Abstract:
A novel method for camping with the extinguishment of a campfire comprised of the steps of providing a collapsible campfire extinguisher in compact configuration; traveling to a camp site; utilizing a campfire; deploying the camp fire extinguisher in operable position and placing it over the campfire. A collapsible camp fire extinguisher device comprised of a plurality of panels having registerable holes and a locking means whereby the device transforms from a compact storage position to fanned-out dome position and is operative to extinguish a campfire by starvation of oxygen.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     We hereby claim the benefit of my earlier filed provisional application (application No. 60/627,323) filed Nov. 12, 2004. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002]     1. Field of the Invention  
         [0003]     The present invention relates to the field of fire extinguishing devices, and more particularly to a novel firebed extinguisher device deployable from a compact storage position into a dome-shaped shell that may be placed as a unitary device over a firebed in order to rob the firebed of oxygen so that any flame, coals, or combustible materials will be extinguished.  
         [0004]     2. Brief Description of the Prior Art  
         [0005]     In the past, it has been the conventional practice to build a fire for cooking purposes using a firebed composed of combustible materials and, particularly while camping, a ring of rocks are placed around the firebed. In other instances, holes are dug and lined with rocks so as to provide a firebed, while in other instances, a steel bowl, such as a barbeque unit may serve as a firebed. Wood, coals, or other combustible materials are placed in the firebed and materials are ignited by the use of a flame device, matches or the like.  
         [0006]     Problems and difficulties have been encountered when extinguishing the fire in a firebed which stem largely from the fact that the combustible material is not starved of oxygen so that even if flames have been extinguished, embers, coals and other ignited materials may still flame after a time delay.  
         [0007]     Therefore, a long-standing need has existed to provide a firebed extinguisher or extinguishing device which will starve any combustible materials of oxygen so that there is no chance of fire rekindling or reflaming. Such a firebed snuffing device should be portable in a storage condition and deployable on site into an operative condition for use for its intended purpose.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0008]     Accordingly, the above problems and difficulties are avoided by the present invention which provides a plurality of pie-shaped or triangular plates or panels composed of non-combustible material wherein the plates are arranged in a storage position in a nested stack ready for deployment into an operative position where the plurality of plates are fanned outwardly so as to provide a series of adjacent and end-to-end plates in a dome shape. Once deployed, the plates or panels are held together in the operative position by a conventional tightening device, loops, pins, or the like.  
         [0009]     Each of the respective pie-shaped plates includes an apex through which a locking device is placed not only operating as a pivot for deployment of the respective plates but also, when tightened, provides a means for holding the fully deployed plates in their operable position. Preferably, the locking device is of a bolt and screw type that may be readily hand-operated for convenience and ease of deployment of the plates. Also, each of the respective pie-shaped plates may include apertures which when registered with apertures of adjacent plates provide a passageway for insertion of a pin that may be employed for maintaining the plurality of plates in either of their deployed positions. In essence, the firebed extinguisher is in a dome configuration in its fully deployed position, and the diameter of the dome at its terminating edges is large enough to surround the firebed so that the dome-shaped firebed extinguisher acts as a barrier to prevent oxygen from reaching the combustible materials or coals of the firebed.  
         [0010]     Therefore, it is among the primary objects of the present invention to provide a novel firebed extinguisher that may have two positions with one position being fully deployed to a dome-shaped device that may be placed over a firebed and a second position where a compact arrangement of the device is provided for transport and easy carrying and storage.  
         [0011]     Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel firebed extinguisher having a plurality of pie-shaped or triangular-shaped plates that are ganged together at the apex of each of the plates by means of a locking device so that the plates may be deployable into a dome shape and held in this shape by tightening of the lock means.  
         [0012]     Yet another object of the invention is to provide a firebed extinguisher which completely surrounds and covers the firebed so as to prevent oxygen from reaching combustible materials within the extinguisher.  
         [0013]     A further object resides in providing a device that may be manually placed over a firebed to prevent oxygen from reaching coals in the firebed. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     The features of the present invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The present invention, both as to its organization and manner of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood with reference to the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:  
         [0015]      FIG. 1  is a front perspective view illustrating the novel firebed extinguisher preparatory for deployment over an existing firebed to extinguish flames and prevent oxygen from reaching coals;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the fully deployed firebed extinguisher shown in  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  is a fragmentary top view illustrating a pair of pie-shaped plates used in the device shown in  FIG. 2 ;  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  is an enlarged fragmentary view illustrating a plurality of pie-shaped plates arranged in a storage position, as taken in the direction of arrows  4 - 4  of  FIG. 3 ;  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  is a fragmentary sectional view illustrating a plurality of pie-shaped plates temporarily held together by a retaining pin while in the storage position as taken in the direction of arrows  5 - 5  of  FIG. 3 ;  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view of a retaining pin deployed through indexed holes in adjacent edge marginal regions of a pair of plates as taken in the direction of arrows  6 - 6  of  FIG. 2 ; and  
         [0021]      FIG. 7  is a perspective view of a typical pie-shaped or triangular-shaped plate employed with other similar plates to provide the firebed extinguisher shown in  FIGS. 1-6  inclusive. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0022]     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the firebed extinguisher incorporating the present invention is illustrated in the general direction of arrow  10  which illustrates a firebed at a camp site having flames  11  generated from a source of combustible material, such as wood  12 . The firebed is surrounded by a plurality of rocks  13  which serve to maintain heat in the center of the firebed.  
         [0023]     In order to extinguish the flames  11  and to remove oxygen from any coals remaining in the firebed, the firebed extinguisher  10  is lowered over the complete firebed area including the combustible material  12 , the heated rocks  13  and the flames  11 .  
         [0024]     It can be seen that the firebed extinguisher includes a plurality of pie-slice-like or triangular-like shaped plates or panels, such as panel  14 . Preferably, the panels are made of metal. The panels which are held together by a screw-type fastening means  15 . The extinguisher  10  is illustrated in its fully deployed condition so that the edge marginal regions of adjacent panels are overlapping so as to provide a construction in the form of a dome. The lower edge of each panel is continuous to provide a circumference which is of sufficient dimension to cover the entire firebed.  
         [0025]     It is to be especially noted that when the plurality of panels  14  are deployed, the edge marginal regions of adjacent panels are sufficiently overlapped that the collapsible dome functions as a campfire extinguisher. The edge marginal regions overlap so as to cover and/or restrict any voids, spaces, or the like that may permit oxygen to enter the firebed area. In contravention to conventional wisdom, there are no gaskets, strippings, ledges or other devices or mechanism for making an air-tight or hermetic seal between panels. When the foldable campfire extinguisher is placed over combusting materials, the air surrounding those materials (and underneath the extinguisher) is warm and at higher pressure relative to the air surrounding the exterior of the foldable campfire extinguisher. This higher pressure air blocks and/or impedes an influx of oxygen (fresh air) through the overlapping edge marginal regions. It is not until the combustible material is extinguished by starvation from oxygen that the temperature of the air under the foldable campfire extinguisher lowers to reduce internal pressure such that oxygen may influx through the overlapping edge marginal regions.  
         [0026]     Small holes, such as hole  16 , are provided in the edge marginal regions of each panel which may be used to hold the panels together when a retainer pin or the like is inserted therethrough. Once fully deployed, the plurality of panels are maintained in position by tightening the screw fastener  15  to lock all of the panels in their fully deployed position. If needed, the pin or the like may be inserted through the registered or mated holes  16  to insure retention of the panels in the fully deployed position.  
         [0027]     Referring now in detail to  FIG. 2 , it can be seen that the plurality of panels are fully deployed so that the edge marginal regions of each panel overlaps the edge marginal region of an adjacent panel, such as panel  18 . The tightening of the lock fastener  15  is sufficient to maintain the panels in their respective deployed position with or without use of retention pins or the like. Arrow  17  indicates that the panels may be moved about the fastener  15  to deploy or to move the panels into a stored position. The fastener  15  serves as a pivot point about which the panels are pivoted or moved.  
         [0028]      FIG. 7  illustrates that each of the respective panels, such as panel  14 , are curved and include the hole  25  through which the fastener  15  is deployed. Also, the panels may include the hole, such as hole  16 , for receiving the retaining pin  30 .  
         [0029]     In view of the foregoing, it can be seen that the firebed extinguisher of the present invention may be readily deployed from a storage position to a fully operative position, as shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , whereby the extinguisher can be placed over an existing firebed to extinguish fire and to prevent oxygen from maintaining coals, rocks or embers from restarting into a flammable condition. Once the lock fastener  15  has loosened the respective panels, the respective panels can be rotated or deployed about the fastener  15  to the fully opened position followed by reversing the closure of the lock fastener  15  to tighten. Once tightened, the panels are maintained in their fully deployed condition. After use, the lock fastener is turned in an opposite direction to release the panels so that they may be individually moved together into a stack for storage purposes. At this time, the fastener lock is then rotated to tighten so that all of the panels are maintained in the storage condition.  
         [0030]     The coals, fuel or combustible material on the firebed is now thoroughly extinguished and there is no residue of flammable members or combustion material. Oxygen has been completely removed so that the chances of reigniting are greatly reduced or completely eliminated.  
         [0031]     The present invention has many advantages. It provides a novel method to extinguish a campfire without need for water or other fire retardants; contains sparks and other combustible material that fly from a campfire being extinguished so as not to ignite grass, brush or other flammable material in the vicinity of the campfire; reduces vented smoke, toxics and noxious emissions from a campfire that is being extinguished; is easily transportable in it is compact and collapsed position and readily deployable in little and minimal effort into operative fanned-out position.  
         [0032]     Referring now to  FIG. 3 , movement of the panel  14  in response to positioning in the direction of arrow  21  illustrates that the panel may be pivoted over the top of adjacent panel  18 . Movement of the panel would be for movement into a compact storage position, as shown in  FIG. 5 , or may be deployed into the fully operational position, shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 .  
         [0033]     Referring to  FIG. 4 , the plurality of panels, such as panels  14  and  18 , are curved in side elevational cross-sectional view so that they may be readily nested together having a common pivot or attachment point, represented by the fastener  15 . Fastener  15  includes a bolt  23  having a threaded shank  24  which is insertably received through each one of the holes in the apex of the respective panels and such a hole is indicated by numeral  25  as seen in  FIG. 7  relating to panel  14 . Each of the respective panels is separated from an adjacent panel in the nested stack by means of a washer, such as washer  26 . A washer  27  is disposed between the lower end of the knob for fastener  15 . Therefore, it can be seen that as the knob of fastener  15  is rotated about the threaded shank  24  by means of the threaded internal bore  28 , the stack of panels can be loosened or tightened with respect to each other so that they may be readily deployed or gathered together depending on the user&#39;s desired condition.  
         [0034]     Referring now in detail to  FIG. 6 , it can be seen that a pin  30  may be insertably received through indexed or registered holes along the edge marginal regions of panels, such as panels  14  and  18 . Although the retainer pin  30  is not necessary when the fastener  25  is used to lock or unlock the panels together, the pin  30  may be used to insure that the plates are registered together for full deployment and may also be used in lieu of the lock fastener  15 . With respect to  FIG. 5 , the same fastener  30  may be used for insertion through indexed or registered holes in all the panels when the panels are arranged for storage. When in this arrangement, the panels are in a compact arrangement that may readily be slid into a case or cover for transport in a backpack, carrying case, or for storage in the trunk of a car.  
         [0035]     An expected result would be that heat from the campfire puts pressure on the panels to distort the metal; however, there is an unexpected result of insignificant distortion to no distortion at all.  
         [0036]     While particular embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made without departing from this invention in its broader aspects and, therefore, the aim in the appended claims is to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.