Patent Publication Number: US-2003222551-A1

Title: Residential fire extinguisher cabinet

Description:
RELATED APPLICATIONS  
     [0001] This application claims priority in accordance with 35 U.S.C. §119( 2 ) to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 60/384,093 filed May 31, 2002. 
    
    
     
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
       [0002] 1. Field of the Invention  
       [0003] The present invention relates to a cabinet intended to be mounted in the wall of a residence, for housing a fire extinguisher for ready access.  
       [0004] 2. Description of the Related Art  
       [0005] It has long been conventional to provide hand held fire extinguishers in publicly used buildings such as schools. Residences have not been routinely provided with fire extinguishers. However, residences are just as susceptible to hazards which could be addressed by hand held fire extinguishers, even though relatively small extinguishers suitable for use in residences are commercially available. It appears that two reasons for this prevail. One is that homes are not designed to provide unobtrusive, readily acceptable storage locations for fire extinguishers. The other is that the utilitarian appearance of fire extinguishers renders home occupiers reluctant to impair the decor of their residences.  
       [0006] Wall mounted cabinets which would be suitable for fire extinguishers are available, but have not gained widespread acceptance. Such cabinets are quite utilitarian in appearance and hence are regarded as spoiling the appearance of a room in which such a cabinet is mounted. A second objection to most cabinets suitable for housing a fire extinguisher is that they are designed for attachment to vertical structural wall studs. While this results in solid anchorage to the building, it also severely limits location of a fire extinguisher cabinet to locations at the immediate right and left of a stud. These locations may well result in an awkward or aesthetically unpleasing location of a cabinet on a wall. Illustratively, it may be desirable to center a cabinet in a wall for aesthetic reasons, where a stud may not necessarily be conveniently available.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0007] The present invention addresses the two foremost objections to presently available cabinets for housing and making accessible fire extinguishers. One feature of the present invention is that it is adapted to be mounted in hollow interior walls and partitions built from “sheet rock”, plasterboard, or the like independently from attachment to vertical studs. The novel cabinet can therefore be built into a residence in the course of initial construction, and can be readily installed as a retrofit accessory to an existing building. A second significant feature of the invention is that that portion of the cabinet which is permanently exposed to view is of an aesthetically pleasing material.  
       [0008] Additional features of the invention which promote utility in residential settings include a hinge arrangement which maintains the door in a fully open position when manually fully opened, and which also biases the door to return to the closed position if it is not fully open. An alarm is provided to warn the occupants of the residence when the fire extinguisher has been removed from the cabinet.  
     
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
     [0009] Various other objects, features, and attendant advantages of the present invention will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:  
     [0010]FIG. 1 is an environmental side elevational, cross sectional view of an embodiment of the novel cabinet.  
     [0011]FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the back box of the novel cabinet.  
     [0012]FIG. 3 is an electrical schematic of alarm circuitry of the novel cabinet.  
     [0013]FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of an alternative embodiment of the invention, wherein only the door is visible.  
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
     [0014] Turning now to FIG. 1 of the drawings, novel cabinet  10  is shown installed in an interior partition or wall  12  of a building (not shown in its entirety). Cabinet  10  comprises a back box  14  closed by a swinging door  16 . Back box  14  mounts directly to one sheet  18  of drywall material. Because it is sized for conventional construction, the rear of back box  14  abuts or nearly abuts the opposing sheet  20  of drywall material of wall  12 .  
     [0015] An opening is formed in sheet  18  of drywall material for accommodating back box  14 . Back box  14  is placed into the hollow wall  12  and seats against the edges of the opening. Wall anchors  17  secure back box  14  in place in wall  12 . Wall anchors  17  are preferably a commercially available spring loaded type which will elastically grip sheet  18 , pinning flanges  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  (see FIG. 2) to sheet  18 . The weight of cabinet  10 , including that of fire extinguisher  30 , is imposed on the lower edge of the opening formed in sheet  18  of drywall material.  
     [0016] Turning momentarily to FIG. 2, back box  14  is seen to comprise a rear wall  32 , right and left side walls  34 ,  36 , a top wall  38 , and a bottom wall  40 . The front of back box  14  is open to afford access to fire extinguisher  30  (FIG. 1). Flanges  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  project outwardly from walls  34 ,  36 ,  38 , and  40 , respectively to assure flush mounting of back box  14  in the opening formed in sheet  18 . Flanges  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  also have holes  42  for receiving the wall anchors. Additional holes (not shown) are preferably provided for receiving screws (not shown) for mounting hinges  48 ,  50  (see FIG. 1) to back box  14 . Hinges  48 ,  50  are of a type which incorporates a cam (not separately shown) or other functionally equivalent structure which causes door  16  to remain open when swung to its fully open position, and to close if not fully open. Hinges  48 ,  50  are also screwed to door  16 .  
     [0017] Back box  14  includes an alarm feature for sensing and annunciating removal of fire extinguisher  30  from back box  14 , in order to alert a responsible occupant of the residence that fire extinguisher  30  is missing. A sensor such as pressure responsive switch  44  is located on bottom wall  40  of back box  14 . The circuit of the alarm feature is shown in FIG. 3. Switch  44  has normally closed contacts (not separately shown) which open responsive to weight of fire extinguisher  30  being placed on switch  44 . When fire extinguisher  30  is removed from back box  14 , the contacts of switch  44  close and illuminate an alarm lamp  46 . The circuit preferably includes a dry cell or similar battery  52 . Lamp  46  is placed at any suitably conspicuous location, such as in door  16 . Lamp  46  may be replaced or supplemented by an audible alarm (not shown) if desired.  
     [0018] If desired, the alarm feature could be arranged to detect and annunciate a predetermined weight threshold which would correlate with objectionable depletion of fire extinguisher  30 . Of course, other forms of depletion detection and annunciation (none shown) could be incorporated if desired.  
     [0019] Door  16  displays a decorative finish, not shown, to complement or enhance interior decor. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, door  16  is finished wood. In other embodiments, shown in FIG. 4, door  54  may be of unpainted finished metal, taking the form of, for example, aluminum, brass, or other sheet metal. The sheet metal may be an unfinished structural metal such as steel which is metal plated to provide a suitable aesthetic appearance different from that of the structural metal. Suitable finishes include polishing, anodizing, and peening, among others. The decorative finishes offer consumers a choice among a number of appearances that will be compatible with most interior decorating schemes, so that painting or other treatment by the consumer will not be necessary.  
     [0020] In the preferred embodiment, back box  14  cooperates with conventional construction of interior walls and partitions. The preferred constituent material is sheet metal. In this embodiment, the following dimensions of back box  14  are preferred. The depth of the interior of back box  14  is within the range of approximately three to five inches, and to fit flushly into most interior building partitions without protrusion at either surface of a partition, is preferably about three and three quarter inches. The height of the opening of back box  14 , as shown in FIG. 1, is preferably approximately sixteen inches. The width of the opening of back box  14  is approximately five inches. Flanges  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  extend outwardly from their respective walls  36 ,  40 ,  34 , and  38  by approximately five eights of an inch. The outer periphery of flanges  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  may be modified from the configuration depicted in FIG. 2 to form a rectangle at their outermost edges, if desired. Door  16  is just great enough in height and width to conceal flanges  22 ,  24 ,  26 ,  28  as well as the open front of back box  14  from casual view.  
     [0021] Since other modifications and changes varied to fit particular operating conditions and environments or designs will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention is not considered limited to the examples chosen for purposes of disclosure, and covers changes and modifications that do not constitute departures from the true scope of this invention.  
     [0022] Having thus described the invention, what is desired to be protected by Letters Patent is presented in the subsequently appended claims.