Means for Permitting the Instantaneous Exit in Theatres and other Places of Assembly in case of Fire.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 16th May, 1890
Complete Specification Left, 9th Feb., 1891-Accepted, 14th 'Mar., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Means for Permitting the Instantaneous Exit in Theatres and other
Places of Assembly in case of Fire.
We, RENÉ RESUCHE and ALBERT VAILLY, of 30, Boulevard Saint Germain,
Paris, in the Républic of France, Gentlemen, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
To prevent the spread of fire in theatres, heretofore means have been provided
to promptly extinguish the same, or by forming the scenery and other parts of the
stage of none inflammable material.
The object of our invention is to provide means by which the audience can
effect their exit in a few minutes and consists in providing the exterior of the
buildings with balconies and spiral staircases communicating with each other.
In each wall we form door-ways which communicate with the said balconies
and are closed by means of shutters. The said shutters may be suspended by
ineans of ropes or chains and pulleys and balance weights, so as to permit of
being wound up and dropped through its own weight, on being released by a
suitable disengaging or pull arrangement and thereby respectively close and open
the said door-ways. In a similar manner the said shutters may be employed
horizontally and caused to uncover the door-ways by the pull of a spring or
weight.
Another method of employing the said shutters, consists in hinging the same in
front of the door-ways to the building and connecting them together by means of
weighted ropes or chains arranged to be wound up and on being released to permit
of the said shutters dropping and thereby uncovering the door-ways.
The said shutters we form of two iron plates, between which we insert cork or
other light non-conducting material.
That this 15th day of May 1900
F. BOSSHARDT & Co.,
Agents to Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Means for Permitting the Instantaneous Exit in Theatres and other
Places of Assembly in case of Fire.
We, RÉNÉ RESUCHE and ALBERT VAILLY, of 30, Boulevard 'St. Germain,
Paris, in the Republic of France, Gentlemen, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement and accompanying
drawing, that is to say :-
Hitherto, in order to prevent the terrible accidents caused by fire in theatres,
it has generally been attempted to prevent them either by providing means for
promptly extinguishing such fires, or by rendering incombustible the decorations
and other parts of the stage, or by isolating the latter completely from the auditorium.
It is however well known that in all accidents of this kind the greatest mortality is
caused by suffocation from the crowding caused by panic, and from the insufficient
means provided for leaving the theatre.
It is to this latter point that attention should be more particularly paid, the
extinction of the fire being only of secondary importance, and our invention has for
its objects therefore means for emptying the theatre and placing all the spectators
in safety in a few minutes.

page_text: We will proceed to describe the different applications of our system, its details
being more or less variable and dependent upon the design of the architect in the
construction of a theatre, or in the improvements made for the purpose in existing
theatres, since all theatres not being constructed upon a uniform plan it would be
impossible to limit ourselves to any special method of applying our invention.
The accompanying drawing is in illustration of our invention,
Figure being a front and side view of a theatre, and
Figure 2 a front and side view of a suspended shutter.
Figure 3 is a front and side view of a system of movable shutters.
Figure 4 a front view of two floors partly open and partly closed by means of
shutters moving horizontally, and
Figure 5 a modification of Figure 4.
In our invention all the four sides of a new theatre will be provided at each floor
with an exterior balcony a communicating with the exit openings b. These
balconies are provided with spiral or inclined staircases c. The upper balcony
communicates in this way with the one below, and so on down to the ground.
This method of construction of the balconies and stair-cases is essential, and in the
different systems which we will now describe they must always be present.
In Figure 2, A represents an outer side wall of a theatre. This wall is com-
posed of two sheets of iron having a space between them which is packed with
cork or other light material or of wood so as not to interfere with the acoustic
properties of the theatre, and to retain the heat. The wall is suspended by chains
or ropes passing over pulleys d arranged in the upper part of the building, each of
the chains being provided with a weight so as nearly to counterbalance the
weight of the wall or shutter. Below each chain or weight is another chain or rope
connected with a winch in the basement.
Should a fire break out in the theatre, it is only necessary to release the winch
and allow the iron wall to descend by its own weight into a cavity prepared
for it in the ground, and thus to leave free all the exit doors so that the persons
on every floor can reach the balcony and descend by the staircases to the
ground.
A second modification of our invention is illustrated in Figure 3. In this
arrangement the parts of the balconies opposite to each exit door are omitted, as
shewn at e, and the shutters or walls of each floor are mounted upon hinges.
They are connected together outside by a chain or rope which passes over a
pulley inside the top of the building and is provided at its end with a balance weight
which forms at the same time a stop. The chain or rope is continued down below
the balance weight to a winch below the ground, and it is only necessary to release
this winch to allow the shutters to descend upon their hinges so as to cover the
openings e in the balconies, at the same time opening the exit and allowing the
audience to come out. This operation is effected without shock by reason of
the counterbalance weight.
A third modification of our invention is illustrated in Figure 4, in which the
left-hand part is shewn closed and the right-hand part open. This application is
useful especially in theatres of which the front alone is exposed, the sides of the
building not being available. In this arrangement the shutter A only uncovers an
opening corresponding with its own width. It slides horizontally between grooves
provided with rollers and is fitted with one or more counter balance weights the
chains or ropes of which pass over pulleys d. It is operated by the disengagement
of a spring hook h worked by a rope or chain from below the theatre.
Another modification is illustrated in Figure 5. In this case the balance weights
are omitted and are replaced by strong steel springs j fixed in the building and
connected with the movable shutters. The figure on the left represents the exit
openings open, and that on the right shews them shut.
The movable shutters run upon rollers between grooves and are released by
pulling the rope or chain connected to the spring hook h which holds them.

page_text: Directly the shutter is released it is withdrawn by the spring, opening the exit
openings and taking up a position by the side of the latter.
In the different modifications of our invention steam, electricity, or any other
available power, may be used for operating the winches and releasing the holding
hooks, and separate shutters may be used for each floor or one shutter may be used
to uncover the whole of the exit openings at once.
A system of electric lighting put in operation when the shutters are moved, may
be arranged in the building and on the balconies in order to allow the gas supply
to be cut off.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is :-
An improved system for allowing the instant emptying of theatres and other
places of the like kind, and consisting of-
1. The balconies a provided with staircases e upon all the floors of the building,
and surrounding it partly or entirely.
2. The movable wall or shutter formed of two plates of iron packed with cork
or other light material, or of wood, and suspended by chains or ropes and set in
motion by means of a winch and balance weight, and descending below the ground
when necessary so as to uncover all the openings and give access to the balconies
claimed in Claim 1.
3. The movable walls or shutters A upon each floor, mounted upon hinges and
connected together outside by a chain or rope and balanced inside the building
by balance weights, these shutters descending when required upon the open parts
of the balconies a so as to open the openings and to close the openings in the
balconies, by means of the winch
9.
4. The movable walls or shutters A for each floor or for the whole of the
building, such walls running horizontally in grooves provided with rollers, by
means of counter weights and ropes or chains passing over pulleys so as to open the
exit openings when the hooks are released.
5. The movable walls or shutters A for each floor or for the whole building,
such shutters running horizontally in grooves provided with rollers and opening
the exit openings 6 by means of the springs when the hooks h are released,-all
substantially as described and shewn in the drawing.
Datod this 9th day of February 1891
EDWARDS & Co.,
35, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicants. -