GB2238038A

GB2238038A - Fire hose housing

Info

Publication number: GB2238038A
Application number: GB9023518A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Toshiaki Takemura
Original assignee: Itachibori Manufacturing Co Ltd
Current assignee: Itachibori Manufacturing Co Ltd
Priority date: 1989-10-27
Filing date: 1990-10-29
Publication date: 1991-05-22
Anticipated expiration: 2010-10-29
Also published as: JPH0364658U; GB9023518D0; GB2238038B

Abstract

A fire hose housing comprises a front wall 2, a rear wall 3 spaced from the front wall 2, a peripheral wall 4 for connecting the outer peripheral edges of the front and rear walls so as to form a hollow housing 1. A fire hose 9 is wound on the inner surface of the peripheral wall 4 in layers so that it can be drawn therefrom. The front wall 2 is provided with an opening 6 through which the hose can be withdrawn and which is normally closed by a door 7. <IMAGE>

Description

Fire Hose Housing Background of the Invention (a) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a fire hose housing for housing a fire hose which is connected to a fireplug disposed in the wall of a passage of a building and may be drawn rapidly when a fire breaks out.

(b) Description of the Prior Art As a fire extinguishing equipment, such a type of equipment has been used conventionally. Namely, a fire hose is wound on a hose reel which is disposed in a fire hose housing which provides a door. A hollow shaft is provided in a center of the hose reel to be integrated therewith via a rotary connector and a forward end of the hollow shaft is connected to a base portion of the fire hose. The hollow shaft is also connected to a fireplug via a water supply pipe, which fireplug is arranged at a suitable place in a peripheral portion of the fire hose housing.

The arrangement of the hose reel in the fire hose housing aims to evade that the fire hose is stained with dust as such a fire hose is not used at all for a long time except emergency, and to protect the fire hose. Further, it has an object to easily attached to the wall of the building via the fire hose housing which houses the reel. However, when the fire hose housing is utilized separately from the reel, it complexes the construction of the equipment and increases installation costs. Further, it is necessary to secure its installation space since the fire hose housing becomes large sized and the volume or bulk of thereof my be increased. Where the quipment is attached onto the wall or positioned straight on a suitable place of the passage of the building, it becomes an obstacle in traffic.

Where the hose reel is mounted rotatably via the hollow shaft in the fire hose housing, the fireplug becomes positioned at a suitable place in the fire hose housing outwardly of the hose reel. However, under such a construction it is difficult to see the position of the fireplug at a glance. Further, it is also difficult to smoothly carry out opening of the fireplug and drawing of the fire hose by gripping a nozzle since a distance between the nozzle and the fireplug becomes large.

Summary of the Invention The present invention has an object to provide a fire hose housing which may solve the above mentioned problems by abandoning a conventional idea of housing a fire hose reel or a fire hose drum in a fire hose housing.

To achieve the above mentioned object, the fire hose housing according to the present invention comprises a front board, a rear board faced to the front board leaving a suitable distance, a peripheral board for connecting the outer peripheral edges of the front board and the rear board to each other so as to comprise a hollow housing proper body, and a fire hose wound on the inner wall of the peripheral board in the state of layers to be drawn and housed in the hollow housing proper body, said front board being provided with a fire hose drawing opening.

Therefore, the fire hose may be drawn from the fire hose drawing opening in such a state that the fire hose in the state of layers is unwound from the most inner layer as it is untied.

Further, there is no problem that the drawing directions are limited though the drawing directions of the fire hose according to the conventional hose reel are limited. Any load caused by such as a break mechanism, which is provided for the reel in the conventional art, does not act on hands when the fire hose is drawn with the nozzle, and therefore the fire hose may be drawn smoothly and rapidly in desired directions with a light force. Accordingly, the fire hose housing becomes very useful at the time of emergency when a fire breaks out. Further, since the fire hose housing does not provide such member or parts such as a hose reel or a hose drum which are moved away from or separated from its place when the fire hose is drawn, the passage for refugees is not occupied with such members or parts so as to easily take refuge without such obstacles.

Further, it is not necessary to provide a conventional hose reel or a break mechanism provided with the hose reel and the present invention provides just the fire hose housing of simple constructiion instead of the hose reel. Therefore, the fire hose housing according to the present invention may be simplified in construction and manufactured with a low cost.

Where a door is provided to close and open the fire hose drawing opening and the rear board is provided with an opening for fireplug at a center portion thereof so as to connect the fire hose to a fireplug disposed in the opening, the following advantages may be obtained.

Since the present invention provides no hose reel or drum, the fire hose may be closed up in the housing proper body.

Further, since the fireplug connected to the base portion of the fire hose faces the opening which is formed with a center of the rear board of the housing proper body, the fire hose may be connected to the fireplug by means of a short water supply pipe and when the door of the front board of the fire hose housing is opened at the time of firing, a fire fighter straightly sees a position of the fireplug through a space formed with the wound fire hose, so that opening of the fireplug and drawing of the fire hose may be rapidly carried out. Thus, it becomes possible to rapidly start to fight a fire.

Other advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the description of the embodiments with reference to the drawings.

Brief Description of the Drawings The drawings show preferable embodiments of a fire hose housing according to the present invention in which: Fig. 1 is a front view of the fire hose housing partly broken away, Fig. 2 is a sectional side view thereof, Fig. 3 is a paln view thereof partly broken away, Fig. 4 is a perspective view thereof arranged on a wall of a building, Fig. 5 is a front view showing a modified example of an attachment of a door, Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the attachment in Fig, 5, Fig. 7 is a front view of a housing box partly broken away and showing a state of opening a door of the housing box according to a second embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 8 is a sectional side view showing a state of closing the door of the housing box, and Fig. 9 is a sectional view showing a connecting portion between the fire hose and a nozzle.

Detailed Description of the Embodiments The first embodiment of this invention will be described below with reference to tFigs. 1 through 6.

1 designates a housing proper body for a fire hose, which body comprises a front board 2 and a rear board 3 which are made of a circular panel respectively, and these panels have a suitable diameter and thickness. The front board 2 and the rear board 3 are positioned to face each other leaving a suitable distance. The outer peripheral edges of the front board 2 and the rear board 3 are integrated by means of a peripheral board 4 which is in the shape of short cylinder having a predetermined width. Thus, the hollow interior of the housing proper body 1 is formed to be a fire hose housing chamber 5.

The peripheral board 4, as shown in the drawings, is made to bend the outer peripheral portion of the front board 4 with a suitable width at a right angle towards the rear thereof, and then the end portion of the front board 4 is fixed to the outer peripheral edge of the rear board 3 by means of welding or manners substantially similar thereto. However, it may be possible to prepare a peripheral board of short cyrindrical shape separately from the front board 5 and the both edges thereof may be integrated with the faced outer edges of the front board 2 and the rear board 3 by means of welding or manners substantially similar thereto. Further, the peripheral board 4 may be curved to have a convex in section to outwardly and radially project wihtout forming a constant diameter with the whole width of the peripheral board 4.

A hose drawing opening 6 of circular shape is formed with the front board 2 at a center thereof leaving the outer peripheral portion of the front board 2. The hose drawing opening 6 is closed by a door 7 to be openable. An opening 8 for providing a fireplug is formed with the rear board 3 at a center portion thereof leaving the outer peripheral portion of the rear board 3. The opening 8 has a diameter smaller than that of the hose drawing opening 6.

The opening 8 for fireplug is made by a conical peripheral wall which has a diameter gradually smaller in the forward direction from the rear board 3 in order to take in and out the fire hose 9 from the housing proper body 1, which is housed in the peripheral board 4 of the housing proper body 1 in the winding state. The hight of the conical peripheral wall in the forward direction is smaller than the width of the peripheral board 4 or the size between the front board 2 and the rear board 3.

The opening 8 houses at the center thereof a fireplug 10 which is attached to a forward end of a water supply pipe 20 which is installed through a wall of a building or house. An outlet of the fireplug 10 is connected to a water supply pipe 11, which is connected to an end of the fire hose 9 via an opening 12 which is formed with a suitable portion of the peripheral wall of the opening 8.

13 indicates an operation handle for the fireplug 10.

It is preferable to provide a plastic ring with the opening edge of the hose drawing opening 6 or to form the opening edge of the hose drawing opening 6 in curl in order to slid the fire hose 9 on the ring or the curled edge and take out same smoothly.

The door 7 of the hose drawing opening 6 is attached to a side portion of the front board 2 of the housing proper body 1 by means of hinges 14 so as to be openable in a manner of single swing. The door 7 is operated by gripping a nob 15 which is provided with another side portion of the front board 2.

The nob 15 is attached to the front board to be rotatable by means of a shaft 16. An end of the shaft 16, which projects in the housing proper body 1, is fixed to a base portion of a hook 17 so that a tip of the hook 17 is engaged and disengaged with the inner wall of the hose drawing opening 6 by rotating operation of the nob 15.

The fire Hose housing as constructed above is installed in such a manner that as shown in Fig. 4 the rear board 3 is fixed to a wall of the building in such a state that the fireplug 10, which is positioned at a suitable place of the building, is facing to a center of the opening 8 formed with the rear board 3, or in such a manner that the housing proper body 1 is positioned in a recess of the wall of the building and fixed thereto, or in such a manner that the housing proper body 1 is attached to a column of a pipe line which provides the fireplug 10 with a forward end of the pipe line.

The base portion of the fire hose 9 is connected to the water supply pipe 11 communicated with the fireplug 10 through the opening 12 formed with the opening 8 for fireplug. In the fire hose housing chamber 5 of the housing proper body 1, the fire hose 9 is wound to contact the inner wall of the peripheral board 4 and to be aligned from the rear board 3 to the front board 2 and then winding of the fire hose 9 is continued on the first layer thereof and repeated so as to form a plurality of layers of the fire hose 9 in a shape of ring in the housing proper body 1. A nozzle 18. which is attached to a forward end of the fire hose 9, is housed in the housing proper body 1 to be laid on the most inner layer of the fire hose 9.

Where a fire broke out, the nob 15 is operated to open the door 7 and operate the handle 13 of the fireplug 10 positioned in the opening 8 for fireplug to open the pireplug 10 and then draw the nozzle 18 of the fire hose 9 from the hose drawing opening 6 outwardly so that the fire hose 9 may be drawn while the fire hose 9 is unwound from the inner layer and as the result, fire fighting may be carried out.

After finishing of fire fighting, the fire hose 9 is wound and to be layers on the peripheral board 4 of the housing proper body 1.

Figs. 5 and 6 show modified examples of a door mechanism for the door 7. The hinge 14, which is attached to a side portion of the front board 3 of the housing proper body 1, is constructed separable without fixing the hinge 14 to the door 7.

Namely, the door 7 provides lateral grooves 19 at a side portion of the door 7, and a rotatable plate 14a of the hinge 14 is inserted into each of the gooves 19. With the constrction, where the door 7 is opened at the time of fire, the door 7 is drawn in a direction with a door opening force so that the rotatable plates 14a of the hinge 14 may be disengaged with the lateral grooves 19 and then the door 7 becomes completely separate from the housing proper body 1. As the result, it is possible not only to carry out the opening operation of the door 7 rapidly, but also carry out opening operation of the fireplug 10 and drawing of the fire hose 9 smoothly without disturbance of the door 7. Therefore, fire fighting may be effectively carried out without a moment's delay.

In the above mentioned embodiment, the housing proper body 1 is formed to be a circle and the fire hose 9 is wound to be layers on the inner wall of the peripheral board 4 of short cylinder. However, the housing proper body 1 may be formed to be a rectangular in front view and the peripheral board also may be formed to be a rectangular frame since the returning force of the wound fire hose 9 tends to enlarge a diameter thereof so that the fire hose may be pressingly contact with the inner wall of the peripheral board 4. With the constructions, where the fire hose 9 is wound to be layers and rings to contact the four inner walls of the peripheral board 4 in the shape of a rectangular frame, the four outer peripheral portions of the fire hose 9 may be housed in the housing proper body 1 in such a state that the four outer peripheral portions are pressingly contacted with the inner wall of the peripheral board 4 to be unwindable.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Figs. 7 through 9.

In Figs. 7 and 8, 101 indicates a housing box which is formed in a shape of a flat cube and a door 102 of single swing is attached to a front board thereof to be openable. The housing box 101 is positioned in the standing state to be located in a recess of a passage wall of a building and a water supply pipe 103 is introduced thereinto from a corner thereof. 104 indicates a valve which is interposed between an intermediate portion of the water supply pipe 103.

A fixed drum 105 for winding the fire hose is arranged in the housing box 101 to be located at a center thereof. The fixed drum 105 is constructed such that the rear side of a peripheral board 106, which is made in the form of a cylinder, is closed by a rear board 107 in the form of circle and the front side of the peripheral board 106 is closed by a front board 108 which is formed to be a ring having an opening at a center thereof. An elongated hose insertion opening 109 is opened with the peripheral board at a position corresponding to the position of the water supply pipe 103 and a fire hose 110 is housed in the housing box in a state of winding. The fixed drum 105 is secured to a rear wall 111 of the housing box 101 by means of a pair of supporters 112 in such a state that it is hung.

A center opening 113 of the fixed drum 105 is designed to have such a diameter of size that it is possible to draw the fire hose 110 smoothly and n form the center opening and the fire hose 110 is completely housed therein in the state that it is wound in multiple layers between the opening 113 and the peripheral board 106. A ring member 114, which has an inner edge having a semicircle in section, is attached to the center opening 113. This ring member 114 prevents the fire hose 110 from engaging with the inner edge of the opening when the fire hose 110 is drawn therethrough, so that drawing or inserting of the fire hose 110 to the fixed drum 105 may be smoothly carried out.

It is preferable to use the fire hose 110 which is made of synthetic rubber having flexibility. The base portion of the fire hose 110 is connected to the water supply pipe 103 and a nozzle 115 is attached to a forward end thereof. The fire hose 110 is first inserted into the fixed drum 115 through the hose insertion opening 109 and wound along the peripheral board from the base portion of the fire hose 110 and then wound spirally to be a state that the forward end of the fire hose becomes the most inner layer, as shown in Fig. 8. The nozzle 115 provied with the forwaerd end of the fire hose 110, is positioned to face the opening 113, so that the fire hose 110 may be drawn out through the opening 113 from the most inner layer.

As shown in Fig. 7, the nozzle 115 may be positioned in such a state that it may lay on the inner layer to stretch against the fire hose 110, so that it may prevent the fire hose 110 from unwinding and as the result drawing of the fire hose 110 through the opening 113 of the fixed drum 105, may be easily carried out.

As shown in Fig. 9, the forward end of the fire hose 110 is connected to the nozzle 115 via a rotary connector 116, so that the fire hose 110 may be rotated in a direction for returning twists of the fire hose 110. As the result, it may surely prevent the fire hose 110 from clogging due to twists of the fire hose 110. Namely, as shown in Fig. 9, the rotary connector 116 has a nut 118 which provides a flange 117 inside an opening at an end thereof. A cylinder 120 having a flange 119 on the periphery of the rotary connector 116 at another end thereof, is inserted into the nut 118 and then the flange 117 of the nut 118 is engaged with the flange 119 of the cylinder 120, so as to conntect the nut and the cylinder 120 rotatably relative to each other. Another side of the flange 119 of the cylinder 120 is contacted witht a packing 121 which is mounted in the nut 118.The base portion of the nozzle 115 is screwed to another end of the nut 118 and on the other hand the forward end of the fire hose 110 is inserted forcibly into an end of the cylinder 120. A clipping ring is mounted on the periphery of the fire hose 110. Thus, the cylinder 120 may be rotated in a direction for returning twists of the fire hose 110 when the fire hose 110 is drawn out with the nozzle 115.

According to the second embodiment, when a fire breaks out, the door 102 of the housing box 101 is opened and the valve 104 is operated to be opened.

The nozzle 115 of the fire hose 110 is taken out through the opening 113 of the fixed drum 105, so that the fire hose 110 may be drawn out from the most inner layer in the state of unwinding. Twists of the fire hose 110 occurred at the time of drawing, may be solved or released by means of the rotary connector 116 interposed between the nozzle 115 and the fire hose 110. Therefore, the fire hose 110 may be rapidly drawn out in desired directions without any limitation.

After fighting a fire and when the fire hose 110 is reset in the fixed drum 105, the fire hose 110 is wound sprially along the inside of the peripheral board 106 of the fixed drum 105 from the base portion thereof.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A fire hose housing comprising: a front board 2, a rear board 3 faced to the front board 2 leaving a suitable distance, a peripheral board 4 for connecting the outer peripheral edges of the front board 2 and the rear board 3 to each other so as to comprise a hollow housing proper body 1, and a fire hose 9 wound on the inner wall of the peripheral board 4 in the state of layers to be drawn and housed in the hollow housing proper body 1, said front board 2 being provided with a fire hose drawing opening 6.

2. The fire hose housing as claimed in claim 1, further comprising; a door 7 provided to close and open the fire hose drawing opening 6, said rear board 3 provided with an opening 8 for fireplug at a center portion thereof so as to connect the fire hose 9 to a fireplug disposed in the opening 8.

3. The fire hose housing as claimed in claim 2, further comprising: ring means provided with the inner peripheral edge of the fire hose drawing opening 6,

4. The fire hose housing as claimed in claim 3, further comprising; connecting means connecting a nozzle 18 to an end of the fire hose 9 to rotate the nozzle 18 relative to the fire hose 9 in an axial direction of the fire hose 9.