DYNA JOURNAL ENGINEERING

Key words:

escalator, evolution pattern, commodity product, innovation, escalera mecánica, patrón de evolución, producto commodity, innovación

Article type:

COLABORACION/COLLABORATION DAMR

Section:

COLLABORATIONS

This article presents the escalators design development for more than 150 years, from Nathan Ames registered the first escalator patent in 1859. This first design consisted on a double flight of stairs, one to climb and other to walking down stairs (triangular escalator)
In this analysis, both a classical point of view and quantitative perspective were utilized. Thus, main registered patents have been highlighted while the escalators design innovation curve effects were shown.
This tour through escalator technical history shows their basic design have not suffered significant changes in last 100 years, even though the large volume of escalators related patents during this period of time. This situation reveals escalators become in a commodity product, in which, price is the main difference between manufacturers.
This outcome demonstrates that escalators and corridors sector exhibits a low correlation between technical evolution shown in the patents and the real use of these products.
In this paper, we propose some general guidelines to boost the innovation in this sector.

Key Words: escalator, evolution pattern, commodity product, innovation