The holiday shopping season is in full swing and loads of shoppers are hitting malls. Most major shopping centers are spread out over several levels, requiring a brief ride on an escalator to get from floor to floor. These inventions have saved us all from climbing flight after flight of stairs. While escalators are generally safe, sometimes things go wrong. Check out this video collection of escalator accidents and dumb mistakes.  Quite a few of these people didn’t quite make it to the top! The escalator, or moving staircase, was first patented by inventor Nathan Ames from Saugus, Massachusetts in 1859. His patent even mentions that the stairs could be carpeted or made of wood.  Another inventor, Leamon Souder, issued four patents for designs of his own, but none of their designs were built. Another inventor, Jesse W. Reno, patented his design for an “endless conveyor or elevator” in 1892. Reno, who graduated from Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, installed this first ever escalator type unit next to the Old Iron Pier at New York City’s Coney Island, just four years later. At that time, Coney Island was a big booming summer destination for the crowds of New Yorkers who flocked to the beaches, rides and wacky attractions. This first escalator design was basically a giant belt. A few months later, his prototype would be briefly tested at the end of the Brooklyn Bridge. Parts of his design were purchased by the now famous Otis Elevator Company, who worked patents from several other inventors into the basic moving stair design we all know today. I’ve personally ridden two of the three oldest escalator banks in the United States: • Macy’s, Herald Square – New York City • Macy’s (formerly Kaufman’s flagship store) – downtown Pittsburgh, PA The Westfield San Francisco Center in California...