IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS, WHICH APPARATUS IS MORE ESPECIALLY INTENDED AS A FIRE-ESCAPE
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Dumaresq Thomas, of Abergavenny,
in the County of Monmouth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS, WHICH APPARATUS IS
Scaled the 28th March 1871, and dated the 1st October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Dumaresq
Thomas at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 1st October 1870.
I, EDWARD DUMARESQ THOMAS, of Abergavenny, in the County of
Monmouth, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS, WHICH
APPARATUS IS MORE ESPECIALLY INTENDED AS A FIRE-ESCAPE," to be as
follows:-
My improvements relate to those apparatus which can be lowered
from a window or other convenient part of a house or building by a
person in a cage or basket, and consist in the employment of two ropes
or chains upon a barrel of two diameters fitted within a box or case,

page_text: which if used as a fire-escape should be placed under the window and
inside the room. One of the ropes or chains is intended for supporting
the weight of the cage or basket while the other serves to regulate the
descent of the cage. I prefer that the regulating rope be worked by
the person in the cage, but this is not essential as it can be worked by
another person in the room, or by some one outside. The box in which
the barrel is fitted has levers, bars, or other appliances, which can be
thrown over the window sill, so that the cage can be kept a slight
distance from the wall to escape projections or other impediments in its
descent, or it may be fitted with appliances for effecting the same object.
In some cases the cage may have rollers on its corners for the purpose
of easing its motion. The cage is preferably made collapsable and fits
into the top of the box to form a lid to make the apparatus complete.
When the apparatus is arranged under the window of a house or
building it is provided with projecting plates to take under or into
sockets on the floor or in the wall, and its shape can be made to
resemble some article of furniture, such as a settee or toilet table.
The Invention can be employed with advantage in repairing, facing,
or painting houses, or for cleaning windows, as well as for fire-escape
purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Dumaresq Thomas in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 1st April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
DUMARESQ THOMAS, of Abergavenny, in the County of Monmouth,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Edward Dumaresq Thomas, Her special licence
that I, the said Edward Dumaresq Thomas, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Dumaresq Thomas,
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

page_text: 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 FOR RAISING AND LOWERING WEIGHTS, WHICH APPARATUS IS MORE
ESPECIALLY INTENDED AS A FIRE-ESCAPE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edward Dumaresq Thomas, my executors or adminis-.
trators, 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 Scal 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 Dumaresq Thomas, 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, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
My improvements relate to those apparatus which can be lowered
from a window or other convenient part of a house or building by a
person in a cage or basket, and consists in the employment of two ropes
or chains upon a barrel of two diameters fitted within a box or case,
which if used as a fire-escape should be placed under the window and
inside the room. One of the ropes or chains is intended for supporting
the weight of the cage or basket while the other serves to regulate the
descent of the cage. I prefer that the regulating rope be worked by
the person in the cage, but this is not essential as it can be worked by
another person in the room, or by some one outside. The box in which
the barrel is fitted has levers, bars, or other appliances, which can be
thrown over the window sill, so that the cage can be kept a slight
distance from the wall to escape projections or other impediments in its
descent, or it may be fitted with appliances for effecting the same object.
In some cases the cage may have rollers on its corners for the purpose
of casing its motion. The cage may either be made collapsable to go
into the box, or to fit on to the top of or over the box to form a lid or
cover to make the apparatus complete.
When the apparatus is arranged under the window of a house or
building it is provided with projecting plates either to take under or
into sockets on the floor or in the wall, or the plates may be perforated.

page_text: so as to fasten on to the floor either with nails or screws, and its shape
can be made to resemble some article of furniture, such as a settee or
toilet table.
The Invention can be employed with advantage in repairing, facing,
or painting houses, or for cleaning windows, as well as for fire-escape
purposes.
Figure 1 represents an application of my improved apparatus to
practical purposes; one of these serves as a fire-escape and when not
required is folded into the box A, the lid being formed by the bottom
piece B of the cage or basket C, as will be understood. The box, which
is fitted inside the room and under the window, is retained in place by
lugs or clips D, which take under the flooring after being passed through
holes made for the purpose. The ends of the box contain bearings or
socket eyes for the reception of the barrel spindle, so that it can rotate
in them; this spindle has a barrel on it of two diameters, Figure 2,
E, F, that is to say, one portion of it is of larger diameter than the
other. Upon each of these a rope or chain is wound one of them G
leading to the cage or basket C, where it is connected by a hook, swivel,
ring, or other contrivance H to give freedom of motion, so that it can
adjust itself at whatever angle it may be placed by the positions of the
occupants. The rope or chain G is passed over pullies on side frames
I, J, which are hinged at their ends to one another and forms a support
and a guide for the outside end of the rope or chain, so as to prevent
the cage striking against the sills or copings of the windows or pro-
jections below. The hand rope or chain K, which is endless and which
winds upon the larger diameter of the barrel, is passed over the rollers
and its free end is retained in the cage, so that it can be slackened out
by the occupant according to the speed at which he desires to lower
himself. The framing at the mouth of the cage is jointed to enable it
when in the box to be folded upon the barrel or upon the cage, but
when in use and extended as seen in the Drawing, it remains rigid under
the weight of the same. The corners or other parts of the cage frame
may have rollers upon them to reduce the friction, but these would not
be necessary in all cases because the frames I, J, would keep it away
from the wall.
In the Figure I have shown the box as being fitted inside a window,
but it need not in all cases be fitted there, as it can just as easily be
arranged at the top of a house or other building, and then it can be

page_text: used for other purposes, such as for cleaning windows, repairing wall,
or painting purposes, as desired.
In other cases the barrel can be arranged between two brackets or
standards and used for raising and lowering weights into and from
warehouses, and in order that this may be understood I have in Figure 3
shown one adaptation of it. The rope or chain G after leaving the
small diameter of the barrel passes over a pulley wheel L to the head
of a crane arm M, so that a load, as at N, can be suspended therefrom
and swung about as desired for depositing or lifting it from one spot to
another. This Figure shows the Invention as fitted to an upper floor of
a warehouse, but of course it can be arranged at any other part.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
Invention for "Improvements in Apparatus for Raising and Lowering
Weights, which Apparatus is more especially intended as a Fire-escape,"
the apparatus as herein-before described and shown in the Drawings.
I also claim the raising and lowering of weights by means of two
ropes or chains winding or unwinding from the same barrel composed
of two diameters, substantially as described and shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Dumaresq Thomas, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.