Jesse Reno, an engineer, worked in a Subway plan for New York City, and proposed a ‘linear belt’ to move passengers, which later morphed into an ‘Inclined Elevator’, which was a huge success, and was installed in the Brooklyn Bridge in 1897.
George Wheeler, another inventor, created the concept of the Escalator that we know today, and called it the Elevator, the patents were purchased for the same by Charles Seeberger, who partnered with OTIS to create the Escalator, a trademarked product.