The Edinburgh firemen use a cross-bow, and a three ounce leaden bullet, attached to a fine cord of the very best materials and workmanship, 130 feet long. The bullet and cord are thrown over the house by the cross-bow ; to this cord a stronger one is attached, and drawn over the house by the former, and so on, until a chain ladder or escape is eventually elevated To act upon this plan, however, with any good chance of success, requires the men to be regularly trained for the purpose, as they are in Edinburgh, where they are skilful in the management of all their fire machinery.
Mr. Buxton introduced a fire escape, consisting of a large strong canvass sheet, with loops all round to hold on by; this being held under the window at which any person is situated, by eight or ten persons, the party above leaps out of the window into the middle of the sheet, which catches him uninjured. Although this is by no means the most pleasant mode of escape, nevertheless numberless experiments have proved it to be a safe and effectual one. As this escape takes up but little room, and is ready for use in a few seconds, it is well adapted to be carried by the fire engines, and most of those in London are now provided with one of this kind.
Having thus briefly noticed the most celebrated fire escapes of a portable nature, we proceed to describe those of a larger kind ; and first of carriage ladders. In the year 1809 Mr. John Davies submitted to the Society of Arts a fire escape, which consisted of three ladders connected to, and sliding upon, each other, by means of ropes worked by a small windlass ; a second raised and lowered a cradle, supported by ropes passing over pulleys at the ttoopp of the uppermost ladder. This machine was mounted upon a low four-wheelsa track, drawn by a horse or by Biz men. Subsequently, Mr. Gregory greatly improved upon this escape; he employed three ladders sliding on each other, which, when lowered, were balanced horizontally urn a convenient frame mounted on a light four-wheeled carriage. When in this position they are capable of being run under low gateways, &c. with great facility. The ladders are brought into the perpendicular position, and then raised by a small windlass in the front of the maehme, to any required height between ten feet and forty ; the ladders are then inclined towards the window, upon the sill of which the top may be made to rest. To obtain apeater elevation than forty feet, one or more joints can be carried up and affix4 in the manner already described under the head of PORTABLZ LADDS/8. A cradle acc4mtries this machine, for the
assistance of those who cannot descend the ladders. Mr. Gregory's ladder escape has been but partially employed for that purpose ; as a valuable and convenient ladder, however, it has been very extensively used by architects and others.
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Mr. John Hudson, the founder of a short-lived society for preventing loss of life by fire, in 1829, constructed an escape-ladder, differing in some revects from that of Mr. Gregory, although upon a similar principle. The following is a side view of Mr. Hudson's apparatus ; a is the carriage mounted on four wheels, the front pair of which turn with their axis and handle b under the carriage, for the facility of guiding, stowage, &c. ; f f are three ladders sliding in grooves one within another. The foot of the lowest ladder is hinged to a revolving centre in the middle of the floor of the carriage ; d is an arched frame forming the quadrant of a circle, with ratchet-teeth on its edges, in which drops a all or click g on a cross bar fixed to the back of the lowest ladder. The ladders usually lie in a horizontal position, as shown by the dotted line 1; the palls and ratchet-teeth prevent the ladders from falling back while being elevated. In order to place them in the oblique position for use, they may be elevated by hand, or more easily by turning the windlass i round the barrel of which the rope k is wound, and the other end of it fastened to the ladders at about three feet above the floor. The ladders being thus brought to the position represented in the engraving, the motion of the windlass is con tinued, which winds off the rope from the ladders, and elevates them succes sively one above the other, until they attain the greatest height. The rope k passes through a pulley near the bottom of the lowest ladder, then over the top of it to the bottom of the next, and then over the top of the same to the bottom of the uppermost ladder. The pivot to which the ladders are hinged, is for enabling them to be veered round when it would be inconvenient to turn the carriage. The horizontal position is given to the ladders for enabling the machine to be conveyed through low passages, 8re. There is a roller n at the top of the ladder, to prevent friction when moving up against a wall, and a tackle fall at o for cradles, &c.