Jean-Honoré Fragonard

World's first escalator

Harrods of London installed a novelty in 1898: the world's first true escalator (to be fair, an inclined moving belt with metal bars for traction did make its debut two years earlier on Coney Island). The oddness of a moving staircase so unnerved many shoppers that employees were stationed near it with smelling salts and cognac to help revive those overcome with fear.