An Improved Fire-escape.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 26th July. 18.5
Complete Specification Left, 27th Apr., 1896-Accepted, 30th May, 1893
An Improved Fire-escape.
We JOHN ERNEST SEARY of 230 Ashmore Road, Harrow Road London,
Compositor and WALTER JAMES CARROLL of 17 Beer Lane, Great Tower
Street, London, Watchmaker do hereby declare the nature of our invention to be
as follows:-
Our invention relates to an improved fire-escape for the purpose of enabling the
descent of a person from the upper portion of a house or other building to the
ground.
It consists of a hook which may be attached to the belt of the user and is formed
at its upper end with a forked extension at right angles to the said hook; and
with a further extension constituting a groove having a head.
A rope is fastened in any suitable position to the window, or the inside of a
room, from which escape is desired and is thrown out to the ground below; it is
then passed through the fork and coiled around the grooved extension the person
descending holding the rope and allowing it to run through his hands as he
descends.
Instead of one groove two may be formed upon the extension aforesaid so as to
give a double coil to the rope and thus increase the friction on the latter.
As our improvements are capable of some modification without departing from
the principle thereof we do not restrict ourselves to the precise form or placement
of the parts thereof.
Dated this 26th day of July 1895.
J. B. FLEURET,
5 Hatton Garden, London, Agent for the Applicants.
An Improved Fire-escape.
We JOHN ERNEST SEARY of 118 Ashmore Road, Harrow Road, London,
Compositor and WALTER JAMES CARROLL of 17, Beer Lane, Great Tower
Street, London, Watchmaker do hereby declare the nature of our invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improved fire-escape having for its object to enable
a person or persons to descend from the upper part of a house or other building to
the ground.
For this purpose we provide a hook which is attached to a sling or belt to be
worn around the body of the user. This hook is formed at one end with two
extensions at right angles to the shank of the said hook and provided with end
discs or heads forming grooves for receiving the coils of a rope wound around the
said extensions, a second and shorter rope is attached at one end to a curved bar
or staple secured to the top corner of a window on the inside of the room to which
the escape is applied. To the other end of this rope is attached a ring and we

page_text: prefer to employ a bar, formed at one end with a loop or eye through which the
rope is threaded for the purposes of extending the said rope outwards from the side
of the building and enabling the escape to clear any projections thereon, the inner
end of the said bar being held when in use within a socket formed in the side wall
of the window. The first named rope is attached by a slip hook to the ring of the
shorter rope, the person desiring to descend holding the rope coiled around the
escape and allowing it to run through his hands as he descends.
The aforesaid discs or heads are each provided with a stud to which are secured
the ends of an elastic band attached to the shank of the hook, the said band being
used for the purpose of preventing the coiled rope slipping off the hook.
It is only necessary to use this band when lowering another person for which
purpose the escape is reversed and its hook hung on to the ring at the end of the
shorter rope the sling or belt being attached to one of the slip hooks at the ends
of the coiled rope.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings
Figure 1 is a front elevation of our improved escape and
Figure 2 is a side view at right angles to Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a view of the escape in position for use when a person wishes to
lower himself and Figure 4 is a similar view but with the escape in reverse position
for the purpose of lowering anyone by the help of another.
Figure 5 is an inside view of a portion of a window with the fire-escape
suspending attachments in the position they occupy when not in use, and Figure 6
is a view at right angles to Figure 5 with the said attachments in working
position.
Similar letters of reference represent corresponding parts in all the views.
In these figures a represents the book forming part of the fire-escape and a' is a
spring catch for keeping the sling or band b (Fig. 3) in position when hung upon
the hook.
The upper end of the shank of the hook is formed with a cross piece or two
extensions a 2 a 2 having at their ends discs or heads a 3 forming with the
extension a 2, grooves for the reception of the rope c which is coiled when in use
around the said extensions. dd are studs fixed to each disc a 3 to which to attach
the ends of an elastic bande fixed to the shank of the hook at e¹, as shown in
Figure 4, for the purpose of keeping the coiled rope in position on the hook.
f is the rope attached to the staple g fixed to the inside top corner of the window
frame as shown in Figures 5 & 6. The other end of the rope f is provided with
a ring which is hung upon a nail or pin h¹ when the escape is not in use. Upon
the rope is threaded the iron bar i provided with an eye for this purpose and
which is held at an angle with the window by being fitted in a slot or socket i¹
formed in the wall 2 as shown in Figure 6 when the apparatus is in use so that
the latter shall clear the side of the building.
In using our improved fire-escape we proceed as follows;-the top sash of the
window is lowered and the rope with the bar is dropped outside the window
the bottom sash is then raised and the bar i is fitted into the socket i¹.
When required for the descent of one person the rope c, which is long enough
to reach the ground, is hooked to the ring f' and the rope dropped to the ground.
The person wishing to descend then puts on the sling or band 6 and attaches the
hook a thereto; he then coils the rope e upon the extensions a 2 as shown in
Figure 3 grasps the said rope c gets out of the window, and lowers himself easily
and quickly to the ground by allowing the rope to pass through his hands.
this case the elastic band c is not required to be used.
In
For the purpose of lowering or assisting to lower more than one person the
escape is reversed and suspended from the ring f as shown in Figure 4 and the
rope c coiled thereon. The elastic bande is then looped on to the studs d to
prevent the rope being displaced, and the person to be lowered is attached by the
band or sling to the spring hook c¹ at one end of the rope c which is held and
payed-out from the window until the person descending reaches the ground.

page_text: The other end of the rope c which is also provided with a spring hook is set in
position to allow of another person being attached thereto and lowered in a similar
manner to that already described.
As the person descending reaches the ground he detaches himself from the
band or sling leaving it to be drawn up by the descent of another person, the two
bands or slings acting alternately for lowering as many persons as required.
In some cases we may dispense with the use of the band or sling, the lower end
of the rope being passed around or under the persons body and formed into a
running noose by coupling the spring hook at its end to the said rope.
By providing a rope double the length of the height of the window from the
ground persons can be lowered from below in a similar manner to that just
described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same has been performed we declare that what we
claim is;-
1. In fire escapes the use of a hook formed with grooved extensions around
which is coiled a rope suspended from a window or other part of a building
substantially as described and for the purposes specified.
2. In fire-escapes the combination with the hook a provided with a spring a¹
grooved extensions a 2 and discs or heads a 3 of the sling or band 6 and rope c
provided at each end with a spring hook c¹ substantially as described and for the
purposes specified.
3. In fire-escapes the combination with the hook a formed with extensions a 2
and discs or heads a 3 of the studs d, elastic band e and rope c provided at each
end with a spring hook c¹ substantially as described and for the purposes
specified.
4. In fire-escapes as above claimed the combination with the hook a and coiled
rope c of the suspension rope f provided with a ring and a bar i capable of
being fitted to a socket i substantially as described and shown with reference to
Figures 5 & 6 of the drawings.
5. The improved fire-escape substantially as described and shown in the
accompanying drawings.
Dated this 27th day of April 1896
J. B. FLEURET,
5 Hatton Garden, London, Agent for the Applicants.