IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR LOWERING PERSONS AND PROPERTY, ALSO APPLICABLE AS A FIRE ESCAPE.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederic Holthausen, of Paris, in the Republic
of France, Artist, temporarily resident at 67, Strand, in the City of
Westminster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
LOWERING PERSONS AND PROPERTY, ALSO APPLICABLE AS A FIRE ESCAPE.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederic Holthausen
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,"
on the 24th December 1875.
I, FREDERIC HOLTHAUSEN, of Paris, in the Republic of France,
Artist, temporarily resident at 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR Lowering PERSONS AND PROPERTY, ALSO APPLICABLE AS A FIRE
ESCAPE," to be as follows:-
.
Said improvements refer more particularly to the construction and
arrangement. of apparatus intended to act as a fire escape, but the
improvements can also be used for any purpose requiring the lowering,:

page_text: at any speed desired, and the stoppage, at any desired depth, of persons,
materials, and goods.
The improvements consist in the construction and use of a helical
brake fitted on to a rope made fast at one end, and having attached to
such brake a hook, plank, seat, or any contrivance serving for the use
of persons or property to be lowered, forming the helical brake by the
manufacture and use of the inclined grooves of a vertical single threaded
screw made to receive, embrace, and travel along the rope to be coiled
round, and in one or more of the said grooves, according to the weight
to be lowered and the speed of descent required.
The improvements may be performed by making the brake of metal
or hard wood, with or without a frame furnished with holes on each side
for the purpose of fixing the ropes or chains holding the seat. In each
end of the screw is a notch or recess to receive the rope, and allow it to
coil more readily round, and in the grooves of the brake over said recesses 1
are fixed check or cover plates furnished with thumb-screws or other
attachments to prevent the rope leaving its place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Frederic Holthausen in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERIC
HOLTHAUSEN, of Paris, in the Republic of France, Artist, temporarily
resident at 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Frederic Holthausen, Her special a
licence that I, the said Frederic Holthausen, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederic Holthausen,
my executors, administrators, and, assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: r
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 APPARATUS FOR LOWERING PERSONS AND PROPERTY, ALSO
APPLICABLE AS A FIRE ESCAPE," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Frederic Holthausen, my executors 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

page_text: á proper vertical position of the apparatus. The cord is wound within
and round some or all of the grooves, according to the desired rapidity
of descent and the weight to be lowered. The greater the number of
coils the greater will be the amount of friction, and the descent will be
accomplished the more slowly. At the top the cord g is attached by a
hook, as represented, or in any other convenient manner to any conve-
nient support h. The person descending can regulate the rate of falling,
or arrest the descent at any position by producing with the apparatus
the necessary angle of resistance (between the screw and the cord), and
retain the apparatus in a stationary suspended position by simply
winding the cord round one of the two hooks i, i, (the lower accordingly
as the apparatus is used or placed). In Figures 5 and 6 j is a suspending.
hook for the person or load to be supported, the said hook being intended
to be hooked into one or other of the two fixed eyes or rings k, k, (also
the lower accordingly as the apparatus is used or placed). l is a check
or cover plate, partially covering the grooves of the screw for the purpose
above described. The provision of the two hooks i, i, and the two sus-
pending eyes or rings permits the reversing of the apparatus, so that
when it has reached the extremity of the cord in one direction it is easily
made ready for a second or repeated use by simply turning it upside
down and changing the attachments.
I would here remark that the cords employed may be of any conve-
nient description, but that for fire escape purposes they should be rendered
fireproof in any of the well-known ways.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I claim,―
Firstly and generally. The helical brake lowering apparatus, substan-
tially as herein above set forth, whether constructed or not constructed
precisely in accordance with the accompanying illustrative Drawing.
Secondly. The screw e, with frame a or eyes k, k, and suspending
hook 1, herein described and represented in the Drawing.
Thirdly. The construction of the screw e so as to permit the number
of coils of a cord around it to be varied, thereby affording the means of.
regulating the amount of friction, as herein described and represented
in the Drawing.

page_text: Fourthly. The general arrangements and construction described and
represented in the Drawing for providing that an inclination or obliquity
(angle of resistance between screw and cord) may be produced by the
suspended person or by a person on the ground for regulating or arresting
the descent.
And, lastly. The hooks i, i, for securing the cord at any part of the
length, and retaining the apparatus in a stationary or suspended position,
as herein described and represented in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Holthausen, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.