Patent ID: 7766124

Claim:
A system for the evacuation of persons from high rise structures in an emergency, said system being secured to a vertical wall of said structure comprising: a pair of upstanding vertically oriented discrete tubular posts each attached to said vertical wall; said posts being in close proximity to one another; at least one evacuator, said evacuator affixed by means of upper and lower sleeves circumscribing said one of said posts for controlled vertical movement along substantially the length thereof; said evacuator adapted to receive an evacuee securely thereon; a brake mounted to said evacuator and selectively engageable with said post to control the rate of movement of said evacuator relative thereof; controls on said evacuator, actuatable by an evacuee thereon to control the pressure applied by said brake to said post and, thus, controlling the rate of movement of said evacuator; said system being segmented such that said posts are extensible over a predetermined distance, such post segments being laterally offset from one another and each said post segment vertically overlapping with a successive post along said vertical wall to or toward ground level; a cable attached to said evacuator, said cable extending to said other post; a weight at the other end of said cable, said weight acting as a counter balance to said evacuator to return said evacuator to its start position once evacuees have left said evacuator.