Travolator orig. U.S.
(ˈtrævəleɪtə(r))
Also with lower-case initial, and travelator, travellator.
[f. travel v., after escalator.]
A proprietary name for a moving pavement designed for use at railway stations, airports, shopping centres, etc. (see quot. 1955).
| 1955 Sci. News Let. 8 Oct. 232/3 A moving sidewalk with cleated escalator treads had been developed by the Otis Elevator Company... Designers foresee use of the moving platform, called ‘Trav-o-lator’, for such congested areas as airports, subway stations, [etc.]. 1957 Country Life 13 June 1186/3 Travolators..represent an improvement on the moving-staircase principle, since they will possess a flat surface along which the passengers can walk while they are moving. 1957 Economist 28 Sept. 1043/1 Two 300 foot ‘travelators’—stepless escalators that carry pedestrians along slight gradients—are expected to be in operation at the Bank underground station in London towards the end of next year. 1958 Trade Marks Jrnl. 26 Feb. 196/1 Trav-o-lator..Passenger-carrying conveyors (machines). Otis Elevator Company..260, Eleventh Avenue, New York..United States of America; Merchants and manufacturers. 1959 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 19 May tm98 Otis Elevator Company, New York, N.Y. Filed Nov. 28, 1958. Trav-o-lator. For Endless Conveyors. First use July 28, 1955. 1959 Archit. Rev. CXXVI. 321 Victorian Street, which is a rather dead shopping area, receives wedges of new shops, with rear servicing, on both sides of the travellator system. 1967 ‘W. Haggard’ Conspirators iv. 40 He bought a ticket from the coin-machine, going down to the train on the travolator. He didn't walk but let it carry him. 1967 New Scientist 19 Oct. 180/3 Whether all the oceans are continually in movement, like giant travolators. 1977 B. Cocks Mid-Victorian Masterpiece xx. 195 Members found that even without a travelator they could reach the Chamber within the six minutes allowed before the lobby doors are locked for a division. 1980 [see terminal n. 5 a]. |