AN IMPROVED DOMESTIC FIRE ESCAPE
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Melville Clark at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th December 1871.-A communication from abroad by George
D. McCullen, of New Orleans, in the Parish of Orleans, State of
Louisiana, United States of America.
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVED DOMESTIC FIRE ESCAPE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object to furnish an improved fire escape
for the removal of women, children, and other feeble and timid persons
from a building, which shall be simple in construction, inexpensive in
manufacture, convenient, safe, and reliable in use, and shall be so con-
structed that it may be conveniently kept in the house and moved from
place to place with the same facility as any other piece of furniture.
And it consists in the construction and combination of the various parts
of the apparatus as herein-after described.

page_text: The apparatus consists of a car or chair which is made of such a size
as to receive one or more persons, with its front, sides, bottom, and the
lower part of its rear enclosed, the top and upper part of its rear being
left open.
The interior of the car or chair should be provided with a
seat for the convenience of the person or persons being lowered, and
may also be provided with one or more short staves finished like a boat
hook, to enable the said person or persons to push the said car or chair
back from the wall while being lowered. The rear edge of the sides of
the car or chair are also recessed for convenience in passing over
cornices, the edges of awnings and other projections.
The chair or car
may be made of wood or iron. When made of wood it should be
provided with a framework of metallic bands or straps to strengthen it.
To the lower part of the rear side of the car or chair is attached an
axle, upon the journals of which are placed wheels. Above this axle
other axles are connected by means of flexible or jointed connections,
the journals of which axles also carry wheels. The flexible or jointed
connections are made of such a length that the upper axle may be
opposite the upper part of the rear side of the car or chair. The inter-
mediate axles (two or more) are arranged between the upper and lower
axles and opposite the recess in the said chair or car.
The wheels on
the top and bottom axles are made of the same size so
chair or car vertical when passing down a vertical wall. The wheels on
the intermediate axles are made smaller to enable the car or chair to
pass over cornices, the edges of awnings, or other projections more
steadily and with a more gradual change of position than would be
possible if the wheels were all made of one size. To the upper axle and
to the upper end of the car or chair are attached bails or chains to
receive the rope by which the chair or car is lowered and raised. The
rope or chain is so connected with the bails that when the said rope or
chain is slackened the upper and intermediate wheels and axles will
drop to the ground, uncovering the open upper part of the rear side of
the car or chair, and allowing the occupants to pass in and out con-
veniently. A box is provided, which is made of such a size as to receive
the car or chair. The box is placed in the room from which the descent
is to be made, and should be mounted upon castors, so that it may be
conveniently moved from one part of the room to another, and should
be weighted or ballasted with lead, iron, or other heavy material to hold
it securely in place when in use. The cover of the box is firmly hinged
at one of its end edges, and is turned back to project from a window and
as to hold the

page_text: rest upon the lower part of the window frame when the apparatus is to
be used. The cover has rollers attached to the outer and inner parts of
its under side for the lowering and hoisting rope to pass over, said rope
being coiled round a roller attached to the box. The rope or chain
5 makes one or more turns around this roller, and may then pass into
the room or back into the car or chair according as the person to operato
it may be in the room or in said car or chair.