Year: 1885

page_text: I JOHN DITTRICK Machinist of Perth in the province of Ontario and Dominion
of Canada do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
-
The fire escape consists of a winch upon which the lowering rope is wound said
winch being provided with means of automatically controlling the paying out of
the rope and being intended to be fixed to the floor of the room near the window
from which the descent is to be made.
The winch drum is fixed on its shaft and loose upon the same shaft is a fan
which is enclosed within a suitable casing and is driven by the drum through a
train of spur gearing and a counter-shaft the drum being connected with the spin
gear by a ratchet and pawl so that as the drum is revolved by the drawing off of
the rope the fan will be rapidly revolved and will act as a governor to prevent
too rapid running off of the rope which owing to the pawl and ratchet can be
done without revolving any of the gearing.
In order to prevent any slacking of the rope when wound upon drum a pivoted
arm or frame provided at it upper end with a roller (preferably of rubber) is
pressed against the drum by a spring so that the roller presses against the rope and
acts as a guide in winding up the rope, and also as a keeper to prevent slack, as
mentioned. The rope passes from the drum up over a pulley secured at the top of
the window, so that in use a person to descend has simply to attach himself to the
rope and swing out of the window, when his weight upon the rope will draw it off
from the drum with a slow movement, governed by the fan, so that the person
will descend slowly to the ground or pavement entirely without danger of injury.
If two or more persons are to descend, the rope must be rewound upon the drum
by turning it with a crank after the descent of each person. The rewinding of the
rope upon the drum can be quickly and easily done, as none of the gearing revolves
with the drum or shaft while being turned for this purpose.
To prevent the person descending from striking the outside of the wall of the
building and to prevent the rope from chafing upon the window-sill, I employ
a frame which is hinged to the window sill and adapted to be tipped outward and
provided with a guide roller or pulley.
The frame is wider than the window sill, so that the roller is held beyond the
wall, so the rope runs against the roller which prevents chafing and holds the rope
away from the wall.

page_text: I, JOHN DITTRICK, of Perth, in the County of Lanark, in the Province of Ontario,
and Dominion of Canada do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed; to particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
Specification, in which similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in
all the Figures.
Figure 1 is a plan view, partly in section, of this new and improved Fire-Escape.
Figure 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of the same on the line cx of
Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a side view of the Fire Escape placed in a building near a window
in position for practical use; and Figure 4 shows the guard-roller frame.
The Invention will first be described in connection with the drawings and then
pointed out in the claims.
A. A. represent two side plates bolted together by bolts a a a¹ to form the frame
of the Fire Escape. The said plates A are formed with flanges a³ at their lower
edges through which bolts or screws a³ pass for securing the fire-escape to the
floor T. near the window W. as shown clearly in Figures 1 and 3. There are two
shafts B. C. journaled in and between the side plates A A. On shaft B, which is a
crank shaft, is secured the drum D. on which the descending rope E is wound.
Upon the shaft B near the end or head d of the drum D is placed loosely the large
gear wheel F. This is formed or provided with the ratchet wheel F¹ which is next
to the head d of the drum D. A pawl b is pivoted to the head d of the drum,
which pawl is held in contact with the ratchet wheel F1 by the spring b¹ placed
between the projection 62 on head d, and the pawl, as shown in Figure 3. so that
when the drum D is revolved by the drawing-off of the rope E, the wheel F.
ratchet F, and the shaft B will also be revolved by, and with the drum. Upon
said shaft B is also loosely placed the fan G, and this is enclosed by the circular
casing H, fixed upon the shaft B. The hub g of the fan G is formed with the
small gear wheel, or pinion g¹ with which meshes the large gear wheel J, which is
fixed upon the shaft C near one of its ends. Near the other end of the shaft C is
secured the small gear-wheel or pinion K which meshes with the large gear wheel F
of shaft B, so that when this gear wheel F is revolved by the drawing off of the
rope E as above described, the shaft C will be revolved and through it, and the
gear wheels J g', the fan G will be rapidly revolved, so that it will act as a
governor, to prevent too rapid running off of the rope E. To wind the rope E,
upon the drum D, the shaft B must be revolved by the crank in the direction of
the arrow Figure 3. which, owing to the pawl, and ratchet 6 F¹, can be done
without revolving any of the gearing. In order to prevent any slacking of the
rope E when wound upon drum D, I hinge or pivot upon the rod a¹ the arm or
frame L which is provided at its' upper end with the roller i (preferably of rubber)
and held drawn toward the drum D by the coiled spring j so that the roller presses
against the rope and acts as a guide in winding up the rope, and also as a keeper,

page_text: to prevent slack as mentioned. The rope E passes from the drum D up over
the pulley L' secured at the top of the window W. so that in use a person to
descend has simply to attach himself to the rope, and swing out of the window,
when his weight upon the rope will draw it off from the drum with a slow
movement, governed by the fan G. so that the person will descend slowly to the
ground or pavement entirely without danger of injury. If two, or more persons
are to descend, the rope E must be wound upon the drum D by turning it with
crank h after the descent of each person. The rewinding of the rope upon the
drum D can be quickly and easily done, as none of the gearing revolves with
the drum or shaft B while being turned for this purpose. To prevent the person
descending from striking the outside of the wall of the building, and to prevent
the rope from chafing upon the window-sill, I employ the frame V (shown in
Figures 3 and 4) which is hinged to the window-sill, and provided with roller v,
and adapted to be tipped outward, as shown in Figure 1. The frame is wider than
the window-sill, so that the roller is held beyond the wall, so the rope E runs
against the roller, which prevents chafing, and holds the rope away from the wall,
as clearly illustrated in Figure 1.
Having now particularly described, and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention; and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
1. The drum D, provided with pawl 6 and attached to shaft B, the fan G, and
gear-wheel F, placed loosely on the shaft B, the gear-wheel F being provided with
the ratchet F¹, the fan with gear-wheel g¹ in combination with the shaft C, and
gear wheels K. J. secured thereon, meshing, respectively, with the gear-wheels F
and g, substantially as, and for the purposes set forth.
2. The combination, with the supporting frame A, and the drum D journaled
therein, and adapted to have the rope E wound thereon, of the frame L pivoted to
the frame and having a forked upper end, the roller i journaled in the forks of the
said frame, and the spring j, having its ends attached to the supporting-frame, and
to the roller-carrying frame, substantially as herein shown, and described.
Dated this 12th day of December 1885