PHOTO BY SHAWN THEW/AFP
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2001 Best Inventions


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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.

Availability: Now, $20,000
To Learn More: ames-1.com


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FROM THE NOV. 18, 2002 ISSUE OF TIME MAGAZINE; POSTED SUNDAY, NOV. 10, 2002

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