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BELICA, Ondřej a Gary D. STORRICK. History and development of technical means for work at heights. Scientific Reports of Fire University SGSP. 2024, vol. 2, no. 90, pp. 83-106. ISSN 0239-5223. DOI: 10.5604/01.3001.0054.6246. Available from: https://doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0054.6246.
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Abstract
Since time immemorial, mankind has had to perform activities at heights or above depths whether it was about ensuring sustenance (e.g., picking fruit from trees, moving over trap pits, etc.) or just the need to get a view of the surroundings. As at present, even in ancient and past times, work at heights (or above depth) required specific knowledge and skills, possibly also technical means, but it was not an isolated discipline. Technical means securing workers at heights and above free depth accompany humanity as long as they perform work at such workplaces. They have gone through a long evolution, from improvised means to more sophisticated purpose-built ones; however, there is little information about their development or use in the specialist literature 〈1〉. The article provides an overview of the available information of technical means, presently known as personal protective equipment against falls from a height (PPE).

 

Keywords
Ascender, descender, fall protection, harness, history, development of PPE, rope access.

1.    Introduction

Activities at heights are most often associated with the construction industry. How else do we explain the creation of the pyramids, whether Egyptian ones in Giza or Mayan in Yucatan? And what about the Tower of Babylon, which, according to the book of Genesis, „reached up to the sky“, or other Mesopotamian, preserved, buildings[1]? In addition to high-rise buildings that have survived to this day (especially churches, castles, chateaux, etc.), multi-story tower buildings are depicted in many works of art preserved from various stages of human history.

However, construction is not the only field where workers move at heights (or above depths). This also applies to workers in energy, industry, machinery, telecommunications, transport, agriculture, mining, as well as firefighters and rescuers all of whom work at heights and may be at risk to life or health from deceleration injuries caused by a fall. Falling is the second most frequent cause of trauma[2] 〈2〉〈3〉. As regards falls from a height (or to a depth), multiple injuries (polytraumas) usually occur. In almost 40% (39.9%) of cases, they are fatal 〈4, p. 74〉.

In an effort to minimize the consequences of such injuries, fall protection equipment is currently undergoing rapid development and provides users with a higher level of safety and greater comfort. From the manufacturers‘ presentations it seems that fall protection is a matter of the past few years, a few decades at most. The purpose of this article is to confirm whether this is really the case and to provide an overview of the development of PPE.

2.    Fall protection for work at heights

The general term “work at heights” refers to work and movement of a worker at a workplace entailing the risk of falling from a height or depth, falling through surrounding surface or sliding down, or above the surface of water or another substance, where there is a risk of drowning, suffocation, burns or acute poisoning in case of falling into it 〈5, p. 11〉. In such workplaces, it is necessary to take technical and/or organizational measures to protect workers from falling[3]. These measures include collective and individual (personal) protection.

Collective protection provides protection to several workers at the same time. These are mainly scaffolding, guardrails, grids, demarcation barriers, work platforms, etc., which are sufficiently resistant to the expected load. They usually serve as fall protection and as a means of reaching the workplace. They enable simultaneous use by several workers and their use does not require any special training or special professional or medical competence. On the other hand, the movement of the worker is limited only to the area defined by the device itself, and in case of leaving such space, the device is unable to provide protection against falling.

Individual protection (personal protection) means personal protective equipment (hereinafter referred to as PPE). This article continues to deal exclusively with PPE. As PPE is considered equipment or means used or worn by a single user at a time, which protects him from one or more risks 〈6, p. 66〉.

2.1   Development of fall protection requirements

Law No. 229 of the Code of Hammurabi, dated around 1686 BC, is often cited as the first documented action to provide occupational health and safety protection at work 〈7, p. 4〉 (hereafter referred to as OHS), but this requirement[4] is rather a liability for „a defective work“ than the prevention of risks in OHS. The explicit requirement for fall protection has already been mentioned in the Pentateuch[5], which were written between 1440 and 1400 BC. In the Book of Exodus[6] there is a requirement to cover an excavated or open pit so that farm animals do not fall into it 〈8, chap. 21 verse 33〉, otherwise the owner of the well is obliged to provide financial compensation to the owner of the animal and keep the carcass 〈8, chap. 21 verse 34〉. The Book of Deuteronomy[7] contains a requirement that a parapet is built on the roof of a new house, otherwise the builder shall be responsible should someone fall from the roof 〈8, chap. 22 verse 8〉.

French King Charles IX issued a regulation in 1556 in which he defined the position of roofers and, under threat of fines, established the obligation of installing protective „poles and rafters“. The fines were then to be used for maintenance of the bereaved of „workers of the said profession who usually fall from houses and roofs„.〈9〉 On November 2, 1892 a law was issued which, in addition to establishing the labour inspectorate as a state body that deals with some preventive measures[8] and protection against falls from a height 〈10, p. 43〉

In the case of the Czech lands, the first code that can be considered as a labour law regulation was the Mining Code „ius regale montanorum„issued between 1300 and 1305 by King Wenceslas II 〈11, p. 15〉. This law contained some requirements to ensure safe work[9]. It was the general Austrian mining law 146/1854 that came with specific protection against falls with the requirement for „reliable fencing of all terraces on the surface so that people or animals do not fall“ 〈11, pp. 15-16〉.

Similar regulations used to protect workers were not based on the human motives of the rulers, but rather the need to protect (preserve) their own qualified workers so that they could continue to do their work for the lords of the manor in the future.

3.    Personal fall protection equipment

Even today, when high-quality and safe PPE are available, there are many workers who do not use those PPE or other fall protection means and as a consequence risk their lives every day. This not only happens in third world countries where there is often a lack of funds for the purchase of PPE, or their purchase price is considered higher than the price of the life or health of the worker. This also happens in Western countries where there are strict rules (regulations) to ensure occupational health and safety (OHS) in workplaces that pose the risk of falling from a height or to depth. Not using PPE is a violation of these rules. Images from industrial cameras or mobile phones, and everyday snapshots or selfies prove that this is indeed happening.

Something similar has undoubtedly happened in the past as well. There were workers who used fall protection and there were others who did not use any such means, and moved in heights by their own muscle power by free climbing. Probably, not only the need as such (doing the work, completing the task and getting a reward for completing it), but also personal courage, physical disposition and motion abilities played a role in this. An important factor was the nature of the work performed, where the PPE was not used to reach/leave the workplace, but was necessary for the work itself, as its use freed the worker’s hands to do his work. For other jobs, PPE made it possible to reach and return from the place of work, but was not used during the execution of the work.

4.    Development of technical fall protection means

The following data is mainly based on qualified estimates, the interpretation of devices on historical images showing at first glance an unrelated topic and the patent register – which only proves the existence of the idea of the device itself, not its production, distribution or use.

Rather than fall protection, the technical equipment used to perform work at heights served as a means of reaching and leaving the workplace, stabilizing such workplace, or freeing the hands to allow the worker to perform the assigned work tasks.

4.1   Use of rope

Probably the earliest documented record of the use of „PPE“ is the drawings of honey gatherers in the Cuevas de la Araña (Spider Cave). These drawings were discovered in 1919 near the Spanish Bicorp[10] and they are estimated to be 8,000-15,000 years old 〈12, p. 16〉. They show a person hanging from a tree (rock) by a rope and collecting honey from a nest (rock cavity).

Another much later documented use of a rope for movement in the workplace is in the medieval manuscript Mittelalterliches Hausbuch von Schloss Wolfegg, which is estimated to have been created around 1480. The image shows three people hanging from the tower, two of them on ropes. The person in the middle, hanging on the rope from the window, has the rope wound around the body in such a way that it facilitates suspension on the rope and enables a regulated descent 〈13, p. 123〉. The way the rope is woundd around the body is quite similar to the Dülfersitz (body rappel method), albeit with the opposite direction of the rope. The Dülfersitz, a way of rappeling without technical means, was invented by the German climber Johannes Emil (Hans) Dülfer (1892 – 1915), whose name this rappel method bears 〈14〉.

Vertical levels also had to be overcome by miners when extracting minerals at depth. Where movement was impossible with the use of a ladder[11] they moved along a rope. According to a historical drawing of silver mining in the region of Kutná Hora in the 13^th century 〈15, p. 73〉, miners did not climb using only their own strength, but were lowered/hauled up on a rope using simple winches. They had a „seat“ tied to the end of the rope, on which they sat astride the rope. This method of passing vertical levels (although the winch was replaced by human force) was also adopted by explorers of cave systems, as shown in a drawing from 1894 〈16〉.

The collection of honey does not end with the thousands of years old drawing of honey collectors. The earlier looting of honeycombs from nests of wild forest bees in prehistoric times was replaced by the care of bee colonies and their transfer to new places, e.g. into the hollows of trees, often full grown ones, trees. In a picture from 1773 created by the Lusatian Serbian clergyman, writer and beekeeper, Adam Gottlob Schirach, both ladders and ropes were used to reach the bee colony 〈17〉. A piece of rope with a self-locking knot was used as a foot loop and another piece of rope passed around the trunk and the worker’s body.

This standard method of climbing the trees was later used for climbing the poles. The lower piece of rope was later replaced by metal spur climbers. In 1907, John Adolf Roth patented in France a device for climbing poles, trees, etc. 〈18〉, although it was still quite different from the concept of today’s spur climbers.

4.2   Means of providing support to the body

4.2.1     Seatboards/Workseats

Movement at a height was inseparably linked with navigation. Sailors had to move along the rigging where they tied themselves with a piece of rope to the mast during a longer stay in or outside the crow’s nest or they simply performed activities behind the sides or stern of ships. Vertical movement and static suspension were made possible by workseats[12] (pieces of board, suspended on a rope on both sides). Its use is shown on a postcard[13] from 1910 〈19〉, a diagram in a book in Ashley’s Book of Knots[14] 〈20, pp. 73–74, pp. 76–55, p. 590〉, first published in 1944, as well as in field manuals published by the US Department of the Army, including the one from 1968 〈21, p. 133〉.

The use of the workseats/Bosun’s Chairs is not exclusively associated with sailors. They were used by workers lashing the stays of the Brooklyn Bridge in Frank Leslie’s newspaper illustration (spring 1883) 〈22〉, in a drawing of the beekeepers attributed to Bielenstein[15] 〈23〉 (as well as in the aforementioned Schirach’s drawing 〈17〉). In the second half of the 19^th century, it was also used in a completely unique way by French craftsmen, which enabled them to not have to use scaffolding. Along the entire length of the rope, they had knots spaced each 25-30 cm. Their workseat was topped with a hook that hung from the rope above the knot and the knot prevented it from slipping off. On the leg they had a tightly fitting stirrup with an adjustable strap that ended with the same type of hook as the workseat. This served as a foot loop. The worker hooked his workseat on the knot, sat in it, and moved the foot loop, which he hooked on the knot. He then stood in the foot loop, unloading the workseat, whose hook he released from the rope, shifted and hooked onto the rope at the next knot. He repeated the entire procedure to reach the required work location and returned back after completing his job. 〈24〉

A device not unlike to the workseat/Bosun’s Chair, including a rope passed over the top pulley (and other components), was included in A. Robinson’s 1868 patent registration for an improved fire escape[16] 〈25〉.

The practical use of the workseat is documented on the famous photograph 〈26〉 showing the construction of the Hoover Dam[17] with a worker (called high-scaler) sitting in the workseat suspended by a self-locking knot on a rope. In essence, it was a matter of carrying out works using rope access, although it was not called that at the time 〈27, p. 13〉. Workseats were used (although their construction, as well as the method of suspension, differed) also in the construction of Mount Rushmore National Memorial[18] 〈28〉.

4.2.2     Harnesses

Centuries of work at heights have shown the necessity of providing appropriate support for the worker’s body. This was usually made up of a piece of rope, or swath of heavy canvas, or a short plank as a seatboard (workseat). In 1884, E. J. Claghorn registered a patent for the first harness. It was a work positioning harness that he called a Safety Belt. It was designed for painters, sailors, telegraph pole worker, firemen and tourists, so that, attached to a fixed object, they could leave their hands free when working at heights, or they could safely make an uninterrupted ascent and descent 〈29〉. In the United Kingdom, in 1906, A. Hanley registers a patent for a full-body harness, which includes a lanyard with carabiners (connectors) at both ends, as a „Safety Devices for Preventing Workmen and others from Injury by Falling“ 〈30〉. Six years later, he improves it and registers another one, when the document also includes a drawing showing the method of use – a person before a fall and a person after his fall had been arrested 〈31〉.

In 1921, as „Straps and bands – An aviator’s harness„, E.R. Calthrop[19] received a patent for a full-body harness, intended, among other things, for carrying out climbing and rescue work, for leaning and painting the exteriors and windows of buildings, for the inspection of overhead wires and cables or for the needs of scaffolders and firefighters 〈32〉. In the same year, E.E. Smith registered a full-body harness, with its construction[20] resembling today’s simple full-body harnesses 〈33〉. In A. Hanley’s patent from 1926, “Improvements in body harness or safety belt devices for workmen,” the design of the harness itself is not as interesting as the methods of use shown, practically corresponding to today’s restraint system, fall arrest system and work positioning system 〈34〉. In 1935, H. Dohrenbusch and W. Nonnenbroich from IG Farbenindustrie AG patented a full-body harness, intended as a rescue device, for workers entering confined spaces[21], enabling the extraction of an unconscious worker[22], which included passing through tear-open eyelet leading to the wrist 〈35〉.

Safety belts were initially more popular than harnesses. Their popularity was influenced by the fall of window washers[23] from swinging scaffolds allegedly in the neighbourhood of a newspaper reporter in the 1920s, and the consequent publicizing of this fact helped raise general awareness and the standardization of fall protection means 〈36, p. 287〉. During the construction of the Golden Gate Bridge[24], Chief Engineer J.B. Strauss paid strict attention to safety, having a safety net[25] built under the construction site (bridge structure), and besides other precautions, he has also introduced the obligation to use safety helmets and safety belts 〈37〉.

The safety belts were continuously improved and modified (they were also used for work positioning when washing windows without the use of suspended access platforms on the Empire State Building 〈38〉). It also turned out that safety belts were not suitable for fall arresting[26]. Along with the improvement of harnesses for aviators (military paratroopers), safety harnesses were improved[27]. Improved full-body harnesses gradually replaced safety belts as fall protection. Harnesses kept developing to their present form. In fact, it may have been sufficient to be to be inspired by the ideas of Henley and Smith from the beginning of the century whose harness designs correspond in many ways to those of today.

4.3   Devices for “rope access”

4.3.1     Descenders

In addition to work positioning and preventing falls, the devices used for work at heights can also be used to reach the workplace, for example using the rope access. The descent on rope was mentioned above, relating to body rappel (Dülfersitz and the drawing in the Mittelalterliches Hausbuch von Schloss Wolfegg manuscript, see figure 1) and with the French hook-on-knot system (figure 4).

The documented origins of rope descent devices are associated with fire escape devices. One of the many such devices was the1891 patent of T. Rice, where the picture shows a device controlled by a lever operating on the principle of friction, intended for lowering on a rope 〈39〉. In 1873, G.H. Shaw gets a patent for an Improvement in fire-escapes, which he also proposes for use in „in painting church-steeples, inspecting bridges, and other like purposes“ 〈40〉. It was a device with a strap/web (although the text description also mentions a cord) that fed in the shape of the letter „S“[28], around friction segments 〈40〉. More interesting is E.H. Rotschka’s and O.F. Davis‘ 1878 patent registration for a user-controlled lowering Fire Escape. The person in the picture is suspended in a detachable sling resembling the Bosun’s Chair, which is suspended from a descending device on a rope. The detail of the device[29] then shows the routing of the rope in the shape of letter „S“ around the friction blocks and the brake lever controlled by pressing 〈41〉. The method shown here is still being used today for work at heights using a rope access, albeit with a second, back-up rope (safety line).

F. Holthausen’s 1876 patent registration comes with a cylindrical, user-operated descender (fire escape – safety lowering apparatus) around which a rope is coiled in a helix. According to the inventor, the product may also be “used by painters for painting fronts of houses, and for similar purposes” 〈43〉. It appeared in a catalogue of Navy World exhibition in 1878, where, beside others, other abseiling devices (fire escapes) appeared, starting with simpler ones, e.g. Dienert’s with similar rope guidance as in figure eight, or Duranty’s device coiled with several loops of rope, up to the more sophisticated ones, like the lever-operated Gaillardon’s descender. 〈45〉. This descender also appeared in the catalogue of fire equipment from 1899[30].

The „personal protective equipment“ used in fire rescue also deserves some attention, not only because of the use of a safety belt (fireman’s belt). In 1885, Ch. Hoell[31] had a patent registered for the use of a fireman’s safety belt with a karabiner on a fireman’s hook ladder. He may not have invented this method of use, but he certainly contributed to its expansion. The patent also includes „rappelling“ on the safety belt karabiner. Two wraps of the rope are made around the karabiner (three wraps for descending with a rescued person), and the lower end of the rope coming out of the karabiner is held with the right hand, while the right hand stabilizes the descending person. 〈44〉

The development of technical means can also be followed in other sources, although these sources may be somewhat downplayed in the academic environment. On online sales portals such as etsy.com or alamy.com[32] reproductions of posters with firefighting equipment may be found, dating back to 1897[33], on which a person is shown rappelling from a window and a detail of the used descender. The appearance and principle of this descender resembles a figure eight, albeit with an extra „rung“ 〈49〉.

At the turn of 1920 and 1921, building painter Paul Cans demonstrated his rope ascending and descending device called „ouistiti“ on the Eiffel Tower, and on it he reached (and left) the first platform at 57 m 〈50〉. The technical means used for work at heights were also influenced by the means and techniques used in recreational sport activities. Dülfersitz, popularized at the beginning of the 20^th century by Hans Dülfer 〈14〉, was used in Czechoslovakia for work at heights until at least 1965, as documented by a Czechoslovak newsreel 〈51〉.

Figure eights were also widely used. The figure eight was invented in October 1943 by the Austrian doctor Max Pfrimmer[34], originally as a simple device of lowering the injured in the mountains, then in the late 1950s as a regular rappeling device (replacing the Dülfersitz). Pfrimmer presented his invention to the Munich sports shop Sporthaus Schuster, which started mass production of figure eights in the early 1960s 〈52, pp. 73-74〉. Those did not take off very well, while the aluminium figure eights, which were produced in the USA in the mid-1970s[35], were much more successful 〈52, p. 73〉, 〈53〉. Another milestone were the „bobbin“ descenders, i.e. descenders[36] in which the rope is guided through the descender into the letter „S“, which came into use the second half of the 20^th century[37] 〈53〉.

4.3.2     Ascenders

Self-clamping knots[38] (friction hitches) were initially used as technical means for ascending the rope. Gradually, mechanical means for ascending the rope began to appear, for example the above-mentioned P. Cans‘ devices (Figure 13). In 1919, H. Schnurer registered a patent for „rope climbing device with foot and hand clamp levers rotatably mounted in a harness“ 〈54〉. In 1920, L. Pérot came up with a two-part set of ascending devices (with a self-clamping jaw), one of which was attached to a leather belt 〈55〉, 〈56, p. 30〉. Nine years later, H. Brenot presents his own construction of ascending devices 〈56, p. 30〉. Cans‘ devices were too large and impractical, and Pérot’s and Brenot’s ascenders were not successful either, especially because during their use there was considerable wear and tear of the laid (twisted) ropes used at that time, which were made of natural materials 〈55〉, 〈56 p. 30〉.

The expansion of ascenders[39] was enabled in particular by the development of synthetic fibres and kernmantle ropes[40], and especially handled ascender produced since 1958 by the Swiss manufacturer Jümar[41] Pangit 〈16〉, 〈56〉 and ascenders without handles (attached to the belt/harness) which, inspired by the ascenders of H. Brenot, were invented in 1959 by the French caver B. Dressler 〈16〉, 〈56〉.

 

4.4   Development of devices for vertical rescue

The issue of work at a height is indivisibly linked with rescue from heights and depths. If there is very little information available on the development of technical means of securing workers at heights 〈1〉, there is even less information on the development of technical means for vertical rescue and recovery. The authors were unable to find any information about means specifically intended for rescue before 1840. After 1840 many patents were registered for fire escapes, but they mainly involved ladders (extending, mobile, etc.), platforms and lifts or escape chutes. It was only in 1860 that escape devices designed for personal use began to appear. A. Warth registered a patent for a device enabling the lowering of people from buildings s a fire escape device[42] 〈60〉. W. B. Avery developed a device that goes through a window, grips the wall above the window, and a person in a basket is lowered on a chain (on a reel or drum) a person in a basket is lowered down 〈61〉. The patent of J. Hobbs represents a solution of person in a basket connected to the end of the rope. The rope leads to pulley anchored in a window and from the pulley leads back to descending device, which connected to the basket. The descending device (equipped with a handle allowing to increase pressure) allows on the principle of friction, regulation of the speed of descent. 〈62〉. The further development of technical means for rescue at heights is closely linked to the development of means enabling work at heights and above depth.

 

In the Rope Rescue Facebook group, a photograph from the first third of the twentieth century was published showing Welsh firemen using a tripod with a chain hoist to pull out a person wrapped in a Neil-Robertson stretcher[43] (the person in the stretcher is also in a fireman’s uniform, probably as training or a „welcoming a newbie“ in the unit) 〈63〉.

 

5.    Conclusion

It is indisputable that work at a height (and above depth) has already been carried out in the past, and that various technical means have been used to do so. Personal protective equipment is also part of such means. The article demonstrated that the implementation of „modern“ ideas and methods of use of fall protective PPE are not really as „modern“, and that their invention and use is not only a matter of the last five decades, which is the generally held opinion.

The ancient predecessors of today’s PPE were in the form of ropes and planks, and primarily provided body support for positioning in the workplace rather than serving as a fall protection device. The first harness (safety belt) was patented 140 years ago and the first full body harness 118 years ago. Manually operated descender (called fire escape) was patented 153 years ago.

But it was definitely not PPE as we know it today. These were products that tried to fill a gap in the current needs of workers, and not typical PPE. Their implementation corresponded to the possibilities and knowledge of their creators and, unlike today’s PPE, they did not have to meet the requirements of any technical standards. There were no uniform requirements for their durability, technical design, dimensions, material, etc. as it is at present.

It has been more than 30 years since technical standards have been harmonized in the European Union, and today’s PPE (placed on the EU market) must meet their requirements (not only structural, but also marking requirements, content of instructions for use, etc.). In relation to fall protection, these requirements are the follow:

• EN 341 Descender devices for rescue,
• EN 353-1 Guided type fall arresters including a rigid anchor line,
• EN 353-2 Guided type fall arresters including a flexible anchor line,
• EN 354 Lanyards,
• EN 355 Energy absorbers,
• EN 358 Belts and lanyards for work positioning or restraint,
• EN 360 Retractable type fall arresters,
• EN 361 Full body harnesses,
• EN 362 Connectors,
• EN 365 General requirements for instructions for use, maintenance, periodic examination, repair, marking and packaging,
• EN 397 Industrial safety helmets,
• EN 795 Anchor devices,
• EN 813 Sit harnesses,
• EN 1496 Rescue lifting devices,
• EN 1497 Rescue harnesses,
• EN 1498 Rescue loops,
• EN 1891 Low stretch kernmantel ropes,
• EN 12841 Rope access systems – Rope adjustment devices,
• EN 14052 High performance industrial helmets.

Fall protection PPE have been in development for many decades, so the authors of the article are aware that the article cannot claim completeness. The reason is that there is little technical literature dealing with the development of PPE, especially PPE against falls. Research was thus limited mainly to the patent register and historical catalogues. It is quite likely that other technical means were also used during work at heights, in other fields as well, and perhaps much earlier than stated in the article. Likewise, safety at work is regulated by various normative acts in more countries other than those mentioned in this article. There is scope for further research…

 

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[1] e.g. Khusrav’s palace Taq Kasra in Ctesiphon or the spiral minaret of the Great Mosque in Samara

[2] Trauma (med.) physical injury caused by an external force disrupting the integrity of the organism, not the mental trauma.

[3] Depending on the legislative requirements of each country.

[4] „If a builder build a house for someone, and does not construct it properly, and the house which he built fall in and kill its owner, then that builder shall be put to death.“ 〈7, p. 4〉

[5] the Five Books of Moses

[6] 2^nd book of Moses

[7] the 5^th and the last Book of Moses

[8] hygienic measures, ventilation and lighting of workplaces, fire prevention, etc.

[9] e.g. ventilation and drainage of shafts

[10] Valencian Community

[11] whether the reason was that they could not hold the lamp, or because the depth of the mine exceeded the possibilities of ladders, or simply because the morphology of the mine did not allow the ladder to be transported to the place of need

[12] Suspended seat also called „Boatswain’s Chair“ or „Bosun’s Chair“.

[13] photo showing sailors on a cruiser

[14] Eleven years of work preceded the first publication of The Ashley Book of Knots by Clifford Warren Ashley in 1944.

[15] August Johann Gottfried Bielenstein (1826 – 1907), Baltic German ethnographer, folklorist, linguist and theologian.

[16] by launching from windows

[17] Construction took place between 1931 and 1936

[18] The monument was built in the years 1927-1941

[19] In preceding years, he registered, among other things, several patents related to equipment for aviators/parachutists

[20] sternal attachment point consisted of two loops

[21] e.g. containers, boilers, bunkers, etc.

[22] unlike the used safety belt, in which the suspended worker assumes a horizontal position and thus cannot be pulled out through the manhole

[23] In June 1921, a worker fell in Cincinnati after the strap on his safety belt broke; according to window washer accident statistics published by the Washington Commissioner of Labor, there were 24 fatal falls from 1924-1926, and 60% of the injuries in the accidents were from falls.

[24] The construction took place in the years 1933-1937

[25] According to records, 19 workers fell during construction and were safely caught by the safety net. In February 1937, a section scaffold fell on the safety net, broke it and 12 workers fell through the hole, 10 of whom did not survive falling from a height of less than 70 meters. During the entire construction time, „only“ 11 workers died, ten listed as a result of the fall, the eleventh in October 1936 when a beam fell from the damaged crane. 〈37〉

[26] when arresting a fall in a vertical position, the worker often fell through the safety belt, and when arresting in a horizontal position, he did not fall through the belt, vet serious injuries occurred

[27] improvements were applied both to aviation and safety harnesses

[28] which is the principle still used for many present descenders

[29] Another interesting point is that there was a cover plate held in place by two screws. This kept the rope from coming out, but also made putting the fire escape onto the rope a slow process that requires tools.

[30] Picture of catalogue mentioned above was posted on a Facebook profile of The Fire Museum in the French department of Loire-Atlantique. The picture shows a person descending on rope from a burning house using the device, a detail of which is shown next to it. The accompanying text, in addition to the price, states that the small descender is intended for two people, and the large one for four 〈44〉.

[31] Christ Hoell (1849 – 1887) was born in Germany, where he learned to use a hook ladder (Behl’s ladder developed around 1828) as a volunteer firefighter. In 1873 he emigrated to the United States, where, after the great fires in April 1877, he proposed the concept of organizing volunteer firefighters as an auxiliary service to the fire department through a local newspaper. The committee of the city of St. Louis invited them to the meeting to present it to them in person. The committee was impressed, and therefore based on his suggestion they established a pompier corps and put Hoell in command and as an instructor.

Hoell developed a method of using the hook ladder, trained an entire corps in its use, and successfully used and demonstrated it. An interesting fact is that in 1887 Hoell also trained New York City firefighters in its use, who offered him a job with them, vet he refused. 〈43〉

[32] as well as on the social network pinterest.com

[33] The French pinterest specifies the year 1894, see https://www.pinterest.fr/pin/501095896022160366/

[34] that is, until half a century later, before something similar appeared on a poster of firefighting equipment, see Figure 12

[35] CMI states on their website https://cmigearusa.com/collections/descenders that CMI figure eight appeared in 1974.

[36] probably inspired by fire escapes of the past

[37] According to the „Timeline“ on page 3 in the Petzl PRO 2018 catalogue Petzl introduced their first bobbin called Simple in 1968.

[38] The best known is Prusik’s hitch, named after Dr. Karl Prusik (1896 – 1861), an Austrian mountaineer and music teacher who used this knot to mend broken strings and later applied it in mountaineering 〈5, p. 124〉, 〈55〉, especially for self-rescue from crevasses 〈55〉.

[39] and the determination of the direction in which ascenders are moving up to the present day

[40] Dr. W. H. Carothers from the American company DuPont registered a patent for polyamide in 1935 〈57〉 and in 1953 the kernmantle rope construction was invented, both the Austrian company Edelweiss 〈58〉 and the German company Edelrid 〈59〉 claim the lead.

[41] The Jümar ascender was invented and manufactured by A. Jüsy and W. Marti, the name of the device is given by the first two (JÜ) and three (MAR) letters of their surnames 〈55〉,〈56〉.

[42] rope is anchored to hooks caught over window hangs, on the rope there is a device, that operates on the principle of friction, with loop/basket/canvas, in which the person sits, attached

[43] At the beginning of the 20^th century, John Neil Robertson invented a lightweight stretcher, consisting of a strong canvas reinforced with bamboo slats, which was used to fix the patient and get him out of confined spaces on ships (engine rooms, etc.) 〈64〉.