IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE- ESCAPES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Sanders, of Nelson Place, Old Kent Road,
Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC FIRE-
ESCAPES."
Sealed the 10th February 1868, and dated the 12th August 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Sanders at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th August 1862.
I, GEORGE SANDERS, of Nelson Place, Old Kent Road, Gentleman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN DOMESTIC
FIRE-ESCAPES," to be as follows:-
I construct a box or case which may have externally the appearance of a
chest of drawers or other article of furniture, and such box or case should be
screwed down to the floor of or otherwise firmly fixed in a suitable place in the
chamber or apartment (as under the window, for instance,) and in this 'box
or case I secure at one end a chain or other flexible metal ladder, so that
when a fire happens the lid of the box or case may be opened, the free end of
the ladder lifted, and the ladder thrown out of the window and, secured at that
free end by two adjusting swivels to rings or hooks previously secured to the
pavement, roadway, or ground in front of the house or building, to provide
for which I. construct two metal or other sockets with steadying flanges, each
of the lids of such sockets having a ring inside the lid, or this ring may be
fixed in another part of the socket, which lid being opened the chain ladder
may be firmly attached thereto. It is not absolutely necessary, however, to
use a socket, as the ladder may be attached to a ring or hook fastened to the
pavement or ground. To facilitate the stepping on to the top of this ladder

page_text: I purpose to secure a piece or pieces of chain with ring handle to the window
frame; and to keep the chain ladder away from the front of the house or
building, so as to guard any one descending, as far as may be, from flames
issuing from the building, I would, when desired, have a balcony with a gate
or fall-down front, which being opened or let down will keep the chain ladder
away from the wall; or an extendible iron bar or bracelet may be used for
this purpose.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Sanders in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th February 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SANDERS, of Nelson Place, Old Kent Road, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Sanders, Her special licence, that I, the said George Sanders,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
George Sanders, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN DOMESTIC FIRE-ESCAPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Sanders, my exccutors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 George Sanders, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
. According to my Invention of improvements in domestic fire-escapes I

page_text: employ a chain ladder formed of two chains, in which are disposed, at distances
of eight or nine inches, small plates constituting links or parts of the chain, in
which plates the ends of steps of the ladder are fixed. A ladder so formed is
very flexible, may be packed in a small space, and is easily handled and may
be used as an escape from a house on fire, or for ascending or descending from
a house window for other purposes. In order that it may be readily and safely
available as a fire-escape I dispose it in a box immediately inside the window
of the apartment from which it is to be used, in the bottom of which box the
upper ends of the chains are to be securely fixed, and the box to be fixed to
the floor and joists; or the ends of the chains may be at once fixed through
the joists of the flooring. To the other ends of the chains I attach spring
hooks, which, when the chain is thrown out of the window, are to be hooked
into eyes previously fixed below the surface of the paving in the street, and at
such a distance in front of the house so as to be as clear of the fire as possible."
The eyes in the street are affixed in' position at the time of placing the fire-
escape in position in the house; and in order that they may be readily formed
at any time in an emergency and kept in order I sink such eyes below the
surface, as before mentioned, and apply metal plates in the manner of coal-
cellar plates to protect them. The position of these plates may be marked on
the house in the manner of fire-plugs; or if a uniform distance were adopted
in all cases, say twenty feet from the front of the house, it would be generally
known. The box or receptacle to contain the fire-escape may be made to
represent an article of furniture or otherwise. In order that the fire-escape
may be easily handled, and so that it will run out of the window freely, I
dispose a roller, mounted on the window sill, which may be at a suitable
height and also project from the window, to ran the fire-escape free, it may
be, of a balcony below. This roller may be either supported by permanently
fixed standards, or it may be placed in position when necessary; but I. prefer
that it should be permanently in position, in which case the roller and
standards may form an ornamental guard for flowerpots or otherwise.
.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a section of the lower part of a window, part of wall and

page_text: duced at intervals for the steps e, e, which are rivetted therein, as well under-
stood in ironwork. The steps c are rods of iron, reduced at the ends, forming
pins, to enter holes in the plates b; b, in which they are secured. Instead of
rod iron, tubes may be used for the steps, in which tubes iron pins may be
driven in the ends to form the rivets of support in the plates b. The upper
part of the ladder may be without steps, that is to say, so much of it as
extends from the box to the window sill, or thereabouts. The links of the.
chain are so made that they will not kink within each other, that is to say,
the two parts of two links embraced within the link uniting them cannot pass
each other in such uniting link or jam therein, therefore the ladder will be
readily and freely distended when required. e, e, is the box to contain the
fire-escape, which is fixed to the floor, as seen, which box may be more or less
ornamental, or rendered similar to or applicable in some degree as an article
of furniture; ff, are the spring hooks at the bottom of the chain ladder,
which are hooked into eyes g, g, fixed in the street, which may be readily
effected by cutting holes in the pavement or surface of roadway 'ând driving
down small wooden piles in which the eyes g, g, are fixed, and if in the
pavement, may be covered and protected by metal plates l, as seen; but in
macadamised roadway a small piece of stone may be fitted thereto with the
plate inserted, or the eyes may be otherwise protected; i, i, is the roller,
mounted on the sill of the window in bearings k, k, on which it rotates freely;
these bearings may be more or less ornamental, and lengthened, curved, and
projected so as to carry the ladder further from the house, if desirable, for
clearing a balcony beneath. One of these fire-escapes should be fitted to one
or more rooms on each floor of a house.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the arrangement and com-
bination of parts constituting the domestic fire-escape in the manner and as
herein-beforo described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Sanders, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.