A New or Improved Sling and its Attachments and Parts Forming a Fire Escape.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Nov., 1895-Accepted, 21st Dec., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Sling and its Attachments and Parts Forming
a Fire Escape.
We, JOHN FRANCIS PERCIVAL of Smithfield Street, Coventry, Woollen Draper
and ARTHUR EDWARD ASTLEY of Broadgate, Coventry, Manufacturer, and both
in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of our said invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
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Our invention has for its object a new or improved sling and its attachments and
parts forming a fire escape and which we call The Universal Fire Escape Sling
with adjustable belt," which is easily folded into a small space and is applicable
for the use of travellers to carry in their luggage or for the upper rooms of private
houses, hotels and public and other buildings and by which any number of persons
may be lowered one after the other or in some cases two at a time with equal
facilities for the last person to be lowered either with or without outside
assistance.
In order that our invention may be clearly understood and more easily carried
into practical effect we have appended hereunto a double sized sheet of drawings
upon which our sling is shown both separately and also attached to a person ready
for lowering and from which others will be able to adapt the invention to the
various conditions met with in practice. It will also be clearly understood that
though we have shown the sling and belt made flat from hemp and the junctions
well woven or bound thereto that the flat portions may be substituted by ropes
or other sections and that other suitable material other than hemp may be used.
Figure 1 is a general view of the sling A with the belt K attached thereto and
the rope B all in their position ready to receive a person to be lowered.
Figure 2 is the front view of the sling and belt applied to the body M of a
person ready to be lowered.
Figure 3 is the back view of M showing the sling A and belt K as it would
generally be.
Figure 4 shows the attachment E secured to the floor F.
Figure 5 shows a man M in the act of lowering himself from the window W
from the upper room S.
Our sling consists of the main front band A which we prefer to weave flat and
it divides at a¹ into the two portions a' and a³ which pass back upwards to a* and a
where they are both securely woven or united together to A at the ring a to
which also the rope B is secured by the ring or loop 6 also woven with the rope in its
position or it may be detachable. To apply the sling the man M places his right
leg over a² and his left leg over a³ so that the front band rises vertically as seen
at Figure 2. The belt K is attached to A by passing the end through the
ring so as to embrace A which is of course generally done before the man gets
into the sling indeed the belt should always be so attached ready for use.
belt is then passed round the body and the end tucked round tied or secured
in the front which completes the attachment when M is ready to be lowered.
The attachment E with its D-ring R is firmly secured by screws e' to the floor
at the side (by preference) of the window and is always ready for use as the D-ring
turns down nearly flat. The rope B is passed through the ring when any person
may be conveniently lowered by holding the inside end. The last person to escape
would lower himself as illustrated at Figure 5. In doing this he passes the ope
The

page_text: through the ring R or if he prefers it around the leg of a bedstead and then
throws the loose rope b out which he holds with his hands after getting through
the window and lowers himself as there illustrated.
It will be at once seen that a big man or a child may be put into the sling as
the belt K may be lowered to embrace the child so that it would be held steadily
and securely. It will also be seen that a couple of children may be bound in the
sling at once one sitting on the a' portion and the other on the a portion when the
belt is lowered and bound around both. The split sling A may be used without
the belt K by simply tieing a cloth or string round the body or with greater risk
without any other security than itself.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is:-
1st. The new or improved sling and its attachments and parts forming the
fire escape consisting of the part A with its supplemental parts a³ and a³ in com-
bination with the belt K to be worked through the ring R or its equivalent
substantially as and for the purpose herein set forth and shown on the drawings.
2nd. The split sling A ring a and rope B without the part K.
Dated this 19th day of November 1895.
GEORGE BARKER,
77 Colmore Row, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants..