A MACHINE CALLED A FIRE ESCAPE, FOR THE PRESER- VATION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY FROM THE DREADFULL EFFECTS OF FIRE
Year: 1788

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DUFOUR, of Cantshill, in the County of Bucks, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date the
Tenth day of June, in the twenty-eighth year of His reign, did give unto me,
the said William Dufour, His special licence, that I, the said William Dufour,
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "A MACHINE CALLED A FIRE ESCAPE, FOR THE PRESER-
VATION OF LIFE AND PROPERTY FROM THE DREADFULL EFFECTS OF FIRE;" in which
said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me, the said William
Dufour, under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month next after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and
by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Dufour, do hereby declare, that my said Invention of a Machine
(which I call a Fire Escape) for the Preservation of Life and Property from
the dreadful Effects of Fire, is composed of two distinct parts, a carriage and a
ladder, with a box affixed to the ladder, and united together, and which are
fully delineated and described in the Plans or Drawings, with the references and

page_text: explanations thereof hereon above made; and the manner in which the same
is used is as follows:-
The ladder and carriage being united as in Figure 4, with the box annexed
and let down as in Figure 2, the top of the ladder is directed to the window
or place required; and by elevating the shafts, the top of the ladder is brought
upon a line with the window or place required. The carriage is then wheeled
forward to bring the top of the ladder close to such window or place, and
the box is then raised either with or without a person therein, by means of the
handle or winch described in Figure 2 by letter h, for relief of the person and
removal of the property in danger.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh
day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and
Inrolled the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
seven hundred and eighty-eight.

page_text: FIC. I.
first Drawing -a profile of the Ladder upon a scale of 3/4 of an Inch to a foot.
it is to be observ'd that there is no fiocid height or breadth for a ladder or carriage
or carriage as the Machines
as the Machines may be made to reach the highest first floors only and these might be
made without a
a carriage the machine now describ'd is calculated to reach the middle height second floors and if it was requird to reach the highest second floors it must
be built upon a little larger dimentions either by adding to the height of the wheels or the length of the Ladder.