Escalator safety insert

For use on an escalator having moving steps, each defined at the top by a plurality of upstanding, spaced-apart teeth separated by a plurality of grooves, and a side skirt closely adjacent the sides of the steps:

• a safety insert of resilient material, the inserting being a one-piece, elongated member of constant section, the section comprising:
• a lower portion sized and shaped so as to be receivable snugly within the furthest sideward groove in a step, and
• an upper portion located above the plane of the tops of the teeth when the lower portion is received in its groove, the upper portion projecting in cantilevered fashion obliquely upwardly and sidewardly from the lower portion, in such a way that it is out of contact with the tooth immediately outward of the groove in which the lower portion is received, the upper portion terminating in an abutment region which, when the lower portion is received within its groove, is spaced inwardly from the escalator side skirt, and is spaced above the tooth immediately outward of the groove in which the lower portion is received, the junction between the upper and lower portions being shaped to define a stress-reducing, rounded, S-shaped contour located along the outward margin under the upper portion, so as to permit substantial flexure of the upper portion under the weight of a passenger's shoe.