Safety Chute

Inventor: Eli Nir

The World Trade Center attack created a lot of interest in ways to get people out of skyscrapers in a hurry. Here's a novel solution: the AMES-1, an evacuation system that looks like an amusement-park water slide. A Kevlar rescue chute is installed in the outer wall of a building. In an emergency the unit springs open and the chute uncoils to the ground. It takes about 19 seconds to slide to safety from the top floor of an 11-story building.

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