US1589858A - Alarm-actuating apparatus - Google Patents

Description

INVENT AT GRNE'YS June 22 1926.

W. A. KENNEDY ALARM AGTUATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 3].","1922 Patented June 22, 1926.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM It, KENNEDY, 0 PROVIDENCE,

RI'IODE XSLAND, ASSIGNG'R, BY INF SIGNMENTS, T0 GENERAL FIRE EXTIHIGUISHER COMPANY, 01? PROV FENCE, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORATION OF DELAXVARE,

ALARM-ACTUATING APPARATUS.

Application filed October 31, 1922.

This invention relates to improvements in alarm :urluating appa-iratus tor sprinkler systems and the like. More especially it relates to improved means for controlling the actuation of the alarm especially tor elim-- inating intcri'nittcnt action thereof, to the end that the soumling or silence of the alarm signal at any instant may be a more reliable indication as to whether the distribution system is or is not discl'iarging. The invention is described herein as it may be applied to a wet pipe sprinkler system wherein is an alarm valve, con'nnonly a check valve and usually ol? small ditibrential type, which opens when flow occurs in the system, and which when open or {low in the systemadinits water to alarm actuating mechanism. The objectionable intermittent action is caused by the temporary opening of the alarm Valve, as by surging oi the water in either direction. Direct connection results in so many false alarms while the sprinklers a .l remain shuhthatimprovedapparatushas been developed using a slowly acting relay valve. In this the l'irst flow upon opening of the valve is into a chamber, whence a restricted drain open at a. slower rate than the in'tlow, wherein the water mus, accumulate through a period of time, by excess of in flow over drainage before there is sutlicient accumulation for the relay *alve to ope r. The theory is thus to delay the sounding of an alarm, until after any mere 'l'luctuation of water pressure will have ended. This consantly open drain. however, slows the action equally when the alarm valve opens be cause o'l discharge from a. sprinkler head. Furthermore, it has developed that, even with a sprinkler head open, l ick "ard sur es ol voter may occur in the distributing; n szxullicient to close the alarm valve. .l'l there were then a consequent closing oi the relay valve. and (i'Q %:E1.il )i1 oi the alarm, there \vi'iuld be a new kind of talse indication, namely, the absence of a signal notwithstanding that the sprinklers were actually discharging. Upon the reopening of the alarm valve, pressure would again be built up in the su 'iplemental system. and the alarm again z'u'tuatcd, but such an intermittent alarm is objectionable.

It is a purpose of the invention to eliminate this, lirst, by preliminarily eliminating Serial No. 598,126.

pressure fluctuations in the supply and distribution system; and, second by rendering others of them harmless. For this latter it is a purpose to provide so that such valve movements as occur will be automatically distinguished from each other, in their el l'ects on the alarm system according as the remains for a short or long time in the open or closed position to which it moves; a short continuance being ineffective to atiect the alarm, and a long continuance being eii'ective to start or to stop the alarm, as the case may be.

Among the features of the invention for ellecting the said distinction is the combination with the alarm valve of a of storage or accumulation chambers for utilizing the tlow through the passage opened by that valve so as to control an independent source of power which is adapted to cause actuation of an alarm. A further feature is to provide a restricted drain from each occurs upon a temporar opening of the valve by water hammer or the like, and means for automatically closing the drain of one chamber upon accumulation 01 water in the chambers to a predetermined amount. Another feature of the invention is to provide means in one chamber for storing energy, from flow permitted by opening of the alarm valve, so that control apparatus of the independent power supply may continue actuated even though the flow from the alarm valve is temporz n'ily stopped. Still anotherleature is to provide a relief for this stored energy so that in case the alarm valve remains closed, as will happen in case of stoppage oi liow through the distribution system, the supply of energy will not too long continue the actuation but will presently permit the apparatus to cut otl' the independent power and thus to silence the alarm, so that by silence its indication corresponds truly to the closed condition at the sprinkler heads. Further escape oi? the stored energy results in the reopening of the closed drains, thus hastening the dissipation of both the remaining energy and the accmnulated water, and ellecting an automatic resetting of the alarm system.

The said first or preliminary elimination is attained by providing a restricted by-pass around the alarm valve, through which water may pass freely but only very slowly from the supply side of the alarm valve to the distribution side, with a check valve which prevents its return. This passage permits any slow increase of supply pres sure, such as may occur at certain parts of the day, to be transmitted past the alarm valve; and its check valve entraps water at higher pressure on the distribution side. When recession of supply pressure has later occurred, the minor surges therein will usu-,

ally be insuliicient to equal the entrapped pressure, and so will not move the alarm valve. But when the alarm vaive is in fact raised, either by a mere surge of pressure supply or by the liow that follows the opening of a sprinkler, water is supplied to a passage that leads from its intern'iediate tlltllllbel to a series of storage or accumulation chambers. This passage enters the lirst chamber near its bottom and continues from the top thereof to connect with the lower part of a second chamber.

The upper part of this latter chamber contains air and is closed tight so that water ris ing therein, it flow continues long enough through the passage, compresses the air above it and thus stores energy, in the form of air under pressure. Each chamber is provided with a restricted drain to atmosphere, that of the first chamber being reiatively large and that of the second relatively small, both being normally open. The bottom oi? the first chamber has a flexible wall which yields downward whenever the alarm valve has remained open long enough for water, flowing into the passage faster than it flows out of the drains, to pile up enough to create a predetermined pressure on said flexible bottom; and with its yielding it permits closing of a stop valve in the relatively large {rain from this first chamber. Thereafter more rapid collection of water occurs in the second storage chamber with consequent further increase of air pressure therein, This chamber also has a flexible bottom, which flexes downward when the pressure reaches a fixed point higher than that which causes the flexing of the diaphragm in the first chamber; and this downward movement of the bottom of the second chamber is utilized to release the source of independent power, which may be an electric current or a sepa rate current of water leading to alarm actuating apparatus. As here illustrated, the de pression of the flexible bottom unseats a re lay valve which governs a passage for water From the system supply and allows the water to flow to apparatus for signaling.

The chambers, pipes and drains are designed o'l such capacity that the net accumulation of flow through the passage from the alarm valve during the time occupied by it more surge, that is, while a rise or pressure in the supply is being equalized through the distribution system, will not introduce enough water to close the l'irst drain; but

liow for a longer time, as when the alarm valve opens on account or a sprinkler having opened, will close the said first drain, alter which pressure will build up quickly and open the relay valve. in that case a sul'licient supply of water will have l'lowed through the passage to compress the an above the water in the second storage chamber. This establishes a reserve of energy and pressure, beyond that needed to hold the relay valve open, so that, it the alarm valve should be temporarily seated by resurge ol' water bacl; irom the distributing line, the relay valve will nevertheless continue to be held open 'l'or a time by force exerted by this surplus, and the alarm thus be continued. But the small drain from this chamber remains continuously open, and if the reseating 01' the main alarm valve is permanent, due to stoppage o'l sprinkler dischar e, or due to other closing the distributing line discharge, then this open drain will presently have released enough water to lower the air pressure which is holding the relay valve open, so that the latter will seat, and so the power actuating the alarm will be cut oil, thus stopping the alarm and indicating thereby that flow through the main system has actually ceased. The continued discharge through the over open small draii'i ol the second chamber will eventually cause suliicient reduction of the air pressure to allow the flexible bottom of the first chamber to resume its initial position thus lilting the valve attached thereto and opening the large drain, whereupon water will rapidly discharge leaving the passage substantially empty. The alarm actuating system thus automatically resets itself to await further change of conditions in the main system.

The embodiment herein disclosed is but one form at possible applications of the invention. It n'iight be employed with any fluid system wherein the beginning ol flow is utilized to open a valve for alarm or to do other WOIl-l. The relay valve illustrated is symbolic ot any means for causing a separate power source to be utilized to accomplish the work that is to be initiated by flow in the main system.

It is intended that the patent shall cover, by suitable expression in the appended claims, whatever "Features of patentable novelty exist in the invention disclosed.

In the accon'ipan -Jing drz'iwings:

Figure 'l is an elevation, largely in section. showing apparatus embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a plan in section on line 2%. of Figure l and l iguro 3 is an elevation of a fragment in section on line ;l--3 of Figure 1.

Referring to the drawings, 10 indicates a Water supply pipe and 12 a riser, representative ot the distributing pipes, of a Wet pipe sprinkler system. Between the supply pipe 10 and the riser 12 is a valve casing 16 housing an alarm valve 18, which is a dittercntial valve Whose intermediate chamber i s an annular grove 22 in its seat. lVhenever the alarm valve is seated this intermediate chamber is closed and is cut oil from the water pipcs,lbeloiv and above it, but is open to atmosphere through a passage 28. \Vhen the alarm valve is unseated flow may occur through the intermediate chamber into this passage leading by pipe 28 into a drip chamber 3t) and from there, by connection 32, to a storage chamber 34. lVhen the passage tit-3 is tell trom an intermediate chamber 22 the alarm valve is of diii erential type, but the areas at its two faces are so nearly equal that the distribution side has only a small :ulvantage. Consequently, when the pressures on the alarm valve are nearly equal, surges in the water supply may cause momentary lifting oil the valve, with resulting tlovv into the passage 28. The invention largely eliminates this by providing a bypass trom the supply side to the distribution wide 1 the alarm valve comprising: a small pipc Qt), a nipple with restricted opening 24, and a connection 26. hen the pressure of the supply rises slowly to above the pressure on the top of the valve, but not far enough above. to overcome the ditierential eil'ect, the by-pass transmits the increase of pressure to the water beyond the alarm valve and thus maintains the di'ti'erential approximately constant, This prevents lilting oi the valve due to further slow rise, or to minor surge, and reduces the frequency of: intermittent flow of water into the alarm passage 25%. A check valve 25 in the by-pass pipe 20 prevents any flow haclnvard past the alarm valve. and thus maintains the pressure above the valve with correspondingly great tunther protection against its opening by surge v-ylicuever the supply pressure drops. However, upon a very sudden or substantial inwcasc oi pressure on the supply side, the alarm valve will be lifted, as the restricted opening 24 is only large enough to handle tiou' caused by a small or gradual increase.

A diaphragm 3b constitutes the bottom of the drip chamber 30, and is supported at its center by a compression spring 38. (lnand attached to the diaphragm is one end of a lever 42 which carries a cap valve 44 for osing a drain 46 leading out of the drip llnunber. This lever pivoted on a fixed support, is so arranged that depression of the diaphragm bottom swings it and its valve 4-4 down so as to cover the mouth of the drain.

lihesiae ot the drain and the strength of the spring Supporting the diaph agm can be so proportioned that all fl ent r ng the drip, chambe during inter itten or asua openings of the alarm valve, follow d easonably soon by ts c os re, W ll be d charged Without accumulating enough to depress the flexible bottom. But upon a sus tained opening of the a arm valve, as w en escape of water occurs through a open d sprinkler, the inflow to the drip cha ber. being greater than he outflow hrough h drain, will in a short time ti l th s hambe and pass on through a pipe 32 into th bo tom partof the second chamber 34. This chamber is provided with a drain 5,0, having a small orific 51, constant y pen, which vents air as the Wa er. is sing in t drip chamber, but it is so restricted that the incoming water rises pas it. and entrapair in the upp r part of the accumula i n chamber 34. This air is thus compressed, and it stores up, pressure and energy, until its pressure, plus the Weight of Water, causes the diaphragm floor 36 of the first chamber to yield downward. This closes the drain 46,"cuts oft all escape thercthrough, causi g the Water to rise more rapidly in the second chamber 34 and thus more quickly increases the air pressure therein.

The bottom 48 of this second chamber is also a diaphragm. Atta hed to it is the valve stem of a relay valve 54 which controls. a separate passage for water leading from any source of constantly available pressure, such as the supply pipe 10. As shown, this separate passage comprises a pipe 56,, a chamber 58 to which it leads, containing the relay valve. 54, and a chamber 6.0 on its other side, from which pipe. .62 leads to suit,- able alarm actuating apparatus 64.

The chamber 66 under the diaphragm 48 is provided with an open vent and drip 68 for Water that may leak past the valve stem when the relay valve is open. This open drain also maintains atmospheric pressure on the under side of the diaphragm 48. Under the relay valve 54 is a spring 70 by which the relay valve will be closed upon the pressure above the diaphragm 48 being reduced. to a predetermined degree. This occurs up on sufficiently long stoppage of flow from the alarm valve. As the open drain 5,0 steadily removes Water from the storage chamber 34, effective air pressure therein steadily diminishes during closure of the alarm valve. But the rate of drainage from the accumulation chamber 34 is so slow in relation to the size ot that chamber, that the alarm will continue to be given even though the alarm valve 18, be again closed, as by resurge, with stoppage of inflow to the accumulation chamber for the short period duringlivhich such resurge might be eitective. Upon the beginning ot a fresh surge, or restor-ation of regular flow through the main system, the alarm valve would be reopened. Water thus supplied to the space above the relay diaphragm 48 would continue the holding of the relay valve open and resume the primary method of alarm operation. The invention therefore, provides a secondary and temporary means of operation by stored power, which is designed to exhaust itself in a short time but not until any cessation of regular supply has proved to exceed a predetermined number of seconds, in which case the longer cessation indicates that stoppage of flow through the alarm valve is not due to mere surge.

Accordingly, the alarm is not given unless there is a sulliciently long opening of the alarm valve, such as would only take place upon llow of water through one or more sprinklers, an open period long enough to iill the passage and create pressure in the storage chamber 34. As a slight flow would be handled by the drain 46, the sounding of the signal indicates positive discharge of a sprinkler. Thereafter as long as this discharge occurs, the alarm will be maintained, even though resurge may seat the valve; but actual cessation of discharge, and permanent stoppage of flow to the accumulation chamber stops the alarm.

The invention thus provides for the giving oi? an alarm that is truly indicative of the condition existing at the sprinkler heads, and eliminates the false sounding of alarms, or the :talse silencing of an alarm, due to temporary changes of conditions within the system. The arrangement of two separate drains in the control passage, each serving its own particular function and each designed according to its own special use, enables the apparatus to be sensitively adjusted for any conditions. The large drain for leakage or intermittent flow can be closed at any predetermined setting, leaving the inflow then free to pass more rapidly into the pressure storage chamber. At the same time the drain from this chamber may be made as small as desired, so as not to retard too much the initial filling of the chamber and thus delay the giving of the alarm. The spring 38 can be designed to hold the drain it; open until the water level reaches a predetermined height in storage chamber 34;, corresponding to a known pressure of the trapped air above it. Consequently when the flow has ceased, and the drain 50 has permitted discharge of the water in chamber 34 to below the predetermined height, the spring 88 will force the diaphragm 36 upward thus opening the valve 44 and allowing the water to run oil more quickly. Accordingly the system will rapidly and automatically reset itself upon cessation of discharge in the main system. The added advantage, of causing the escape of water from the storage chamber to be as slow as desired,

enables the alarm to be prolonged While the chamber 34 is being emptied, or to make a smaller chamber serve, the escape being so slow, and also enables the stored energy to be utilized to carry on the function of the alarm valve when the latter is inopportunely closed.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a pressure storage chamber and a passage thereto from a liquid pressure supply, of means in said passage tor discharging small flow of liquid therethrough, automatically closable upon large flow, whereby liquid accumulates in said chamber; an independent source oi? energy; control means actuated by said accumulation for causing release of said independent source of energy; and means for restrcted discharge from said chamber, whereby upon cessation of flow in said passage said accumulation is slowly discharged and said control means are permitted to cut ofl said independent energy source.

2. The combination with a distributing system having an alarm valve normally seated but adapted to be opened by flow through said system, of a passage thence controlled by said valve; a drip chamber with which it connects, havin a drain nor mally open for discharge of short flow, and having means whereby said drain is closed upon long flow and accumulation in said drip chamber; an accumulation chamber connected with said drip chamber and arranged for collection of excess flow therefrom to accumulate in said accumulation chamber and compress air therein: said accumulation chamber having a flexible bottom adapted to be moved by the stored energy of said compressed air and the weight of said collection; and means operated by movement of said chamber bottom to cause actuation of an alarm.

3. Alarm actuating apparatus for a sprinkler system having an alarm valve, comprising a passage leading from said valve and including a drip chamber and an accumulation chamber connected in series, said drip chamber having a low capacity drain and having a diaphragm bottom actuated to close said drain by a predetern'iined accumulation in the passage, caused by a relatively large and long How, thereby causing all subsequent flow to continue to said accumulation chamber; the said accumulation chamber being arranged for the flow therein to compress air therein and having a flexible bottom responsive to said air pressure and to the Weight of the accumulated flow, adapted upon flexing to effect the actuation of an alarm; and there being means permitting relatively slow discharge of said accumulated flow thereby permitting the said bottom to be refiexed to stop the alarm.

l. A liquid distributing system combined witli'auxiliary power operated apparatus; control means for connecting and disconnecting its power, arranged to be operated respectively when flow of the liquid within the said system occurs and ceases; and supercontrol means adapted to prevent the control means from connecting the supply of power until the said How within the system shall have continued for a pre-arranged time, and thereafter to maintain the said connection of power for a pie-arranged time after said flow has ceased; said control means being actuated by increase and by decrease of an accumulation of liquid from the system; and said super-control means providing a relatively large and quick inflow rate during the period of accumulation, including accumulation of a surplus, and a constant relatively slow rate of outflow for reducing the accumulation when inflow has ceased.

5. A liquid distributing system combined with auxiliary power operated apparatus, control means for connecting and disconnecting its power, arranged to be operated when flow of the liquid occurs within the said system, comprising a chamber adapted to re ceive liquid from the system; an element moved by flow in the main system so as to admit liquid to said chamber thereby to cause operation of said control means; and super-control means having elements sep arate from each other, respectively adapted to prevent liquid so admitted from causing the operation of the control means until a prearranged time after the beginning of a movement of said element, and to maintain the connection by said control means for a pre-arranged time after the said element moved by flow has returned to its former position.

6. A liquid distributing apparatus having a flow-operated valve combined with an alarm operating passage arranged to be opened by the opening of said valve; apparatus to which the passage leads, operated by accumulation of water to start an alarm and by diminution of such accumulation to stop the alarm; low capacity drainage constantly open from said passage, whereby accumulation occurs when the valve is opened and diminishes when it is closed; and a bypassage around said valve in the system, with a restriction to such small cross section that flow consequent upon the opening of a sprinkler or drain of the system opens the said valve, but flow due to slow changes of pressure passes by the valve without opening it.

7. A liquid distributing apparatus having a differential valve combined with an alarm operating passage from the intermediate chamber thereof; apparatus to which the passage leads, operated by accumulation of water to start an alarm and by diminution of such accumulation to stop the alarm; a by-pass past said valve, with a restriction to such small cross section that flow c'onsequent upon the opening of a sprinkler or drain of the system opens said valve, but flow due to slow changes of pressure passes by the valve without opening it; and a check valve preventing back flow toward the supply through said passage.

Signed at Providence, Rhode Island, this twenty-seventh day of October, 1922.

WILLIAM A. KENNEDY.

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