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Oddly Enough - Reuters
Safety Shoes to Escape Tower Blocks?
Tue Jul 13,11:36 AM ET
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COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish high-rise buildings could be fitted with safety shoes to help people escape in emergencies, after an inventor was inspired by images of people jumping from the twin towers in New York on September 11, 2001.
Shortly after the attack Danish pensioner Gunni Jensen, 67, applied to patent his "glideshoe" safety system, which works by mounting a narrow steel rail on the outside of a building near a window.
In an emergency, people grab an escape kit consisting of a steel glideshoe with a body strap, click it onto the rail and slide down to the ground, in a way similar to abseiling.
Security firm Falck A/S said on Monday it has bought exclusive rights to sell the shoes in Denmark, after Jensen obtained a worldwide patent for his invention.
Jensen said he was in talks with seven potential agents abroad.
"I'm currently having negotiations in the United States and next step is Hong Kong," Jensen said.
The system has been tested to meet both Danish and international safety standards and its works in extreme heat and cold.
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07-13-2004, 07:27 PM
