Back In The Day
by Joseph Hollingsworth
Title
Back In The Day
Artist
Joseph Hollingsworth
Medium
Photograph - Digital
Description
It's been interesting to me to see, in this modern era, buildings with exterior fire escapes. A common sight "Back In The Day". This one is in Long Beach CA.
One of the first fire escapes of any type was invented in 18th-century England. In 1784, Daniel Maseres, of England, invented a machine called a fire escape, which, being fastened to the window, would enable him or anyone for that matter, to descend to the street without injury. Abraham Wivell created an improved design, including an escape chute, after becoming superintendent of the "Royal Society for the Protection of Life from Fire. Henry Vieregg patented the first US fire escape in Grand Island, NE in November 8, 1898, which was designed for traveling businessmen. In the 1930s the enclosed tubular chute type fire escape became widely accepted for schools, hospitals and other institution replaced the open iron ladder type. Its main advantage was people would have no reason to use it for another other than a fire escape and patients could be slid down it in a fire on their bedding.[3]
However, with the urban sprawl and increase in the amount of construction in the mid-20th century, particularly the increase in public housing in major cities in the United States and Europe in the 1950s and 1960s, certain problems with fire escapes became clear. In the poorer areas of cities like Chicago and New York, fire escapes were commonly used for everything but their intended purpose.
Uploaded
November 4th, 2014
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