Improvements in Portable Rope Fire Escapes.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 31st May, 1893-Accepted, 8th July, 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Portable Rope Fire Escapes.
I, EDWIN ROBERT WETHERED of 21 Brewer Street, Woolwich County Kent
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows :-
The object is to produce a portable fire escape of a very simple, safe, and
inexpensive character, combined with a very large surface friction on the rope
enabling the speed of descent to be regulated with the smallest minimum of hand
friction.
I provide a strong hempen, wire, or other rope of sufficient strength, which I
reeve through a metal or other tube, so constructed that the rope in passing through
it will receive the necessary friction, as one example which will better explain the
principle of my invention I take a piece of brass tubing of larger diameter than the
rope, bend it in a circular form of any required diameter, allowing the two ends to
pass each other either outside, or through the circle, the ends being left in the
direction each end of the rope, will lead to lower the weight, by this means a large
surface of the rope will be brought into friction contact, with a very large surface
of the inside of the tube, and the least pressure applied to the rope below the tube
will largely increase the friction.
The person lowering himself, may be attached by belt, to the circular tube, this
latter may be made of sufficient size for the hand to grasp.
I do not confine myself to a tube of any particular form, as may construct the
instrument which applies the friction, in any manner that will put a large surface
friction on the rope.
The end of rope can be secured around the sashes, or to any article of furniture,
or by means of a strong screw, having a T handle piece, (also part of my invention).
This latter can be screwed by hand into any part of the woodwork, of window
frame, or elsewhere, to secure the end of rope.
7110100
E. R. WETHERED.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Portable Rope Fire Escapes.
1, EDWIN ROBERT WETHERED, of 100, Herbert Road, Woolwich, in the
County of Kent, Lieutenant Colonel, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to portable rope fire-escapes and has for its object to provide
a simple, safe and inexpensive article which can be controlled with a minimum
expenditure of hand power.
In carrying out my invention I provide a strong hemp, wire or other rope of
sufficient strength to carry the weight of a person and which is preferably provided
at each end with a band or strap adapted to be placed or fastened around the
person to be lowered. In conjunction with this rope 1 employ a frictional device
consisting of a metal tube of a slightly larger diameter internally than the diameter
of the rope, the said tube being bent or otherwise formed in such a manner that
when the rope is passed therethrough a slight pull upon the rope as it runs will
cause sufficient friction to enable any weight suspended at the end of the rope to be
controlled.
When my fire-escape is to be used for enabling one person to lower another a
band or strap attached to the frictional device is preferably placed around the waist

page_text: of the person remaining in the room or building, whilst when a person is lowering
himself one end of the rope is fastened around the window sashes or to some other
suitable support, the band or strap attached to the frictional device being placed
around the body.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same by
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which :-
Figure 1 is a view of my improved portable rope fire-escape; and,
Figure 2 is an edge view of the frictional device detached:
Figure 3 illustrates the operation of the apparatus when one person is being
lowered by another; and,
Figure 4 is a similar view shewing how the apparatus operates when a person is
lowering himself:
Figure 5 is a side view of a screw which is advantageously employed for securing
one end of the rope.
a is the rope of the fire-escape which is of sufficient length to enable it to reach
the ground from the window at which it is used, and b, b' are two bands or straps of
webbing or other material which can be placed around the body and support the
person being lowered.
d is
c is my frictional device. As shewn in the drawing, this frictional device consists
of a tube somewhat in the form of a knot, the said tube being, as hereinbefore
stated, of a larger internal diameter than the diameter of the rope, so that the rope
will pass freely through it, the said rope entering the said frictional device at con
one side thereof and leaving at the other at on the other side thereof.
another band or strap of webbing also adapted to be placed around the body.
When the apparatus is being used by one person for lowering another, the person
being lowered sits in either the band b or the band 6' or places the same under his
arms and the person who performs the lowering, places the band d around his body,
as shewn in Figure 3, so that the frictional device c is hanging in front of him. It
is obvious that if no resistance is offered to the running of the rope a through the
frictional device the rope will rapidly run through such device: if, however, a
slight pull is exerted upon the rope before entering the frictional device sufficient
friction will be produced to enable the weight to be lowered as slowly as desired.
The object of placing loops b, b' (one at each end of the rope) is that after one
person has been lowered by one end of the rope another person may be lowered from
the other end of the rope, thereby avoiding the necessity of again pulling the rope
up through the frictional device: of course in doing this the frictional device c
must be slipped round so that the end c¹ or c' which was previously uppermost
shall be lowermost. When a person desires to lower himself from a window, one
end of the rope is secured and the person places himself in the band d attached to
the frictional device and in lowering he pulls the part of the cord below the said
device, as shewn in Figure 4, sufficiently to produce the necessary friction to prevent
falling too quickly. The end of the rope may be fixed in any desirable manner,
for instance, to a screw such as shewn in Figure 5 which is inserted in some suitable
part of the window framing, or in the absence of such a screw and where sliding
window sashes exist the said sashes may be placed together and one of the bands b
or thrown over the same and then the rope passed through the said band, as
shewn in Figure 4. It will be found in practice that if the rope is thrown over the
sashes as near to one side as possible the said sashes will not slip down under the
weight.
Although I have shewn the frictional device as being somewhat in the form of a
knot it is to be understood that it may be of any other desirable form, which, when
when the rope is tightened, will enable the necessary friction to be produced.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a rope fire-escape the use of a frictional device consisting of a bent or

page_text: twisted tube having an internal diameter slightly greater than the diameter of the
rope, substantially as, and for the purpose, described.
2. In a portable rope fire-escape, the combination with the rope of a frictional
device such as c and a band or strap such as d secured thereto, substantially as, and
for the purpose, described.
3. The manufacture and use of the improved portable rope fire-escape hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated the 31st day of May 1893.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.