A forward-mounted fluid-dispensing boom on a fire-fighting vehicle that can move between a retracted position and a fully extended position directly in front of the vehicle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1. Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates in general to fire-fighting vehicles having 
fluid discharge assemblies thereon and in particular to a fire-fighting 
vehicle that has a bumper-mounted fluid nozzle assembly pivotally mounted 
on the outer end of an extensible fluid-carrying boom and that can be 
mounted on the forward end of the vehicle in substantially the center of 
the forward end for selectively receiving fluid and being movable between 
a first retracted position and a second fully extended position in front 
of the vehicle. 
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 
1.97 and 1.98 
There are many different types of fire-fighting equipment such as that 
shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,245, incorporated herein by reference in its 
entirety, in which an aerial lift is used with a vehicle for positioning a 
fluid nozzle on the outer end of an upper boom that is coupled at its 
inner end to the outer end of a lower boom. The lower boom can be 
selectively raised and lowered in a plane from and above the horizontal 
and rotated about a vertical axis. The advantage of the aerial lift 
disclosed therein is that the assembly has an upper boom that can be 
tilted or pivoted toward the ground as well as being pivotable upwardly. 
Further, it has a nozzle assembly on the outer end of the upper boom which 
can be pivoted both in the vertical plane and rotated in a plane 
perpendicular to the vertical plane. Thus, with the invention disclosed in 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,245, an operator of the vehicle having the aerial lift 
thereon can drive towards the fire and position the booms and nozzle in 
any position advantageous to ejecting fire-fighting chemicals on the 
blaze. In the vehicle there is a control console that has a first joystick 
for positioning the booms in a vertical plane and a second joystick for 
positioning the nozzle in both the vertical and the horizontal planes. 
There are many instances in the fighting of fires where it would not be 
required to have such a complicated and large and expensive boom system 
when a shorter boom system mounted directly in front of the vehicle and in 
view of the operator could be retracted or extended very quickly. Such a 
boom could have the nozzle assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,245, 
which is pivotable both in the vertical plane and in a plane perpendicular 
to the vertical plane. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention relates to a forward-mounted fluid-dispensing boom on 
a fire-fighting vehicle. The vehicle has a rigid frame forming at least a 
portion of the forward end of the vehicle. A hollow, fluid-carrying 
extendible boom is mounted on the rigid frame in substantially the center 
of the forward end of the vehicle for selectively receiving fluid and 
being movable between a first retracted position and a second fully 
extended position in front of the vehicle. It has a fluid-dispensing 
nozzle pivotally attached to the outer end of the fluid-carrying boom in 
fluid-receiving relationship for controllable movement in at least one 
plane. 
The boom can be extendible in an axial direction along the length of the 
boom from the fully retracted to a fully extended position. A hollow 
collar may be pivotally mounted on the rigid frame portion for pivotal 
movement in at least one plane. However, the collar is pivotable in the at 
least one plane when, and only when, the fluid-carrying boom is 
substantially fully extended. Power means such as a hydraulic cylinder is 
coupled between the frame portion and the pivotable collar for selectively 
and pivotally moving the collar in the at least one plane to cause 
movement of the fluid-carrying boom in the at least one plane. Another 
power means can be used to extend the boom. A position sensor is mounted 
on the vehicle and coupled to the first power means so as to detect when 
the fluid-carrying boom is substantially fully extended for generating a 
signal that will allow the collar to be pivoted by the first power means 
thereby pivoting the fluid-carrying boom with it. 
In another embodiment, the fluid-carrying boom comprises first and second 
sections that are rotatably mounted to each other and to the center of the 
rigid frame in front of the vehicle. When the boom is in its fully 
retracted position, both sections have their longitudinal axis 
perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and are rotatably 
positioned one section above the other. Thus the outer section is 
pivotally attached to one end of the first section for movement from a 
first position, parallel and adjacent the first section, to a second 
position in axial alignment with the first section and extending in front 
of the vehicle. 
Thus it is an object of the present invention to provide a forward-mounted 
fluid-dispensing boom on a fire-fighting vehicle. 
It is another object of the present invention to provide a fire-fighting 
vehicle that has a forward-mounted fluid-dispensing boom that can be 
extended from a fully retracted position to a fully extended position in 
front of the vehicle. 
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an axially 
extending boom in front of the vehicle that can be pivoted in at least one 
plane only when it is in its maximum extended position. 
Thus in the generic embodiment, the invention relates to a forward-mounted 
fluid-dispensing boom on a fire-fighting vehicle comprising a rigid frame 
forming at least a portion of the forward end of the vehicle, a hollow, 
fluid-carrying, extendible boom mounted on the rigid frame in 
substantially the center of the forward end of the vehicle for selectively 
receiving fluid and being movable between a first retracted position and a 
second fully extended position in front of the vehicle, and a 
fluid-dispensing nozzle pivotally attached to the outer end of the 
fluid-carrying boom in fluid-receiving relationship for controllable 
movement in at least one plane. 
The invention also relates to a forward-mounted fluid-dispensing boom that 
is extendible in an axial direction along the length of the boom from the 
fully retracted to the fully extended position. 
The invention also relates to a foldable fluid-carrying boom assembly that 
has a first and second section pivotally attached to each other and 
pivotally mounted to the center of the rigid frame in front of the vehicle 
and in which a first power means coupled between the vehicle and the first 
section pivotally moves the first fluid-carrying section between a 
retracted position adjacent the front end of the vehicle perpendicular to 
the longitudinal axis of the vehicle and a forwardly-extending position in 
front of the vehicle with its longitudinal axis in axial alignment with 
the vehicle longitudinal axis. The second hollow fluid-carrying section is 
pivotally attached to the outer end of the first hollow fluid-carrying 
section for movement from a first position parallel and adjacent the first 
section to a second position in axial alignment with the first section and 
extending in front of the vehicle.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S) 
FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic representation of a partial side view of a 
fire-fighting vehicle 10 having thereon a forward-mounted fluid-dispensing 
boom 16 that is mounted on a rigid frame 12 forming at least a portion of 
the forward end of the vehicle. The hollow, fluid-carrying, extendible 
boom 16 is mounted on the rigid frame in substantially the center of the 
forward end of the vehicle as can be best shown in FIG. 2. It selectively 
receives fire-fighting fluid through a coupling 26 shown in FIG. 3 and is 
movable between a first retracted position shown in FIG. 1 and a second 
fully extended position in front of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 3. A 
fluid-dispensing nozzle 32 is pivotally attached to the outer end of the 
fluid-carrying boom 16 in fluid receiving relationship for controllable 
movement in at least one plane that is shown to be the vertical plane in 
FIG. 3 and a horizontal plane in FIG. 2. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 
1-4, a hollow collar 14 slidably receives boom 16 and is pivotally mounted 
on the rigid frame portion 12 of the vehicle for pivotal movement in at 
least one plane. The collar 14 is pivotable when, and only when, the 
fluid-carrying boom 16 is substantially fully extended. In order to 
accomplish this, a circuit such as shown in FIG. 5, in general form, is 
used. The operator control 40 sends a signal through a position switch 
such as limit switch 22 (shown in FIG. 1) on line 42 to the extend motor 
44. When the boom is fully extended, limit switch 22 (in FIG. 1) is 
activated by a stop 24 of any particular construction to cause the limit 
switch to move from the position shown in FIG. 5 to a connection with 
conductor 46 that is coupled to tilt motors 20 and 38 shown in FIGS. 1-3. 
The operator can then control the tilt motors to move the boom upwardly or 
downwardly as shown in FIG. 3. Of course, with a universal connection 
between the hollow collar 14 and frame 12, the device could also move in 
the horizontal plane. Thus, the boom 16 cannot be moved in the vertical 
plane as shown in FIG. 3 unless the limit switch 22 has been activated by 
substantially full extension of the boom 16. 
As can be seen in FIG. 1, the boom 16 can be extended by any well-known 
power means such as a hydraulic actuator 18. It can also be tilted, when 
substantially fully extended, by any well-known power means such as 
hydraulic actuator 20. These actuators are shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 3. If 
desired, and by using a universal mounting of the hollow collar 14, it can 
also be moved in the horizontal position by a power means such as 
hydraulic actuator 38 shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 4. 
FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 illustrate a second embodiment of the extensible boom 
mounted on the forward end of a fire-fighting vehicle 10. In the front, 
retracted view, as shown in FIG. 6, the extendible boom is rotated or 
parked to the left side of the vehicle (facing the vehicle) and formed 
from a first section 50 pivotally attached to the vehicle frame member 12 
at 52 and a second boom section 54 pivotally coupled to the first section 
50 at 56. Thus, the entire extendible boom system 48 is in the retracted 
position as shown in FIG. 6 with both boom sections 50 and 54 being 
vertically spaced and adjacent the front end of the vehicle with the 
longitudinal axis of each boom section being perpendicular to the 
longitudinal axis of the vehicle. On the outer end 62 of the upper boom 
section 54, the nozzle assembly 32 is mounted and it operates as discussed 
in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,245, which has been incorporated 
herein by reference in its entirety. When it is desired to extend the boom 
out in front of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 7, operator controlled motors 
58 and 60 are used to pivot the boom sections accordingly. Thus motor 58, 
through any well-known mechanism such as worm gears or chain drives, 
rotates lower boom section 50 pivotally about connection 52 towards the 
outer end of the vehicle as shown in FIG. 8 wherein pivot point 56 is 
shown moving in an arc from its position perpendicular to the longitudinal 
axis of the vehicle to the position extending in a forward direction in 
axial alignment with the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. The various 
circles 56 in FIG. 8 illustrate the respective positions of the pivot 
point 56 as the boom is moving outwardly. At the same time, the upper boom 
54 is also moving outwardly in the opposite direction following an arc 64 
shown in FIG. 8. The positions shown by the circles 62 are coupled to the 
corresponding positions of the pivot point for the lower boom 50 
illustrating how the two booms move together to extend outwardly to its 
fully extended position. Thus boom 50 moves from its retracted position to 
the fully forward position shown by the numeral 50' and the upper boom 54 
moves from the retracted position to the outwardly extended position 
designated by the numeral 54'. As illustrated in FIG. 8, the motors 58 and 
60 could be attached to the lower boom section 50 and have chain drives to 
the pivot points 52 and 56 to cause respective pivoting motion of the boom 
sections 50 and 54 as shown in FIG. 8. Again, of course, any well-known 
type of system for rotating the booms could be used. 
FIG. 9 is identical to FIG. 6 except that the boom is pivoted or folded in 
a retracted position to the right side of the vehicle (while facing it), 
while in FIG. 6, it is pivoted or folded to the left of the vehicle (while 
facing it). Otherwise it functions identically as described in relation to 
FIG. 6. 
Thus there has been disclosed a novel forward-mounted fluid-dispensing boom 
on a fire-fighting vehicle. It is pivotally mounted on a rigid frame 
forming at least a portion of the forward end of the vehicle in 
substantially the center of the forward end of the vehicle and selectively 
receives fire-fighting fluid. It is movable between a first retracted 
position and a second fully extended position on front of the vehicle. It 
has a fluid dispensing nozzle pivotally attached to the outer end of the 
fluid-carrying boom in fluid-receiving relationship for controllable 
movement in at least one plane and preferably both planes as described in 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,211,245, incorporated herein by reference. 
In one embodiment, the boom is extended in an axial direction along the 
length of the boom from the fully retracted to the fully extended 
position. In another embodiment, the boom is formed in two sections and 
folds to a retracted position adjacent the front end of the vehicle with 
the longitudinal axis of the boom sections being perpendicular to the 
longitudinal axis of the vehicle. Each of the booms can be rotatably moved 
to an in-line extended position that is axially aligned with the vehicle 
axis and longitudinally extending in front of the vehicle. 
The corresponding structures, materials, acts, and equivalents of all means 
or step plus function elements in the claims below are intended to include 
any structure, material, or act for performing the function in combination 
with other claimed elements as specifically claimed.