US2450595A - Fire net for buildings - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 5, 1948. A. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 21, 1947 awe/WM: 445x Jam-s.

Qct. '5, 1948.

A. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 21, 1947 A MX domes Oct. 5, 1948. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 21, 1947 a on A. JONES FIRE NET FOR BUILDINGS Oct. 5, 1948.

5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 21, 1947 AAEX douss Oct. 5, 1948. JONES 2,450,595

FIRE NET FOR BUILD NGS Filed April 21, 1947 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 vla llllllvb llllu. 0

Patented Oct. 5, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Alex Jones, Lyman, S. C.

Application April 21, 1947, Serial No. 742,893

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to escape means from a burning building by providing means for supporting a housed net at each corner of the building with means forextending said nets across each side of the building in case of a fire, said not "being preferably disposed immediately below the windows of the secondstory so that regardless of the height of the building, persons may jump from the windows and land on the net fromwhich point they can drop to the ground or berescued by fire departments and the'like.

It is an object of this invention to provide girders extending from each corner of the building, and each side of the building having a housing in which a net is stored, said net being adapted to travel along cables orrods running from one end of the building to the other when a fire occurs in the building, said nets being extensible by motor driven means, which motors can be energized from the clerlis desk or any other suitable location within the building.

It is another object of this invention to provide the escape means comprising means associated with each corner of the building for supporting a net extending from one corner of the building to the other and with a housing in which the net can be housed against the weather and with motor driven means connected to the free end of the not so that it can be extended from one corner of the building to the other below the lower windows or immediately above the ground floor so that persons entrapped in the upper stories can jump into the net from whence they can be rescued.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation of one side of a building showing my invention attached thereto;

Figure 2 is a sectional plan view taken along the line 2-2 in Figure 1 and showing portions of the building and mechanism broken away;

Figure 3 isa vertical sectional view taken along the line 3-4 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line t-4 in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a vertical section-al'view taken along the line 5--5 in Figure 3;

Figure 6 is a sectional plan View taken along the line 65 in Figure 3 and omitting certain parts;

Figure 7 is an elevation taken along the line '!"I in Figure 2, and showing the ou'ter Wall of the housing for the net broken away; and showing the movable door in closed position;

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line li--8in Figure 7.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral l0 indicates a building of any desired height having a plurality of stories therein and each story, of course, having a plurality of rooms with windows I! therein. The ground line-on which the building is situated is indicated at l2. In order to provide means of escape throughthe windows of the various stories of thebuildin'g; 'I have devised means for extending a 'net b'elow-all of the stories except the ground floor into which the occupants of the room's may jump in case they are entrapped by fire in the building. As

the equipment on the four sides of the'b-uilding is identical, a description of the mechanism associated with one side of the building willjbe given, and like-reference characters'will apply'to the other sides of the building. The building walls have usually a steel frainework comprising vertically disposed I beams through-out the wall structure and especially at each corner of the building. r

The vertically disposed I-beams are indicated at 9 and each of these I-beaIns has welded thereto and extending outwardly therefrom a horizontally disposed I-beam 8, and the outer end of each I-beam B has an eye I? therein to which is connected a guy link l5 whose other end is connected to an eye member 1 which is wel-ded'to the vertically disposed I-beam frame member 9'. Also secured to each vertical I beam '9 is an outwardly extending I 'beam i6 which has an eye H in its free end to which is connected a guy link l8 vg hose other end is connected to an eye l9 which in turn is welded to itsasso'oiated I -beam 9. The l-beam 8 supports a housing 213 and said housing is-also secured to the wall of the building by' lag screws 24. This housing 2!] has a top, bottom, two side members, a rear end member and'a movable-door 22; Penetrating the I-beams 8 and f6 are spaced guy rods or guy cables 23 and 24 which completely encircle the building.

Disposed on the side of the I- beam 8 which faces the I-beam I6 is a pair of eye bolts 26 and 21 through which a cable ZB'is passed, the cable being doubledupon itself where it passes through the eye bolts 26 and 21 and has suitable securing means, such as a wire 31!, attached therearound to prevent slippage of the cable 28 relative to the eye bolts 26 and N. This cable also passes through suitable eye bolts 35 and 35 secured to the proximate face of door 22 and at these points a suitable wire or other stay such as 3D is also wound around the cable 28" to prevent slippage of members 42 and 43. The other ends of the strap members 42 and 43 are welded to and project downwardly towards the I-beam 8 and have welded to their other ends a horizontally disposed I-beam 44. On this I-beam 44, a pair of upwardly projecting bearings 45 and 46 are secured, in which is rotatably mounted a shaft 41. This shaft 41 has a pair of drums 48 and 49 fixedly secured thereon, around which are wound cables and 52, the free ends of which are connected to eye bolts 54 and 55 secured to the door 22 which is slidably mounted on the guy rods or cables 23 and 24.

The uprising bearing member 45 has associated therewith a pivoted dog or pawl 60 which is adapted to engage a ratchet wheel 6! fixed on the shaft 41 which will lock the net in extended position and'prevent its moving towards folded position under the impact of a person falling onto the net.

When it is desired to house the nets, of course this dog would be lifted from the ratchet wheel 6| and placed over against the other side of the ratchet wheel to permit the cables 5! and 52 to be unwound from the drums 48 and 49.

Each shaft 41 has fixed thereon a pulley 63 which has a V-belt 64 thereon which is also mounted on a V-pulley 65 on motor shaft 56 of an electric motor 51. Each electric motor 6'! has leading therefrom wires and II which lead to a switch 12 at any desired point in the building such as at the clerks desk of a hotel so that in case of fire, he can close switch 12 and move all of the nets to distended position, or, if desired, the switch 12 can be thermostatically operated to omit the personal element.

Mounted on top of the I-beam I6 is a bracket in which is rotatably mounted an idler pulley 1B for preventing the V-belt 64 from engaging the I-beam l5.

It is thus seen that I have provided a fire net associated with each side of a building which can be housed against the elements, but which nets can be moved to distended position by remote control or thermostatic control so as to provide a fir net anchored to the building which will be accessible for the occupants thereof in case regular escape routes are cut ofi.

If it should be desired to operate the mechanism by hand to extend the nets, as in case of electric current failure, I may mount on the shaft 4! a bevel gear 80, and a collar 8| may be welded. to I-beam 44 and a shaft 82 will rotatably penetrate shaft 44 and collar 8i and have a bevel gear 83 secured on its upper end, meshing with bevel gear 80. The lower end of shaft 82 has a fitting 85 secured on its lower end having a socket into which the upper end of a handle 88 may be releasably fitted to rotate the shaft 82. The handle 86 may be stored within the building or other suitable place.

In order to de-energize the motor 61 when the net is fully extended, I provide a fixed GQIIWQQ 9B on the exterior of the building and also a movable spring contact 9|, which contact Si is biased to engage contact 90, but contact 81 is extended into the path of door 22, so as to be engaged by the door 22 to move contact 9| away from contact 90 to break the circuit since these contacts are connected in series with wire 1 i.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. A fire escape apparatus for a building comprising an outwardly projecting beam adjacent each corner of the building, a pair of spaced supporting means extending from one beam to the other, a housing adjacent one beam, a net slidably mounted at spaced intervals along its side edges on said supporting means and said net being adapted to be moved backwardly into folds within the housing, one end of the net being secured to the beam adjacent the housing, a pair of cables having one end secured to the free end of the net, a motor driven shaft associated with the beam remote from the housing, an electric motor for driving said shaft, said shaft having a pair of drums thereon to which the other ends of said cables attached to the free end of the net are attached, whereby when the motor is energized the cables will be wound around the drums to withdraw the net from the housing and extend it along the two spaced supports and into which net persons occupying floors above the net may jump.

2. In a building having a plurality of side walls and having a pair of beams projecting from the corners thereof, and being substantially parallel to each other, a pair of spaced supports passing through said beams and around the building, one of the beams projecting from one corner of the building having a housing adjacent thereto, the other of the beams projecting from one side of the building having a rotatable shaft associated therewith, a pair of spaced supports extending between the beams on one side of the building, a foldable net slidably supported at spaced intervals on the supports, one end of the net being secured to the beam adjacent said housing and the other end of the net being secured to the side of the housing remote from the beam, the side of the housing remote from the beam being slidably mounted on said supports, the exterior of the housing having a pair of cables secured thereto, said rotary shaft having a, pair of drums thereon to which the other ends of said cables are secured, an electric motor for driving the rotary shaft having the drums thereon, whereby when the motor is energized, the free side of the housing will be moved along said supports along with the net to extend the net from out of the housing along said supports to thereby move the net to extended position.

3. In a fire net apparatus for buildings, a pair of beams projecting from each side of the build-- ing adjacent the corners thereof, a pair of spaced supports extending between and secured to the beams, a fire net slidably supported on said supports, one end of the fire net being secured to one of the beams near one corner of the building, and the other end of the net being secured to a rotatable shaft associated with the other beam, an electric motor for driving the rotatable shaft, whereby when the electric motor is energized the net will be extended from one beam to the other for reception of persons jumping from windows disposed above the net.

4. In a building having a plurality of sides divided by corner portions, each corner portion having a pair of horizontally disposed beams projecting therefrom, the beams at each corner being disposed at substantially right angles to each other, a pair of spaced supports passing through all the beams and extending around the building, a net mounted on said supports between a pair of beams projecting from one side of the building, the free end of the net being secured to one beam, the other beam having associated therewith a rotatable shaft provided with a pair of drums, cables secured to said drums and having their free ends secured to the free end of the net, whereby when the electric motor is energized for imparting rotation to the shaft having the drums thereon, the net will be extended along the supports extending between the beams.

5. A fire escape net adapted to be associated with a side of a building near the lower portion of the building and in spaced relation to the ground, comprising horizontally projecting beams secured to and extending from the corner portions of a, wall, a housing supported adjacent one of the beams, a pair of spaced supporting members extending between the beams, a net slidably mounted at spaced intervals along its side edges to said supports, whereby the net'can be moved to folded position inside the housing, means for securing one end of the net to the beam inside the housing, the beam associated with the other corner of the building having a rotatable shaft associated therewith, said shaft having a pair of drums thereon, a pair of cables secured to said drums and having their other ends secured to the free end of said net, an electric motor for imparting rotation to the rotatable shaft having the drums thereon, whereby when the electric motor is energized the net will be withdrawn from the housing and moved along the supports the distance between the two beams to thus provide an extended net into which persons may jump from stories disposed above the net.

6. In a building having a plurality of side portions with corner portions disposed between the side portions, each corner having projecting therefrom two horizontally disposed beams, the beams of each corner being disposed 180 degrees apart from each other, a pair of spaced rods extending through the beams on one side of the building and through the beams on the other sides of the building, a net disposed between the beams on each side of the building, said net being slidably supported at its edges on the supports extending between the beams, means for securing one end of the net to one of the beams on one side of the building, the other beam on any one side of the building having associated therewith a rotatable shaft provided with a pair of drums, a cable associated with each of the said drums and having one end secured to the drums,

the other ends of said cables being secured to the free end of said net, an electric motor for driving the rotatable shaft having the drums thereon, a remotely controlled switch in the building for supplying energy to the electric motor, whereby when energy is supplied to the electric motor associated with each of the nets, all of the nets on all sides of the building will be extended between the beams into operative position for the reception of persons jumping from windows disposedabove the net.

'7. A fire escape net for a building comprising a horizontally extending beam associated with each corner of a side wall of a building, a housing associated with one of the beams, a pair of supports spaced from each other and extending between and being secured to the beams on one side of the building, a net slidably mounted at intervals along its length on said rods, means for securing one end of the net to the beam associated with said housing, said housing having the side remote from the beam slidably mounted on said rods, means for securing the free end of the net to the interior of one of the side walls of the housing which is slidably mounted on the rods, a rotary shaft associated with the other beam and having a pair of drums thereon, each of said drums having one end of a cable secured thereto, the other ends of said cables'mounted on said drums, beingsecured to the exterior surface of said side wall associated with said housing, an electric motor for imparting rotation to the rotary shaft having the drums thereon, a remotely located switch in the building and a circuit leading from said switch to the electric motor whereby when the motor is energized rotation will be imparted to the drums to thereby move the free side wall of the housing along the supports to withdraw it from the housing and extend it along said supports from one beam to the other to serve as a net for catching persons jumping from windows in the building disposed above the net.

ALEX JONES.

No references cited.

Images