US700967A - Method of extinguishing fires. - Google Patents

Description

No. 700,967. Patented May 27, I902; J. D. MOORE 8|. F, M. MARTIN. METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FIRES.

(Application filed May 22, 1901.)

(No Model.)

m: nonms PEYERS co. moTcLumu. WASHINGTON, 0.1:.

NlTED STATES i ATENT FFICE.

JOHN D. MOORE, OF NEIV YORK, AND FRED M. MARTIN, OF BROOKLYN,

NEYV YORK; SAID MOORE ASSIGNOR TO THE CLAYTON FIRE EXTIN- GUISHING & DISINFECTING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF WEST VIRGINIA.

METHOD OF EXTINGUISHING FIRES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 700,967, dated May 27, 1902. Application filed May 22, 1901. Serial No. SL343. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Beitknown that we, JOHN D. MOORE, of the borough of Manhattan, and FRED M. MARTIN, of the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Extinguishing Fires, of which the followingis a specification, reference being had to the drawings accompanying and forming a part of the same.

Our present invention pertains to the general plan of charging closed compartments with gas for the purpose of fumigating or preventing or extinguishing fires therein, disclosed in patents to Thomas A Clayton, No. 633,807, dated September 26, 1899, and No. 661,4:97, dated November 13, 1900, and is an improvement on such method especially de signed for use in extinguishing fires in certain kinds of merchandise which when once started are so persistent as to defy all ordinary methods for their complete extinction.

It has been found that no ordinary combustibles can be ignited in a closed chamber the atmosphere of which contains a certain proportion of sulfur-dioxid gas, varying from two or three up to fifteen per cent. It has also been found that a great majority of combustible materials such as usually constitute the cargoes of ships when completelyignited and in an advanced stage of combustion may be very quickly extinguished by charging the compartment in which they are contained with a similar atmosphere; but attempts to extinguish in this way a fire which has once fairly started in a mass or bale of cotton have resulted in failure. The practical and immediate reason for such failure is the fact that it is not feasible or practicable to charge a compartment, such as a section of a ships hold or a room in a warehouse, with an atmosphere which is an absolute non-supporter of combustion, and it appears that an atmosphere containing the highest proportion of sulfur dioxid which it is practical to produce is not alone sufficient to extinguish fires of the refractory nature referred to. In working on this problem-that is to say, extinpartment which is closed substantially airtight to produce and maintain therein a pressure even slightly above that of the atmosphere the presence of a comparatively small proportion of sulfur dioxid--say from eight to fifteen per cent. will almostimmediately extinguish a fire in a mass of baled cotton which'may have gained such headway as would persist even were the bales immersed completely for a considerable time in water. This method of extinguishing fires-to wit, by producing and maintaining under pressure in an air-tight compartment in which the ignited combustibles are stored an atmosphere containing such a gas as sulfur dioxid-- is the only practicable one, so far as we have any information, for extinguishing a cotton fire, one of the most dangerous and destructive of all that occur 011 shipboard and in storage-warehouses.

The method may be carried out in many ways and by the use of widely-different forms of apparatus; but in the accompanying drawings we have illustrated a simple and effioient apparatus for the purpose.

A designates a retort or generator by which a large volume of sulfur-dioxid gas may be produced. Any of the ordinary devices commonly used for this purpose maybe employed, though We prefer the form which we have described and shown in an application filed by us of even date herewith, Serial No. 61,342. From the generator A a pipe connected therewith serves to convey the gas to one or more compartments, which are closed substantially air-tight. In this pipe is inserted any suitable force-pump P, by the operation ofwhich the gas is drawn from the generator and forced through the pipes D and Cinto compartment E. As the generators of the usual kind are not instantaneous in their operation, it is our purpose to maintain a supply of sulfur dioxid which will be always ready for immediate use.

With such object in View we employ a storage-tank or accumulator B, which is filled with sulfur dioxid under pressure obtained either from the generator A or from any other source of that gas. In case a fire should occur in the compartment E the pump P is set in operation and the charge of sulfur-dioxid gas drawn from the storage-tank B. This supplies the necessary proportion of gas while the generator is starting in operation. The pipe D constitutes a by-pass to the tank B, which is controlledby the valve F.

We have found that when by the above operation an atmosphere has been produced in the compartment containing from ten to sixteen per cent. of sulfur dioxid and with a pressure of one or two inches of water is ample to suppress and completely extinguish burning bales of cotton into which fire has eaten for several inches; but the proportion of gas may be varied and the pressure greater or less, according to circumstances.

The invention is applicable generally, of course, to the extinguishment of fires in airtightcompartments, whether on shipboard or elsewhere, and it may be carried out either by the simple form of apparatus herein shown or by any other system suitable for the purpose which is capable of producing the proper atmosphere and pressure in the compartment to be protected.

What we claim as our invention is- 1. The method of extinguishing fires in cotton-bales and similar combustibles,which consists in confining the combustibles in-air-tight compartments, and, producing and maintaining under pressure therein, an atmosphere containing a gas which is a non-supporter of combustion.

2. The method of extinguishing fires in cotton-bales and similar combustibles,which consists in confining the combusiibles in air-tight compartments, forcing into the same a mixture of air and a gas which is a non-supporter of combustion until a pressure is produced therein and maintaining such pressure until the fire is extinguished.

3. The method of extinguishing fires in cotton-bales and similar combustibles,which con sists in confining the combustibles in an airtight compartment, and charging, under pressure, such compartment with a mixture of air and sulfur-dioxid gas, as set forth.

4. The method of extinguishing fires in cotton-bales and similar combustibles,which consists in confining the combustibles in air-tight compartments, and, in case of fire therein, injecting into the compartments sulfur dioxid from a supply of the same stored under pressure for immediate use, and then generating a further supply of sulfur dioxid and forcing it together with air into the compartments so as to produce and maintain a pressure of gas therein, as set forth.

JOHN D. MOORE. FRED M. MARTIN.

Witnesses:

M. LAWsoN DYER, BENJAMIN MILLER.

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