Abstract: An anchor hook supporting device is for use with an anchor hook having a hook end for engaging a first surface of a support member and a shank end which includes an eyelet opening for receiving a rope or cable. The supporting device includes an attachment assembly for being secured to the shank end of the anchor hook and an engagement assembly for engaging one of a second surface of the support member and another surface which is fixed with respect to the support member. A biasing member having a first end secured to the attachment assembly and a second end secured to the engagement assembly biases the engagement assembly toward the attachment assembly to bias the shank end of the anchor hook and the engagement assembly toward each other for holding the hook end of the anchor hook on the first surface of the support member and the engagement assembly on the second surface of the support member or the other surface.

Abstract: An improved self contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) includes a large cylindrical tank of a first diameter having a first weight when holding a first quantity of a breathable gas under a first pressure, an on/off valve, a pressure regulator and a gas distribution device. The improvement comprises replacing the large tank with at least two smaller cylindrical tanks, each of a second diameter which is substantially smaller than the first diameter and a pressure header in fluid communication with each smaller tank and the on/off valve. The smaller tanks and the pressure header have a second combined weight when holding a second quantity of the breathable gas under a second pressure. The second combined weight is substantially the same as or less than the first weight when the first and second pressures are substantially the same and the first and second quantities of the breathable gas are substantially the same.

Abstract: A self powered, self hoisting elevator apparatus for lifting objects from a lower supporting surface to or nearer to an origin at a predetermined height in a multistory structure comprises a light weight housing of sufficient strength for receiving and supporting the objects to be lifted. A cable is wound at least partially onto a rotatable member supported by the housing, the cable having a predetermined length sufficient to reach at least from the origin to the lower supporting surface and having a free end for securing the cable to a fixed anchorage proximate to the origin, the rotatable member rotating in a first direction when the housing is descending toward the lower supporting surface.

Abstract: A thermal clutch assembly is comprised of a radially inner rotatable member, a radially outer rotatable member a pair of axially spaced apart ring structures, and a thin tension web. The ring structures are both affixed to and rotate with one of the rotatable members and each has at least one substantially axial surface which may contact substantially axial surfaces of the other rotatable member. The tension web has high tensile strength, a high surface area to volume ratio, a thermally efficient flow arrangement to the surrounding medium, and high thermal conductivity. The tension web is secured to each of the two ring structures and substantially spans the space between the substantially axial surfaces of the ring structures, the web having a significantly higher thermal coefficient of expansion than the material between the substantially axial surfaces of the other rotatable member.

Abstract: An apparatus for safely evacuating a person within a prescribed weight range from a multistory building by enabling the person to exit from the interior of the building to the outside very quickly and to descend to the ground or lower surface alongside the exterior of the building to attain a descent speed of less than four feet per second to land injury-free, the apparatus comprising a housing, a harness affixed to the housing for affixing the housing to the person, a cable of predetermined length within the housing, having a free-end with a securing member for affixing it to an anchorage proximate the descent point, and a descent slowing energy dissipating mechanism within the housing driven by the playout of the cable as the person descends, which enables the person to attain automatically within his descent a descent speed of less than four feet per second determined by the intersection of the graph of the curve that describes the rate of energy dissipated as a function of the descent speed and the graph