US340210A - William habkness - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 W. HARKNESS.

FIRE EXTINGUISHTNG APPARATUS. v No. 340,210. Patented Apr. 20, 1886.

2 Sheets-Sheet 2. v

(No Model.)

W. HARKNESS. FIRE EXTINGUISHING APPARATUS.-

Patented Apr.'20,' 1886.

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NITED TATES PATENT FFICE.

WILLIAM HARKNESS,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 340,210, dated April 20, 11386. Application filed September 22, 1885. Serial No. 177,799. (No modeli) To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM HARKNESS, of the city and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Fire-Extinguishing Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

Buildings have heretofore been provided with systems of water-pipes, including tubes that extend along the ceilings of the different portions of the building, and to these automatic valves or sprinklers are connected at suitable distances apart,such automatic valves being retained in a closed condition by fusible solder, the melting of which by a temperature of about 160 allows the valves to open and the water to be discharged through the sprinklers, extinguishing the fire that may have produced the rise in temperature. In systems of this kind there are difficulties arising-such as the freezing of the water in the pipes-because the warehouses, stores, and other buildings fitted with the fire-extinguishing apparatus are seldom kept at a sufficiently high temperature to prevent freezing, especially at night.

Efforts have been made to use what is known as the dry-pipe system, in which two sets of pipes are used-one for air and the other for waterand when the automatic valves are unsealed to allow the air to escape the relieving of the confined air-pressure causes a valve to admit water to the water-pipes and sprinklers. This system is complicated and expensive, and difficult to keep in working order.

Hand-grenades have heretofore been made and used by me, in which aliquid is employed that is especially adapted to extinguish fires, because such liquid will not freeze, and when it is discharged or scattered upon a fire the gases evolved check and extinguish the fire, even where the liquid itself has not extended to it. A liquid of this character is described in Letters Patent No. 182,508, granted September 19, 1876, and February 5, 1878, No. 199,950.

My invention is intended to combine with the. system of stationary pipes and automatic sprinklers the non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid above referred to, and with this object in view I make use of a tank in an elevated position to contain the said non-freezing fireextinguishing liquid, to which tank the system of pipes aforesaid is connected, and I also provide a water-supply to follow the nonfreezing fire-extinguishing liquid through the system of pipes to the valves or sprinklers where the discharge takes place.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional and perspective view illustrating the system as applied within a building. Fig. 2 is a detached section of the circuit-closing device employed in connection with the fire-extinguishing system to give an alarm, and Fig. 3 is a modification of the connecting-pipe between the reservoir and tank.

It is to be understood that the arrangements of pipes or conduits for the fire-extinguishing liquid will varyin different buildings. I have shown the vertical main conduits A,horizontal conduits B, and branch pipes C to the automatic valves or sprinklers D. These valves or sprinklers may be ofany desired character, and I refer to my Patent No. 323,578, granted August 4,1885, for an illustration of the kind of valve that may be made use of in the present system. The vertical conduit A is connected at its upper end with a tank, E, into which is to be introduced a non-freezing fireextinguishing liquid such as before described.

From the devices thus far set forth it will be seen that if either of the automatic valves or sprinklers D opens in consequence of excessive heat the fire-extinguishing liquid filling the conduits and branch pipes will be discharged at such automatic sprinklers, and,falling upon the fire and'around the same,the liquidactsto extinguish the fire both by direct contact therewith and by thegases that are evolved from the liquid. The supply of this non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid will, however, usually be limited, and in order to continue the discharge upon the fire of an extinguishingliquid, I combine with the devices before described means for supplying water at two places. I connect with the lower part of the vertical conduit A a pipe, F, that extends through the building into the street, so that a hose from a fire-engine can be screwed upon the end of this pipe F and water projected through the system of pipes and discharged ICO - troduce a check-valve in the pipe F at G, to

prevent the loss of fire-extinguishing liquid and to allow the freeingress of water from the fire-hose attached to the pipe F, and I furthermore provide a reservoir, H, for water, and a pipe, I, extending from near the bottom of this reservoir into the tank E. I sometimes use a pipe in the form of a siphon,that passes up over the edge of the reservoir and down into the tank E, the joint between the lower end of the pipe and the tank being made tight, so that whenever a fire occurs and the non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid runs down out of the tank Ea suction is produced, which draws the water over through the siphon I from the reservoir H; hence such water follows up the nonfreezing fire-extinguishingliquid and plays upon the fire. I prefer to use the pipe I, passing from the bottom of the reservoir H into the tank E, and a valve, 1, to close such pipe I; but this valve is lifted by the float I chains I I, and lever I when theliquid runs out of the tank E. By this construction the expansion of the liquid in the system of pipes and the tank does not vary the action of the parts, as it sometimes does with a siphon, as in Fig. 1. I provide a stop-cock at M, by which the further discharge of water or liquid can be stopped by hand when the fire is extinguished. The branch pipes B are each provided with a cock, G, for shutting off the liquid from the conduit A, and a pipe, G", is connected with the cocks i, which pipe Gr receives the drain from the branch B after the cock G has been closed.

It is also important in cases of fire to sound an alarm automatically. lVith this object in.

view, I make use of a galvanic battery, N, in any convenient location, and circuit-Wires 0 from the same to one or more electro-magnetic gongs, I, located in the most prominent places, and the wires 0 lead to an automatic circuitcloser at Q. This circuit-closer may be of any desired character. I, however, prefer and use the device shown sectionally in Fig. 2, wherein there is a hinged flap, R, inside the case S, the said flap hanging across the end of the descending supply-pipe, so that it will remain in a vertical position until deflected by a rush of the non-freezing fire-extinguish ing liquid through the pipe in consequence of the opening of one of the automatic fire-extinguishing valves. The swinging of this flap R presses the head of the circuit-closing stem T in between the circuit-springs U U, and in so doing closes the electric circuit and causes the gong to be sounded.

By my system I am able to avail of the most rapid and elficient means for extinguishing a fire in its incipient stages, and to continue the supply of water after the noni'reezing fireextinguishing liquid has been exhausted, and there is no risk of the apparatus getting out of order or becoming injured by the action of frost, because the aforesaid fireextinguishing liquid does not freeze, besides which it is more efficacious than water.

I do not claim a non-freezing liquid in connection with the pipes leading to the automatic valves in a fire-extinguishing system.

In fire-extinguishing apparatus where a nonfreezing fire-extinguishing liquid is used in the pipes it becomes inoperative if water from a reservoir or otherwise is permitted to mingle with the liquid, because the water eventually mixes by the lapse of time and by the flow of liquid due to expansion and contraction under changes of temperature, until the liquid can become frozen and the apparatus useless. By my improvement, in which an elevated tank is used for such non-freezing fire-eXtinguish-' ,ing liquid, expansion and contraction and loss by evaporation are allowed for, and the water in the second reservoir does not flow from the same until the non-freezing liquid flows rapidly out of the tank, and the water follows the same to the place of discharge on.

the fire.

Although connections have been made to the street from distribution-pipes, they have not been made in connection with sprinklers unsealed by the action of heat, and a tank for non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid, whereby the firemen can use the same system for directing water on the fire, and by placing the circuit-closing device in the main pipe near the tank the numerous connections to the sprinklers are dispensed with.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination of a system of pipes, and a series of automatic valves adapted to being unsealed by the action of heat, with an elevated tank and non -freezin g fire-extinguishingliquid within the pipes and tank,and an elevated water-holding tank, and a connection between the two tanks that remains empty, or partially so,in its normal condition, and means,

substantially as specified, for causing the water to flow through this connection when the fire-extinguishing liquid runs out of the tank that holds the same, as set forth.

2. A system of pipes or conduits and auto matic sprinklers or valves unsealed by the action of heat, and containing a non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid, in combination with a reservoir for such non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid, and a water-supply pipe connected with the system of pipes and leading to the outside of the building, and a checkvalve to the same for retaining the non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid, whereby Water through the hose-connection at the outside of the building is caused to .follow up and assist the fire-extinguishing liquid in the pipes in subduing the fire, substantially as specified.

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3. The combination, with the system of and a float and valve to the pipe, substan pipes and aseriesof automatic valvesadapttially as specified. 10 ed to being unsealed by the action of heat, of Signed by me this 18th day of September, non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid within A. D. 1885.

5 the pipes an elevated tank for holding the WILLIAM HARKNESS.

same, a water-holding reservoir, and a pipe \Vitnesses: connecting such reservoir to the tank contain- GEO. T. PINOKNEY,

ing the non-freezing fire-extinguishing liquid, WILLIAM G. MOTT.

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