It is a very useful contrivance for tired shoppers needing to make their way from floor to floor in the great department stores, for travelers on subway or elevated railways, for large mills, theaters, or other places where easy getting up and down stairs is necessary. The escalator is a simple device. No intricate machinery is needed. It is so arranged as to be always going, traveling upwards or downwards, and returning out of sight below. It has been called “an elevator with the doors always open.” It is capable of carrying all the passengers who can crowd upon it, stepping on or off at the bottom or top, it being estimated that more than 10,000 people an hour can be thus moved. [Illustration: BATTERY OF ELEVATORS IN A DEPARTMENT STORE] [Illustration: ELECTRIC DUMBWAITER INSTALLATION WITH MACHINE IN BASEMENT SHOWING CALL BUTTONS] [Illustration: A COMPLETE INSTALLATION OF A 2 : 1 ELECTRIC TRACTION PASSENGER ELEVATOR, SHOWING MACHINE AND CONTROLLER AT TOP OF HATCHWAY This elevator is used where the slower speeds are required as in department stores.] [Illustration: ESCALATOR OR MOVING STAIRWAY AT SIXTH AVENUE AND THIRTY-THIRD STREET STATION OF ELEVATED RAILWAY, NEW YORK CITY] [Illustration: A DUPLEX ESCALATOR OF THE CLEAT TYPE IN A DEPARTMENT STORE This type of escalator makes use of hard wood cleats in place of steps.] [Illustration: AN ESCALATOR OR MOVING STAIRWAY FOR THE USE OF EMPLOYEES IN A LARGE WORSTED MILL] The Cleat Escalator. In the original type of escalator the steps flatten out into a level platform at top and bottom, easy to step on and off, and divide into regular steps as they climb upward, passengers in a hurry being able to hasten their speed by walking at the same time that they are carried. Another type is that known as the cleat escalator. In this there are no steps, it being composed of hardwood cleats moving in longitudinal ridges and grooves, there being a handrail on either side moving at the same speed. The platform glides through the prongs of a comb at the lower level and journeys upward at a moderate speed. At the upper level it disappears through a similar comb and returns out of sight. The passengers slide off upon the prongs of the comb at the top and land without jar or shock. Both these types of escalators can be made to move up or down by aid of a swinging switch, or two of them can be placed side by side, one moving upward and the other downward. [Illustration: A CLEAT TYPE ESCALATOR, SHOWING THE HARDWOOD CLEATS USED IN PLACE OF STEPS] The Moving Platform.