IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE ESCAPES AND IN MEANS OF PRESERVING THEM FROM THE ACTION OF HEAT
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Dyer, of Anstey, Alton, in the County
Hants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF
FIRE ESCAPES AND IN MEANS OF PRESERVING THEM FROM THE ACTION OF
HEAT."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Dyer at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th January 1874.
I, EDWARD DYER, of Anstey, Alton, in the County of Hants, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE ESCAPES AND IN MEANS OF PRESERVING THEM FROM
THE ACTION OF HEAT," to be as follows:-
.
The object of this Invention is the construction of fire escapes of
portable form to provide a ready and casy means of escape in case of
fire from the bed and upper rooms of dwelling houses, warehouses,
hospitals, mills, factories, and other buildings, or to enable persons to
ascend from the outside to render assistance, or assist in stopping the

page_text: fire; also in preparing the materials of which the fire escape is com-
posed, so that they will resist the action of heat and be thereby
preserved.
I construct a ladder (of uninflammable materials) similar to a rope
ladder made of any suitable material, by preference of hemp, prepared
as herein-after mentioned, or of copper, or other metallic twisted wire,
the spokes to be of wood or metal, if of wood to be prepared as herein-
after mentioned to prevent their destruction by fire.
By preference I make my treads or spokes by turning with a projec-
tion at each end so that they may not draw from the sides of the ladder, ]
and be 12 inches more or less apart. At the top of the ladder I fit one
or more spring hooks and at the bottom similar hooks or additional
lengths of rope, so that the ladder may be held away from the building
or fastened to prevent oscillation or injury from flame from lower
windows, also persons using the ropes. In the room are to be fixed 1
hooks or rings secured to sash frames, walls, floors, or any convenient
place so that the escape may be readily and firmly fixed and thrown
from the window.
The escape can be kept ready for use either folded or rolled up, and
being of small compass and light can be on the floor under furniture, 2
or be placed in boxes, cupboards, or other articles of furniture specially
prepared.
To preserve and render uninflammable the rope, I by preference use
the following:-A solution of tungstate of soda, phosphate of soda, or
neutral alum, or any other substance or composition which will render 2
the vegetable fibre impervious to fire.
The wood spokes by preference after being thoroughly dried I soak in
a solution of borax one part borax to 12 parts of water, more or less, for a
sufficient time to thoroughly saturate, and then dry and coat with a com-
position made of silicate of soda and whiting mixed to the consistency a
of ordinary paint.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Dyer in the Great Seal Patent Office,
on the 25th July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
DYER, of Anstey, Alton, in the County of Hants, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Dyer, Her special
licence that I, the said Edward Dyer, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Dyer, my executors,
administrators, 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF FIRE ESCAPES AND IN MEANS OF PRESERVING THEM FROM THE
ACTION OF HEAT," upon the condition (amongst others). that I, the said
Edward Dyer, 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 Edward Dyer, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is the construction of fire escapes of a
portable form to provide ready and easy means of escape in cases of fire
from the bed or upper rooms of dwelling houses, warehouses, hospitals,
mills, factories, and other buildings, or to enable persons to ascend from
the outaide to monday
L
J

page_text: preparing and preserving the material of which the fire escape is com-
posed, so that the action of fire can be resisted.
The Invention will be more particularly understood by the annexed
Drawings, and by the following description:-
Figure 1 is a view of the simplest form in which I propose to con-
struct a ladder to be used as a fire escape. The ladder is composed of
two metallic ropes a, a, braided or twisted, or of prepared hemp or other
material previously prepared to resist the action of fire and heat, and
so that the adaptability of the ladder for the purpose shall not be decreased
or rendered void, and this I effect by first saturating or otherwise operating
upon the hemp or its equivalent by a solution of tungstate of soda, phos-
phate of soda, or neutral alum when in yarn, so that every fibre shall
be prepared, or the dipping or saturating process may be effected after or
while the rope is being made. I arrange threads b, b, of metal at intervals
in the two ropes or in the return ends of a single rope, and I bind
the ropes just above and just below the treads to prevent the treads
shifting under the weight of a person descending, say from an upper
floor to the path. The treads may however be of inflammable material or
of a combination of such with say metal. The ladder as a fire escape
can then be used in any position, and in accordance with its length from
an upper or a lower storey of a building. I prefer however that it should
be kept inside and beneath a window folded in layers in a superposed
state, the lower fold being attached by an easy clipping catch c, such as a
spring swivel hook to an eye bolt d in the floor, as in the view Figure 2;
a person in danger has then only to lift it and throw it out of the window
to facilitate his ready escape by it. I purpose putting extra ends or
to leave additional lengths to the bottom for persons in the road or street
to pull the ladder away from the building should any danger arise from
fire coming out of windows directly beneath the one from which the
person is escaping; but the same operation can be performed upon
the ladder supposing it to be too long for the distance between the
window and the path, an operation that will prevent oscillation or vibra-
tion while a person is descending.
Instead of the hooks or other appliances being fitted to eye-bolts in
the floor the rope can be attached to any part of the window frame or the
sash.
The spokes or treads have bulges at their ends or notches are formed
near the ends to hold the rope firmly by the binding at the parts where

page_text: the treads are fitted; and if they are of wood I treat them after being
thoroughly dried to a bath of solution of borax and water, say one
part borax to 12 parts of water, but I do not limit myself to those
proportions; I then allow the wood to dry and coat them with a paste
or composition composed of silicato of soda and whiting of about the
consistency of paint. The wood is thus thoroughly preserved from the
action of fire.
Instead of folding the rope ladder in layers as before explained, I roll
it upon a drume and this is preferably enclosed in a box fas in Figures
3, 4, and 5, from which the rope can be unrolled by simply pulling its
end out of the box through a slit g at the bottom, the box being per-
manently fixed to the flooring by screws or otherwise, or the inner end
of the rope may be secured to the flooring, and then the box with the
ladder within it can be thrown out of the window or be let down from it
in any suitable manner.
The drum or roller upon which the ladder is wound has flanged sides
or ends to ensure the proper layers or coils of the ladder going on and
off it; one of the flanges has a ratchet wheel h upon it, and the paul i
which takes into the teeth is acted upon by a spring, so that when the
ladder is running out the clicking of the pall shall be loud enough to
alarm the other inmates of the building, and also to draw attention from
the outside that assistance is required. Instead of the clicking noise of
the paul only, some other sound giving instrument such as a gong can
be operated upon.
-
Should a fire occur at any part of a building in which the fire escape is
fitted so that persons could not gain admission to that particular part, I
arrange a second ratchet wheel and paul to the other flange, so that by
pulling the cord or wire j from below the ladder, if previously arranged
outside the window or upon the roof, with its end hanging down as
at A, Figure 2, and with a weight k upon it, will unroll itself by the
action of the weight, and thus form a ready means of affording escape
from any part of a building, or for persons to go up to give assistance.
The axle on which the drum rotates or revolves has a square end and
a small wheel, or a hand winch can be fitted on it, by which it can be
turned to wind the ladder on to the drum again when desired.
The paul and ratchet wheel h are so arranged that no motion to
wind up again can take place unless the lid of the box be opened, and