Patent GB-191030024-A (GB)
Title: Electric Supervisory Systems for Sprinkler Fire Protection Systems.
Inventor: BROUGHAM FREDERICK JOHN
IPC: G08B25/00
Filed: 1910-12-24
Granted: 1911-12-21
Abstract: 30,024. Brougham, F. J., [Dominion Guarantee Co.]. Dec. 24. Fire and like alarm systems. - In a firesprinkler alarm and supervisory system of the type in which the sprinkler heads, alarm valves, water floats, pressure gauges, &c. of the sprinkler system are provided with supervisory transmitters connected to a central station, an alarm is given if the whole or any part of the system becomes inoperative, if a sprinkler head should open either by accident or fire, or if any part of the system such as the wiring, batteries, or clock-work of the signal transmitters, should become inoperative from any cause. In the system shown in Fig. 1, the water-tank float E, air-pressure gauge F, tank thermometer G, and main water-supply valves D, D'are provided with individual supervisory transmitters C, C'; C<2>, C<3>, the circuits of which are shown in Fig. 4. A common testing-transmitter B, shown in detail in Fig. 5, and a water-flow alarm transmitter A, controlled by sprinkler alarm valves R, together with manual alarm boxes P, P', are also provided. The complete system involves four distinct circuits-(1) the local alarm circuit 110, 122, Fig. 1; (2) the central station alarm and supervisory circuit 123, 132; (3) the so-called local circuit containing the trip-magnets of the testing-transmitter B and alarm transmitter A; (4) the so-called main circuit containing the relays of the testing and supervisory transmitters B, C, C<1>, C<2>, C<3>. The normally-closed local circuit passes from the battery H to the terminal 7 of the testing transmitter B, through the low-resistance winding 14, Fig. 5, of the trip-magnet, terminal 8, terminal 12 of supervisory transmitter C', brush 27, Fig. 4, terminals 11, 8, magnet 13, Fig. 4, terminal 7, to terminal 12 of supervisory transmitter C, and through the supervisory transmitters C, C<2>, C' and wire 44 to the terminal 4 of the water-flow contact R, terminal 3, wire 56, terminal B10, high-resistance winding 13, Fig. 5, terminal B9, wire 59, terminals R2, R<1>, terminal 6 of the alarm transmitter A, trip-magnet of this transmitter, terminals 5, 1, clock-work of the transmitter, wire 52, and manual alarm boxes P', P to ground T. This circuit includes the low and high resistance windings 14, 13 of the tripmagnet of the testing-transmitter B and the trip-magnet of the alarm transmitter A, and also taps the trip magnets 13 of all the supervisory transmitters C, C', C<2>, C<3>. The tripmagnet of the transmitter B is normally energized, but the resistance of its winding 14 prevents the effective excitation of the trip-magnet of the transmitter A. The operation of the water-flow contact R short-circuits the winding 14, thus setting in operation the alarm transmitter A, which closes intermittently the local alarm circuit 110, 122. The current in the lowresistance winding of the testing-transmitter is sufficient to prevent its operation at this juncture. If, however, any of the wires of the circuit break, or the battery becomes weak, the trip-magnet of the testing-transmitter is deenergized and a special " trouble " signal sent to the central station. The trip-magnets 13 of the supervisory transmitters C, C<1>, C<2>, C<3> are tapped to the local circuit and are energized to send their characteristic signal to the central station when their corresponding relays in the main circuit are de-energized. The main circuit passes from the battery J through the contacts 1-2 of the water-supply valve D', contacts 4-3 of the valve D, terminal 1 of the supervisory transmitter C, relay 15, Fig. 4, terminal 2, contacts 2-1 of valve D, contact 3-4 of valve D', to terminal 4 of the thermometer contact-device G and thence through the contacts of the thermometer G, pressure gauge F, water-tank float E, and the relays 15 of their corresponding supervisory transmitters C<3>, C<1>, C<2>, respectively, to the terminal 10 of the transmitter C<3>, contact 30b, Fig. 4, terminal 9, and similarly through the corresponding circuits in the transmitters C<2>, C, C' to the terminal 2 of the transmitter B, relay 15, Fig. 5, terminal 1, to the terminal 4 of the transmitter C<1>, wire 86, Fig. 4, and clock-work to the terminal 3. From this point, the circuit extends through the corresponding clock-work circuits of the transmitters C, C2, C<3>, B, to the wire 52 and manual alarm boxes P<1>, P to earth. The main circuit thus includes the relays 15 of all the supervisory transmitters and the relay 15 of the testing- transmitter. When any of the devices D, E, F, G is operated, it short-circuits its corresponding relay 15, Fig. 4, which completes the circuit of the trip-magnet 13 over the armature 16, contact 18, brush 29, and commutator segment 26 to earth. The trip-magnet 13 is thus energized and releases its movement, as described in Specification 30,115/10, but is again de-energized as soon as the segment 26 leaves the brush 29. The movement is arranged to rotate the code-wheels 31, 32 four times and is then arrested with the brush 28 engaging the segment 25, so that when the operated device D, say, is restored and the relay 15 again energized, a fresh circuit for the trip-magnet 13 is completed over the contact 17 and brush 28. The movement is again released and transmits its code signal twice to the central station before it is finally arrested in its initial position. A brush 27 co-operating with the disk 24 earths the local circuit during the movement of the transmitter so as to prevent the excitation of the trip-magnet of any other supervisory transmitter. The contacts 30<b>, Fig. 4, of the transmitters are tapped to the main circuit, as previously described, at points between the relays of the supervisory transmitters and the relay of the testing-transmitter. Should the spring 30<a> of the transmitter C, say, run down, the contact 30<b> is earthed through the clockwork frame, thereby short-circuiting the relay of the testing-transmitter while maintaining the circuit of the other relays. The relay 15, Fig. 5, which is also de-energized if the main circuit breaks, short-circuits the trip-magnet 13, thereby releasing the testing-transmitter as described more fully in Specification 30,023/10. The signal circuit of the supervisory and testing transmitters includes the wires 130, 125, and the code wheels 31, 32, 33, 34, Figs. 4 and 5, included between the terminals 5, 6 of each of the transmitters. This circuit is intermittently broken by the brushes 38, 39 and at the same time intermittently earthed by the brushes 37. The water-flow alarm transmitter A and the testing-transmitter B, when set in operation, also close the circuit of an alarm bell L through the wires 100, 103 and battery K. A second alarm bell M may be arranged in connexion with the water-tank thermometer G.