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Means for Operating Emergency Exits.
Page 132
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THERE has been a good deal of controversy regarding the various methods of securing emergency exits so that there is little or no risk of jamming occurring when endeavours are being made to open them at a time when, perhaps, the utmost speed is essential. On such occasions it sometimes happens that the person in the immediate neighbourhood of the door is too foolish or too perturbed to give any thought whatever to undoing even the simplest means for securing the door, and from this point of view it would seem preferable to provide some form of door control which could be operated from any part of the vehicle, as well as externally. With this in mind, Mr. Isaac Holland, of 96, John Street, Biddulph. near Congleton, Cheshire, has patented a door control embodying this and several other interesting features.
Danger may occur through a door opening accidentally. and from this point of view it is advisable to have a hinged protecting bar across the exit and in front of the door proper, but such a bar must not involve two distinct operations to enable the door to be opened, and, therefore, Mr. Holland has arranged for a control by which when the protecting bar is hinged over the door is opened simultaneously.
Eis patents also cover several interesting arrangements of folding steps. In one he suggests that the steps can form an internal seat which, when the door is opened, hinges over to facilitate exit; in other cases the steps fold up against the body, but if by any chance they be not released they would not interfere with the door movement. Such steps can also be hinged over to one side to permit moving a spare wheel from the compartment often situated under the body overhang. For ordinary operation he provides internal and external opening handles which work independently, so that one handle cannot work against the other in the event of persons inside and outside the bus endeavouring to operate them simultaneously and, perhaps, in opposite directions. This arrangement also prevents any a Lnger of the door being jammed through the external handle being bent against the back of the vehicle.
What is, in our view, however, the most practical part of the invention is the method of control by a chain or wire carried around the inside of the vehicle in the vicinity of the roof, this being protected by a U-shaped channel which would psevent it from being operated accidentally, or, if desired, it could be carried along the roof rails and protected by hinged covers. In this case it would only be operable by the driver and conductor, as it would, in a way, be secret, buf we think the more open method would be better. The ends of this cable would pass down inside the body at the rear and be secured to the door-controlling mechanism. One end could deal with the unlocking device, whilst the other could cause the protecting bar to be hinged back, to perform which operations it would only be necessary to give the cord or chain a long pull at any point.
A bus equipped with this rear-exit-control system has been running for some two years, and It is stated that the system works just as well now as it did when first installed, Demonstrations have already been made to various municipal authorities, such as those of Newcastle and Stoke-onTrent, and it is claimed that the device meets all the requirements of the present regulations. The patents covering the operating mechanisms are Nos. 254,081 and 254,090.