US392641A

US392641A - Island

Info

Publication number: US392641A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1888-11-13
Anticipated expiration: 1905-11-13

Description

(No Model.)

B. L, SLOOUM.

AUXILIARY FIRE ALARM BOX.

No. 892,641. Patented Nov. 13, 1888.

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UNITED STATES PATENT @rrree.

EASON L. SLOOUM, OF LINCOLN, RHODE ISLAND.

AUXILIARY FIRE-ALARM BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 392,641, dated November 13, 18188.

Application filed June 21. 1888. Serial No. 277,745. (No model.)

To all whom it 71mg concern.-

Be it known that I, EASON L. SLooUM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lincoln, in the county of Providence and State of Ithode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Auxiliary Fire- Alarm Boxes, of which the following is a specification.

The objects of my improvements are to provide in auxiliary fire-alarm boxes a tell-tale or detector, which, as soon as the button sending the alarm is pressed, drops from its place in the door and evidences that the box has been meddled with; also, to provide a mechanism which will insure an alarm, and I aecomplish these objects by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of the alarmbox; Fig. 2, an inside plan view of same with the door swung open on its hinge, exhibiting the interior of box and the inside of the door; Fig. 3, a cross-section of the box on the line a" a Fig. 4, a rear elevation broken off on line m 3 Similar letters refer to similar parts th rough out the several views.

In Fig. 1 the box is constructed of metal in the shape exhibited in the drawings, having the door A cast in one piece, attached to the lower wall of the box by the hinge H, upon which the door swings open. When closed, this door is secured by the lock L. In this door is made the round central aperture.

In Fig. 2 the door is swung open and its interior face shown, the line of the circular central aperture being shown by the dotted line b.

a a a a are four steel springs set in a circle inside the edge of the aperture, having an equal relative pitch to each other, secured in the interior face of the. door by pins or other suitable means for holding the same firmly in place, and extending about one-sixteenth of an inch beyond the edge of the aperture. The spring a, however, is made in a different man nor, as follows: This spring is made slightly longer, and is attached to the door so as to swing upon the pin 0 for a bearing toward the right hand and restrained from swinging to the left by the clamp 0, thus forming what may be termed a switch-spring.

B is a circular metal disk, the diameter of which is slightly larger than that of the aperture in the door A. This disk, (tide Fig. 2,) when the switch-spring cis swung to the right, may be inserted beneath the ends of the other three springs, a a and when the switch is swung back into place the metal disk B rests in the arms formed by these springs, and, be-

ing slightly larger than the aperture, entire] y covers the same.

D, Fig. 3, is an ordinary electrical pushbutton, centrally secured in the back of the box, opposite the circular aperture and electrically connected with the central fire-alarm station by a wire passing through the groove G in the back wall of the box. (Vida Fig. 4.) This button D is made of suflicient length to reach within one thirty-second part of an inch of the center of the disk 13 when said disk rests in the arms of the springs. This button is secured and rests in the metal case marked E, Fig. 3, which is then centrally secured in an aperture made for that purpose in the back of the box.

\Vhen the auxiliary alarm-box has been secured in any desired location and properly connected by wire with the central station, and it is desired to send in an alarm, the metal disk, which will bear upon its exterior the di rections Press here, or other suitable words, is compressed, and coming into immediate contact with the electricallyconnected button sends in the alarm to the central station. The metal disk by the pressure is pushed out of the arms formed by the springs, and as soon as the pressure is removed, being released from the arms, drops to the floor inside the box, as shown by the dotted circle in Fig. 1. This disk can only be replaced by unlocking the door A and inserting it again within the arms. Theswitch-springa being niadeslightly longer than the other three springs, a a a', the disk when pushed in will be released first from the springs a a a, and is thus prevented from. dropping in any direction save the bottom of the box. This disk thus acts as a tell-tale or detector, and makes it impossible for any one to meddle with the alarm without leaving evidence that the box has been tampered with. This telltale disk forms one of the main features of my invention, as hitherto in auxiliary alarm-boxes a glass cover has been employed covering the entire door on the exterior, with a hammer hanging loosely beside the box to break the glass in case of giving an alarm. When it became necessary to sen d in an alarm, the hammer must first be taken down, then the glass broken,and finally the button pressed, making in all three separate and distinct movements for What I perform in one. The glass is employed simply as a tell-tale, and is only used for that purpose. Experience has shown in a recent case of a serious fire that after the glass was broken in one of the boxes of this kind the person breaking the glass ontirely forgot to press the button and send in the alarm. My invention, however, obviates any possible danger of an accident of this nature, since the slightest pressure of the disk brings the same into immediate connection with the electrically-connected button and sends in the alarm. It also serves the purpose of a tell-tale fully as well as the glass, since the watchman or person having charge of the boxes can at a glance detect whether the box has been meddled with. Again, the disk can be more easily replaced and far more cheaply than the glass. Again, as is very likely to happen, the hammer may have been removed, necessitating the breaking of the glass by the hand at some danger.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure, is-

1. In auxiliary fire-alarm boxes, the metal disk B, centrally held in the face of the door A by the steel springs ct a a and the switchspring a and the contiguous electrically-connected button, substantially as described.

2. In auxiliary fire-alarm boxes, the combination of the centrally-apertured metal door A with the removable tell-tale metal disk 13 and the contiguous electrically-connected button, held in the centrally-secured metal rest or case E, substantially as described.

EASON L. SLOOUM.

In presence of EDWARD W. BLODGETT, CLAUDIUS 'B. FARNSWORTH.