Iм- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR SAVING LIFE FROM FIRE
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Riddle, of No. 5, Lansdowne Terrace,
South Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR SAVING LIFE FROM FIRE."
Sealed the 17th February 1871, and dated the 26th August 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Riddle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th August 1870.
I, WILLIAM RIDDLE, of No. 5, Lansdowne Terrace, South Lambeth, in
the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR SAVING LIFE FROM FIRE,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention has for its object the production of an apparatus for
saving life from fire which shall be of the most simple and inexpensive
construction and which will allow of its being made use of even by

page_text: children unaided. For this purpose I employ a double length of rope
(by preference made in one piece doubled together in the middle) con-
nected at one end to an eye or thimble round which the rope is by
preference folded, the other ends being unconnected. This double
when not in use is coiled by preference round a flat board or light frame,
which is hung against the wall or other convenient place.
rope
Secondly. I provide at the ceiling or other raised point of the room a
strong hook or eye to which the eye or thimble of the rope is attached
(by preference permanently), and when required for use the coiled up
part of the rope is thrown out of the window so as to hang down to the
ground outside of the house. If the said hook or eye is fixed to the
ceiling I by preference fix against the ceiling in the first instance an
ornamental rosette or dise which prevents any unsightliness from the
plaster being broken.
Thirdly. I provide a number of belts of any suitable construction, but
by preference formed in an inexpensive-manner-of-a-double-piece-of-
fibrous or wire rope formed into a loop at one end and distended some-
what in the middle part by a stiffener (such as a piece of stout paper),
which distended portion may then be covered with canvass or other
material; at the other end the belt has a frog" or "toggle" hook, or
other fastening attached to it which when passed through the loop at the
first-named end closes the belt. Such belts when not in use are sus-
pended against the wall together with the coiled rope. When required
for use each person to be saved in succession passes one such belt round
his body enclosing within it at the same time the two ropes (which have
before been thrown out of window as described). The lower ends of
these ropes (which may be knotted) being held firmly in a diverging
position by two or more persons outside, the person to be saved then
mounts on the window sill and allows him or herself to slide down the
ropes by means of the belt, the diverging position of the ropes causing
such descent to be checked or controlled sufficiently to prevent any injury
to the person in descending.
For further security a double hook or two opposite hooks may be
employed for securing the ropes to the ceiling.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Riddle in the Great Seal Patent Office ou
the 24th February 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
RIDDLE, of No. 5, Lansdowne Terrace, South Lambeth, in the County
of Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William Riddle, Her special licence that I,
the said William Riddle, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Riddle, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
OR APPLIANCES FOR SAVING LIFE FROM FIRE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Riddle, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Riddle, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that
is to say:-
My Invention has for its object the production of an apparatus for
saving life from fire, which shall be of the most simple and inexpensive
construction, and which will allow of its being made use of even by
children unaided. For this purpose I employ a double length of rope

page_text: (by preference made in one piece doubled together in the middle),
connected at one end to an eye or thimble round which the rope is by
preference folded, the other ends being unconnected. This double rope
when not in use is coiled by preference round a flat board or light frame
which is hung against the wall or other convenient place.
Secondly. I provide at the ceiling or other raised part of the room
a strong hook or eye to which the eye or thimble of the rope is attached
(by preference permanently), and when required for use the coiled
up part of the rope is thrown out of the window so as to hang down
to the ground outside of the house. If the said hook or eye is fixed
to the ceiling I by preference fix against the ceiling an ornamental
rosette or disc which prevents any unsightliness from the plaster being
broken.
Thirdly. I provide a number of belts_of_any_suitable construction,
but by preference formed in an inexpensive manner of a double piece
of fibrous or wire rope formed into a loop at one end, and distended
somewhat in the middle part by a stiffener (such as a piece of stout
paper), which distended portion may then be covered with canvas or other
material. At the other end the belt has a "frog" or "toggle" hook or
other fastening attached to it, which when passed through the loop
at the first-named end closes the belt. Such belts when not in use
are suspended against the wall together with the coiled rope. When
required for use each person to be saved in succession passes one such
belt round his body, enclosing within it at the same time the two ropes
(which have before been thrown out of window as described). The
lower ends of these ropes (which may be knotted) being held firmly
in a diverging position by two or more persons outside, the person to
be saved then mounts on the window sill and allows him or herself to
slide down the ropes by means of the belt, the diverging position
of the ropes causing such descent to be checked or controlled sufficiently
to prevent any injury to the person in descending.
For further security a double hook or two opposite hooks may be
employed for securing the ropes to the ceiling.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings is shewn the arrangements
which I prefer to employ in carrying my Invention into effect.
Figure 1 shews the section of a room of a house with my before
described apparatus applied thereto, with the apparatus placed in position

page_text: ready for use, and Figure 9 shews a perspective view of the same with
the apparatus when not in use. To a joist in the ceiling opposite the
window is secured a strong hook A of any suitable form, by preference,
screwed right through the joist, and provided with a nut screwed on the
projecting end. Should the single joist not be deemed sufficiently
strong to bear the strain a bar or piece of angle iron B (Fig. 2) may
be introduced through a hole in the ceiling so as to pass transversely
across a number of the joists as shewn and the hook be secured to such
bar. The hole in the ceiling when the hook is thus fixed may either
be plastered up or a disc or ornamental rosette may be cemented over
the hole as at C, Fig. 3. Upon the hook A a double rope D, say, 150
feet long, more or less, is hooked by means of a metal eye or thimble E
secured in the fold of the rope by tying in a manner well understood as
indicated at Figure 4, thus forming two lengths of one and the same
rope each about 75 feet long. When the apparatus is not in use the
rope is coiled up on a reel F shewn detached in front and side elevation
at Figures 5 and 6 composed of an ordinary hoopf with cross battens f¹, f¹,
secured thereto. The rope is coiled up on the hoop between the battens
beginning with the loose ends and leaving sufficient slack to allow the
reel to be hung upon a hook in the adjoining wall as shewn at Fig. 9.
Alongside of the reel are hung a number of belts G, by preference as
many as there are persons in the house or room, some of which may be
of smaller size for children, thus, if the room be a nursery containing a
nurse and, say, three children, there would be one large belt for the
nurse, and three small ones for the children, and if the children are
of different sizes the belts may be made of corresponding different sizes,
or they may be made with a strap or tightening toggle to adjust the
size. The belts are, by preference, formed in an inexpensive yet effectual
manner as follows:-A piece of strong but flexible rope g (Fig. 7) is
tied with waxed cord at x and x¹ so as to form a loop at g', while
a stick g about 7 inches long is secured firmly to the other end. The
middle portion 9³ of the rope is distended as shewn, and the space is
filled with a padding of felt or other suitable material, the whole being
then covered in with canvass which is sewn round the edges. When
the apparatus is intended for use the rope is uncoiled from the reel and
thrown out of window, the person to be saved then takes one of the
belts and while still in the room passes the belt round his or her body,
including also the two ends of the rope, and secures the belt by passing

page_text: the stick or toggle g² through the loop g', as indicated at Figure 8. The
person then desires the people below to hold the two ends distended,
and when this has been done he or she mounts on the window sill, as
indicated at Fig. 1, and descends along the ropes which are held sufficiently
distended to prevent the belt with the person from slipping too rapidly
down them. As soon as the person has arrived safely on the ground
another person (if any) to be saved takes another belt, and the ropes
being for the time slackened again by the persons below, proceeds in like
manner. If the apparatus is fixed at the top floor of the house it may
in case of need be made use of also from the rooms underneath on the
lower floors by drawing the ropes that have been thrown out of the top
floor window in through the window below, and fixing the belt round
them in like manner as above described.
One-great-advantage-of-this-apparatus-is-that-it-is-readily-applicable-
for saving lives in localities which are inaccessible to the ordinary fire-
escape, such as at the back garden or yard of a house, or at other enclosed
or confined spaces. As it is perfectly safe in its application it would
be expedient for the persons of the house occasionally to practice with
the same, particularly the children who, it has been proved by actual
experiment, may do so with perfect ease and safety.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and in what
manner it is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details of the apparatus as herein-before
described with reference to the accompanying Drawings, as these may
be variously modified without departing from the essential features of
my Invention, nor do I claim all the separate parts of the apparatus as
novel when considered separate and apart from the combination thereof
for the purposes of my Invention, but what I claim is,-
First. An apparatus for saving life from fire, consisting of a double
length of rope having an eye by which it is suspended from an hook or
fastening in the ceiling or other raised point and operating in combina-
tion with one or more belts, substantially as herein-before described.
Second. The before described mode of maintaining the apparatus in
readiness for immediate use by coiling the ropes upon a reel or board
suspended together with one or more belts in a convenient position in
the room.

page_text: Third. The peculiar construction of belt herein-before described for
use in combination with the distended ropes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Riddle, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.