Emergency service rescue marker

• US 5,850,172 A
• Filed: 11/23/1992
• Issued: 12/15/1998
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/1990
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Golden West Communications, Inc
• Original Assignee: Golden West Communications, Inc
• Inventors: Lenz, Vernon C., Moore, Carey L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Luu, Matthew
• Application Number:
  US07/979,822
• Time in Patent Office: 2,213 Days
• Field of Search: 340/815.21, 340/546, 340/332, 340/384.1
• US Class Current: 340/384.1
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 7/062 indicating emergency exits

Abstract

A marker is provided for use by emergency service personnel entering a room of a building, to keep the door from latching closed while he/she searches the room, and later help him find the door to exit the room, and to indicate to other rescuers that a search is in progress or has been completed. The marker includes a housing (12, FIG. 1) and a door clamp (14) mounted on the housing and constructed to fit on a door to prevent complete closing of the door. The housing holds an audible alarm generator (20) which generates sound beeps to help a searcher find the door in an environment of thick smoke. With the door clamp holding the door ajar, the sound beeps can be heard from outside the room, so another searcher can determine that a search is in progress. The alarm is settable to generate a different pattern of sound beeps, to indicate that a search is in progress, or has been completed. It also generates light flashes. The door clamp can include a length of wire that extends around the outer edge of a door. The wire door clamp can be pivoted on the housing between a stowed configuration wherein it lies adjacent to the housing before mounting compactly on a searcher'"'"'s belt, and in a deployed configuration wherein it projects from the housing and can clamp to a door.

Claims

1. An emergency service rescue marker for use by firefighters or similar rescue personnel to indicate the direction to a door that closes a room, to both a first rescuer who enters the room and a fellow rescuer who is located outside the room and must know if there is a rescuer in the room, comprising:

a housing;

a door clamp mounted on said housing and constructed to prevent complete closing of the door so the door can be readily opened;

an audible signal generator mounted on said housing and constructed to generate sound, whereby to allow sounds from the alarm to easily fill rooms on both sides of a door held by the door clamp;

a manually operable switch mounted on said housing and connected to said audible generator to turn it on and off, said generator commencing to generate said beeps when said switch is turned on and ceasing to generate said beeps when said switch is turned off.

2. An emergency service rescue marker for mounting on a door having first and second opposite sides and a vertical outer edge, comprising:

a housing;

an audible signal generator mounted on said housing;

a door clamp mounted on said housing for clamping it to said vertical edge of said door;

said door clamp including a length of wire having a first leg mounted on said housing to extend beside the first side of the door, a second leg which extends from said first leg and largely perpendicular to said first leg and along a distance of about two inches to extend along the outer edge of the door, and a third leg which extends from said second leg and largely perpendicular to said second leg to extend along the second side of the door, said wire having at least one turn of a coil spring at each end of said second leg for urging locations along said first and third legs toward each other to tightly clamp to the vertical edge of the door.

3. The marker described in claim 2 wherein:

said housing has a top and a bottom, and said first leg of said door clamp lies at said top of said housing;

said length of wire includes a fourth leg mounted on said bottom of said housing and extending parallel to said first leg, a fifth leg which extends from said fourth leg and parallel to said second leg, a sixth leg which extends from said fifth leg and parallel to said third leg, and a seventh leg which joins said third and sixth legs.

4. A method for use by a firefighter to mark the location of a door to a room in a burning building, comprising:

establishing an audible alarm on a doorstop;

mounting said doorstop on a door that is open to a room in a burning building to keep said door open so it can be readily pushed open, and manually turning on said alarm, whereby to enable sounds from said alarm to be heard on both sides of said room.

5. An emergency marker installation which includes an emergency service rescue marker used in conjunction with a door to a room being searched, to indicate the location of the door, characterized by:

said door is ajar so its outer edge is away from the door jamb, said rescue marker has an audible alarm, and said rescue marker is clamped to said door outer edge with a portion of said rescue marker projecting beyond said door outer edge to interfere with said door jamb to keep the door ajar.