US764083A - Fire-curtain. - Google Patents

Description

PATENTED JULY 5, 1904L C. E. UNGAPHER & A.'ANDRUS.

PIRE GURTAIN. APPLICATION FILED IEB. 11. 1904.

N0 MODEL.

Patented July 5, 1904.

PATENT Orricn.

CLARENCE E. UNCAPHER AND ALDEN ANDRUS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-CURTAIN.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 764,083, dated'J'nly 5, 1904. Application led February 1I, 1904. Serial No. 193,163. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom. it may concern: l

Be it known that we, CLARENCE E. UNGA- PHER and ALDEN ANDRUS, citizens of the United States, residing' at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented new and useful Improvements in Fire- Curtains, of which the following is a specification. 1

Our invention pertains to that class of lirecurtains designed more particularly for preventing the passage of fire from a stage to an auditorium, and vice versa; andfit has forits object to provide a curtain which by virtue of its construction is adapted to form an effective barrier to flames, gases, and heat and yet is susceptible of being handled-z'. e., lowered and raised-with facility.

The invention will be fully understood from the following description and claims, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in whicl Y Figure l is a rear elevation of so much of the fire-curtain constituting the preferredembodiment of our invention as is necessary to illustrate the construction of the same. Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section, on an enlarged scale, illustrating two sections of the curtain. Fig. 3 is an enlarged broken horizontal section taken in a plane between two sections of the curtain, and Fig.V 4 is a detail View illustrating a modified construction adapted for small curtains.

' Referring by letter to the said drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 3 thereof, A A are upright guides designed to be fixed at opposite sides of a stage-opening and having central body portions a and hook-shaped lianges The said guidesfare preferably of malleable iron, but may obviously be of any other material capable of resisting the action of fire without involving departure from the scope of our invention. B is our novel curtain, which is peculiar and advantageous in that when lowered it forms an air-chamber, the said chamber being formed of material capable of resisting the action of fire and being therefore calculated to preclude the passage of flames, gases, and heat from a stage to an auditorium or from an auditorium to a stage. The said curtain is also advantageous in that it is formed of sections connected together in a hinged manner and arranged to rest one above the other when the curtain is lowered after the mann er shown in Figs. l and 2. The sections hinged or flexibly connected together permit of the convenient disposition of the curtain when the same is raised a'. e., permit of the curtain being carried into a horizontal or approximately horizontal holder or rolled up, as desired. The sections are lettered C, and in the present and preferred embodiment of our invention each comprises two thicknesses of asbestos or other fireproof material o (Z, an inner covering c, of light sheet-iron, having bends f, receiving the upper and lower edges of the inner thickness l of asbestos, an outer covering g, having bends L, receiving the upper and lower edges of the outer thickness c of asbestos, and also having additional bends c', strips j of asbestos or other fireproof material arranged in the said additional bends z' and extending beyond the bights of the bends It, as clearly shown in Fig. 2, and hinge members v, connected to the inner covering e and having tongues Zat one end and sockets or grooves m in their opposite ends. Each section C also comprises end pieces a, which are U-shaped and connected to the front and rear walls of the section and are provided with flanges p, designed to move in thehook-shaped fianges of the upright guides A. When the curtain is wideand the sections C quite long, one or more braces q may be interposed between and connected to the front and rear Walls of each section, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3.

The construction shown in Fig. 4 is designed more particularly for embodiment in small curtains and differs from the construction shown in Figs. l to 3 in two respects. One of these is an upright guide A', formed lof a bar of iron or other suitable material, and a U- shaped end piece n', connected to the front and rear walls of a section C', so as to receive the guide A, and having bends r receiving the ends of the front and rear walls of the section. For the sake of clearness it may be well to state that in the modified construction two of the upright guides A will be employed, and each of the sections C' will be provided with two end pieces n.

In the practical use of our novel curtain the same is raised and lowered on the upright guides, the lieXibly-connected sections of .the curtain preventing binding, and thereby contributing tothe ease with which the curtain may be raised and lowered. The said lieXiblyconnected sections o1' the curtain are also adapted to permit of the curtain being rolled at the top of the stage-opening or carried linto a horizontal support disposed in a plane above the said opening and connected with the upright guides by curvilinear guides, which we have not deemed it necessary to illustrate.

lVhile we have stated two dispositions which may be made of the curtain when the same is raised, we do not desire to be confined to the same, since the curtain when raised may be disposed of in other ways without involving departure from the scope of our invention. For instance, the upright guides might be continued suficiently far above the stage-opening to permit of the curtain being raised on the guides until it is above the said opening.

When the curtain is lowered, as shown in Figs. l and 2 of the drawings, it forms an air chamber which will elfectually bar the passage o1' Haines, gases, and heat. It will also be observed that when the curtain is made up of flexibly-connected sections the asbestos strips y' of the sections will serve as packing to preclude the passage of liames, gases, or heat between the meeting edges of the sections.

The hinge connections described between the sections are strong and durable and are adapted to permit of free movement of the sections with respect to each other. For these reasons we prefer to employ-the said. connections; but we do not desire to be understood as conlining ourselves to such hinge connections, as any other suitable connections may be employed without involving departure from the scope of our invention.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing that while our novel curtain is calculated to eifectually bar the passage of flames, &c., it is simple and inexpensive in construction and is adapted to be installed in a theater or other place without entailing the making of eXtensive alterations.

Ve have entered into a detailed description of the construction and relative arrangement of the parts embraced in the present and preferred embodiment of our invention in order to impart a full, clear, and exact understanding of the same. We do not desire, however, to be understood as conlining ourselves to such specific construction and relative arrangement o1' parts, as such changes or modifications may be made in practice as fairly fall within the scope o1' our invention as claimed.

In somecases to afford a more easy movement of the curtain small rollers' or other suitable antifriction devices may be placed in the guides, thus facilitating the operation of raising and lowering the curtain.

Having described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is#

l. A lire-curtain comprising a plurality of sections of lireproof material flexibly connected together, and having tireproof packing between their meeting edges.

2. A. lire-curtain comprising a plurality of hollow sections of lireproof material liexibly connected together and arranged when the curtain is lowered to rest one above the other; the said sections being open to each other, whereby they serve when the curtain is lowered to form an air chamber extending throughout the height of the curtain.

3. A lire-curtain comprising upright guides, and a plurality of sections of ireproof material Hex'ibly connected together and arranged so as to be guided and held in position by the guides, and having lireproof packing between their meeting edges.

4. A lire-curtain made up of a plurality of sections hinged or lieXibly connected together so as to rest one above the other when the curtain is in use; each of the said sections comprising front and rear walls of lireproof material separated by an intervening space, and end walls connecting the said front and rear walls.

5. A tire-curtain made up of a plurality of sections hinged or flexibly connected together so as to rest one above the other when the curtain is in use; each of the said sections comprising front and rear walls of fireproof material separated by an intervening space, and end walls connecting said front and rear walls, and having fireproof packing to meet corresponding packing on the adjacent section or sections.

6. The combination of upright guides, and a fire-curtain made up of a plurality of seetions hinged or liexibly connected together and arranged when the curtain is lowered to rest one above the other, each of the said sections comprising front and rear walls of fireprooil material separated by an intervening space, and connected so as to receive the upright guides between their ends.

7. A lire-curtain made up of a plurality of sections hinged or flexibly connected together so as to rest superposed when the curtain is in use; each of the said sections comprising front and rear walls Jformed of thicknesses 0f asbestos and metallic coverings on the same,

and separated by an intervening space, and having on the front wall asbestos packing to meet corresponding packing on an adjoining section or sections, and also having connections between said front and rear walls.

8. The combination of upright guides hav- IOO ITO

covering and bent over the edges of the thickness of asbestos, and having additional bends I5 7l, strips of asbestos seated in said additional bends, and end Walls connecting the said rear and front Walls.

In testimony whereof We have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subscribing Wit- 2O nesses.

CLARENCE E. UNCAPHER. ALDEN IANDRUS.- Witnesses:

H. B. KILGOUR, A. W. SULLIVAN.

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