Rescue Reel: Brother of Slip Quit

By Ashley Harrell Fri., Aug. 27 2010 at 4:44 PM

Categories: Business, Local News

Earlier this week, we showed you what the geniuses at Dial House had been up to (see the Slip Quit to your right). The fictional device helps people escape from boring meetings and awkward conversations or during stomach emergencies.

In this week's New Yorker, David Owen introduces us to the lesser known and infinitely more serious brother of Slip Quit -- the Rescue Reel.

Essentially a "basketball-size personal-descent machine," the Rescue Reel "is fire-engine red and looks a little like a leaf blower. ... It was inspired by fishing tackle. It contains a spool of five-millimetre, five-thousand-pound test line made of Kevlar and polyester. The free end of the line is secured to a bracket-like hook, which can be attached to an office door, water pipe, floor vent, vending machine, or other sturdy anchor."

What does Rescue Reel remind us of...?

Luiz Galvez, who works for the inventor of the device, told the New Yorker, "Ideally, you would store your Rescue Reel in a file cabinet in your office until you needed it."

In an earthquake-prone city like San Francisco, it's easy to see the value in the Rescue Reel. In fact, Kevin R. Stone, the California surgeon and inventor of the device, has already heard from at least one interested San Francisco woman.

According to the New Yorker story, the woman lives in a condominium on a high floor of San Francisco's Millennium Tower.

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