IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS TO ENSURE SAFETY IN CASE OF PROVISIONALATIONASE OF FIRE IN THEATRES AND OTHER BUILDINGS
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clayton Scudamore Beauchamp of 4 Mount Street in
the County of Middlesex Major Royal Engineers for an Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS TO ENSURE SAFETY IN CASE OF
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clayton Scudamore
Beauchamp at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th July
1882.
CLAYTON SCUDAMORE BEAUCHAMP of 4 Mount Street in the County of Middlesex
Major Royal Engineers "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS TO ENSURE
SAFETY IN CASE OF FIRE IN THEATRES AND OTHER BUILDINGS
"
This Invention has for its object improvements in automatic apparatus to ensure .
safety in case of fire in theatres and other buildings.

page_text: The results produced are i The turning off of all gas ii The opening (without
power of reclosing) of all doors iii The free flow of water on to the endangered
part (or generally over all parts). In the case of a Theatre the lowering of a
protecting curtain between the stage and auditorium and the warning of the
nearest fire station of the danger to the theatre, this warning action being controlled
by a power on the part of the person responsible on duty to indicate that the
danger had ceased.
These results are arrived at.
i Locally The part to be protected has over it a perforated horizontal tube
capable of pouring sufficient water on to saturate the locality. This tube is
protected by a closed tap which prevents the ingress of water until fire touches the
protected part when the lighting of a small piece of gun paper or gun cotton (by
the releasing of a spring catch) releases a weight which falling (as a "monkey") opens
the tap and (in the case of a box at the Theatre) the door also. Facility for egress
is afforded and the water pours down.
The local action is wholly mechanical and requires no electric battery.
ii General Here water power is employed as in local protection but the opening
of the centre tap applies the water in all parts.
To every point where danger is expected two insulated wires are attached these
lead from the protecting clip to the collecting blocks. The clip is kept open by a
small piece of gun paper or gun cotton or other explosive that resolves itself into
gas on ignition. The fact of ignition permits the clip to close, the circuit is
completed through the collecting blocks and thus on (through a battery) through
the bobbin of an electro magnet.
The magnet releases a small piece of machinery that permits a suspended
weight to fall and acquire momentum. The weight falling releases by another
lever the catch which holds a drum which is caused to revolve by a heavy weight.
The Drum. Outside the bearings and fixed to the axles are the water and gas
taps.
Under ordinary conditions the water tap is closed and the gas tap open. The
revolution of the drum when free cuts off the gas and turns on the water.
On to the drum (or lever) are fixed the main chains that mechanically open all
doors in the house.
The Door Action.-The absolute lock is untouched. The original power to open
with a key and with an interior handle are preserved: but in case of fire the hasp
or catch into which the lock bolt recedes and frees the door so that it may open
outwards. Until complete safety is secured it is impossible to lock or catch the
door until the house is safe.
Steel chains passing to the main drum are carried along over the doors.
When the drum revolves, an inclined plane over each door advances, raises a
runner and releases the catches of all doors.
Warning Action.-The fall of the first weight closes a switch that places the
alarm bells and indicators in circuit with their local battery thus warning the fire
office and the person in responsible charge of the building a small breaking
arrangement admits of this officer intimating to the fire office that the fire is out.
ADVANTAGES CLAIMED.
Heretofore on a fire occurring it has been necessary to turn on the hydrant get
up the fire hose and so on, setting aside the question of delay, the work is the
hands of human beings and in the case of a panic it is more than possible that the
work might not be done.
The same remark applies to the alarming of the several fire engine stations.
Under the new arrangement (while the powers to use the hose remains) the
actual protection is placed beyond the power of human action. The fire itself does

page_text: ii The fact that free egress, in case of fire, is secured would tend largely to stop
panic both among actors and spectators not only can the doors be opened but
panels that under normal conditions remain locked would be opened by the same
action as opens the doors.
iii. The application of the arrangement to a building is only a first charge
There is no wear and tear. All that would be necessary would be the three
monthly replenishing of a small battery to ensure perfect action and an occasional
inspection of the machinery which is by no means complicated.
IV. The fact of the gas being turned off prevents the possibility of a gas
explosion.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Clayton Scudamore Beauchamp in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th January 1883.
CLAYTON SCUDAMORE BEAUCHAMP of 4 Mount Street in the County of Middlesex
Major Royal Engineers "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC APPARATUS TO ENSURE
SAFETY IN CASE OF FIRE IN THEATRES AND OTHER BUILDINGS
"
This Invention has for its object improvements in automatic apparatus to secure
safety in case of fire in Theatres and other buildings.
The invention provides for the protection of theatres, mills, warehouses, stores,
public buildings private buildings and steam ships from the effects of fire. It also
provides for indicating the position of a fire in a sailing vessel, and the protection
of Petroleum stores.
The mechanism employed includes the following parts.
1. The protector.
2. The double wire.
3. The accumulator
4. The electric release.
5. Weight action and alarm
6. The main pipe, tank and revolving bar.
7. The wire curtain and clutch.
S. The gas main with self closing tap.
9. The lock action.
10. The water pipes.
11. The floating vessels.
12. Certain special arrangements for Petroleum stores
13. Basement gas action.
14 Minor details.
1 The protector consists of a mechanical contrivance which by the lighting of
an explosive, or fusing of a metal completes an electrical circuit or releases a cord,
wire, spring or latch.
Figure 1. Plate I illustrates the protector which consists of an ebonite or
wooden box with two plates of metal at its base and a circular disc with a wire
stem at right angles to it the stem having an eyelet at the top which passes
through a channel in the top of the box, a spring presses the disc towards the
plates at the base, outside the box the plates are forked or break into two parts to
admit of their catching onto the double wire conductors shewn at the top of Figure 1.
To prepare the protector the eyelet is raised and a piece of explosive (gun cotton,
gun paper &c) placed through it, this raises the disc from the plates and keeps it
free. For security a piece of cloth is pasted over the upper surface to protect the
explosive. On a flame touching the explosive it is resolved into gas, the disc is
released and closes the electric circuit. For positions where extreme heat is to be.
considered a source of danger the stem and cyelet shall be made of fusible metal to
melt at the dangerous temperature. The protector may be used fixed or swung
from the double wire and may be made of an ornamental form.
2 The double wire. To all points to be protected, the pair of insulated wires
are passed. These wires are opened and exposed at the points where danger is
anticipated, and the protector which is circular is slipped in, the metal plates
clipping and enclosing the exposed portion of the wire. The whole of these wires
pass to the accumulator.
3 The accumulator shewn at Plate II Figure II consists of an ebonite block,

page_text: which has on both sides at its upper portion plates of india rubber. Hinged onto
both outer surfaces of the block are two brass plates capable of moving outwards
and held in position by two screws on either sides to bring them into close contact
with the india rubber plates. The plus and minus wires exposed at the extremities
are laid against the india rubber plates and the brass plates brought into contact
with them by means of the screws. From the two sides also pass the coupling
wires one of which passes to the battery and the other to the electro-magnet of the
electric release (Figure III Plate I and Figure IX Plate II).
4 The electric release.
The electric release consists of a train of wheels similar to an ordinary clock
except that the main drum has a detent on it supporting a weight and in place of
the balance wheel is a ratchet. The circular ratchet is restrained by the arinature
of an electro-magnet held in position by two light springs, and also passing through
two guides. The detent on the main drum passes through an opening in a narrow
brass plate which is held in position by a spring as shewn in Figure III Plate I.
The brass plate is inserted into the weight. The weight works within guides and
is capable when released of falling through a fixed space.
On the closing of any
one of the circuits in consequence of fire having touched or excessive heat affected
one of the protectors the circuit is made through the magnet, the armature is
drawn back, the train of wheels released. The weight is freed by the movement
of the wheels and falls. To replace the weight it is only necessary to raise it to
its former position when a button on the brass plate replaces the detent in its
normal position and the circuit being open the plate is again caught.
5 Weight action and alarm.
The weight in falling (Figure IV Plate I) has two actions; by a side spring
which it moves it closes the alarm circuit, and by its vertical action it moves down
a lever which opens slide valves admitting the water from the main to the house
and to a tank.
6 The main pipe, tank and revolving bar.
The main pipe or pipes (Figure V Plate I) take off from the principal pipe
supplying the hydrants and in no way interfere with the existing arrangements.
Two slide valves one single and the other double cross the pipe, the first prevents
the water from entering the house. The first slide of the second valve prevents it
passing to the tank while the second slide of the second valve is open. The action
of the levers shewn in Figure IV is to open the slide of the first valve and the first
slide of the second valve. This throws the water (1st) into the house and (2nd)
into a tank (Figure VI Plate I) The second slide of the second valve is connected
directly with the tank and the tank being filled descends by gravity and closes the
second slide of the second valve, so preventing any further supply of water from
the main to the tank. The whole water power is then turned on to the house.
Two escape valves one (not shewn in the Drawing) under the main channel to the
house and a second in the pipe leading to the tank prevent the possibility of
leakage from the slides interfering with the arrangements. When the full force of
the water is brought into play the pressure closes the valves to the waste pipes
and directs its full force in the proper direction.
To the cranks supporting the tank there are connected (in the case of the
apparatus being applied to a theatre) two rods one working to a clutch that holds
up a wire curtain and the other to a lever on the tap of the gas main. On the
axis of the crank are a series of minor cranks or levers that revolve with it and
act on a series of bars to nove door hasps and open doors. A tap on the tank
emptying into a waste pipe when all danger has ceased relieves the tank of its
weight of water and (the slide valves having been reset) enables it to rise.
The machinery is then again in its normal position with the levers ready to act
again and the lock hasps closed.
7 The wire curtain and clutch. The wire curtain (Figure III Plate II) is
composed of fire wire links; it is rolled up on a long roller with a drum at either
end on which are arranged the supporting cords. The curtain being up a stop on

page_text: the cord is held by the clutch. On the clutch opening the stop is released and the
curtain by its own weight unrolls and falls, cutting off one portion of a building
from another. Over the wire curtain is a perforated tube forming when water
pressure is turned on a water curtain to prevent the possibility of the flames
destroying the wire curtains.
8 The gas main and self closing tap. This is a simple arrangement consisting
of an ordinary gas tap (Figure IV Plate II) with a lever attached to the axis.
The tank in falling draws down the lever and closes the tap. A pin from the lever
(not shown in the Drawing) also closes the tap in every day use and leaves it
closed after the fire action has been released, thus securing the house from the
danger of explosion. Thus when the tap of the fire apparatus closes it holds down
the ordinary tap in every day use, and when the fire tap opens again it allows of
the tap in every day use being reopened when necessary.
9 The lock action. The levers working from the crank axis (Figure VI Plate 1)
act on systems of cranks working in various parts of the protected building. The
several cranks are connected with the parts they are intended to operate by bars
which are united when necessary by collars having left and right handed screws to
admit of tightening up.
Cranks are placed at points where the lock action is necessary and by their
revolution the cranks release the hasps of the several locks simultaneously. On
each crank (Figure VIII Piate II) is a ratchet arm for regulating the direct action
consequent on the angular action of the crank. On the ratchet arm the connecting
block may be set in the position suitable to give the necessary motion through a
bar passing to the lock action as shewn in (Figure VIII Plate II).
The locks are of two kinds.
1 Interior locks opening outwards (Plate I Figure II)
2 Main locks with automatic locking hasp (Plate II. Figure I.)
For convenience of working in each case the lock proper is placed in the top of
the opening side of the door and has an ordinary spring latch the lock is worked
by a vertical rod at a convenient level. It may however be at the side in the usual
position. To the jamb of the door is affixed the hasp which consists in both cases
of an outer casing and an inner block capable of sliding up and down. A vertical
rod connects this block with the upper or releasing action which consists of a bar
acted on by the draw of the crank shewn in (Figure VIII Plate II). Thus the
bar is raised and draws the inner block of the hasp free of the bolts. The second
lock shewn at Figure I Plate II differs in the fact that inside the inner block of the
hasp there is a horizontal bolt pressed forward by a spring and bolting into the
outer hasp. This bolt is released before the hasp is raised by an incline and wheel
on the vertical bar. Thus the bar first draws back the bolt and then raises the
inner block of the hasp. On the fire action being released the inner block falls the
locking bolt is shot out into its place and the hasp is firmly secured automatically.
Figure I Plate II fully shews the details of the lock and locking hasp action.
is necessary to state that the lower lock by passing a bolt underneath the vertical
rod effectually closes the lock against marauders until fire raises the hasp above.
Figure V Plate II shews the lock fitted to a door and indicates the approximate
position of the ordinary opening and locking action 'as well as the upper releasing
action and the bar to the crank system. Figure VI Plate II indicates the arrange-
ment of cranks and connecting bars for opening doors on a curved house;
Figure II Plate III shews the arrangement for exit doors. Figure IIa illustrating
the process by which the lock crank is revolved.
It
10. The water pipes. These shall be of varying dimensions and perforated in
two lines longitudinally so as to eject in each case a complete sheet of water
playing on the endangered part. The distribution is to be from the main pipe to
distributors and from these to the pipes working on the combustible portions of
the edifice special pipes being arranged to flood wooden floorings and others to keep
wet the woodwork of the roof.
The action of each portion of this patent except the general opening of the doors

page_text: may be localised. By a second water pipe the water action may be brought to
bear on a restricted area (as for instance on a portion of the stage of a theatre)
without interfering with the rest of the building an alarm ringing in this case
solely in the fireman's room and the usual indicator showing the point of danger.
Further, small zones of total protection may be organised without electrical aid
as in the case of a private box inadvertently set on fire. In this case the mechanical
protector Figure V Plate III on the simple chain (with gun cotton plugs) holding
the weight as shewn in Figure IV Plate I would be sufficient to (in the case of fire)
open a tap and flood the endangered spot, a separate pipe from the main is
necessary in each case and a valve to prevent the water going back into the other
tubes.
11. Floating vessels.
(a) Steam vessels. In these, the several compartments will be protected a valve
opening locally and the full power turned on (from the donkey engine) to
the burning section. The falling weight is increased to compensate for the
inclination due to the roll of the ship. The alarm is the same as in a
building and on an indicating board shows the part attacked.
(6) For sailing vessels the arrangement is the same as for Steamers except that
there being no water pressure taps are provided working below water line
and a gas action, as in factories, to annihilate the fire, the alarm having first
duly warned the crew to rush on deck and avoid suffocation.
12. Petroleum stores. The arrangement is shown at Figure IV Plate III. The
ceilings of the several floors are to consist of extremely light iron tanks or trays
swung to the joists or girders and touching each other. The trays carry fine sand
The
and the edge of one tray fit on to the top of the hinge of the tray in front.
edges of the last tanks or trays rest on catch levers. On fire touching a protector
the levers are drawn back and the first tank or tray swings down this allows the
second to swing, the second the third and so on thus despositing a layer of earth on
the burning materials.
At
13. As a further protection the space below the lowest floor is made into a dry
tank in which are placed blocks of limestone marble or other carbonate of lime.
The action is to open vessels containing hydrochloric acid and a tap from a tank
containing the necessary amount of water to dilute and distribute the acid.
the same time the whole of the ventilators are automatically closed. This action
can only be brought on at times when the building is cleared of human beings and
it is proposed that the closing of the main entrance shall by a lever place the
machinery in a state ready for action, the reopening of the door at once stopping it
again.
14. Minor details.
The alarm. On the weight falling the alarm circuit is closed through the bell in
the fireman's room (in the case of a theatre) and the bell and indicator of the
locality at the nearest fire station. Into the circuit is introduced a spring contact
breaker to enable the local officer by preconcerted signal (e.g. two long breaks and
a short) to inform the fire brigade that the fire has ceased.
A small galvanometer may be conveniently fixed in an interrupted circuit above
the main battery to shew on closing a spring contact that the battery is in full
working order.
Figure III Plate III simply illustrates the tightening adjustment in the
connection of a crank and lock.
Having thus described the nature of my said invention and the manner of
performing the same I would have it understood that I claim :-
:-
First. The protector and its application in connection with the double wire
substantially as described.
Second. The accumulator substantially as described.
Third. The electrical release and weight action substantially as described.
Fourth. The actuating tank filled by the operation of the electrical release and
then in its descent actuating the safety apparatus substantially as described.

page_text: Fifth. The wire curtain and liberating clutch set free by the electrical release
and protected by water descending upon its surface substantially as described.
Sixth. The electrical release operating the gas tap substantially as described.
Seventh. The electrical release operating the lock actions substantially as
described.
Eighth. The arrangement of water pipe and valves and the electrical release
operating the valves substantially as described.
Ninth The arrangement for extinguishing fire in petroleum stores substantially
as described.
In witness whereof I the said Clayton Scudamore Beauchamp have hereunto
set my hand and seal this twenty fifth day of January in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty three. ·
CLAYTON S. BEAUCHAMP (L.S.)