The Exit Traveler
A compact lowering device designed to give a person a safe, individual alternative to the ground in the event all other exits in a high building become blocked.
A safety invention of the 1980s
The Exit Traveler was a portable personal descent device marketed in the late 1980s. In the words of the original Exit Traveler website, it “featured a fireproof steel tape that had a reach of over 12 stories.” The press of the day described a hook, a cable that unwinds from a braked cassette, and a harness worn under the arms. The unit was said to be about the size of a notebook, and Newsweek reported the 12-story kit at four kilograms.
It reached the public through demonstrations, trade and rescue shows, and magazine and newspaper coverage in the United States and abroad. This site gathers that record in one place: the device, the timeline, every press clipping as a full scan, the photographs and the promotional video.
Can you imagine a tech device that could safely lower a person to the ground from as high as 12 stories the size of a shaving kit?From the original Exit Traveler web page
“Invented before the insane airport security measures, this device will get their attention.”
Explore the archive
The device
How it worked, what was in the kit, and the specifications as the press reported them.
How it worked →History
From Holland to the first U.S. demonstration, television appearances and the press of 1987–1990.
Timeline →Press
Newsweek, The Morning Call, Manila Standard, Chicago Tribune and more, as complete scans.
Read the clippings →Gallery
Promotional photographs from 1987, a clear demonstration model and the Exit Traveler showboard.
View photos →Video
EXIT TRAVELER INFO VIDEO.
Watch →Rick Denzien
President of R.A.W. Rescue Products, in the press and in his own words.
Read more →In the news
Newsweek, October 26, 1987: “There is no free fall with the device, and that is unique,” says Rick Denzien, president of R.A.W. Rescue Products of Ambler, Pa., which distributes the product.
The Morning Call, November 20, 1987: a public demonstration at the Montgomery County Fire Academy; the descents were “basically like walking backward down the wall.”
Emergency Exit
Read the full scan.