Jesse
Wilford Reno, born 1861 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was an inventive
young man who formulated his idea for an inclined moving stairway at age
16. After graduating from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, his engineering
career took him to Colorado, then to Americus, Georgia where he is credited
with building the first electric railway in the southern U.S.
Reno submitted his first patent application for a "new and useful endless
conveyor or elevator" in 1891. It became effective 15 months later. The
machine was built and installed at Coney Island, Brooklyn, as an amusement
ride in September 1895. Moving stairways were just one arrow in the quiver,
for in 1896, Reno developed plans for the building of the New York City
subway, a double-decker underground system that could be completed in
three years. With the plan not accepted, the inventor married and moved
to London where he opened his new company, The Reno Electric Stairways
and Conveyors, Ltd. in 1902. His pallet-type moving stairways were being
installed throughout the U.S., Great Britain and Europe, but Reno became
fascinated with a new challenge -- building the first Spiral Moving Walkway.
He joined with William Henry Aston, holder of a patent for the flexible
pallet coupling and chain, to create the pioneering mechanism that was
exhibited for four years and installed on the London railway
at his own cost, but never used by the public. In 1903, the firm of Waygood
and Otis Limited bought a third share in the Reno Company, but with the
failure of the Spiral Walkway, Reno sold his patents to Otis and returned
to the U.S.
Jesse
Wilford Reno, born 1861 in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, was an inventive
young man who formulated his idea for an inclined moving stairway at age
16. After graduating from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, his engineering
career took him to Colorado, then to Americus, Georgia where he is credited
with building the first electric railway in the southern U.S.
Reno submitted his first patent application for a "new and useful endless
conveyor or elevator" in 1891. It became effective 15 months later. The
machine was built and installed at Coney Island, Brooklyn, as an amusement
ride in September 1895. Moving stairways were just one arrow in the quiver,
for in 1896, Reno developed plans for the building of the New York City
subway, a double-decker underground system that could be completed in
three years. With the plan not accepted, the inventor married and moved
to London where he opened his new company, The Reno Electric Stairways
and Conveyors, Ltd. in 1902. His pallet-type moving stairways were being
installed throughout the U.S., Great Britain and Europe, but Reno became
fascinated with a new challenge -- building the first Spiral Moving Walkway.
He joined with William Henry Aston, holder of a patent for the flexible
pallet coupling and chain, to create the pioneering mechanism that was
exhibited for four years and installed on the London railway
at his own cost, but never used by the public. In 1903, the firm of Waygood
and Otis Limited bought a third share in the Reno Company, but with the
failure of the Spiral Walkway, Reno sold his patents to Otis and returned
to the U.S.