06 · ESCALATORS · posted 1 Oct 2026

Where do escalator steps go when they disappear?

The steps form one continuous loop, pulled by a step chain that a motor drives round at the top.
Past the landing, each step goes round the bend and rides back upside down, under the truss, right beneath the people riding it.
Every step has two sets of wheels on two separate tracks. One set is pulled by the chain, and the other just follows.
On the slope the tracks sit far apart, which forces each step up into a stair. At the ends the tracks come together, so the steps lie flat to go round the bend.
The grooves in every step are there for the comb: its teeth run inside them. If something gets wedged, the comb plate lifts and trips a switch that cuts the power.

Line by line

Every claim, with its source.

Every spoken or on-screen factual claim is listed here with the source wording it rests on. Sources were fetched on 2026-09-30.

Shot	Claim as spoken	Source and verbatim support
hook	"Where do escalator steps go when they disappear?"	This is the question; flip answers it.
flip	"They flip over and ride back upside down, right under your feet."	US7431139B2 (Inventio/Schindler): "after reversal, return in the opposite direction with the step surfaces facing down." US11572257B2 (KONE): "The steps 20 are hanging i.e. with the step tread 21 facing downwards in the return side RS of the escalator." Madehow: "The tracks carry the steps down along the underside of the truss".
flip	"One continuous loop, pulled by a chain."	HowStuffWorks (archive): the steps are attached to step chains driven round gears at the top by an electric motor; the steps form a loop. KONE CE course: step chain.
wheels	"Every step has two sets of wheels, on two separate tracks. One set is pulled by the chain. The other just follows."	HowStuffWorks: "Each step in the escalator has two sets of wheels, which roll along two separate tracks"; the upper set is connected to the chain and pulled by it, and the other set "simply glides along its track, following behind." KONE CE course: "There are actually two tracks: one for the front wheels of the steps and one for the back wheels".
gap	"On the slope, the tracks sit apart, so each step stands up as a stair. At the ends, the gap closes, and the steps lie flat to go round the bend."	Madehow: on the incline "the tracks are at their maximum distance apart"; at the landings "the two tracks converge so that the front and back wheels of the steps are almost in a straight line… a flat sheet-like arrangement… so they can easily travel around the bend". HowStuffWorks: "the tracks level off to a horizontal position, flattening the stairway".
comb	"Those grooves? The comb's teeth run inside them."	US5307918A (Otis): "combteeth which pass through the gaps between the tread cleats".
comb	"If something gets wedged, the comb plate lifts and trips a switch that stops everything."	US5307918A: "The upward movement of the combplate operates a power interruption switch". The stop on screen is the result of that interruption.
payoff	"One loop. Two tracks."	A summary of flip and wheels.

How the visual is made

the escalator is a real kinematic model rather than a hand-drawn loop.

Each step is a rigid body. Its chain wheel rides one closed loop, and its tread is held level on the working side.
The stair shape on the incline, the flattening at the landings and the upside-down return all follow from the geometry.
The cyan "trailer track" is traced from where each step's second wheel actually goes.
Proportions (step size, bend radii, slope length) are simplified, and the on-screen labels say "SCHEMATIC". The 30° incline is the ASME A17.1 maximum (KONE CE course: "not to exceed 30 degrees").

Checked, and cut

"The handrail runs at exactly step speed": false as a rule. EN 115 allows the handrail to run up to 2% faster, never slower.
"A federal court killed the Escalator trademark": it was the US Patent Office (Commissioner of Patents).
"Otis invented it": Reno's 1896 machine came first.

Sources

US Patent 7,431,139, "Escalator guide system" (Inventio / Schindler). patents.google.com/patent/US7431139B2
US Patent 11,572,257, "Escalator" (KONE). patents.google.com/patent/US11572257B2
US Patent 5,307,918, "Escalator combplate stop switch assembly" (Otis). patents.google.com/patent/US5307918A
T. Harris, "How Escalators Work", HowStuffWorks. science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines-equipment/escalator.htm
"Escalator", How Products Are Made. madehow.com/Volume-3/Escalator.html
"Escalator Basics Today", KONE continuing-education course (BNP Media).

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