AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF FIRE-ESCAPE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
.66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF FIRE-ESCAPE."
-A communication from abroad by Aaron Shute, of Flushing, in the
County of Queens, and State of New York, United States of America.
Sealed the 16th May 1862, and dated the 13th December 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th December 1861.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
'nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF FIRE-ESCAPE,"
to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to afford the means for persons to escape
'from a burning dwelling house, and also to warn them of their danger. To
this end it is proposed to attach permanently to the front of dwelling houses a
flexible ladder, composed by preference of side chains, and metal rounds, and
to enclose the same in a box, which may form a portion or the whole of the

page_text: front of a balcony, and to secure it in position by hinges at bottom, and at top
by catch levers, which pass into the building, and are connected by rods to arms
on a rock lever supported in suitable bearings. From an arm on this rock
lever a rod is pendent, which is intended to run through the several floors,
and to be readily accessible to the inmates. Its use is to serve as a pull rod,
and by moving the rock shaft in its bearings to disengage the catch levers, and
allow the chain ladder box to fall down and discharge the ladder therefrom
into the street. Simultaneously with this operation the rock shaft will serve
to set in action an alarum, the same being connected therewith by means of
rods or wires and a bell-crank lever like an ordinary bell attachment. The
chain ladder box should be attached to the building at the highest convenient
elevation, as it will thus afford the means of descent to the street from all the
floors, it being capable of being drawn inwards near to the house front by the
inmates of the lower floors, and temporarily attached to the balconies or
window sills of the lower windows.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th June 1862..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 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 Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVED ARRANGEMENT OF FIRE-ESCAPE," being a communication
from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
consists in the employment or use of a flexible or chain ladder applied to a
building, in such a manner that it may be folded in a tilting box, and in case
of fire be released in a moment of time, either by an inmate of the dwelling,
or a person at the outside, and the ladder allowed to descend to the earth, and
form a ready means of escape.
The Invention also consists in combining with the flexible or chain ladder
an alarm, so arranged that it will be sounded simultaneously with the
liberating of the ladder, and warn the inmates of the dwelling of their danger.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents in front elevation a
building with the Invention applied to it; Fig. 2 is a section of the same,
taken in the line a, a, Fig. 1; and Fig. 3 is a detached perspective view of
the mechanism employed for holding and releasing the box which contains the
ladder when not in use. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts in the several Figures.
A represents a building, and B a balcony attached thereto in the usual or
in any proper way. C represents a box, which forms the front of the balcony,
and is connected at its lower end to the bottom or floor of the balcony by
hinges or joints a, a. This box C is retained in a vertical position, and secured
to the balcony by catches b, b, which are simply levers secured one to each
side of the balcony, and having their front ends catch into loops or eyes c, c, at
the ends or sides of the box C. D is a chain ladder constructed of two
chains d, d, having metal rounds or rods e attached to them. The upper end
of this ladder D is attached to the building A at a point just below the
window E, in front of which the balcony B is secured, and the ladder when
not in use is folded within the box C. The levers b, b, extend through the
building, and are attached at their inner ends to vertical rods f, f, see Fig. 3,
the lower ends of which are connected by pivots g, g, to arms h, h, on a
horizontal shaft i, whose bearings g¹, 9¹ are secured to the building. The

page_text: shaft i has an arm k projecting from it, and this arm is connected to the
pendent rod 1, which is fitted in eyes or guides at the inner side of the
building, and extends down to the lower floor.
The operation of the apparatus is as follows:-In case of fire, any occupant
of the building by passing into the hall or landing of the floor on which he
may chance to be, draws downward the rod 1, and thereby actuates the levers
or catches b, b, and liberates the box C, which falls or tilts downward by its
own gravity, throwing out the ladder D, which falling, is to be secured at its
lower end to the earth by pins, or otherwise, thereby affording a ready means
of escape for the inmates of the burning house. The ladder D should be
attached to the highest story of the building, and occupants may escape from
any of the stories below by connecting the ladder to the balconies below, as
shewn by the dotted lines in Fig. 2. The rod 7, it will be understood, may be
actuated from any story of the building, as it is exposed at every landing; and
in case a fire is first discovered by a person outside the building, the front door
may be forced open to gain access to the hall, where the rod 7 may be actuated
to liberate the ladder, the occupants being at the same time informed of the
fire. In order, however, that all the occupants may be fully warned, there is
an alarm F connected with the rod l. This alarm may be composed of a
bell n attached to a coiled spring o, and arranged similarly to an ordinary door
bell, the spring o being connected by wires or cords p and bell cranks q with
the rod (see Fig. 2), by this means it will be seen that an alarm will be
sounded simultaneously with the tilting of the box C and the letting down of
the ladder D. In cases where it is not desirable to have balconies to a
building, the box C may be fitted in the cornice, as shown in Fig. 1, the outer
or front side of the box being constructed in the same form as the cornice, so
as not to be distinguished therefrom. In this case the operation will be
precisely the same as that previously described. A plurality of ladders D may
be attached to a building, and where the Invention is to be applied to large
buildings, this would probably be desirable, especially if the building contains
a large number of inmates. The box C may also be fitted to other parts of a
building, it may, for instance, be placed in the lower part of an open window,
occupying the place of a lower sash, and arranged to tilt or drop, as described;
this would be an economical arrangement well adapted for cheap buildings.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improved
Arrangement of Fire Escape, as communicated to me from abroad, and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim,-

page_text: First, the flexible or chain ladder and tilting box, arranged and applied to a
building, to operate substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
And, second, combining with the ladder and tilting box an alarm, arranged
substantially as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)