Editing People mover (section)

=== Goodyear and Stephens-Adamson ===
[[File:PHX SKY TRAIN.jpg|thumb|[[PHX Sky Train]] in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, opened in 2013]]

In late 1949, Mike Kendall, chief engineer and Chairman of the Board of Stephens-Adamson Manufacturing Company, an Illinois-based manufacturer of [[conveyor belt]]s and [[conveyor system|systems]],<ref name="StephensWeb">{{cite web|url=http://www.stephens-adamson.com/about.htm|title=About S-A|publisher=Stephens-Adamson|access-date=2014-01-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130318200854/http://www.stephens-adamson.com/about.htm|archive-date=2013-03-18}}</ref> asked Al Neilson, an engineer in the Industrial Products Division of [[Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co.]], if Goodyear had ever considered working on People Movers. He felt that with Goodyear's ability to move materials in large quantities on [[conveyor belts]] they should consider moving batches of people.

Four years of engineering design, development and testing led to a joint patent being issued for three types of people movers, named Speedwalk, Speedramp, and Carveyor.
Goodyear would sell the concept and Stephens-Adamson would manufacture and install the components.

A Speedwalk consisted of a flat conveyor belt riding on a series of rollers, or a flat slippery surface, moving at {{convert|1.5|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on}} (approximately half the speed of walking). The passengers would walk onto the belt and could stand or walk to the exit point. They were supported by a moving [[handrail]]. Customers were expected to include [[airport terminal]]s, [[ballpark]]s, [[train station]]s, etc. Today, several manufacturers produce similar units called [[moving walkway]]s.

A Speedramp was very similar to a Speedwalk but it was used to change elevations; up or down a floor level. This could have been accomplished by an escalator, but the Speedramp would allow wheeled luggage, small [[handcart]]s etc. to ride the belt at an operating cost predicted to be much lower than [[escalator]]s or [[elevator]]s. The first successful installation of a Speedramp was in the spring of 1954 at the [[Hudson and Manhattan]] Railroad Station in [[Jersey City, New Jersey]], to connect the [[Erie Railroad]] to the [[Hudson and Manhattan Railroad|Hudson and Manhattan Tubes]]. This unit was {{convert|227|ft|m}} long with a rise of {{convert|22|ft|m}} on a 15 degree [[Grade (slope)|grade]], and only cost $75,000.

A Carveyor consisted of many small cubicles or cars carrying ten people riding on a flat conveyor belt from point A to point B. The belt rode on a series of motorized rollers. The purpose of the motorized rollers was to facilitate the gradual acceleration and deceleration speeds on the conveyor belt and overcome the tendency of all belts to stretch at start up and during shutdown. At point "A" passengers would enter a Speedwalk running parallel to the belts and cars of the Carveyor. The cars would be moving at the same speed as the Speedwalk; the passengers would enter the cars and be seated, while the motorized rollers would increase the speed of the cars up to the traveling speed (which would be preset depending on the distance to be covered). At point B Passengers could disembark and by means of a series of flat slower belts (Speedwalks) go to other Carveyors to other destinations or out to the street. The cars at point B would continue on rollers around a semicircle and then reverse the process carrying passengers back to point A. The initial installation was to be the [[42nd Street Shuttle]] in [[New York City]] between [[Times Square (IRT 42nd Street Shuttle)|Times Square]] and [[Grand Central (IRT 42nd Street Shuttle)|Grand Central]] station.

The first mention of the Carveyor in a hardback book was in ''There's Adventure in Civil Engineering'' by Neil P. Ruzic (1958), one of a series of books published by ''[[Popular Mechanics]]'' in the 1950s in their "Career" series.<ref>{{cite book|last=Ruzic|first=Neil|title=There's Adventure in Civil Engineering |asin=B0007E9RTY|year=1958|publisher= Popular Mechanics Press}}</ref> In the book the Carveyor was already installed and operational in downtown Los Angeles.

Colonel Sydney H. Bingham, Chairman of the [[New York City Board of Transportation]], had several meetings with a group of architects who were trying to revamp the whole [[New York City Subway]] system in the heart of town to connect Pennsylvania Station, [[Madison Square Garden]], Times Square, Grand Central and several new [[office complex]]es together. Several of these architects were involved in other programs, and in later years many variations of the Carveyor people movers were developed.

In November 1954 the [[New York City Transit Authority]] issued an order to Goodyear and Stephens-Adamson to build a complete Carveyor system between Times Square and Grand Central. A brief summary and confirmation can be found in ''Time'' magazine on November 15, 1954. under the heading "Subway of the Future".<ref>{{cite book|title=Subway of the Future|publisher= [[Time Inc.|Time]]|date=November 15, 1954}}</ref> The cost was to be under $4 million, but the order was never fulfilled due to political difficulties.

[[Chocolate World]] in [[Hershey, Pennsylvania]], [[Disneyland Park (Anaheim)|Disneyland]] in California, and [[Walt Disney World]] in Florida are among many locations that have used variations of the Carveyor concept.