IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE ESCAPES
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Larking, of Mill Farm, Bramford, in the
County of Suffolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE
ESCAPES."
Sealed the 9th August 1870, and dated the 14th February 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Larking at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th February 1870.
I, WILLIAM LARKING, of Mill Farm, Bramford, in the County of
Suffolk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FIRE ESCAPES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object to construct a fire escape which can
be kept in any of the upper rooms of a house, and by means of which
any one can readily descend in safety. The apparatus is contained
within a box or case which is to be screwed down to the floor just below
the window. Within the box or case is a roller or barrel mounted
horizontally on axes; a cord of sufficient length to reach to the ground. is
wound around the barrel and a sack is attached to its end. Around one

page_text: or both ends of the barrel a friction brake strap is applied, and to these.
straps cords of sufficient length to reach to the ground are connected.
When a person wishes to descend by the fire escape he opens the window
and throws the ends of the cords of the friction brakes, down to the
ground, he then puts the sack out of the window and gets into it, at
the same time holding the break cords in his hands, he can then readily
let himself down to the ground at any speed he desires by pulling more
or less on the cords of the break apparatus. When the person has let
himself down, the barrel, by means of a spring within it or by other
means, is caused to again wind up the rope and draw the sack back again
In order
into the room, so that the escape shall be again ready for use.
that the rope may not be cut or worn by rubbing over the edge of the
window ledge the lid of the box is made to turn back on its hinges over
the_window_ledge,-and-the-lid-is-made-in-two, three, or more parts
hinged together, cach part having a friction roller upon it for the rope
to bear upon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Pâtcut,
filed by the said William Larking in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th August 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LARKING, of Mill Farm, Bramford, in the County of Suffolk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Larking, Her special licence that
I, the said William Larking, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I,, the said William Larking, 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 FIRE ESCAPES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Larking, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, ar

page_text: their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Larking, 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 :-
This Invention relates to portable or domestic fire escapes, and has
for its object to provide a facile means whereby the occupants of the
upper floors of buildings on fire may lower themselves to the ground.
For effecting this object I form an escape or apparatus as described
in my Provisional Specification, dated the Fourteenth day of February
1870, and consisting of a portable box or frame, which may be placed
against or fixed to the floor or wall near a window or other opening.
In this box or frame, which may be made to represent an ottoman and
be used as such when not otherwise required, I fit a double drum which
is made self-winding by means of a spring or other equivalent or by the
second chain as herein-after explained, and provided with a break pulley
or wheel and check chain or cord for regulating its motion. To this drum
on one side of the break wheel I secure one end of a chain or wire rope
of the requisite length, and to the other end of the said chain or rope
I attach a non-inflammable canvass car, formed with a ring or frame
at the top and with a footboard or frame at the bottom. The car thus
formed when not in use can be compressed and be placed in the box
or frame under the lid or cover. This lid I make in sections hinged
together and fit it with friction rollers, so that when raised and placed
over the sill, &c. of a window or other irrégular surface it adapts itself
to the form of the sill, &c., while the rollers support and allow the chain
to run freely over them as the car is lowered or raised. To the drum on
the opposite side of the break wheel I secure one end of a second chain,
which is wound upon this portion of the drum in the opposite direction
to that of the main chain. The free end of this second chain or cord,
when unwound, is thrown out of the opening and falls to the ground
below, and as the car descends is wound up; this second chain or cord
thus serves two purposes, one of which is to check the descent of the car,
and the other to wind it up when the coil spring is dispensed with.

page_text: The
accompanying Drawing is intended to illustrate the general form
and arrangement of the parts of the said escape or apparatus.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1 shews the escape with the lid or cover of the ottoman, box,
or frame raised and placed across the sill of a window; Fig. 2 is a
transverse section at the line A, B, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an elevation at
C, D, Fig. 1; Figs. 4 and 5 are detached views of the drum and break
wheel or pulley. The following reference applies to each Fig. where the
index letter appears.
a, a, the ottoman, box, or frame in which the apparatus is enclosed.;
b, the jointed lid or cover; c, c, c, the friction rollers, with which the
under side of the said lid or cover is fitted; d, d, a folding_flap,-
similarly fitted for increasing-the-length of the lid; e, e, two standards
or pillars in which the double drum and break pulley are mounted, and
in which suitable bearings are provided therefor; f, the main drum
round which the main chain or wire rope to which the car is suspended
and by which it is lowered and raised is wound; g, the break wheel
or pulley (see Figs. 4 and 5); h, the main chain or cord; i, the second
drum round which the chain or wire rope i¹is wound in the contrary
direction to that of or on the drum f; 2, a check chain or cord attached
to a spring break band, which is passed round the periphery of the
break pulley g; j, the expanding and collapsing car. When entering
the car the occupant grasps the cord or chain in on of his or her
hands firmly and the check chain in the other until the car has
received its descending freight, when by slacking the grip of the said
cord and chain and allowing the hands to slide down them the descent
of the car can be regulated as required. When it reaches the ground
and the occupants alight the coil spring k, one end of which is fixed to
the shaft or axis and the other to the inside of the drum, causes the
latter to turn and wind up the chain or cord f¹ and the car to the floor
from which it started ready for a second descent by other occupants,
and so on as often as necessary. Or the spring may be dispensed with
and the car be raised by pulling the cord.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the means by which the same is to be performed, I would
have it understood that I do not confine myself to use the apparatus
in a box, ottoman, or case, but what I claim as my improvements and
believe to be new is, the use and application of the double or single

page_text: drum or cylinder with a separate chain or wire rope wound upon each
in opposite directions with or without the coil spring and break
combined, to carry a chain, rope, or band for the purposes of descent,
substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Larking, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM LARKING. (L.S.)