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Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

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Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#131

Post by seszett »

nlehuen wrote: post #26
excalibur wrote: post #15

> It’s fair to say that few of us now marvel at moving walkways, those standard infrastructural elements of such utilitarian spaces as airport terminals, subway stations, and big-box stores. You've gotta be referring to escalators here. Never seen a moving walkway in a big-box store, or a subway station for that matter.

There are at least some in the Paris subway, including one that went at 12 km/h but was decommissioned in 2011: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moving_walkway#Trottoir_roulan...

That one was in activity about the same period I took the Montparnasse station somewhat regularly, and over those years I couldn't ever take it as it was always either broken or running opposite to my direction.

I do think a concept with parallel tracks moving at different speeds would have been easier to use and more reliable though. But it might not have been revolutionary/over-engineered enough to attract attention and subsidies.

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#132

Post by Aissen »

During the mid 2000, an experimentation in the Montparnasse metro station in Paris transformed a moving sidewalk in order to have an acceleration ramp from 3 to 9km/h. It was slower(most of the time) than the 1900 expo's 10km/h. And there always was a "slower" sidewalk (3km/h, the default) next to it. The goal was to go up to 11km/h (it did at some point). And yet it failed, and was removed 15 years ago. Only the slow options remain.

https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trottoir_roulant_rapide#/media...

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#133

Post by jdougan »

galaxyLogic wrote: post #41
delichon wrote: post #3

I'd guess that Heinlein was aware of it and scaled it up in his imagination. The Roads must roll — they are the arteries of the nation. When they stop, everything stops. Factories idle, food rots, men starve. The nation cannot live without its Roads. A thousand feet wide, level as a floor, strip after strip moving past in ordered procession. The slow strips on the outside moved at five miles an hour; the inner ones f…

I read this as a teenager in a Sci-Fi compilation without paying much attention to the author, so I forgot where I read it or who wrote it or where I could find it again. But I composed and tape-recorded a melody to the lyrics which still hums in my head : While you ride While you glide We are watching down inside that your roadways go rolling along. ... Thanks for posting.

I think the original was supposed to be to the music from "The Caissons Go Rolling Along".

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#134

Post by cguess »

bluGill wrote: post #53
cguess wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> available on demand This doesn't work in cities. The vast majority of peoples movement are not immediately necessary. They can wait 10-15 minutes (or plan ahead) for efficiency. This also cuts down on costs for everyone.

On demand is bad but not for that reason. people have places to be and are bad at planning. You should be running every 5 minutes so even if they are running late it still isn't very long until you get there. every 10-15 minutes is cheaper and so because of cost you are often forced to be this bad (or worse) just to be affordable, but it isn't what anyone wants and people who use such systems will dream of ways to ma…

I live in a place where transit is about every 10-15 minutes and I never dream of a car. I mostly thank god every day I don't have to rely on one.

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#135

Post by lan321 »

tensor wrote: post #105
userbinator wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Efficiency should not be pursued to the exclusion of everything else. As the article itself says: trans­porta­tion should be about more than just get­ting from A to B; it should be a plea­sure as well

There is absolutely nothing less pleasing than sitting in traffic in a major North American city with aggressive drivers all around you constantly breaking laws because they think they are more important than everyone else. In contrast European trains are down right relaxing.

Until you see the expected delay going up and you have to start doing the maths of whether you can run from X to Y in under a minute, frantically googling for a second connection and how much a taxi would cost.. (my DB experience since I usually travel by train for flights)

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#136

Post by Vespasian »

netsharc wrote: post #49
deadbabe wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn’t matter, he’s dead now.

Someone else in these comments said s/he wonders what lives the people ended up living who were seen in old photos/videos. Your comment makes me wonder what life this boy (well, he's our senior) lived, and what his impact is beyond being a participant of a curious event in a YouTube video. I guess he had a paper trail, relatives, etc, but there's probably no way to identify him from the present (except if someone's g…

There's a good chance he was fighting in WWI being in his mid 20s.

If he survived that he lived through economic crisis in the twenties and thirties and ultimately WWII including occupation and terror in France.

And ultimately if he got old enough he could have witnessed the early cold war but also European economic bounce back and begining reconciliation between former enemies.

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#137

Post by al_borland »

tfvlrue wrote: post #99
al_borland wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I’m understanding what you’re saying, couldn’t that be solved with some kind of belt tensioner?

According to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ8ehplVFp4&t=636 the handrail is driven by a friction wheel that wears out over time, so its diameter gradually decreases and the handrail speed slows down (until it gets too out of sync, and the friction wheel is replaced).

So when it’s new it feels broken, the friction wheel wears until it works properly for a period of time, and then it feels broken again, so they replace the wheel with on that goes back to making it still feel broken and start the cycle again. How frustrating.

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#138

Post by prmoustache »

bluGill wrote: post #57
cogman10 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars really messed a lot of that up. In the 1900s every city was walkable. Most cities had trains of some sort for the majority of transport and bikes or horses for the last mile. It really makes me sad to see even old cartoons showing off the tram systems of the day. Those all got pulled up for "progress" thrusting us all backwards into bumper to bumper traffic. Whats incredible is that happened almost immediately a…

That is looking at the past through rose colored glasses. Walkable cities are too small to have the wealth of options a car (or transit) city does. trains are nice but cars were faster for most (until congestion - but by then there were so few users that service was bad)

That is the opposite brcayse infrastructure to move and park cars occupy an awful lot of space that kill density.

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#139

Post by prmoustache »

cguess wrote: post #48
excalibur wrote: post #15

> It’s fair to say that few of us now marvel at moving walkways, those standard infrastructural elements of such utilitarian spaces as airport terminals, subway stations, and big-box stores. You've gotta be referring to escalators here. Never seen a moving walkway in a big-box store, or a subway station for that matter.

Not in the US, but in Europe it's more common. Shopping malls in Eastern Europe they're not uncommon.

only those that carry the shopping trolleys up/downstairs, designed so the wheels get locked into place.

I have never seen a flat one in anything else but airports or connections between other mass transit transports such as metros and trains. Definitely not in big box stores as they would be inconvenient and slower than pushing the trolley in the flat.

Re: Paris had a moving sidewalk in 1900, and a Thomas Edison film captured it (2020)

#140

Post by dustincoates »

Aissen wrote: post #132

During the mid 2000, an experimentation in the Montparnasse metro station in Paris transformed a moving sidewalk in order to have an acceleration ramp from 3 to 9km/h. It was slower(most of the time) than the 1900 expo's 10km/h. And there always was a "slower" sidewalk (3km/h, the default) next to it. The goal was to go up to 11km/h (it did at some point). And yet it failed, and was removed 15 years ago. Only the slo…

You can see it in action here: https://youtu.be/FBzlEG3tMuw?t=399
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