US2819764A

US2819764A - Fire extinguishing apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2819764A
Application number: US576389A
Authority: US
Inventors: Jr Charles Anthony
Original assignee: Specialties Development Corp
Current assignee: Specialties Development Corp
Priority date: 1956-04-05
Filing date: 1956-04-05
Publication date: 1958-01-14
Anticipated expiration: 1975-01-14

Description

. Jan. 14, 1958 c. ANTHONY, JR

FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS Filed April 5. 1956 ORNEY INVENTOR Chr/cs 0/:

. GGIAPPARA'ITUS :Charles-.Anthony,Jr.,- East range, N. J., assignor to Specialties Development Corporation,.Belleville, N. L,

a corporation of New Jersey Application April 5,1956, Serial No.576',389

4 :Claims; .(Cl.*.169+31) discharged therefrom as a.fiuid-. stream by gas,.under pressure, confined inthe extinguisher.

whenrsuch extinguishers are discharged, the pressure ofrthegas declines as it expands into the space provided rby the expelled agent and is less effective to force out the agent, whereby the range of the stream is shortened, con- .,.siderably as the extinguisher is nearly empty.

7 In the extinguishment of fires, particularly burning liquids such as gasoline, it has been found that the initial discharge of the extinguisher tends to drive the fire back to a relatively confined area. If, due to local conditions, the operator is unable to physically advance .on thefire, as the streamloses range, to complete extinguishment thereof,-the fire-will linger and subsequently flash back, particularly asthe agent and/or gaseous propellantis. nearly exhausted.

In order to overcome the foregoingdifiiculty, it has been proposed vtoprovide a larger quantity of :gaseous propellant by confining the same at a much higher initial pressure, but this resulted in the gas forcing its way through the. agent to the atmosphere duringthe stages of initial discharge, particularly in the case of dry powder agents, whereby the remaining gas was no more effective near the end of discharge-than the gas originally-confined at a lower pressure. Another objection toconfining the gaseousprepellant at-much higher pressuresisthat the extinguisher must be stronger and thus is much heavier.

Accordin ly, an-object of the present invention is to provide an extinguisher of the type described which is not subject to the foregoing difficulti-es and hence is more eifective.

Another object is to provide such an extinguisher which has sufficient range to knock down the fire and extinguish the same after it has been driven back.

Another object is to accomplish the foregoing in a simple and economical manner without materially increasing the weight of the extinguisher.

Another object is to provide means for accomplishing the foregoing which may be operated manually and/or automatically.

A further object is to provide a novel method of extinguishing fire.

Other and further objects of the invention will be obvious upon an understanding of the illustrative embodiment about to be described, or will be indicated in the appended claims, and various advantages not referred to herein will occur to one skilled in the art upon employment of the invention in practice.

In accordance with the present invention, the foregoing objects generally are accomplished by causing the confined gaseous propellant to etfect initial discharge of the agent from its storage receptacle, and, after a predetermined reduction of the pressure in the extinguisher, preferably, to a predetermined value, supplying an additional quan- 2 tity oflgaseous propellant,.wherehytthestream .gainsrange and is :effe.ctive .to.knockdownlhefirelin the later stages 3 -.of-.discharge 'of.the.agent.

...- A..-preferred.- embodiment .of. theeinvention .hasrbeen 5. chosen .forspurposes of. illustrationand deseription,.and is shownin the: accompanying.drawing,.:forming apart of the specification, .-.wher.ein:

H Eig..1.is a.schematic,.longitudinal sectional viewtof an l..-extinguisher,1. in accordance. .vvith..-..the present... invention,

, l0 eillustratingthesame. in.=its .cha rgedscondition.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentarylongitudinalsectional Hview of the upper.portionoithe.:extinguisher, illustrating the. same .in the. latter. .stage :of..discharge.

Fig. 3 is a graph :illustratingthe.pressurefwithin-the extinguisher during. the discharge. thereof.

. :Referring to Figs..1. and 2 of: thedrawingin detail, there is shown a fire.extinguisher.which.essentiallyzcomprises a :receptacleor container 10 fonconfining a fire extinguishing v agent and gas under.pressure,.discharge means. Him the container, an auxiliary.-container.-:12 for confining compressed. gas andzzfluidflow ..connection. means.14 between the containers-10 and .12.

As-shown in Fig...1, the container .10 has acy-lindrical Y..ohamber. .151- provided:with an internally threaded neck 16 Q] -at:its .upper end anda-filling-opening at the bottom thereof elosedby aplug17.-threadedly:securedtherein.a Suitable -rneans-=18 are provided near theanecktl6 forpressurizing the-chamber 15.

r The dischargeameans-:11.=ineludes .a-syphomtube .19 extending upwardlyfrom near the bottomofthe chamber 2. J andthrough the-aside-.of'thea.ehamber nearthe .upper tend thereof, 'a-fiexible dischargehose 20 connected": to the syphontube and a .discharge shield :21 having a discharge .'-control valve. 22.

The auxiliary container. :12. .has: an. internally threaded mn6ks24 at its, upper end andzsuita'ble, means 25 at-itslower end fort charging the ;chainber:-provided= by the. container 2 with compressed gas. -As best shown in Fig. .2, the fluid flow-connecting means i .1 =.-14?comprises.- a: body 26 having :apiston .boreI27, amaperturew28. at one :end concentric-with the bore anda: threaded nipplec29 intermediate "its 'endsr-which isrsecured into the wneck -16 of thecontainerlO toprovideafiuid flow connec- 51ztienebetweenithe:chamberzlSvandZthe bore 27. w. .A'c'ap 30 isnthreade'dly 1 secured Itoz: the :other::e'r1d of 1 the body 26 which has .a-vraised seat r3la:facingsthei;bore 27 "and a threaded nipple 32 secured into the neck 24 of the auxiliary container 12. A passageway 33 extends from the seat 31 to the nipple to provide a fluid flow connection between the container 12 and the bore 27. A piston 35 is slidably positioned in the bore 27 which has a seal 36 for engaging the seat 31 to close the passageway 33, a head 37 provided with gasket means 38 and a piston rod 39 connected to the head. The piston rod has a section 40 of reduced diameter adjacent the head 37, a section 41 of larger diameter which extends through the aperture 28, and a knob 42 at the outer end of the section 41 for manually operating the piston. A gasket 44 provides a pressure tight seal 0 between the aperture 28 and the rod section 41.

The container 10 is filled to the desired level with an extinguishing agent and is pressurized while the seal 36 is firmly seated on the seat 31 as shown in Fig. 1. The auxiliary container 12 is then pressurized and the extinguisher is ready for discharge. The piston 35 is retained in this sealing position because the area thereof acted on by the pressure within the container 10 is much greater than the area thereof acted on by the pressure within the container 12. As a safety precaution, against gas which might leak between the seat 31 and the seal 36 and build up a pressure on this side of the piston capable of moving it out of its sealing position, a very small bleed port 45 extends from adjacent the seat 31 to the exterior of the cap.

In operation, the discharge shield 21 is directed to the base of the fire and the valve 22 is opened. As the fire has been driven back to a restricted zone and the discharge pressure starts to decline in the container 10, the piston 35 may be manually withdrawn by means of the knob 42 to unclose the passageway 33 and allow gas in the auxiliary countainer to enter the chamber 15 and complete discharge of the agent at a bolstered pressure. When the piston is so retracted, the section 411 of reduced diameter is positioned within the aperture 28, as shown in Fig. 2, to place the bore 27 in communication with the atmosphere whereby pressure cannot build up in back of the piston.

If desired, the diameters of the bore 27, the passage way 33 and the rod section may be so proportioned with respect to the pressures initially in the containers 10 and 12 to cause an automatic release of the gas in the auxil iary container when the pressure Within the chamber 15 has declined to a predetermined value.

In Fig. 3, a typical pressure condition Within the chamber 15 during the discharge period is illustrated graphically. Initially, the pressure has a value of P1 as represented by the point a, and upon discharge of the extinguisher, this pressure declines to a value of P2, as represented by the point b. The pressure drop from a to b usually takes place in about half the time required to discharge the extinguisher completely. At the point b, the stream of fire extinguishing agent commences to lose range and effectiveness and it is at this point that the pressure within the chamber is boosted by either manual or automatic operation of the piston, whereupon the pressure is restored to a value closely approaching P1, as represented by the point c, before it again declines to a value of about P2 as represented by the point d. Thus, in the latter stages of discharge, the stream has a range and force which is eflective to knock down the cornered fire, the pressure at the point d when the extinguisher is emptied being almost as great as at the point :5 which exists when the extinguisher is about half empty.

In the event the pressure is not boosted as in the past, it declines from the point b to the point d, as represented by the broken line, andis completely ineffective to knock down the fire near the end of discharge.

From the foregoing description, it will be seen that the present invention provides a novel and highly effective manner of extinguishing flammable liquids which assures extinguishment of the fire without the requirement of great skill on the part of the operator.

As various changes may be made in the form, construction and arrangement of the parts herein, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention and Without sacrificing any of its advantages, it is to be understood that all matter herein is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in any limiting sense.

I claim:

1. In a fire extinguisher, the combination of a receptacle having a normally closed discharge outlet, a given quantity of a non-gaseous fire extinguishing fluid confined in said receptacle, a gas confined in said receptacle in a quantity and at a pressure to effectively expel approximately one half of said fluid upon opening of said discharge outlet and which gas after such discharge is reduced to a pressure incapable of etfectively expelling the remainder of said fluid, a container having an outlet, a gas entirely in gaseous state confined in said container in a quantity and at a pressure to efiectively expel the remainder of said fluid, a fluid flow connection between said container outlet and the interior of said receptacle, and valve means in said fluid flow connection constructed and arranged for fully closing said fluid flow connection while said gas in said receptacle is at a pressure to effectively expel said fluid and for fully opening said fluid flow connection when said gas in said receptacle is reduced to 21v pressure incapable of expelling said fluid, whereby said gas in said container enters said receptacle and boosts the pressure therein to a value and for a duration of time to efliectively expel the remainder of said fluid.

2. A fire extinguisher according to claim 1, wherein said valve means include a cylinder and a freely movable piston serving as a valve member.

3. A fire extinguisher according to claim 2, wherein a manually operable member is provided for moving said valve member from one position to another.

4. A fire extinguisher according to claim 2, wherein said cylinder communicates with said container at one end thereof and with said receptacle intermediate the ends thereof.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,815,494 Camp July 21, 1931 2,430,470 Keefe et a1 Nov. 11, 1947 2,541,554 Smith Feb. 13, 1951 2,580,448 Mapes et al. Ian. 1, 1952 2,620,038 Somers et al. Dec. 2, 1952 2,764,246 Emmrich et al Sept. 25, 1956