Lexicon: Stair-Mobile

Previously we had posted a 1938 residential lift called the Stair-Travelor, designed to assist individuals needing transport from one story to the next. Thirty years later, the Atlanta-based Southeastern Elevator Company, Inc. was advertising a prefabricated StairMobile (shown above), which performed the same function, but traveled 27 feet per minute, and had the capacity to carry a 250-pound person. Southeastern Elevator's stair climber could operate on a standard 110 volt alternating current (AC) and could be finished to match one's home decor.

In New Orleans, the Jolley Elevator Corporation at 2630 Banks Street was the local distributor for the Stair Mobile.

Image above: StairMobile Stair Climber,Southeastern Elevator Co., Inc. 441 Memorial Drive/Atlanta, Georgia. 1968. Trade Catalog Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries.

Lexicon: Stair-Travelor

A previous post introduced Otis Company's Autrotronic Elevator of 1950. Over a decade earlier, New York- based Sedgwick Machine Works advertised elevators and "stair-travelors" for residential architecture. The company emphasized its products' health benefits, posting product claims in The New Yorker as well as House and Garden. These stair-travelors may still be found in some old New Orleans homes.

Image above: Sedgwick Advertisement. House and Garden (July 1938): p. 2.