Improvements in Fire-Escapes
Year: 1887

page_text: I, RICHARD BELOHES of Haymarket in the county of Prince William and State of
Virginia, one of the United States of America, Gentleman, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes; and
I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same,
reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification,
and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon.
My invention has for its object to provide an efficient means of escape from any
room or apartment of a building in case of a fire either through an upper or through
a lower floor or to the ground, which means may be at any time availed of by the
occupant of a room by following a few simple directions posted in some conspicuous
place therein.
One of the chief instrumentalities employed in carrying out my invention consists
of a flexible ladder, of any preferred construction, concealed within a compartment
between the floor of one room and the ceiling of the room next below, said ladder
being connected at its upper end to the joists or framing constituting a portion of said
compartment, and at the other end directly or indirectly to one or more of the laths
composing the bottom of said compartment, and which supports the plastering of the
ceiling of the room below in the usual manner. This ladder is rendered accessible
from the room above through a removable part of the flooring of said room, and from
the room below by means of an eyebolt passing up through the ceiling of said lower
room and connected directly or indirectly to the lath or laths to which the end of the
said ladder is attached, as aforesaid. Each room is provided, preferably, with a staff
or rod carrying at its upper end a hook or projection by means of which a firm hold
may be taken on the hook projecting from the ceiling of said room, and provided at
its lower end with a weighted cross-piece adapted to be employed for effecting com-
munication with the lower room, as hereinafter described.
The several appliances referred to are so constructed and arranged that when the
occupant of a room finds the building is on fire, and that the ordinary means of

page_text: escape are not available, he can, if he desires to descend, raise the removable
portion of the flooring, and with the staff found in the room, or with his foot, if he
prefers, detach the laths forming the bottom of the compartment, drop the flexible
fadder through the opening thus formed, and descend into the room below. If escape
from that room through ordinary channels is impossible, he may in like manner, with
the aid of the appliances found in that room, also descend to the next story, and so on
until his safety is insured. On the other hand, should he find that a descent to the
room below is impracticable or useless, and that he must, in order to escape, reach a
higher floor, he can hook the staff into the hook depending from the ceiling of his
room, and by pulling upon the same release the lath or laths to which the ladder in
the compartment above is connected and draw the ladder down through the opening
so made, and then by the ladder enlarge the opening sufficiently to admit the passage
of his person, and finally climb the ladder, raise the portion of the flooring or trap-door
affording communication to the room above and pass into said last-named room,
proceeding thence in like manner to a still higher elevation, if found necessary.
By preference, the upper end of each of the ladders is provided with eyes which
engage with suitable hooks in the joists or framing, and its lower end is provided
with snap-hooks, which engage primarily with suitable eyes secured directly or
indirectly to the laths of the ceiling below, and which may be detached therefrom
when the ladder is let down and engaged with suitable rings or eyes secured to the
floor below, and thus hold the ladder in an inclined position and render the ascent and
descent of it much easier and certain.
Should it be found impracticable to escape either through the floor below or through
the floor above in the manner described, the ladders found by entering several rooms
may be secured, joined together by engaging the snap-hooks and eyes on their
respective ends, then secured at the upper end to suitable eyes in the window-casing
provided for the purpose, and then dropped out of the window, thus affording a more
perilous, but still a practicable and effective mode of escape down the exterior of the
building.
In order that a ladder that has been drawn down into a room below may be readily
detached at its upper end, the hook on the upper end of the staff is preferably so
contrived as to enable the disconnection to be readily made.
As a safeguard against improper use of these contrivances where danger from fire is
not threatened, I preferably arrange within each of the compartments containing a
ladder a bell, which is adapted to be rung whenever the ladder is disturbed, and thus
warn the occupants of adjoining apartments; or, if desired, the ladder may be so
arranged, in connection with an electric circuit formed in part, it may be, by the
electrical call devices located within the room, that a disturbance of any one of the
ladders will send a signal to the office, if in a hotel, and thus give warning of the fact
of use.
In the accompanying drawings, which show one embodiment of my invention,
Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of a building, showing the arrangement of devices in
two apartments thereof. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the manner of using the
invention. Fig 3 is a plan view showing the arrangement of laths, &c., in the bottom
of one of the compartments for containing a ladder; Fig. 4, a bottom plan view of
the corresponding part of the ceiling below said compartment, showing the projecting
hook. Fig. 5 is a view of the staff, herein before spoken of; Fig. 6, a view showing
the connections on the upper and lower ends, respectively, of the flexible ladders;
Fig. 7, a detail view showing the batten or cleat, to which the lower end of the
flexible ladder is preferably connected when in the compartment, and also the
alarm bell.
Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.
The letter A indicates an upper, and B a lower, room. C represents the floors;
D, the joists, and E the ceilings; F, the trap doors or the removable portions of the
floors; G, the flexible ladders; H, the alarm-bell; I, the staff having the hook K at
its upper end and the weighted cross-piece at the lower end, as shown. M are the
eyes on the upper end of the ladders and N the hooks with which the said eyes

page_text: co-operate. These hooks are preferably secured to cross-timbers O, between the
joists D; or they may be secured directly to the joists-one on each side of the
compartment-if preferred.
P are the snap-hooks on the lower ends of the ladders. Normally, these snap-hooks
are engaged with eyes Q, secured to a batten, R, which extends across the compart-
ment in which the ladder is contained, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. The batten in turn
rests upon one or more of the laths forming the bottom of the compartment shown in
Fig. 3, and up through it passes the screw-shank of the hook or eyebolt S, inserted
through the ceiling of the room below, as shewn in Figs. 1 and 7. The laths covering
the bottom of each compartment are preferably caused to terminate about midway of
the width of two adjoining joists, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, so that they may
be the more readily detached when force is applied to them.
It will be noted that if the hook on the end of the staff I is inserted in the eye of
the bolt S and pulled the pressure brought to bear on the batten will cause it to tear
off the lath or laths upon which it rests, and enable the batten to be drawn down into
the room below, carrying with it the attached ladder. As soon as the batten can be
reached, the operator can, by swinging the ladder, detach the remaining laths and
plaster covering the bottom of the compartment, and thus effect a suitable passage-way.
By disconnecting the snap-hooks in the batten, and connecting them to the eyes TT
in the floor, he can secure the ladder in inclined position, so as to make it easy of
assent, as shown in Fig. 2.
Where the descent from one room to another is desired, the portion of the flooring
or trap-door F is raised, and by the aid of the staff and the weighted crosspiece on the
lower end thereof the plaster and laths forming the bottom of the compartment are
broken away, so as to allow the falling of the ladder into the room below, all as
hereinbefore explained.
It is of course obvious that great variations may be made in the form and the
details of construction of the various instrumentalities which go to make up my
invention without departing from the principle thereof, and while the specific devices
shown are useful and practicable, I do not desire to be strictly limited to their use.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
:-
1. The combination, with adjacent upper and lower rooms of a building, of a
flexible ladder arranged within a compartment between said rooms and means, sub-
stantially such as described, by which said ladder may be drawn from said compartment
into the lower room, as set forth.
2. The combination, with the adjacent upper and lower room of a building, of a
flexible ladder arranged within the space between the floor of one room and the ceiling
of the adjoining room and means, such as a bolt connected to the ceiling of the lower
room, whereby when said bolt is pulled a portion of the ceiling will be detached and
the flexible ladder permitted to descend, substantially as described.
3. The combination, with the adjacent upper and lower rooms of a building, of a
flexible ladder arranged within the space between the floor of one room and the ceiling
of the adjoining room, means for entering the said compartment from the room above,
and means, such as a bolt, connected to the ceiling of the lower room and projecting
into the latter, and serving as a means to detach a portion of the ceiling, so as to
liberate the ladder, as set forth.
4. The combination, with the adjacent upper and lower rooms of a building, of a
flexible ladder arranged in the space between the floor of one room and the ceiling
of the adjoining room, means for entering the said compartment from the room above,
means, such as a bolt, connected to the ceiling of the lower room and projecting into
the latter, and serving as a means to detach a portion of the ceiling, so as to liberate
the ladder, and an alarm for indicating a disturbance of the ladder from either above
or below.
5. The combination with the adjacent upper and lower rooms of a building, of a
flexible ladder arranged in the space between the floor of one room and the ceiling of

page_text: the adjoining room, means whereby said ladders may be joined together and secured to
a window casing substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.
6. The combination, with the compartment of which the ceiling of one room forms
the bottom, of the flexible ladder, the batten, and the screw-hook.
7. The combination, with the compartment of which the ceiling of the lower room
forms the bottom, of the batten, the flexible ladder secured at one end indirectly or
directly to the joists and at the other end to the batten, and means, substantially such
as a bolt, connected to the batten and projecting into the room below to effect a hold
upon the ladder and extend it into the said room below.
8. The combination, with the compartment of which the ceiling of the lower room
forms the bottom, of the batten, the flexible ladder secured at one end indirectly or
directly to the joists and at the other end to the batten, means, substantially such as
a bolt, connected to the batten and projecting into the room below to effect a hold upon
the ladder, and the staff provided with a hook, substantially as described.
9. The construction and general arrangement of the several parts relating to my
said invention, substantially as and for the purposes herein before described, set forth
in the claims and illustrated in the drawings hereunto annexed.
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