GB401005A - Device for supplying fire-extinguishing foam to oil tanks - Google Patents

Abstract

401,005. Fire - extinguishing. MOELLER, B. A., Palos VerdÚs Estates, California, U.S.A. April 9, 1932, No. 10245. Convention date, April 10, 1931. [Class 47 (ii).] A device for supplying fire-extinguishing foam to oil tanks comprises a flexible, fireresistant, tube, which normally hangs down within the tank, but is adapted to be floated up to the surface of the oil by the buoyancy of the foam when the latter is admitted to the tube. As shown, the tube E, which is connected to a foam pipe D, comprises a portion E<2> which is permeable to foam, and an impervious portion E<1>. Part of the foam escapes from the portion E<2> and runs down the tube to the surface C of the oil, and the remainder is delivered on to the surface from the end H of the tube, which has been floated up to the surface by the buoyancy of the foam. In a modification, the whole of the tube is of impervious material. The open end of the tube may be flared and flattened, or surrounded by an open mesh cage. If the tube is too heavy to be raised by the buoyancy of the foam alone, it may be fitted with floats. In another modification, the upper part of the tube is impervious, and the lower part pervious. In this arrangement, the under surface of the portion which is buoyed up in use may be impervious. Specifications 331,800, 337,221, [both in Class 47 (ii), Fire-extinguishing &c.], 341,103, and 341,348 are referred to. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 states that the impervious portion of the tube may be of tightly woven asbestos fabric reinforced with wire, or may be a multijointed metallic tube, and the pervious portion should be of an open mesh asbestos cloth. It describes also an arrangement in which the tube normally is rolled up in a housing on the tank, and is unrolled automatically by the pressure of the foam when this is admitted, or is released into the tank by hand or on the melting of a fusible link. It further describes the arrangement of large-mesh tubes in a vertical position in the tank; the use of a tube formed entirely of flexible metal; and the use of a tube formed entirely of pervious material which may be collapsable or non-collapsable. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.