NEW FIRE ESCAPE DEVICE

Rotorua Morning Post, Issue 5329, 15 February 1947, Page 7

NEW FIRE ESCAPE DEVICE

/MERICAN INVENTION BOSTON Ten men trapped in a 15-story bnilding on Bristol Street recently, slid down a canvas chute to safety in a lO-minute dlemonstration of the eftectiveness of the chute as an escape device at fires. There was no fire, the building was the Boston Fire Department's . own drill tower, and the chute was soraething new in the development of equipment through which persons trapped in high buildings can escape rapidly and safely to the ground.

As firemen glided earthward in a slide as simple as a youngsters' swimming chute, many of the observers, including Russell A. Codman, Boston Fire Commissioner, were heard to remark: "If only the Winecoff Hotel in Atlanta had been equipped with those tbings." The chute was fastened to an end of one of the Fire Department's latest and tallest ladders, more than 100 feet long. As the ladder swung skyward, the chute was drawn up with it. The bottom of the chute was swung clear of the lower rungs of the ladder, forming a gradual slide of canvas. j As firemen dropped into the chute from the window ledges, their speed was controlled 'by rope prssure.on the sides of the chute and the landing was cushioned by\ pressure on the sides at the base. Thus, the ride vfas controlled all the way at speeds in keeping with maximum safety requirements. In only a few minutes, the chute was dismantled! and packed in a three-foot box for mounting anywhere in the corridors 'of hotels and places of public gatherings. The Evacuator, as it is called, is made of heavy firej proofed canvas, and can be fastened 1 to the window ledges of high buildings on hooks which the manufacturers | would have installed on all floors. 1 Commissioner Codman , made no pronouncement regarding whether the city would huy any of these chutes, but he appeared highly pleased with the tests.