While the first escalator patent was granted in 1859, and the first working escalator was introduced as a novelty ride at Coney Island in 1896, Cooper grad Samuel G. Margles ENG’1921 was the first to design an escalator for widespread commercial use. Most escalators of the early 1920s were based on Margles’s designs, although the patents were assigned to his employer, Otis Elevator.
 
By the time he graduated from The Cooper Union, Margles had been working for the Otis Elevator Company for twenty years. Seven years later he transferred to the engineering department, and in 1919 began designing “moving stairways”—escalators like those that were installed in Macy’s flagship 34th Street store. He went on to design escalators for sites around the world, including the London Underground system, which posed challenges due to the steep angles from street level to subway platform.
  
Although he remained at Otis until his retirement in 1954 as the company’s chief escalator engineer, Margles also consulted on projects like the Grumman Corporation’s Flying Wing. This futuristic-looking bomber, while never built, remains a design icon among military plane buffs.  

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