US194507A - Improvement in fire-escapes - Google Patents

Description

FIRE-ESCAPES.

N0. 194,507, Patente. Aug. 21,1877;

N.PETERS. PHOT&IJTHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON, D C.

UNIIED STATES PATEN'I OFFICE.

JAMES JEROME VAN WIE, OF DUBUQUE, IOWA, ASSIGNOR T0 HIMSELF, WILLIAM P. ALLEN, AND GEORGE A. FIFIELD, OF SAME PLACE.

IIVIPRVEMENT IN FIRE-ESCAPES.

Speeifieation forming part of Letters Patent No. 194,507, dated August 2l, 1877; application fi1ed June 14, 1877.

taohed. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal central section of the same; and Fig. 4 is a waist-strap with suspenders, the means wbereby the body is attaohed to the said frietion-slide.

'lhe nature of my invention oonsists in certain construotions, eombinations, and arrangements of parts, hereinafter fully deseribed and speoifieally olaimed, whereby a reversible fireesea.pe is produeed, whioh 1nay very readily be fastened for use, and whioh, by reversing it, may be repeatedly used; whioh also, on aooount of its simple oonstrnotion, is not liable to get out of order, and the deseent of whieh may be easily regulated by the operator by using his own hand as a friotion-brake.

In the drawings, A represents a reversible friotionslide, eonsisting of two flat side bars, A, l1aving at eaoh end an eye, 01, and united by a nurnber of short stout oross-rods, a, as seen in Figs. 2 and 3. The eyes d are arranged in pairs, which project outwardly from the slide on eaeh of the bars A, as shown, so that the end of the slide whioh happens 1:0 be turned down always has a servioeable eye at eaeh side of the friction-slide.

A rope, B, of suitable size and strength, is laoed through the ntervals between the short rods a/, as shown in Fig. 3. The resistanee ofi'ered by the rope to the many short bends ereated by the said laeing, and the resistance of the friotion between the said rope and the rods a, when the slide A is moved upon the rope, togetl1er serve to allow a safe, though speedy, deseent of the slide A with a man of average weight attaohed, whioh, however, may be retarded at will by applying the band to the rope as a frietion-brake.

T0 faoilitate the attachment of the body of a person to the slide A, and to make snob attaehment more reliable, a belt, C, is buekled around the waist, and by means of suspenders 0, witb snaps 0, is hooked to the lower eyes al of the slide A.

The suspending-belt 0 and the slide A, with the rope B, are kept in the room from whieh the descent isintended to be effeoted in case of danger, and if it be a bed-room, they should be ander or near the bedstead, in as handy a position as possible.

When the escape by stairway or elevator is out off by fire, the person so threatened fastens the beltC aronnd his waist, with the straps f in the eroteh of his legs, as in Fig. 1, and seeurely attaohes the short end of the rope to a bedstead, or to snob suitable fixture. as may befound in the room, and throws the long end of the rope out the window. He then hooks the snaps 0 in the eyes d, steps out; of the window, and suspends himself upon the slide A. He immediately begins to desoend,

and by taking a loose hold on the rope B below the slide A, he will keep his body in upright postion. If the deseent be too rapid, the other hand, or both hands, may take a tolerably firrn hold on the rope, thus only allowng the slide A to move down witli the desired speed.

When one person bas safely arrived on the ground, and divested himself of the belt G, anotber person in the burning building may immediately pull up the rope, untasten the end whieh was tied, and throw it out of the window, and fasten the end he has pulled up, (with the slide A and belt 0,) and in a suitable manner tie the belt around him, and deseend in the same manner as the first person, with the only diierenee that the slide A is now reversed, so that he suspends hinnself on the opposite pair of eyes d.

T0 faoilitate the 'astening of the rope B it may be provided at eaeh endwith a hook or a ring, or both, so that an instantaneous attaohment of the rope Lo any suitable fixtnre witbin the room or building may be effected.

It is advisable for every person who desires to use my invention to praotiee with it, and aoeording to his weight use either all the rods 0 as rope-deflectors and frction-brakes, 01 omt as many of them as necessary to insure his safe yeh speedy descent. This accomplished, the apparatus is ready for his use,

and may be kept s0 in a convenient place untl danger calls for its applieation.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, aud desire t0 secure by Letters Patent, is

The reversible fire-eseape, adapted f01 being fitted upon a single rope, and consisting of vwo side pieces, Wh ieh are rgidly astened together by separabed round bars, and having their upper and lower ends bentoutwardly, aud perforated, all in the manner and for the purpose heren described.

Witness my hand in the matter of my applcation for a patent fox a fireeseape ladder ths 9th day of June, A. D. 1877.

JAMES JEROME VAN WIE.

Wtnesses:

W. K. BROWN, E. B. LEWIS.

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