IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS CALLED FIRE ESCAPES.
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Talbot Pitman, of the American & Europeair.
Patent Offices, No. 67, Gracechurch Street, London, for the Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS CALLED FIRE ESCAPES. A communication.
Sealed the 6th October 1857, and dated the 7th April 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Talbot Pitman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th April 1857.
I, JOHN TALBOT PITMAN, of the American & European Patent Office,
No. 67, Gracechurch Street, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS CALLED FIRE ESCAPES," to be as
follows:-
It consists in a method of arranging, packing, and operating a series of
extension ladders connected together. They are formed to slide into each
other, and are placed upon trucks. The guide pole connecting the forward
to the hinder wheels is hinged in the middle, and when forced, by drawing
the front wheels towards the back, lifts up the body of ladders to the desired
elevation, and the portion of the pole forward of the hinge becomes a brace.
To the ladder platforms are attached by hinges, and baskets or other substitute
are also attached to its upper extremity, to be operated by ropes & pully
from the ground.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Talbot Pitman in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th October 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices, No. 67, Grace-
church Street, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign, did
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Talbot Pitman, Her special licence that I, the said John Talbot Pitman,
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Talbot Pitman, or my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 CALLED FIRE ESCAPES," a communication, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Talbot Pitman, or my exccutors 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 John Talbot Pitman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings.
Figure 1 represents a birds'-eye view of the apparatus, showing the top,
front, and oblique end of the extension ladders when packed for transportation,
excepting the baskets, which are taken off to show more clearly the manner
of packing the ladders. One of the baskets is thrown off the carriage, having
its ropes attached. Figure 2 represents the ladders extended and in the
position to be used. The same letters denote the same parts in the different
Figures.
The Invention consists in a method of arranging, packing, and operating
a series of extension ladders connected together, in combination with baskets

page_text: operated by cords and pulleys; and in the manner of communicating with
the different stories of buildings by means of the platforms.
a, b, c, e, indicate the different sections of the extension ladders; D, D, the
baskets; f, f, the forward, and g, g, the hind trucks; II, the front end of the
waggon; I, the rope; J, the point where the guide pole is hinged; K, the
forward end of the guide pole; and L, L, are its braces; O and P are plat-
forms.
The manner of operation is as follows:-The ladders are first placed in
front of the building to be entered, having the front end to the wall. By
means of the rope I sufficient force is applied to draw back the small or
forward trucks, until, by means of the arrangement of the guide pole, they
elevate the ladders to about seventy degrees, as shown at Figure 2. The
guide pole or connexion of the carriage is hinged at its centre (J), so that
the drawing back of the smaller trucks or wheels must cause the pole to rise
at that point, by which means the ladders are elevated, as above mentioned.
The small wheels and the forward end of the guide pole K and braces L, L,
support the ladders when being operated, and also prevents the strain coming
upon the hind wheels. By means of ropes and pulleys m, n, the ladder is
first extended, then the ladder b; this extends the top ladder still further,
it being attached to the second by means of grooves, or their equivalent. The
third ladder is extended in a similar manner to the other two, which it extends
proportionate to its own extension. Hence the operation may be continued
for any number of ladders, so that sixty or seventy feet of ladder may be
packed into a space no larger than that which is occupied by an ordinary
waggon, and when extended will reach the top of the highest building.
Platforms are constructed in the manner as shewn in the Drawings that
extend from the ladders to the different stories of the buildings, the utility of
which will readily be suggested to the mechanical mind. Over pullies at the
top of the ladder a ropes Q are passed, to which are attached baskets, or
their equivalent. These baskets are intended to pass the occupants of the
upper rooms of a house down to the ground with perfect safety in time of fire
by means of the ropes, worked by men upon the ladder or from the ground.
The ropes and pullies used in my apparatus are made fireproof by means
well known. The platforms are hinged to the ladders, for the purpose of
being folded or packed away for transportation. The ladders may be detached
from the trucks (or wheels) at pleasure, in which case the pole is used as a
brace only.
I am aware that ladders with long sacks to convey the occupants of a

page_text: burning building to the ladders have been long in common use, but the appli-
cation of baskets, or their equivalent, operated as above set forth, and the
manner of elevating and packing the ladders, as shown in the Drawings, I
believe to be new and useful.
Having now described the Invention as it has been communicated to me,
and its advantages, what I claim under the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is,-
First, the extension ladders in combination with the baskets, or their equi-
valent, operated by cords and pullies, in the manner and for the specific
purpose substantially as described and shewn.
Second, the manner of communication with the different stories from the
ladders by means of the platforms, for the purpose set forth.
Third, the adjustable truck for the specific purpose of elevating the apparatus,
substantially as described.
Fourth, the combination of the several parts for the purpose and in the
mode substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Talbot Pitman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, on this Sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousad eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JOHN TALBOT PITMAN. (L.S.)