Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/319

287&#93; r i r. same diameter as that pa I oi the pole. at three-fourth an inch in. which is b spririg-b ok, to pass through the handle of the bask t, when used. it is pui through the mortice over the pulley, and drawn ti^ht on each side, nearly to the bottom of the pole, where it is se- cured till wanted. 3. A has' et, which ought to beof strong wicker- work, thn- and a half feet long, two and a half feet wide, rou off at the corners ; and four feet . rounding; every way at the bottom. To the top of the basket is fixed a strong iron curve, or han- dle, with an eye or ring in the middle: a small cord about the length of the pole, is likewise fastened to oik- 1 side of the basket, near the top. — These being the principal parts, there are also se- veral straps, &c. for securing the poles from sliding ; of which the reader will find a minute account in the volume before quoted. This contrivance can be raised, and two or more persons may be. taken out of the upper windows of a house, and let down safely in the street, within the space of thirty -jive se- conds, or in little more than half a minute. A machine for this purpose has lately been invented by the Rev. Dr. Nicholas Collix, of Phila- delphia', the following description of which we have abridged from the 4th vol. of the Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. — A strong wooden case is erected near the end of a rectangular stage of solid planks, mounted on four wheels (with locks to secure the latter when the machine is em- ployed), for the reception of an FIR itmd shaft. Tlii ■ two I which, aft< r pa pullies or sh saves in I case (one being i . are fastened to I wo wind! i winding or unwindi i On the top of this I able shaft, is an iron fork with a transverse pin, on which rolls a lever with unequal arm-.. The •;t arm is directed towards the ion-end of the stage, whida it ought not to exceed in length, un- less the hinder-end be proportion- ably loaded. The shortest arm is lowered or raised by a rope fastened to its extremity, which reaches to the posterior. end of the stage, and may be pulled either by men or by a windlass: or, a compound pul- ley may be substituted for the rope. To the fore-end of the longest arm of the lever, a basket is suspended, by three iron rods, for the ret op- tion of persons or goods in danger* and which, by loosening the hinder, is thus lowered. As, how- , in great elevations, the ket cannot reach the ground, a rope is fastened to it, by which per- sons or goods may descend. — Dr. Collin mentions a larger and a smaller kind of this machine, by the former of which twelve pe : ; may be let down, and by the latter four. As he has net specified dimensions, we suppose that ;. are to be proportioned to the hi at which houses and Othei are in general erected, and t< • number of persons the machine is intended to rescue. — We cannot, on this occasion, omit to point out the great utility of those fri ropes which should be fa the foot of a bedstead, and extend to
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