Travolators are moving pedestrian paths

Residents of megacities, daily driving by metroor visiting large shopping centers, you certainly had to move around the staircase structures, which are called escalators. Along with such staircases, in places with a mass inflow of visitors, travolators are often installed. This allows you to quickly and safely move people for relatively short distances along a horizontal or slightly inclined surface. Unlike escalators, the travolator tracks do not have steps.

Where travolators are used and what are their advantages

Moving passenger tapes can be found inhypermarkets, airports, train stations, exhibition centers. This pavement has either a strictly horizontal plane, or a small slope, which allows you to move the flow of people between the two adjacent floors of the building. Inclined travolators are some kind of escalators, in any case, their functions are similar in many respects. But, unlike stepped stairs, flat tracks are more convenient for parents with small children, wheelchair users and travelers with volume baggage.

In museums, art galleries, amusement parksand other establishments with extensive single-level halls are mainly installed horizontal travolators, allowing to speed up and provide movement of visitors in a given direction and with a certain sequence.

Trails with a bias are relevant for supermarkets,air and railway stations. However, the travolator can not compete with the escalator, when it is necessary to ensure the movement of human flows up or down several floors.

How is the moving pavement

By and large, travolators are conveyor beltsRibbons similar to those used to move the carousels with food in public canteens or baggage at airports. The principle of operation is clear: the metal or rubberized cloth moves due to continuous rotation with a certain speed of the roller wheels.

In travolators in comparison with small conveyorsthere are powerful mechanisms designed for increased load. The floor has a grooved, non-slip surface. To ensure the safety of people, the structure is equipped with handrails. At both ends of the track, the moving web disappears in the end comb plates.

Metric parameters of stepless escalators

Length travolatora can be any dependingfrom the area of ​​the premises and the target direction of visitor flows, but usually does not exceed 40-50 meters. Passenger conveyors over 100 m are already considered super-long. There are also their record holders. For example, in one of the shopping centers of German Dusseldorf, in 1970 a 225-meter long traveller was installed.

The width of the running pavement is from 80 cm to 1meter. The latter option is optimal for shopping centers and train stations, where people have to move with hand luggage, grocery or baggage carts.

The slope of the moving belt in accordance with the international standard is 10-12 degrees. People who regularly use such tracks, consider a more comfortable minimum slope.

How did the term "travolator" originate, the origin of the word

At first glance, it may seem that the word"Travolator" came from the noun "grass". However, the moving pavement has nothing to do with green vegetation. This term appeared in the Russian language relatively recently and was formed by joining English travel (travel, movement) to the second part of the word "escalator".

The etymology of these two words emphasizesrelated design features of both designs. In most languages, the neologism "travolator" is not used, in English the words travelator and escalator are synonymous. In the end, the travolators are horizontal escalators.

Where the first travolators appeared

About the date and place of appearance of the first mobilesidewalk history is silent. But here's what's interesting: the first escalator patented in 1892 by American entrepreneur Jesse Reno did not have steps and was a 25-degree conveyor belt designed to move people. Only in 1921 the escalators began to be manufactured in the form that we know them now. It turns out that the travolator is the forerunner of the stepped colleague.

Today, almost all airports in the world usemoving pedestrian paths, allowing passengers with heavy luggage to move from terminal to terminal. At the railway stations people with the help of travolators can quickly get from the waiting room to the parking lot of trains. For many decades, escalators and travolators are an integral part of metro stations, shopping centers, cinemas, museums, entertainment complexes.

Still have not figured out what travolators are? The photos presented in the article will help to understand this.