Apparatus for Automatically Closing or Opening Doors and the like for Ships' Watertight Compartments, Buildings, Mines, and other purposes.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 26th May, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 24th Feb., 1897-Accepted, 27th Mar., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for Automatically Closing or Opening Doors and the
like for Ships' Watertight Compartments, Buildings, Mines, and
other purposes.
I, ALEXANDER BARON VON DER ROPP, of 4° Artillerie Strasse, Berlin,
Germany, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
In order to close a space or capacity of any kind by means of an automatically
acting closing device which comes into action on a certain occurrence taking place,
such for instance as for closing the watertight compartments of a ship in the event
of leakage, it is necessary that such closing device should act rapidly and
reliably. It is also necessary that such device. should. be very easily put in.
action, and, also that it should be brought back to its original position without.
difficulty.
The appliances heretofore employed for the above purpose do not sufficiently
fulfil these conditions, because, on the one hand, they cannot, be put in action with
sufficient rapidity, and on the other hand, owing to their complicated nature they
do not act with sufficient certainty.
According to the present invention these objections, are obviated by an arrange-
ment whereby the force actuating the closing device is brought instantaneously
into action by a very slight external cause, and without complicated transmitting
devices.
The essential feature of the invention consists in providing a strongly
compressed charge of gas enclosed in a receptacle, which charge in being
liberated by an external cause, acts by its sudden forcible expansion upon a
piston, by the consequent motion of which the required closure of a door &c. is
effected.
The device is equally applicable for effecting the opening of doors &c. such for
instance as the exit doors in theatres, in case of fire.
The construction of the device for carrying out the said mode of operating can
be variously modified according to the purpose to which it is applied.
Thus according to one arrangement for closing the sliding door of a ships bulk-
bead, a glass or other breakable vessel, charged with the compressed gas (which
may advantageously. be methyl chloride), is contained in a closed metal casing
communicating by a channel with the one end of a cylinder containing a piston,
the rod of which has a head that bears against a stud on the open sliding door.
Within the said casing containing the glass vessel is a striker situated opposite a
small neck on the glass vessel, which striker is urged by a spring to strike against
and break the said neck, but is ordinarily kept out of contact therewith by being
attached to a rod passing through the metal casing and secured by a paper ring to
a fixed stud.
On water leaking into the compartment of the ship, the paper ring becomes
moistened and in breaking allows the spring to throw the striker against the glass
neck so as to break it, whereupon the expanding gas forces the piston and piston
rod forward in the cylinder and causes the latter to push the sliding door to; or it
may be arranged.to, pull it.

page_text: The piston rod head is not attached to the stud of the door, so that this can be
opened and closed in the ordinary way when the device is not in action, and when
the piston rod has closed the door, the head can be turned on one side so as to allow
the door to be opened again.
The breaking of the glass vessel may also be effected by excessive heating in
case of fire or by an electromagnetic striker actuated by an electric current,
and the apparatus may be arranged to be operated by all three of the above
agencies.
The same arrangement of apparatus may also be employed for closing hinged
trap doors in a building, in the event of a fire, or for opening exit doors. It may
also be employed with advantage for opening and closing doors in mines in the
event of fire or inundation.
Dated this 26th day of May 1896.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.
Apparatus for Automatically Closing or Opening Doors and the
like for Ships' Watertight Compartments, Buildings, Mines, and
other purposes.
I, ALEXANDER BARON VON DER ROPP, of 4° Artillerie Strasse, Berlin,
Germany, Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and iu what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
In order to close a space or capacity of any kind by means of an automatically
acting closing device which comes into action on a certain occurrence taking place,
such for instance as for closing the watertight compartments of a ship in the event
of leakage, it is necessary that such closing device should act rapidly and
reliably. It is also necessary that such device should be very easily put in
action, and also that it should be brought back to its original position without
difficulty.
The appliances heretofore employed for the above purpose do not sufficiently
fulfil these conditions, because, on the one hand, they cannot be put in action with
sufficient rapidity, and on the other hand, owing to their complicated nature they
do not act with sufficient certainty.
According to the present invention these objections are obviated by an arrange-
ment whereby the force actuating the closing device is brought instantaneously
into action by a very slight external cause, and without complicated transmitting
devices.
The essential feature of the invention consists in providing
compressed charge of gas enclosed in a receptacle, which charge in being
a strongly
liberated by an external cause, acts by its sudden forcible expansion either
directly or indirectly upon a piston, by the consequent motion of which the
required closure of a door &c. is effected.
On the accompanying drawings Figs. 1 aud 2 shew one application of my above
described invention; referring to the sectional elevation at Fig. 1 A is a sliding.
door, B the door opening, e the rail on which the door runs, d a cylinder, e a piston
moving therein, a piston rod ga hook on the latter which engages with a pin h
on the door.
The cylinder d is connected by a pipe p with one end of a brass casing I
containing a glass tube k filled with compressed gas. This tube k is shewn in

page_text: vertical section to an enlarged scale together with the casing I at Fig: 2. At.
the lower end of I is a fracturing device consisting of a bracket fixed to the
casing I and a bent rod 7 passing through the casing and having its outer end
secured to the bracket by a paper ring L while the inner part is connected to a
spiral spring L' which urges it to turn. The casing I is provided with a screwed
cover m which closes the same, and which is removed when the apparatus is to be
charged.
The gas preferably employed for actuating the piston is chloride of methyl,.
but any other readily compressible gas may be used. The action of the apparatus
is as follows:-
As soon as water has penetrated into the hold the paper ring L in becoming
wet, will tear under the action of the spring L', which will turn the rod / previously
held by the paper ring, and cause its projecting arm to break the point of the
glass tube. The gas which had been confined under high pressure, instantaneously-
expands, and flowing through pipe.p, propels piston e along the cylinder d, thereby
pushing the door A forward into the closed position. The hook g and the pin h
are not fixed together, so that the door can be opened and closed in the usual
manner independently of the cylinder and piston. 9 is pivotted to f so that also
when the door has been closed by the apparatus, it can be opened again on turning
the hook g to one side.
This arrangement has been described for closing the bulkhead doors of ship's..
holds, where the apparatus is brought into action by the presence of water, the
apparatus can however be slightly modified to serve for other purposes, such for
example as for closing trup doors in the case of a conflagration. In this case the
arrangement can be as shewn in sectional elevation at Fig. 3. The small tube k is.
made of a material such as glass that will burst when heated to a temperature
of 150° C. The expanding gas then forces the piston'e against the trap door A.
which is thereby closed.
The apparatus can be arranged so as to act both in the case of fire and that of
flooding, such for example as in mines, and it can also be arranged to be put in.
action by an electric current.
In this way the apparatus may serve for the automatic closing of partition
doors in mines. Also, by a modified arrangement the apparatus can be used for
opening doors so as to be used for emergency exits and the like.
In the arrangement shewn at Fig. 4 the liberated gas flowing through p does.
not enter directly into the cylinder but into a receiver 9 containing glycerine or
other suitable liquid. The supply pipe can reach down into the liquid in which.
case it is perforated. A second pipe extends down to the bottom of the receiver
and passes up to the end of the cylinder d, being provided with a regulating
valve s, so that the flow of the liquid can be made more or less rapid. The gas
entering the receiver g through the pipe p, forces the liquid through the piper..
into the cylinder d and thus effects the forward motion of the piston e. This
motion of the piston, and consequently the closing of the door actuated thereby,.
can be made to take place faster or slower by regulating the valve s.
The object of interposing the receiver with liquid is to produce a more rapid
expansion of the gas by its contact with the liquid, as it arrives in a still strongly-
compressed state in the receiver.
It also has the object to prevent a direct contact between the gas and the
sides of the cylinder and the piston so as to maintain the latter in a better air-
tight condition.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what.
1 claim is :--
1. Apparatus for closing doors and the like wherein an easily breakable closed
receptacle containing compressed gas is broken by some external cause, such as the-
tearing of a moistened paper ring, excessive heating, or actuation of a striker by an

page_text: electric current,, the expanding gas being made to actuate a piston in a cylinder,
which piston either pushes or pulls the door to, substantially as described.
2. The modified application of the apparatus referred to in the first claim,
whereby it is made to force the door, or the like open, instead of closing the same.
3. Iu, apparatus for automatically closing or opening doors and the like such
as is referred to in the first and second claims, the interposition of a receiver
containing glycerine or other similar liquid in the gas supply pipe so that the gas
is made to act upon the liquid which is thereby forced into the cylinder so as to
effect the motion of the piston, substantially as described.
Dated this 24th day of February 1897.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.