be means at hand to procure the safety of the household
and inmates in case of fire. One thing is most indis-
pensable, and that is every one should try to exhibit
presence of mind.
It should be remembered that all doors and windows
must be kept shut so as to exclude air, and thus retard
the progress of the flames. Where there is much smoke, a
person may breathe freely by crawling on the hands and
knees and keeping the mouth near the floor, or by placing
a wet towel, handkerchief, or sponge, over the nostrils
and mouth.
Grenades should be kept on every floor, or what is better
still an extincteur.
Before giving an account of one or two portable fire-
escapes, I must say a few words respecting asbestos,
and advise all householders to have asbestos putty and
cement wherever their gas fires and gas pipes are joined,
and, wherever it is possible, to have asbestos paint on
staircase, etc., or for coating any inflammable material.
All the stores now sell an asbestos rope as the means
of escaping from windows or balconies in a fire, and these
are necessary in a house where none of the escapes I am
about to describe are used. There is no doubt all fires
could be easily extinguished at once if appliances were
only at hand.
A very simple fire-escape, where people will not go to the
expense of one of the many fire-escapes now to be had, is a
piece of rope long enough to reach the ground, with a strong
hook at one end to let down a basket, and a £[-shaped piece
of iron on the other end to attach to the window-sill.
An excellent Domestic Fire Escape which, I think,
comes within the scope of most people's means, consists
of a light, very strong clothes basket, to which is fixed a
strong rope, the coil being safely hidden under a wooden
cover. With these baskets are supplied a pin and volute
hook, which are fastened to the floor and wainscotting,
immediately under the bedroom windows. This apparatus
when not in use serves as a clothes basket, and in
the event of fire, the linen can be turned out, the rope
either passed through the volute hook and over the pin,
or round the bed-post, and the basket pushed out of
the window.
52
THE housewife's EEFEKEE
The person having got into the basket is either lowered
from above, or can lower himself or herself, by holding the
slack rope in one hand and letting it run through the
volute hook, steadying the basket with the other hand.
When the rooms are a great height from the ground, an
iron bar in the shape of a chevron can be fixed to the
window-sill, and the rope passed over it.
The nursery fire-escape is also a most useful thing for a
house where there are children, and where the windows are
barred, as is generally the case in the children's apart-
ments. An opening is made in the outer wall of the room,
above the level of the floor, and a canvas chute escape is
provided with a wrought-iron, hinged frame ; a weatherproof
receptacle with inward and outward opening is provided
into which the escape folds when not in use.
Page 34
Presented as published in 1898. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
be means at hand to procure the safety of the household and inmates in case of fire. One thing is most indispensable, and that is every one should try to exhibit presence of mind.
It should be remembered that all doors and windows must be kept shut so as to exclude air, and thus retard the progress of the flames. Where there is much smoke, a person may breathe freely by crawling on the hands and knees and keeping the mouth near the floor, or by placing a wet towel, handkerchief, or sponge, over the nostrils and mouth.
Grenades should be kept on every floor, or what is better still an extincteur.
Before giving an account of one or two portable fireescapes, I must say a few words respecting asbestos, and advise all householders to have asbestos putty and cement wherever their gas fires and gas pipes are joined, and, wherever it is possible, to have asbestos paint on staircase, etc., or for coating any inflammable material.
All the stores now sell an asbestos rope as the means of escaping from windows or balconies in a fire, and these are necessary in a house where none of the escapes I am about to describe are used. There is no doubt all fires could be easily extinguished at once if appliances were only at hand.
A very simple fire-escape, where people will not go to the expense of one of the many fire-escapes now to be had, is a piece of rope long enough to reach the ground, with a strong hook at one end to let down a basket, and a £[-shaped piece of iron on the other end to attach to the window-sill.
An excellent Domestic Fire Escape which, I think, comes within the scope of most people's means, consists of a light, very strong clothes basket, to which is fixed a strong rope, the coil being safely hidden under a wooden cover. With these baskets are supplied a pin and volute hook, which are fastened to the floor and wainscotting, immediately under the bedroom windows. This apparatus when not in use serves as a clothes basket, and in the event of fire, the linen can be turned out, the rope either passed through the volute hook and over the pin, or round the bed-post, and the basket pushed out of the window.
THE housewife's EEFEKEE
The person having got into the basket is either lowered from above, or can lower himself or herself, by holding the slack rope in one hand and letting it run through the volute hook, steadying the basket with the other hand.
When the rooms are a great height from the ground, an iron bar in the shape of a chevron can be fixed to the window-sill, and the rope passed over it.
The nursery fire-escape is also a most useful thing for a house where there are children, and where the windows are barred, as is generally the case in the children's apartments. An opening is made in the outer wall of the room, above the level of the floor, and a canvas chute escape is provided with a wrought-iron, hinged frame ; a weatherproof receptacle with inward and outward opening is provided into which the escape folds when not in use.