US295477A - bossier - Google Patents

Description

(lio Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

v. BESSIER.

, FIRE ESCAPE. No. 295,477... i Patented Mai; 18, 1884 nwE/vrw; W M

/1 fforney N. PETERS, PIInIwLiflwgrAphen Walhinglmh D. c.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

3 (No Model.)

V. BESSIER.

FIRE ESCAPE.

Patented Mar. 18, 1884.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIA WITNESSES N. FEIER& vmmmu m m. Wanllington. n, c.

nib-(ZZZ whom it may concern. l

SPECIFIGATIQN forming 'rnL pressure, or nnw ronmn; YL, gss renon oF1on1i HAnF TdH l "A. RoBBINs, or.premieresgramm ,or comma.

- -E- SQAPE- a of; Letters Baizfif No. 295,%-77;, dated March 18,1884;

' Application fiIed December'Q O, 1883 (Nomodelo Be it known that I, VETAL BEssIER, of the city, county, and State of New York, have i I "invented an Improved Fire-Escape; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying. drawings, making part of this specification.

' Myinvention belongs to the class of ladderescapes and to the subclass of folding ladders,

and the ladder is especially adapted to the balconies of buildings, or to platforms or landings on buildings serving a similar purpose.

One feature of my invention is the ladder folded closely into a frame, so that the ladder and frame form' a complete door, which fillsl the hatchway of the balcony, being hinged to or at one side thereof,whereby the upper end [of :the ladder is constantly supported, and

when the dooris unfastened in the hatchway the ladder descends by its ownweight. till it reaches the next lower balconyor the ground.

- Another feature of inventiontconsists. in

the. peculiar construction of the foldingladder, adapting it to be folded into the frame. Other points of invention consist in the means for letting down each ladder by oper- -b uilding near the ground, and from positions. 3

atinga mechanism from the outside of the inside of the building; also, in the connection of an alarm withthe said mechanism.

. In the accompanying-drawings, Figurel represents the front of a house or building rovided with my improved folding ladders applied to the balconies thereof; Fig. 2, a vertical section of lthefront of the building from front to rear, showing the. ladders tapplied ,thereto; Fig. 3, a partialhorizontal section of the building-wall and top View of one of the balconies containing theladder folded therein as a door; Figs. 4 and 5, views showing .the. construction of the. folding ladder;

Figs. .6 and 7, views showing a modified con- 1 struction of the folding ladder; Figs. 8 and 9,

,views showinganother modification of .the

constructionof the folding ladder; Figs. 10

. and. 11, views ofthe ladder-frame ;.Fig. 12, a View showing mea'nsfor holding up and letlting down the ladder; Fig. 13, aview showing an alarm attachment and means for connecting it with the means for letting downthe ladder or ladders. Y

Like letters designate corresponding parts .in all of thefigures.

-I ;--have represented in the accompanying drawings simple means for carrying out all :the features of my invention. 'front of a three-story house, the second and third stories being respectively provided with I show the balconies AB. 7 A folding ladder, Gyis shown located in the lower balcony, for descending from the said balconyto the ground, and a folding 1adder, D, connected with the upper balcony, for descending from that balcony to thelo wer balcony: For clearness of illustration, I-haye shown the upper ladder let down fornse, and the lower ladderfolded up and locked in the hatchway of the balcony-floor; butit is-to be understood that all the ladders of the building are or may be held up: at the same time and let down simultaneously.

'Inthe description of the invention-I will first'specify the peculiar construction of the ladderitself. The essential feature of this in vention -is the combination of a seriesof rounds on rungs/"c a, and a seriesof con -nectinglinksor rods, 12 b, pivoted to the ends of therounds and together in pairs, and adaptedtobe'folded entirely behind orwithin the rounds, so that when the rounds andlinks are thus folded together they occupy no more aroomin the longitudinal direction of thejladderthan the simple aggregate \YidthSgOf the rounds,iwhich thus being arranged closely side by side .and he1din. a frame, E, form a close 'trap fidoor, filling the hatchway in the balconyiiloor, as shown in Fig. 3. Thereby a safeand .unobjectionable continuation of .the lbalconyfioorois formed, and the door itself and the hatchway are madeas smallas .prac- ,ticable. H.

. In the specific construction of the ladder to produce the effect above set forth various means or modifications thereof may be adopted. .I will describe two or three modes of construction. Thus, according to. the construction. shown in Figs. 4 andb, each round .is formedoft wo .metallic .plates, .a a, one in front of .theother, and the ends of the contiguous links above and below the round at each than the length of the several rounds.

end thereof are lapped one over the other and between the ends of the round-plates, so that a single pivot-pin, c, is passed through all the four parts, leaving sufficient width of space between the front and back plates of the round for the two links to fold in between them, as shown in Fig. 5. This is the same at each end of the round. Then the upper link of one round and the lower link of the round above are lapped over each other and connected by a pivot, 61, and this also at each end of the round, as shown; and. in order that the links may fold entirely behind the front roundplate, the two connected links at one end of the round must not extend beyond the middle of each round, in order not to quite meet the links at the other end of the rounds. Thus it will be observed that the distance between the rounds, when the ladder is unfolded, is practically a little less, and might be much less, There may be a stay-bolt, 0, connecting the middle of each pair of plates a a, composing each round, to keep them firmly in proper relative positions and at a proper distance from each other. The rounds and connecting-links may be made of metallic plates, and may be quite thin and light, especially when made of sheet-steel. A somewhat lighter construction is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Here a single plate to forms each round. The links I) b are the same as in Figs. 4 and 5, and the manner of pivoting them together and to the rounds is the same as described for the construction shown in those figures. In Figs. 8 and 9 I also show singleplate rounds a a, but double-plate links b b alternate with single-plate links, as shown. The mode of pivoting together and to the rounds is the same as above described.

Now, as to the ladder-frame E, (shown in Figs. 3, 10, and 11,) it is composed of three sides, f g g, which may most conveniently be formed of a single bar of metal bent to form three sides of a rectangle, as shown. One, or preferably two, cross-bars, h h, are secured to the frame next to the middle side, f, corre sponding to or forming one round of the ladder, and from this the remainder of the ladder is suspended. Then the rounds are formed of two plates, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, they project a little beyond the links b b at the ends, so as to embrace longitudinal ribs 2' i, secured to or formed with the sides g g of the frame, as shown in Fig. 10, and by this means the ends of all the rounds are retained and supported in the frame when the latter is in a horizontal position in the hatehway, but ready to slide out of the frame when the said frame is swung down from the hatehway. When single plates a a are used to form the ladderrounds, there are grooves or waysi i in the inner surface of the sides 9 g of the frame, as shown in Fig. 11, for the projecting ends of the rounds to run and be supported in. The frame E is hinged at one side of the hatchway, and it is best to hinge or pivot it to or at the side next to the wall of the building, as

shown in Fig. 3, for the purpose of allowing the ladder to hang down in front of and near to the wall of the building.

There may be employed a series of proparms, each succeeding lower arm being a l1ttle longer than the one above, as shown in Fig. 2, whereby the ladder is held farther from the wall at the lower than at the upper end, and gradually increases in distance from the top to the bottom. This construction renders the descent on the ladder much more convenient and safe than if the stays were all of equal length. These stays or props are conveniently made by bending back the ends of the back plates of the ladder-rounds, made long enough for the purpose, or when the rounds are madg of single plates those are made long enough to be bent back and form the stays.

For securing the ladder and its frame in the hatehway of a balcony or similar floor orlanding various devices may be adopted. Ihave shown in Fig. 1.2 a simple means for the purpose. The lower round of the ladder may be made of a single plate bent at the lower edges to form two sides and a bottom, k, and in this bottom part a slot or hole, I, is formed. Into this slot the-catch m of a lever, G, enters, to sustain that side of the combined ladder and frame composing the hatehway-door. If simply two flat plates form the lower round of the ladder, the catch m enters between them. If

a single plate forms the lower round of the ladder, the catch in swings under it. The lever G is pivoted, and has a horizontal swinging movement in or under the balcony-floor for allowing its catch an to sustain or set free theladder in the hatehway. WVith this lever (or its equivalent) any suitable mechanism or device may be employed for setting free or tripping the ladder from any point or position desired. In Fig. 12 I show a rod, H, pivoted at n to the end of the lever opposite to the catch m, and extending thence inward in or under the balcony-fioor, and through the wall to a hall or room in the building, and terminating with a knob or handle, 0, by which to draw the rod inward for tripping theladder. The rod may be moved outward for fastening up the ladder by a counter-spring. Any desired number and arrangement of such tripping devices may be employed leading to different rooms or positions, and they may be secured in any desired way, so that they may not be unnecessarily tampered with or accidentally moved.

One other connection with the ladders I deem to be importantnamely, to reach to the lower part of a building, so as to be accessible to a fireman or other person in the street or outside of the building, for letting down theladders, in case that the inmates of the building do not or cannot let the ladders down in the event of a fire or other casualty. I have shown a means of accomplishing this in Figs. 2 and 12. The

knob or pull 1), Fig. 2, is housed in a suitable box or recess, I, and a rod, wire, or cord, q,

295,477 r l a extends therefrom up to a bell-crank r, pivoted to a support in such a position that the other arm of the bell-crank is connected with the rod H, so that pulling down on this rod, wire, or cord will draw the said rod Hinward and trip the ladder. The rod, wire, or cord (1 is, or should preferably, be connected with all the rods H for the several ladders, where more than one is used, or wherethere are three or more stories in'the building.

It is also desirable toconnect with the lad der-tripping mechanism a bell or suitable alarm, not only to warn all inmates when the ladders are let down to escape by, butalso to warn them in case burglarsor other improper persons tamper with the ladders. I have shown in Figs. 2 and 13 such an alarm connected with the tripping-rod H. From the bell-crank r a rod, 8, extends upward to another bell-crank, t, to which a horizontal rod, u, is pivoted. On the end of the rod u is a stop or catch, 1;, which holds a catch-pin, w, on the periphery of apulley-wheel, J, on the pulley or shaft of which is wound a cord, 1 bearing a weight, K. An arm, 00, on this wheel is arranged to strike the outer end of a pivoted hammer-lever, 3 bear ing a hammer, z, which strikes a bell, L, after the outer end of the hammer-lever has been depressed and then set free by the arm m at each revolution of the wheel J. When the ladder is held in the hatchway of the balcony by the catch m of the lever G, the stop 1) holds against the catch-pin wand prevents the turning of the wheel; but when the rod H is drawn in to trip the ladder the stopo is drawn away from the catch-pin w and allows the bell to be sounded. After the alarm has at any time been sounded, the weightcord 3 is again wound upon the wheel pulley or shaft, ready to sound another alarm. ThusI show one way of conneoting an alarm with the ladder-tripping mechanism. I claim as my invention 7 1. A ladder, G, constructed to fold with its rounds side by side, and contained in a frame, E, in combination with the hatchway of a bal cony-floor or other landing, whereby the said folded ladder and its frame form a close door or more positions inside of the building, subif stantially as and for the purpose herein specified.

' 4. The combination of a folding ladder, C, hinged in a balcony or landing hatchway, a sustaining lever or holder, G, a trip-rod, H, a

tripping-pull, p, accessible near the ground outside of the building, and mechanism connecting the said pull and trip-rod, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

5. The combination of a foldingladder, O, hinged in a balcony or landing hatchway, a sustaining lever or holder, G, tripping mechanism H, an alarm, L, and mechanism connecting the alarm with the tripping mechanism, for the purpose herein specified.

VETAL BESSIER.

Witnesses:

N10 NARVESEN, GEo. H. BOEMPER.

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