This product is a lightweight, Kevlar-reinforced ladder that lies flat in your suitcase and could save the lives of you and your loved ones when traveling. In the event of a fire, anchor it to the windowsill, radiator or bed with its steel brackets or tie-offs, and hang it out the window.
Its cut pattern causes it to unfold to a ladder. Available in several sizes/lengths.
A similar product is the fire escape blanket for the home. Encased in a cotton envelope, the sliced duvet, stuffed with fire-proof down, keeps you toasty warm on cool nights and helps you quickly escape smoke and flames.
See schematic below.-- FarmerJohn, Mar 02 2004 schematic http://www.geocitie....html?1078222305906 [FarmerJohn, Oct 04 2004, last modified May 12 2005] Rigid portable escape ladder http://shop.store.y...ysafe/poreslad.html [ConsultingDetective, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 05 2004] Rope escape ladder http://www.safelinc...e-escape-ladder.htm [ConsultingDetective, Oct 04 2004, last modified Oct 06 2004] Clever design.-- jurist, Mar 02 2004 I'd hate the job of folding it back up though...-- po, Mar 02 2004 This is one that I think should be patented / distributed. Amazing!-- phundug, Mar 02 2004 Not to be used for pan fires. +.-- egbert, Mar 02 2004 Clever +
This design could be done with rope or cable, too.-- bristolz, Mar 02 2004 Ladders are too slow - I want a chute I can slide down....ribbed for periodic braking action.-- normzone, Mar 02 2004 Elegant. How many bed sheets did you have to cut up to figure that out?-- AO, Mar 02 2004 Just a sheet of paper, a pencil and a sharp knife.-- FarmerJohn, Mar 02 2004 WOW ~ WOW We lived in San Francisco at one time and the kids' rooms were on the third floor in an old Victorian so we had one of those bulky, metal chain drop-down ladders that some how affixed to the window sill but thank god we never had to use it because I would have simply thrown my kids out the window after the ladder.. AND it was a pain to store! Your ladder could even be used as a throw rug so it was always handy by a window, like in a bathroom or near a door to a balcony.-- no12pass, Mar 02 2004 How about just long rope and a stitch plate?-- FloridaManatee, Mar 02 2004 Excellent idea! Very neat...+
[FloridaManatee]...don't you mean a Stich plate?-- Frankx, Mar 03 2004 Nice idea, but one small criticism. Say each rung is a foot apart, then the sheet would have to be an enormous length (respective of the ladder length) and a width of: (min size I dare make vertical member)x2x(number of ladder rungs). Might be a bit unwieldy in a life or death situation.-- paraffin power, Mar 03 2004 Unwieldy maybe, but it'd sure beat jumping.-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Mar 03 2004 The picture on the left reminds me of the movie Hudsucker Proxy, the ficticious story about a guy who invents the hoola-hoop. His design schematic is simply a circle on a page.
I think the correct praise for this idea has already been uttered, "Elegant".-- Bamboo, Mar 03 2004 + for the idea, [FJ], but if the fabric doesn't incorporate spreaders (the stick part of a traditional rope ladder), how will you keep the sides of the ladder from converging?-- Don Quixote, Mar 03 2004 It would take a while to fold it up again, gut I guess that’s not an issue if it’s attached to a burning building.-- AO, Mar 03 2004 Or I suppose some flat spreaders could be sewn in, or use a real strong starch.-- FarmerJohn, Mar 03 2004 Some semi-rigid plastic strips, perhaps.-- Letsbuildafort, Mar 03 2004 Yer fulla branes, FJ.-- bungston, Mar 04 2004 as this is aimed as an escape ladder, surely it need only take 2 or 3 people for one journey.-- engineer1, Mar 04 2004 Absolutely brilliant.-- RayfordSteele, Jul 20 2006 random, halfbakery