Patent GB-649796-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in containers for liquids
Inventor: GLENDINNING WILLIAM GERALD
IPC: B60K15/03
Filed: 1948-06-30
Abstract: 649,796. Aircraft fuel tanks; tanks. MINISTER OF SUPPLY. June 30,1948, No. 17547. [Classes 4 and 113 (ii)] [Also in Group XXIX] A container, for the carriage of liquid in craft, of the type comprising a plurality of compartments of which at least one is normally vented for the withdrawal of liquid therefrom only by communication with another compartment or compartments at a point or points below the level or levels at which the other compartment or compartments is or are vented, has the compartments formed by partitions extending to a common sump portion of the container, but spaced from the bottom thereof, or has the individual compartments communicating with a common delivery sump by way of passages controlled each by a float type valve at the compartment end and by a non- return valve at the sump end. A fuel tank, Fig. 1, comprises a central compartment 1, intermediate compartments 2 and outer compartments 3, the latter being vented at 14 and the compartments connected by gaps 8, 9, 10, 11 at the bottom of partitions 4 and 5. The tank is filled through a filler opening 13, the compartments 2, 2 being vented by breather passages 15, the passages and the filler opening closed by a plug 16. The fuel is withdrawn through a sump 12, the outer compartments emptying first and the intermediate and inner compartments emptying when the level drops to that of the gaps 11, 10 respectively. Another form, Fig. 2, has a false roof 34 formed above the intermediate compartments and the inner compartments vented with an inert gas through an opening not shown. Thus, when the level of the fuel falls in the compartments 33 a blanket of gas is formed above and around the compartments 32 and the intermediate and inner compartments protected against incendiary bullets. A false bottom, filled with inert gas, may be fitted. An arrangement to limit the amount of fuel which would escape if the bottom was punctured (Fig. 3), comprises a tank 40 divided into compartments 41, 42 and 43, the intermediate and outer compartments communicating with a common sump 44 by way of passages 46, 46 and 45, 45. The compartment ends of passages 45 and 46 are con-. trolled by float valves 47, 48 whilst the sump ends are closed by non-return valves 49, 50. The outer compartments are vented to atmosphere and the upper ends of the intermediate compartments communicate with the lower ends of the outer by pipes 53. The filler opening has a spring-loaded closure valve 55 and the fuel is withdrawn by means of a pump 56 and delivery pipe 57. In operation, the outer compartments 43 empty via the passage 45, the float valves being in the open position, until the compartment is exhausted when the float valve closes and the compartment 42, vented via pipe 43, commences to empty. The non-return valve 49 prevents the flow of fuel from the sump to the compartments. To protect against gunfire the tank may be divided into a relatively large number of compartments arranged to empty in a definite order to interfere with the hydraulic shock wave transference of energy from the locality of a bursting projectile. The tank may also be arranged to empty rearwardly as compared with the direction of motion so that in the event of an aircraft crash a number of partitions must be broken before the front of the tank is damaged by the surging of the fuel therein.