US445372A

US445372A - johns

Info

Publication number: US445372A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1891-01-27
Anticipated expiration: 1908-01-27

Description

' (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. W. JOHNS, Jr. FIRE ISOLATING APPARATUS.

No. 445,372. Patehted 13611.27, 1891.

INVENTUH BY A M ATTORNEY ms mums PETERS cu, PHOTO LXTHU., wAsumnwu, n. c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2:. H. W. JOHNS, Jr.

I FIRE ISOLATING APPARATUS. No. 445,372. Patented Jan. 2.7, 1891.

ans TE mow a ZUNITED STATES PATENT tries;

HENRY W. JOHNS, JR, OF NEiV YORK, N. Y.

FIRE-ISOLATING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,372, dated January 27, 1891.

Application filed September 12, 1890. Serial No. 364,747. (No model.)

T0 at whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY JOHNS, J r., a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York. and State of New York, hZLX G invented certain n ew and useful Fire-Isolating Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in means for confining and retarding incipient fires; and it consists in the arrangement and construction of curtains or screens, preferably fire-proof, in combination with devices for supporting them, whereby the apartment or loft may be automatically or manually, as desired, divided into portions of restricted area, in which area the fire will be, by the dropping of the curtains or screens.

In the drawings the same reference-letters indicate the same parts in all figures.

Figure 1 illustrates a plan view of the ceiling-of a loft or room in awarehouse, showing the screens rolled up and suspended near the ceiling. Fig. 2 illustrates a sectional elevation of a portion of that which is shown in Fig. 1, taken on the line a: x of that figure, one of the screens having dropped. Fig. 3

' illustrates a plan of a ceiling, showing another construction of the screen-supporting devices. Fig. 4. illustrates a side view of one of the screen-supporting clutches, showing in dotted lines the clutch open. Fig. 5 illustrates an edge view of that which is shown in Fig. 4. Fig. (3 illustrates a side view of the pulleysupporting frame used in the form of apparatus shown in Fig. 3. Fig. 7 illustrates a bottom View of that which is shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 8 illustrates an alternative construction of the pulley-supporting frame adapted to either manual or automatic operation and shown in dotted lines as released. Fig. 9 illustrates an edge View, and Fig. 10 a side or flat view, of one form in which the fusible metal may be used in the cord or wire which controls the screen-supporting clutches.

A A are the walls of the warehouse.

B B are the floor-timbers.

G O are the screens, preferably made of as- I bestus, wirecloth, or other non-inflammable material.

.0 C are brackets or journals for the roll ers upon which the screens are wound. The screens may instead be tacked to the ceiling at their upper edge and rolled up on arod D, which descends with them.

E E are brackets attached to the ceiling of the room adjacent to the screens and on opposite sides thereof. There may be two of them only for the support of the screen-cradles, in which event they maybe placed about midway of the screen,as shown in Figs. 1 and 3, or there may be four or more spaced along the screen, as desired. These brackets comprise a fixed jaw G and a pivoted jaw ill, which is adapted ,to open, as shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4:, which form the clutch for supporting the screen-cradles.

I is a strap or cradle, which may be made of canvas, leather, metal, or other suitable material. It has enlargements J at its ends. They may be made in any preferred manneras, for instance, by folding over the material of which the cradle is made, or, preferably, by attaching to the ends of the cradle a cylindrical piece of wood or other material. These enlarged ends will be firmly held within the jaws of the clutch. I

K K are wires or cords which connect the ends of two of the movable jaws, and at such place or places in them as preferred I interpose a piece of easily-fusible metal J as shown in Figs'tland l0, alloyed so as to fuse at such temperature as desired.

The operation of the apparatus as thus far explained is as follows: The screens are normally rolled up against the ceiling and are there suspended by the cradles, which are held by the clutches and the connecting cords or wires, as described. The goods stored in the warehouse are arranged in separated bodies or masses, with space between them down through which the screens may drop, and also there is arranged a hallway or alley L, preferably running lengthwise of the building. The screens 0 shut in the storagespace on the side next this hallway. \Vhen fire occurs in any part of the floor, the heat rises to the ceiling and fuses the easily-fusible metal. The cords or wires K thereupon part and the pivoted jaws of the clutches E are released. They at once swingon their pivots and the cradles are released, allowing the screens to drop. In this way the pendent screens, together with the wall of the building, the ceiling and the floor, form an inclosed space in which the fire is confined, thus preventing its spreading, and retarding it by cutting off drafts and by partially smothering it. Thus the fire is in agreat measure controlled during the first ten or fifteen minutes, which in almost every instance will be sufiicient to enable firemen to successfully cope with it.

In Figs. 3, 6, 7, and S I show a modified construction of the apparatus. Itis adapted to use in large rooms or lofts of such size that a fire of considerable magnitude might occur in some remote part of it, and yet the heat might not be sutlicient to fuse the metal atthe central part, where the clutch-holding cord or wire and the fusible metal are situated under the former plan. Under this form of my invention the cord or wire after coming from the pivoted jaw of one of the clutches passes around a little pulley M, thence right and left, zigzagging across the ceiling, passing around little pulleys N N N &c., until at the other end it passes over another pulley 0, similar to the pulley M,

and thence to the other pivoted jaw of the opposite clutch. These pulleys are all of them journaled in frames, as shown in Figs. (3 and 7, comprising a bracket-like piece of metal P, which is screwed to the ceiling, and

a bent piece Q, which is soldered to the piece P by easily-fusible metal. The pulley is e11- tirely in the piece Q and comes away with it. It will thus be seen that should fire occur in any part of the room one at least of the pulley-supports will be approximately over it, and being acted on by the heat the pulley and the part Q will become detached from the bracket P, and the cord or wire will then become slackened and the clutch released, resulting in the falling of the screen, as before, even if for any reason the fusible metal at J &c.,shouldnotoperate. PP are springs which I interpose in the cord or wire to allow for contraction and expansion.

In Fig. 8 I show an improved method of attaching the pulley-supporting part Q to the bracket Pz'. e., there is a stud R made on the part Q, which engages with a recess S, made in the bracket P, and there is a piece of easily-fusible metal T, which is soldered at one end to the bracket and at the other end to the rearward1y-projecting end of the part Q. This is so arranged that the heated air will have free access all about it, that it may become quickly acted upon by the heat, and the moment it fuses the hold of the parts upon each other is broken and the stud R leaves the recess S and the parts separate, as before. In this figure also I show a construction by which the screens may be dropped by hand, if desired, when there is not sufficient heat to fuse the metal-i. c., the bracket P is made in two parts pivoted together at U, and there is a spring-controlled latch V, which engages the other end of the bracket and normally holds it up against the ceiling, and it is provided with a cord or wire W, which extends struction shown and described, since it will be obvious that many modifications may be made therein and still the gist of my invention be employed. For example, the cords or wires need not be restricted to the ceiling. On the contrary, sometimes I propose to carry them down the walls of the building to or near to the floor, passing them over or around suitably-located pulleys or their equivalents, practically as above described. Also, I wish it to be understood that I prefer that the area of the isolated compartments should not be very greatsay not to exceed from five to eight hundred square feet floor-space. Also, as is well understood, an easily-explosive material which explodes at a slight heat'may be used in a glass or other device set in the line of cord or wire instead of the easilyfusible solder. This construction I show at the right in Fig. 3. dis a globular-shaped glass device having eyes I) b or their equivalent at each end, with which the wire 70 is connected. It contains the material easily and forcibly expansible under slight heat, and which will burst the globular part and thus break the continuity of the wire and release the curtain.

I claim-- 1. The combination, with the wall, ceiling, and floor of a building, of gravity-actin g rolled screens normally held at or near the ceiling by holding devices which embody in their construction material which under the action of heat without flame destroys or breaks the holding device, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with the wall, ceiling, and floor of a building, of gravity-actin g rolled screens normally held at or near the ceiling by clutches which are held closed by controllingdevices which embody in their construction material which under the action of heat without flame destroys or breaks the said holding devices, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with the Wall, ceiling, and 'fioor of a building, of gravity-acting screens arranged to leave a hallway across the floor and normally held at or near the ceiling by devices automatically released by the action of heat, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination, with the wall, ceiling, and floor of abnilding, of a rolled screen normally held at or near the ceiling by a clutch which is held closed by a cord, wire, or the like which extends from the clutch to and fro across the ceiling, composed partly of easily-fusible material or with an explosive device, substantially as set forth.

5. The combination of a rolled screen fast ened at one edge at or near the ceiling, a clutch which holds the screen suspended, and a controlling device for the clutch, embodying in its construction material which under the action of heat without flame destroys or breaks the clutch-holding device, said device extending across the ceiling in different directions and passing around pulleys, where its course is deflected, substantially as set forth.

6. The combination of a screen, a clutch which holds the screen suspended, and a cord or wire which holds the clutch closed and which passes across the ceiling and around pulleys held to their supports by easily fusible or explosive material, substantially as set forth.

7. The combination of a screen, a clutch which holds the screen suspended, a cord or wire which holds the clutch closed, a hinged pulley around which the cord passes, a latch which holds the support for the pulley against the pull of the cord, and means whereby the latch may be withdrawn, substantially as set forth.

8. The combination of a screen, a clutch which holds the screen suspended, a cord or wire which holds the clutch closed and which passes across the ceiling and around pulleys which are held to their support by easily fusible or explosive material, and a spring interposed in the cord or wire for counteracting expansion and contraction, substantially as set forth.

9. The combination herein described of a series of screens suspended from the ceiling and arranged at angles to each other, so that when they drop they will divide the underlying floor-space into inclosed smaller areas, the said screens being maintained near the ceiling by devices automatically released by the action of heat without flame, substantiall y as set forth.

Signed at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, this 28th day of August, A. D. 1890.

HENRY V. JOHNS, JR.

\Vituesses:

PHILLIPS ABBOTT, FREDERICK SMITH.