Improvements in Apparatus for Saving Life from Fire.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Sept., 1889
Complete Specification Left. 16th July, 1890-Accepted 16th Aug. 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Saving Life from Fire.
1, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, of Norfolk House, Norfolk Street, London, W.C.,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
In the Complete Specification filed in pursuance of my application for Letters
Patent No. 3031 of the year 1888 I describe automatic apparatus for saving life from
fire which is actuated electrically. My present invention is designed to effect the
same objects as my previous invention above cited but it differs therefrom in that
instead of employing electromotors & other electrical devices I employ what I may
term thermal expansion devices that is to say devices which may act as motors and
whose action depends upon the expansion and contraction of a suitable body under
rise and fall of temperature.
There are many ways in which my invention whose nature I have just described
may be performed but these need not be further referred to in this my provisional
specification.
D
Dated this 10th day of September
1009.
J. G. LORRAIN:
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Saving Life from Fire...
I, JAMES GRIEVE LORRAIN, of Norfolk House, Norfolk Street, London, W.C.,
Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement:-
In the Complete Specification filed in pursuance of my application for Letters
Patent No. 3031 of the year 1888 I describe automatic apparatus for saving life from
fire which is actuated electrically. My present invention is designed to effect the
same objects as my previous invention above cited but it differs therefrom in that
instead of employing electromotors and other electrical devices I employ what I may
term thermal expansion devices that is to say devices which may act as motors
(fulfilling the functions of the electromotors mentioned in my said previous specifica-
tion) and whose action depends upon the expansion and contraction of a suitable body
under rise and fall of temperature.
Having thus described in general language the nature and object of my said
invention and so defined its scope I shall proceed to explain in detail one way in which
it is to be or may be performed or carried into effect and in order that this more
detailed description may be more readily understood 1 have annexed hereunto a sheet
of drawings illustrative of my invention and have inserted in the same figures and
letters of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation. In these
drawings similar letters of reference apply to similar parts.
Figure 1 shows the application of my present invention in a case similar to that
shown in figure 1 of my previous specification.
A is the thermal expansion device (here shown in elevational section on the line x-x
of figure 2 which is a plan of the said device) whose function is equivalent to that of
the electromotor mentioned in my previous specification. In this device a is a cross-
shaped support or base made preferably of china or glass and 6 6 6 6 are rods of hard
rolled copper or other suitable metal having a high coefficient of expansion and
sufficiently hard. These rods are so fixed as to be free to expand longitudinally; and
it is this longitudinal expansion which determines the action of the device. The said
rods abutt against shoulders c, c and are so attached at this point that their extremities
[Price 6d.1
..

page_text: "
e is a rod
here cannot move outwards. Their other extremities (which I term the "free
extremities in contradistinction to the "fixed" extremities just mentioned) are so
attached as to be free to move outwards, under expansion, in the direction of the
arrows. d is a tube attached to the free extremities of two of the rods b b and capable
of moving with the said free extremities in the direction of the arrow.
whose outer end is adjustably attached to the free extremities of the other two rods b' b₁
and capable of moving outwards with them. The inner end of the rod e is bevilled off
in a downward direction as shown and its point rests within the inner end of the
tube d. Upon the bevilled point of e and against the inner end of the tube d rests a
link to which is attached the chain bearing the weight h. This chain is attached
at one end to the end of the lever j rigidly attached to the shaft of the releasing device
for freeing the animal. I preferably construct the tube d of stout glass and the rod e
of teak with a brass tip at the part where the link frests. The relative positions of d
and e are adjusted by the regulating nut e¹.
The action of the thermal expansion device is as follows. The temperature rising to
a sufficient point the rods b, b, 61, will expand so that their free extremities will
move outwards in the direction of the arrows and so pull the rod e and the tube d
apart. As soon as a sufficient movement apart of d and e has taken place it will be
seen that the link f is set free so that the weight h falls and the lever j is moved round
to the position shown in the dotted lines. This movement of the lever j produces the
releasing effect specified in my previous specification with reference to figure 1.
On the contraction resulting from cooling taking place, the link can be replaced in
position.
It will be seen then that the thermal expansion device acts as a motor, so to speak,
of the releasing device and is a substitute for the electrical devices shown in my
previous specification.
It will be seen that my thermal expansion device is simply a form of thermostat,
being the form that I have found the most convenient in practice. Any other form of
thermostat might be employed without departing from my invention and any competent
engineer would be able to design a multiplicity of means whereby any convenient
form of thermostat chosen would actuate an animal releasing device. It will be
understood therefore that I do not limit myself to any specific form of thermal
expansion device.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
The improvement in apparatus for saving life from fire consisting in the combination
of a thermal expansion device, substantially as set forth and an animal releasing
device.