Patent ID: 8567561

Claim:
A personal escape device, comprising: A. a housing having a port, B. a primary spool extending along a central axis and disposed within said housing opposite said port, said primary spool being rotatably coupled to said housing to permit rotation of said primary spool about said central axis, C. an elongated cord having a proximal end and a distal end, said proximal end being affixed to said primary spool and said distal end extending through said port, said cord including a plurality of windings around said primary spool, D. an anchor assembly extending from said distal end of said cord, including means for selectively coupling said distal end of said cord to an external object, E. a payload coupler affixed to said housing for receiving a harness assembly for supporting a payload, F. an unwind control assembly including i. a secondary spool having a cylindrical core coupled to an idler shaft extending along an axis displaced from and parallel to said central axis, and wherein said cord includes two or more mutually adjacent, single-layer full windings around said cylindrical core of the secondary spool between said primary spool and said port, and ii. a centrifugal clutch disposed on a secondary shaft coupled to said housing and extending along an axis displaced from and parallel to said central axis, for controlling the rate of exit of said cord from said housing to be a predetermined function of time in response to a substantially constant pulling force on said distal end, wherein said secondary shaft is said idler shaft, and G. a manual brake assembly coupled to at least one of the idler shaft and the primary spool responsive to a user-applied external force to selectively limit the outplay of the cord from the housing.