Folding, Burglar Proof Fire Escape Ladder With Separate Release Stations and Safety Belts With Locking Brackets

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a folding (collapsible) fire-escape ladder of metal which, in the normal state, is folded, and thus burglar proof but which, in the event of fire, can be unfolded by a simple manual operation from each escape station to form a fire-escape ladder which reaches right down to the ground and which is equipped with guides for brackets and safety belts.

The safety belt is secured to one of the ladder side rails by means of its locking bracket. These brackets are so designed that, when unloaded, they slide down the side rail but, when loaded with the weight of a person (irrespective of size) they lock onto the side rail, thus preventing the person from falling off the ladder.

As will be known, certain safety requirements are demanded in connection with fire-escape routes for houses with two or more stories. This problem is often solved by such means as fire-escape ropes, rope ladders, or a robust ladder with safety hoops permanently fixed on the outside of the building.

Rope climbing requires training, and it is too late to consider this aspect once a fire has started. Climbing on a swinging rope ladder requires good physical condition and also strong nerves, while the safety of permanently fixed fire-escape ladders, with safety hoops, can be open to question, should a person, in a state of panic, lose a handhold or foothold. In such instances, there is a real risk of falling down through the ladder, as in a shaft. Furthermore, such ladders are eyesores on house fronts.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Various types of fire escape ladders are known.

The ladder described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,245,717 is made in separate sections for each floor of a building. In an escape situation, the occupant of the upper floor of the house must first release his own ladder section. When he has climbed out onto this section he must then release the ladder section in the floor below. This he does either by bending down while holding fast with one hand, to release the next ladder section, or he searches with his foot to find the release device.

This is the manner in which the escaping person must proceed, floor by floor, or ladder section by ladder section. It is obvious that such a descent is risky, and particularly so if it is dark and the person has to fumble around to find the release device at each floor. Further, this ladder has several cross struts between the steps which must impede descent. In addition, the ladder has no safety arrangement to prevent falling should a person lose one's handhold or foothold.

U.S. Pat. No. 3,414,081 describes a collapsible ladder with a release arrangement at the top of the ladder. To this release arrangement there is fixed a cord. If the ladder is to be used by the occupants of a house with several floors, it must be possible for the occupants of all the floors to reach this cord. As a result, the ladder is no longer burglar proof. If the cord were to be removed, the ladder would not be of any use as an escape route for houses with several floors should the occupant of the top floor not be at home or should find it impossible to release the ladder in the event of fire. Also, this ladder does not have any arrangement which protects users from the danger of falling off.

U.S. Pat. No. 4,243,119 discloses a collapsible ladder without any form of burglar-proofing. It is held in position in the extended state by means of an articulated hinge. If such a ladder were to be used by several persons at the same time, the hinge at the top would be subjected to a heavy load. The risk of material failure in connection with the hinge is thus present and, if this were to occur, all the persons would find themselves stuck on the ladder as in a trap. Also this ladder lacks safety arrangements to protect users from falling off.

The new folding fire-escape ladder, according to the present invention, achieves the following features:

(1) No limit to the number of floors the ladder can serve simultaneously.

(2) Security against unauthorized traffic into the house, in that the ladder can only be released either from the top or from the other floors, but not from the ground.

(3) The occupants of any floor can release the ladder from their respective escape stations so that it reaches right down to the ground.

(4) The user is secured against falling off the ladder by means of a safety belt with a locking bracket.

(5) A feeling of greater safety when entering the ladder from an escape station high above the ground.

(6) The ability to lower a disabled or unconscious person down the ladder side rail by means of a safety belt with locking bracket and control lever.

(7) Steady and safe descent by means of the wall fixing brackets which stabilize the ladder against lateral movement.

These features are achieved, according to the invention, in that the ladder steps are attached to the side rails by means of a bolt which produces an articulated connection. The side rails consist of two U sections (channels) disposed with their flanges facing one another. Each of these sections has a flange protruding from the bottom of the U on both sides.

The side rail nearest the wall (hereinafter called the inner rail) also has an external little flange protruding from the top of the U, on both sides, which closes over the outer rail when the ladder is folded.

The ladder is fixed to the wall by means of fixing brackets shaped to accommodate the inner rail. The inner rail is fixed to these brackets by means of through-going bolts which also hold the rungs in position. This method of fixture simultaneously stabilizes the ladder against lateral movement when in use.

The rungs consist of square tubing which fits into the two sections which make up the side rails. When the rungs are opened out to 90.degree. relative to the side rails, the ladder is locked against the walls in the side rail sections. The walls of the rungs are thicker around the bolt holes.

When the ladder is folded together, the outer rail is held in position by a box-shaped member with the bottom up (hereinafter called the locking cap), which is threaded over both side rails. To guard against the possibility of this locking cap being tipped off by means of some object from below, it is secured with a locking plug with a spherical handle, inserted through a hole in the cap and the outer rail. As a further security against the removal of this locking plug by unauthorized persons from below, it is so designed that a certain amount of force is required to withdraw it.

When the ladder is to be used from the uppermost point, the locking plug is withdrawn, the locking cap removed and the ladder will then open out by its own weight.

When the occupants of several floors in a building, for example, a hotel or a block of flats, are to use one and the same ladder as an escape route, there would be installed separate release points at each escape station wherefrom the ladder can be released right down to the ground. For such requirements, the ladder would be built in the following manner:

From a standard program of different ladder lengths, sufficient pieces of predetermined length are selected to make up the total length required. (The ladder lengths are joined together on site to form a continuous ladder by means of a joining bracket which is not described in further detail). At each escape station, the outer rail is cut through into sections of preselected lengths corresponding to the locations of the escape stations, and then a release bracket forming part of a release means is threaded onto the outer rail above the cut and riveted into position. In the outer rail below the cut a hole is drilled in line with the hole in the release bracket.

A locking plug forming another part of the release means is inserted through the hole in the outer rail and the hole in the release bracket, thus joining the outer rail together to form one continuous piece again.

In an escape situation, the occupants of any floor will be able, independently of occupants above or below, to open the ladder from their escape station, and climb down to the ground. The principle is thus that whoever is the first to open the ladder from their escape station will release it from their escape station down to the ground.

Each time a release means located at a new escape station in the floors above is opened, the released ladder section will join onto the already opened ladder therebelow.

The release bracket has a lower end which is slightly tapered to guide the joining operation with the upper end of an adjacent lower section of the outer rail and a collar is provided on the release bracket which extends between the ends of the adjacent sections of the outer rail to replace the material which was removed by the saw during cutting of the outer rail into sections.

The safety belt is adjustable, and is tied around the waist. Attached to it is a strap with an adjustable buckle. The buckle, in turn is fixed to a locking bracket which is shaped to fit the outer rail, dimensioned with sufficient tolerance to enable it to slide easily down the rail. When the locking bracket is subjected to the weight of a person, it becomes locked to the side rail by means of its torsional moment.

When a person is to enter the ladder from an escape station, for example a window, the safety belt is first tied around the waist, and then the locking bracket is threaded into a groove in the outer side rail. This operation is performed prior to when the escaping person climbs out onto the ladder.

If the ladder is entered from the highest escape station, the locking bracket is threaded onto the side rails from the top.

If the ladder is entered after it has been released from a floor above, the locking bracket is threaded onto the side rail through a punched-out slot (threading slot) in the flange in the outer rail, which slot is the right size for the locking bracket at this escape station. The locking brackets have different widths, the locking bracket for the uppermost escape station being the widest, and the brackets for each escape station below becoming sequentially narrower. Color coding, numbering, or some similar arrangement ensures that the appropriate safety belts will always be placed on the right floor.

Should an unconscious or a disabled person need to be lowered down the ladder, this is achieved in that the person is fitted with a safety belt with a locking bracket equipped with a control lever. After the person has been lifted out and secured to the ladder by means of the safety belt, an assistant enters the ladder from the opposite side and releases the locking bracket by means of the control lever. By releasing and tightening the control lever (like a jack) the person concerned is lowered down along the side rail at a controlled speed.

The invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows the folding ladder in three different stages;

FIG. 2 shows the ladder open and in use;

FIG. 3 illustrates the method of threading the safety belt bracket onto the ladder at the uppermost escape station;

FIG. 4 shows how the safety bracket is threaded onto the ladder from an intermediate escape station;

FIGS. 5a-c illustrate the method by which the side rail is fixed to the wall, and how the rungs are hinged;

FIG. 6 illustrates the differences in the widths of the threading slots at different escape stations;

FIG. 7 illustrates the locking cap over the rails;

FIG. 8 depicts a rung in the open position;

FIG. 9 is a cross section of a rung;

FIGS. 10a and b show how the wall fixing bracket and the inner rail are oriented with respect to one another;

Figs. 11a and b show how the outer rail and a locking bracket are oriented with respect to one another;

FIGS. 12a and b illustrate a locking bracket with a control lever; and

FIGS. 13a and b show the control lever being used like a jack.

FIG. 1 shows the multi-section ladder in use, in which Y illustrates a portion of the ladder in the closed or non-useable condition, Z shows a portion of the ladder half unfolded by means of a release device at an escape station, and .0. shows a portion of the ladder fully open and in a useable condition with a safety belt attached thereto.

The fire-escape ladder is made of metal and comprises side rails of U-shaped channels, each channel comprising a flat bottom wall with spaced-apart side flanges extending perpendicularly therefrom, with rungs W pivotally attached between the spaced-apart flanges by means of bolts. FIGS. 5a-c show an escape station on the ladder below the top floor, in which FIG. 5a shows the release point in the closed state, while FIG. 5b shows the ladder half opened from the release point, and FIG. 5c shows the ladder fully opened at the release point. One of the side rails forms the outer rail A which extends in a longitudinal direction and is hinged to the inner rail S by means of the rungs W, and the channel forming the inner rail S on its outer sides, near the bottom of the U-shaped channel, has flanges extending perpendicularly from the side flanges which fit into opposite grooves formed in wall brackets P, while on the edges of the side flanges there are more widely spaced-apart smaller flanges T which overlap the side flanges of the outer rail A when the ladder is in a folded non-useable condition. The channel forming the outer rail A, at the bottom of the channel, has smaller outwardly extending flanges H which fit within opposite grooves I formed in a locking bracket B. FIG. 11a shows the outer rail A in section, and FIG. 11b shows the locking bracket B in section, while C indicates the fixture point for an adjustable buckle F of a safety belt E. The flanges H on the outer rail A are adapted to be fitted in grooves I formed in the locking bracket B. FIG. 10a shows the wall fixing bracket P and together with FIG. 10b shows how the inner rail S is oriented with respect to the bracket P, while T indicates a flange on the inner rail S, which is designed to close over the outer rail A when the ladder is folded into a non-useable condition by moving the outer rail A into contact with the inner rail S.

The outer flange A is adapted for the required number of escape stations by being cut therethrough at the points corresponding to each escape station to thereby form a plurality of sections separated from each other in the longitudinal direction by a small gap. A release bracket O is fitted in the space formed between the side walls and bottom of a section at the lower end thereof. The release bracket O is fixed by suitable means such as riveting to the lower end of a section of the outer rail and a collar R is provided on the release bracket O to abut the lower end of the section, the collar R sized to fill the small gap by replacing the material which was removed by cutting the outer rail at the respective escape station.

Each escape station on the ladder is provided with release means comprising a locking plug K which fits into a hole in the upper end of a lower section of the outer rail A for releasing engagement between the release bracket O and a lower section of the outer rail A, which hole is in axial alignment with a corresponding hole in a portion O' of the release bracket O which extends below the lower end of an upper section of the outer rail. The portion O' fits within the space formed by the side flanges and bottom of the upper end of the lower section of the outer rail when the upper and lower sections are aligned with each other. However, the lower section can be pivoted out of alignment with the upper section once the locking plug K is removed from the hole in the release bracket. FIG. 5b shows the release bracket O of the release means mounted on the outer rail A. The drawing in the circle illustrates this more clearly. This drawing shows that the bracket is tapered at the end to facilitate insertion into the lower section of the outer rail A. The same detailed drawing also shows that the release bracket O has a collar R designed to replace the material which was removed when the outer rail A was cut into two adjacent sections.

The outer rail A is locked to the inner rail S by means of a locking cap J associated with an uppermost one of the sections and an upper end of the inner rail and a locking plug K removably fitted in axially aligned holes in the outer rail and the locking cap J. FIG. 7 illustrates how the ladder is made burglar proof by means of the locking cap J and the locking plug K.

The ladder is stabilized against lateral movement, when in use, by means of the fixing brackets P which have a pair of flanges shaped to receive the inner rail S therebetween and fixed thereto by the same bolt fixture as for rungs W. FIG. 5c shows the wall fixing brackets P fitted between the wall of a building and the inner rail at positions adjacent the rungs above and below the release point to stabilize the ladder against lateral movement.

FIG. 8 shows how rung W stops the unfolding action of the ladder when it has reached a position of 90.degree. with respect to rails A and S. Further, the ends of the rungs are cut obliquely at X such that a portion of the rung is removed along the length thereof up to the center line of the bolt hole through which a bolt joins the rung to one of the rails. The rungs W have opposite ends which abut the inner and outer rails when the ladder is a useable condition and have a pair of parallel oblique cuts X, each extending from an end thereof at a 45.degree. angle up to the center line of the bolt holes, to enable the ladder to be self-locking against further unfolding movement when the rungs have been opened 90.degree. with respect to rails A, S. FIG. 9 is a cross-section of a rung which forms a step W, showing that the walls are thicker (reinforced) at a portion U around the bolt holes.

In FIG. 6 G-I and G-II illustrate the different widths of threading slots G at the upper and lower escape stations, so that the locking bracket B will not be able to fall out through the lower slots, such as at G-II as it slides down the ladder. The threading slots G in the side flanges on the outer rail A for the locking brackets B have different widths at each escape station, the uppermost slot being the widest, with the width of the slots G being reduced sequentially at each of the escape stations below the uppermost slot. FIG. 4 shows how the safety belt E, with locking bracket B, is threaded onto the outer rail A through the threading slot G on the ladder after the ladder has been opened from a floor above. The locking brackets B are sized to correspond to the respective width of the threading slot G at the appropriate escape station, whereby each locking bracket B can slide over the slots in each lower escape station without derailing or disengaging from the outer rail. FIG. 3 shows how the locking bracket B is threaded into a slot G in the outer rail A, either from the top or from the highest released escape station on the ladder.

The locking bracket B has sliding grooves I which slidingly engage flanges H formed on the outer rail A. An extension is formed on the locking bracket B forming a fixing lug with a hole C for holding an adjustable buckle F of a safety belt E.

A load applied at fixing point or hole C for the safety belt F imparts a torsional moment on the locking bracket B on account of deliberate or preset tolerances between the flanges H on rail A and the grooves I in the locking bracket B, thus producing a locking effect in the direction of the load. FIG. 2 shows how a locking bracket B is locked onto an outer rail A in a fall situation with a safety belt E and a buckle F in use.

The locking bracket B can be provided with a control lever V attached thereto for use when lowering a disabled or unconscious person in the safety belt E. FIG. 12a shows the front and FIG. 12b shows the back of the locking bracket B with the control lever V extending therefrom.

The equipment according to the invention, that is, the folding fire-escape ladder, the locking bracket and the safety belt with the control lever, furnishes a method of saving a disabled person, in that an assistant operates the control lever which, similar to the action of a jack, tightens and slackens the locking bracket B, whereby the person in the safety belt E can be lowered down along the outer rail A at a control speed by pushing down on the control lever V. FIGS. 13a and 13b show how the control lever V is used as a jack for lowering an unconscious person in safety belt E.

Although the present invention has been described and illustrated with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it is to be understood that various modifications and changes may be made to the specifically described and illustrated features without departing from the scope of the present invention.