Improved Means and Arrangements for Protecting the Hollow Iron Parts of Buildings against the Action of Fire.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th May, 1893-Accepted, 22nd July, 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means and Arrangements for Protecting the Hollow
Iron Parts of Buildings against the Action of Fire.
We, CESAR MÜLLER, JOHN FRANZ FREDERIK BRINCKMANN, and HERMANN
LUBAN, of 61 Schauenburger Strasse, Hamburg in the Empire of Germany,
Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
The object of this invention is to make the hollow iron parts of buildings, such
as the columns, box girders, roof members and such like, fire resisting when a
conflagration occurs, by causing a cooling liquid to circulate through such parts.
And in order that the said invention may be fully understood, we will proceed
to describe the same with the aid of the accompanying sheet of drawings in
which
Figures 1 and 2 are vertical sectional elevations of a column and girder con-
structed in accordance with our invention,
Figure 3 is a sectional plan of the head of a column and
Figure 4 a cross section of the girder.
The cooling liquid is conducted, when a fire occurs, into the interior of the
columns through the pipe b, rises in the column and passes at or near the highest
point thereof through slots c into the pipe e down which it falls to the lower end of
the column and thence passes by the pipe f to the outflow or waste pipe g. It is
essential in such an arrangement that the pressure at which the liquid is delivered
to the pipe b should be greater than that due to the column of liquid in the interior
of the column that is to be protected, in order that the flow of liquid may be
maintained.
The columns may be carried up above the roof of the building and be provided
at its upper end with openings p for the escape of the steam generated from the
cooling liquid inside the column by the heat. The column may at the same time
be used as a support for the rod of a lightning conductor.
Figures 1, 2 and 4 show the arrangement of a floor beam m formed as a box
girder which is connected by a pipe with an elevated reservoir or other source of
water supply, the several parts of the girder being connected with each other by
pipes n for securing a circulation of water through them. The above described
principle can also be applied to many other constructive parts such as to arches,
staircases, roofs and so forth. In such cases the arrangement takes the form of a
more or less ramified net work of pipe, the elements of which are so connected
together and with supply tanks that a proper circulation of the cooling liquid is
produced through them. Stairs and steps, when kept cool in this manner, are
preserved, and remain available for the rescue of people from the burning
building.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
:-
First. The improved means and arrangements for protecting the hollow iron
parts of buildings against the action of fire, which consists in so constructing such
parts that they can be kept cool by passing water or other cooling liquid through
them, whereby the strength and carrying power of such parts are preserved,
substantially as hereinbefore described, and illustrated in the drawings.
Second. In the hollow iron parts of buildings constructed so that they can be
kept cool by passing water or other cooling liquid through them, the arrangement

page_text: of two pipes s and e placed one inside the other for the inlet and outlet of the
cooling liquid, and having one or more openings p at the upper end for the
escape of steam generated from the cooling liquid, substantially as hereinbefore
described, and illustrated in Figures 1 and 2 of the drawings.
Date 05th
MA 1902
C. MÜLLER,
J. F. F. BRINCKMANN,
H. LUBAN,
Per W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C., Agent.