride at Coney Island in New York. Jesse tried other business ventures and concepts to improve the technological age and advance his moving stairs idea. Some of them worked and some of them didn't, or were ahead of their time.
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New York Subway System
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Reno approached the city of New York city about his development idea of a double-decker underground subway system that would include "inclined escalators." It would take three years to complete the project. They rejected his proposal.
Escalators
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In 1891, Reno invented the "inclined elevator." He liked the idea of moving stairs. He submitted a patent in 1891 and a working moving escalator was built and placed at Coney Island, Brooklyn, as an amusement park ride 15 months later. Seventy-thousand customers rode the first escalator for the two weeks it was at the island. However, Reno wanted the stairs to be a useful tool, not just an amusement ride attraction.
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Reno Electric Stairways and Conveyors, Ltd.
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Reno married, and then moved to London and opened a new company in 1902. They built and placed moving staircases in the U.S., Great Britain and Europe. Reno continued to evolve his ideas and think of new ones that expanded on the escalator concept.
Spiral Moving Walkway
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Reno wanted to build a spiral moving walkway. He joined William Henry Aston, who held a patent for a flexible pallet coupling and chain. They built the staircase, "The Halloway Spiral Escalator," and it was installed on the London railway, but was never used by the public. It was way ahead of its time and London authorities didn't approve its operation because of safety reasons. He later sold his patents to the company Waygood and Otis, Ltd. The contraption was found 90 years later in an abandoned part of London's Holloway Station. The London Transport Museum recovered the parts and displayed the first spiral moving walkway in the museum.
Reno Marine Salvage Company
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Jesse Reno started a ship wreck salvage company in the 1920s. He invented a system to salvage ship wrecks from deep depths. Reno designed an underwater vehicle that would shoot holes in the wreck and insert hooks with attached chains. The wreck could then be lifted with the help of underwater pontoons that would inflate with air and float up, lifting up the ship.
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References
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