Improvements in Automatic Fire Extinguishers.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 24th May, 1890-Accepted, 26th July,
1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic Fire Extinguishers.
I, JOHN HILL of Columbus, in the County of Muscogee, and State of Georgia,
United States of America, Mechanical 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 :-
My Invention relates to that class of fire extinguishers in which the flushing-valve
is automatically relieved by a soluble solder joint, released at a given temperature and
supporting the valve-stem at all temperatures below the said point.
It is the purpose of my Invention to provide an automatic fire extinguisher of the
type specified with a simple and novel construction whereby the constant strain upon
the solder joint shall be resisted, and the weakening of said joint, due to a series of
years of inaction, or to the softening of the solder to a point below that at which the
valve is to be released shall be counteracted, while at the same time the solder shall
release at the temperature for which it is compounded.
It is my purpose, also, to provide simple means whereby the shearing action of
the valve-support shall be resisted up to the point at which the release is to take
place.
It is my purpose, also, to provide an automatic extinguisher of any type, having a
valve released by a soluble or fusible joint, with one or more female and male
indentations formed in those parts of the valve-supporting device which have
movement one upon the other, such indentations being preferably but not necessarily,
formed after these parts are united; the purpose thereof being to remove the shearing
strain from the solder and to prevent the joint from shearing asunder, either by
reason of the weakening of the solder caused by a long period of more or less
constant strain, or by the partial fusion thereof produced by a temperature below that
at which the valve is to be dropped, or opened, thus relieving by the keying strength
of the indentation, the fatigue of the solder.
In order to enable others skilled in the art to practice my said Invention I will
proceed to describe the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying
drawing, in which :-
:-
Figure 1, is a sectional perspective view showing the application of my Invention
to one type of extinguisher.
Figure 2 is a plan view of a platform adapted to sustain the separable disk by
which the valve-stem shown in Figure 1 is supported.
Figure 3 is a plan view of the separable disk.
Figure 4 is a central, axial section of a platform and separable disk, united by a
fusible joint, and having my Invention applied thereto.
Figure 5, is an enlarged plan view of the parts shown in Figures 3 and 4,
united.
Figure 6 is a plan view of the same showing a slight modification in the form of
said indentation.
Figure 7 is a similar view showing a duplex indentation.
Figure 8 is a plan view, showing a further modification.
Fig. 9 is an enlarged cross section of figure 8.
Fig. 10 is an enlarged cross section of figure 7.
Fig. 11 is a side elevation shewing my invention applied to another type of
extinguisher.
Fig. 12 is a sectional view on the line x-x, shown in Fig. 11, wherein the indent
is shown as entering the two engaging surfaces between their points of engagement.
Fig. 13 is a front elevation showing substantially the same parts shown in Fig. 11,

page_text: but with the solder joint and relief nipple 10 formed in the path of the shearing or
sliding movement of the device sustaining the valve.
Fig. 14 is a section on the line y-y, Fig. 13.
In the said drawings the reference numeral 1, denotes the yoke of the automatic
extinguisher, which is connected with a neck 2, tapped into a pipe, or main conveyor,
in the usual manner. This neck, as it is usually formed is provided with a valve-
seat 3, upon which seats a valve 4, carried by a stein 5, this stem being in the
construction shown in Fig. 1, sustained by a normally curved platform or disc 6, by
the intervention of two semi-circular parts 7, which are united to the flattened platform
by a fusible solder, indicated in the drawing by the reference numeral 8.
Experience has shown that in the long continued use of these devices, the solder is
apt to weaken under the continued stress to which it is subjected, by the continued
elastic tension upon the valve, whereby the valve may be released at a temperature
below that intended, or below that at which the soluble joint is to release. It will be
evident, also, that in the type of extinguisher shown in fig. 1, the wedging action of
the lower end of the stem or spindle 5, which lies between the parts of the cleft
disc 7, as shown in fig. 4, tends to produce a shearing action, by which the two
semi-circular parts of said disc may be forced off said platform, should the solder
uniting said parts weaken sufficiently, this wedging action of the stem being directly
proportioned to the pressure of the water or extinguishing fluid upon the head 9, of
the valve. It should be noted however, that in all cases where the valve is sustained
by a movable part, one portion whereof has a sliding, or shearing movement upon
the sustaining frame, that my invention is equally applicable thereto.
In order to counteract this tendency, I form in the united parts, either before
or after the union of said parts has been effected by means of the solder-joint,
one or more indentations 10, whereby the metal of one part is driven into
a corresponding indentation in the other and connected part, as shown in
fig. 4. When I use the platform or disc 6, shown in fig. 1, which is normally
curved, and then flattened in order to effect the union of the semi-circular
parts 7, shown in fig. 3, the soluble solder 8, which is interposed between said parts
is melted and a union being thereby effected the nipple of the valve-stem 5 is inserted
in its seat between the separable semi-circular parts 7. By means of any
suitable tool, one or more depressions 10, are then indented in each of the separable
parts, extending into that portion of the platform lying below the same.
form these indentations in any desired shape, either circular or rectangular as shown
in figs. 5 and 6 or of an elongated form as shown in fig. 8. These indentations,
moreover, may be of any required number, and while they are preferably formed in
the top and indented therefrom into the platform, they inay be. formed from the
lower part, or platform 6, and indented into the upper or semi-circular portions 7.
I may
While I prefer to form the indentations in the upper or thicker portion of the
connected parts, I may form them in the lower portion or platform 6, and it is also
evident that I may accomplish the same result by indenting the opposite portions of
the platform and subsequently forming registering indentations in the halves of the
sustaining disc.
The more simple and cheaper method of construction is to form said indents after
the parts are united by the fusible solder, but I do not confine my invention to either
of said methods, to the exclusion of the other.
I may however, apply the same invention to any type of extinguisher in which
there is an automatic release of the valve by the fusion of a solder-joint. For
example, in figs. 11 to 14 inclusive, I have shown a modified form of extinguisher,
wherein the valve is sustained by an elbow lever 12, having its forked end supported
upon one arm of the yoke and its lower end united to the lower part of the yoke
by a solder-joint, as in the construction already set forth. At the point where this
joint is formed indent the metal at the points 10, which may be one or more in
number, and I may form male and female indentations in both parts, or I may indent
the metal of one part immediately in front of the shearing edge of the other part
which moves thereon.

page_text: It will be seen that when the release takes place the nipple over which the movable
part slides, will separate the surfaces and thereby prevent them from reseating by a
slight escape of the extinguishing Buid.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. In an automatic fire extinguisher of the kind herein referred to, holding the releas-
ing valve in the closed position by means of a divided plate or equivalent device that
is attached to a support by soldering, the plate and the support being provided with
shallow abutments or indents so arranged as to resist the strain put upon the solder
by the pressure on the valve but which will allow the plate to give way readily to
such pressure when the solder is melted, substantially as herein described.
2. In an automatic fire-extinguisher of the kind herein referred to a separable disc
supporting the valve-stem and a platform sustaining said separable disc and united
thereto by fusible solder, one or more indentations being formed in the parts united
by the solder, substantially as described.
3. In an automatic fire-extinguisher, the combination with a normally curved or
bent platform, of a divided disc united thereto when flattened by a fusible solder and
a valve stem supported by said divided disc and having a conical or wedging nipple,
said divided supporting disc being connected with the sustaining or supporting
platform by means of one or more indentations formed in both and engaging one
with the other, substantially as described.
4. In an automatic fire-extinguisher, of the kind herein referred to, the combination
with a sustained valve, of a device holding the same against the pressure of the
extinguishing fluid, such device being supported by means of a fusible solder joint
which releases by the shearing or sliding movement of the united surfaces, the joint
being reinforced by one or more indents, formed in both plates, or formed in one only,
and engaging the other, substantially as described.
Dat his
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.