AN IMPROVED PORTABLE FIRE ESCAPE
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by. William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th March 1874.-A communication from abroad by Robert
Bustin, of Saint John, Canada.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PORTABLE FIRE ESCAPE," a
[communication, to be as follows:-
:-
The present Invention relates to the saving of human life and valuable.
property by providing an easy and rapid means of escape from all kinds
of burning buildings.
.
The said apparatus may have a single rope, which is to be fastened to
any part of a room and extended therefrom through the window to the
street, yard, or other places without, and the person seeking to escape
may easily and safely descend by the said rope. Or I may employ two
ropes or one rope so attached about midway as to allow both ends to be
thrown out of the window, by means whereof the person seeking to
escape may guide himself clear of the burning window and other parts

page_text: to the opposite side or any part of the street or other place outside the
building.
The said improved fire escape consists essentially of the following
parts, viz., a snap or safety hooks, a leather band connecting the said
hooks with a pulley, a belaying pin attached to the pulley, a rope or
ropes and a combined snap hook and swivel connected by a strong ring
with a leather belt or waistband.
In using this fire escape the said rope is attached to the floor within
the building by a ring bolt, or it may be fastened at the end for single
rope use, or midway for double rope use, as already described, to any
object strong enough for the purpose. For single rope use, having
attached the rope to the floor, or as aforsaid the snap hook and swivel to
the leather ring or waistband, the rope is carried over the pulley, then
one turn of the said rope is taken around the belaying pin, and the
waistband is adjusted around the body of the person using the apparatus,
then the person is lowered from the window to the ground, regulating
the rapidity of descent by the rope passing through the hand, being
assisted by the turn of the rope around the belaying pin.
In using a double rope, when the lower part of the building is
dangerous from flame or smoke, after attaching two ropes or the bite or
middle of the rope to the floor or other part of the room, the whole
apparatus is adjusted as for a single rope descent with this addition, viz.,
the snap hook farthest from the waistband is attached to the pulley by
the band, and the rope or end of the rope not attached to the body is
carried or passed to the said snap thus attached to the pulley, and down
to any fixed object on the opposite side or any part of the street and
there made fast. Then the person is lowered from the window as in the
former case, regulating the descent by the rope as before, and the
weight of the body descending acting also through the said snap hook
upon the second rope will guide the body to the point of safety desired.
This apparatus may be used for lowering valuable articles if made of
sufficient strength for the purpose.