Patent ID: 7104386

Claim:
An escalator having a high-speed inclined portion, the escalator comprising: a main frame; a main track disposed on the main frame, the main track having a cyclic path; a plurality of steps, each step having a tread, a riser disposed on an edge of the tread, a step link roller shaft, and a step link roller rolling around the step link roller shaft, the step link roller being guided by the main track, the plurality of steps being linked endlessly and being moved cyclically along the cyclic path; a plurality of linking mechanisms linking the step link roller shafts of mutually-adjacent pairs of the steps and changing pitch between the step link roller shafts by changing shape; a rotatable auxiliary roller disposed on each of the linking mechanisms; and an auxiliary track disposed on the main frame, the auxiliary track changing traveling speed of the steps depending on position by guiding movement of the auxiliary rollers to change the shape of the linking mechanisms, wherein shape of the auxiliary track in a speed-changing region of the steps is determined by finding a positional relationship between the step link roller shafts of at least one of the steps and an adjacent step from a step speed profile representing speed of the step link roller shafts as a function of time, and shape for the riser is determined such that the riser aligns with relative positional relationship between the step and the adjacent step from the step speed profile.