US1679568A - Strut for automatic sprinklers - Google Patents

Description

W. GRIMSHAW VSTRUT FOR AUTOMIATIC SPRINKLERS Aug. .7, 1928. 1,679,568

Filed Aug. 25, 1923 Patented Aug. 7, 1928.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM GRIMSHAW, 0F GLEN ELLYN, ILLINOIS.

STRUT FOR AUTOMATIC SPRINKLERS.

Application led August 25,V 1923. Serial No. 659,294.

This invention relates to struts for automatic sprinklers used for securing the caps or valves of the sprinklers in closed position, and relates particularly to struts of the toggle type.

The invention also relates to an improved process of producing struts of the type speci- Vfied.

As the invention relates to the article, the object of the invention is to )rovide an improved strut of the type speci ed, which will be relatively many times stronger than struts now commonly used, all of which will be facsimiles of one another, both as regards shape, size and resistance to withstand stresses, and which may be produced in quantities at lrelatively very small cost.

As the invention relates to a process of manufacture, the object of the invention is to provide a practical process for producing struts possessing the foregoing characteristics, whereby said struts of relative great strength may be produced in quantities atV relatively very small cost as compared with present methods of manufacture.

' To effect the objects of the inventionmy improved process consists in punching blanks from suitable sheet metal, and in shaping said blanks tothe form ofthe finished article by successive swaging operations in progressively conforming dies and as the invention relates to an article ofmanufacture, I attain the object of the invention by subjecting a suitable blank to the various steps or operations which constitute my 1mproved process.

In the accompanying drawing, in which the steps or operations comprising my improved process and the finished strut members resulting therefrom are illustrated,

Figure l is a diagrammatic view showing a strut of the general type to which my invention relates, as applied in use for securing the cap or valve of the sprinkler in closed position.

Figure 2 is a side view of the female member of a strut embodying my invention and improvements. y

Figure 3 is an end view thereof from the left side of Fig. 2.

Figures fi and 5 are views corresponding to Figs. 2 and 3, of a blank suitable for the production of said strut member by the practice of my improvedprocess.

Figures 6 and 7 are corresponding views yand. all other showing said blank after being subjected to the first swaging operation.

Figures 8 and 9 are corresponding views showing said blank after being subjected to the second swaging operation; and

FigureszlO and 1l are similar views showingthe blankfafter being subjected to the third swaging operation.

Referring now particularly to Fig. l of the drawing, in which I have, for purposes of clear and definite illust-ration, shown a strut of the general type to which the present invention relates, as applied in Ause for securing the cap or valve of the water nozzle of an automatic sprinkler in closed position, a designates the base portion of the sprinkler frame, al the arms thereof which connect said base portion with the abutment 0,2, a"x the valve or cap which closes the water discharge nozzle of the sprinkler, a* a stressing screw having threaded engagement with a hole formed through the abutment a2, a5 and a articulated male and female strut members inserted between the cap` orv valve as and the inner end ofthe stressing screw a4, the remote ends of said strut members being lrounded and engaging recessed seats or bear ings formed in the valve cap a3 and in the end of the stressing screw o4, respectively,

vand a7 a fusible link which connects the ends of the lever arms forming parts of the' strut membersaf, a6. In the drawings, the strut members a5, a6 are shownin full lines parts of the sprinkler indotted lines.

lAs regards its usual features and excepting as hereinafter particularly described and pointed out, said sprinkler may be of anyusual or approved construction, and will readily be understood by persons skilled inthe art from an examination of the drawings, without a description thereof in detail.

In accordance with my improved process of manufacture, the strutvmembers a5, a, are formed from blanks punched from a plate of suitable ductile sheet metalpreferably phosphorbronze-substantially .128 of an inch in thickness.

In Figs. 4k and 5 of the drawings, I have shown a blank, designated as a whole as, adapted for making either the male strut member a5 or the female member a, said blank comprising a portion l adapted for forming the strut portion proper of said strut member, and an. arm portion 2.

In accordance with my improved process, the blanks as are wrought to the form of the finished strut members 0,5, ai, by subjocting them to four successive forgfng or swag'ing operations in dies which progressively conform to the shape of said strut members. As a result ofextendcd tests and experiments, I have discovered that said blank can be brought to final shape by four different swaging operations performed on said blank in succession, the first of said operations i mparting` to the blank substantially the shape shown in Figs. G and 7, the second swag'ing operation imparting to said blank the shape shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the third operation imparting to thc blank the shape shown in Figs. 10 and 11, and the fourth and final forging operation conforming said blank to the shape of the finishedstrut member,`as the female member shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

By means of my improved process of manufacture, I am able to produce strut members a5, a, in large quantities, all of which will be fac similes of one another; which will be relatively many times stronger than struts of the same general type produced by present methods of manufacture, and the cost of which .is rela tively very much less.

Struts made in accordance with my improved process possess a great advantage over struts madein any other manner of which I have any knowledge, in the respect that, due to the forging and swaging` to which they are subjected in manufacture, they are much stronger than other struts, first, because they are rendered very tough by said forging and swaging operations, second, because said operations compact and consolidate the surface ofthe metal, rendering it very dense and impart-ing to it great strength and resistance to withstand the stresses which it will sustain in use, and third, because, due to the process of manufacture, the struts are iinished complete by theforging and swaging operations to which they are subjected, Without a separate finishing operation, thus materially reducing the cost of production of said struts.

Having ascertained by test and experiment the form of the blank most desirable for use in the manufacture of the strut members in accordance with my improved process, the number of forging operations to be employed and, in a general way the successive shapes to which the blanks are to be wrought,

skilled mechanics can readily produce con' forming vdies suitable for performing the different steps of my improved process of manufacture and it will not, therefore, be

necessary to either show or describe said dies in detail.

I claim- 1. rlhe process of making struts for auto'- matic sprinklers, which consist in punching blanks substantially of the shape shoWn'in Figs. 4; and 5 from suitable sheet metal, subjecting the portion 1 of said blank to a swaging operation in the directions indicated by the arrows, Fig. t, bringing it substantially to the form shown in Figs. 6 and 7, subjecting the entire blank to a swaging operation in the directions indicated by the arrows, Fi 6, bringing' it substantially to the form shown in Figs. 8 and 9, subjecting the entire blank to a swaging operation in the directions indicated by the arrows, Fig. 9, 'bringing it substantially to the form shown in Figs. 10 and 11, and in then subjecting the entire blank toa swaging operation in the directions indicated by the arrows, Fig. 10, bringing it substantially to its final form shown in Fi's'. 2 and 3, each swaging operation being substantiallyV at right angles to the last preceding operation whereby fins or ribs formed on the blankin earlier swaging

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