Improvements in Safety Guards for Containers for Gaseous Fluids under Pressure.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1897-Accepted, 27th Feb., 1897
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION:
Improvements in Safety Guards for Containers for Gaseous Fluids
under Pressure.
I, JOHN MCINTYRE, Engineer, of No. 46 Ogden Avenue, Jersey City, in the
County of Hudson and State of New Jersey, United States of America, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention, and in what mauner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement :-
The invention relates to containers for gaseous and other fluids under pressure
and the object of the invention is to provide a new and improved safety or,
emergency guard for such hollow bodies, to prevent damage to surrounding objects,
by preventing a sudden escape of a large volume of the gaseous contents of the
body in case the latter is ruptured or burst.
The invention consists of a guard that is pressureless within the hollow body
until rupture of the body occurs.
The invention also consists of certain parts and details and combinations of the
same, as will be fully described hereinafter and then pointed out in the claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this
specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts
in all the figures.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the improvement ;
Figure 2 is a cross section of the same, on the line 2-2 of Figure 1 ;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a modified form of the improvement; and
Figures 4 and 5 are cross sections of other modified forms of the improvement.
As illustrated in Figure 1, the sealed hollow body A adapted to contain the
gaseous fluid under pressure, is provided with a safety or emergency guard B,
arranged close to the inner wall of the body A, to form with said wall a space C in
communication with the interior of the guard, to permit the fluid to fill this space,
so as to equalize the pressure on both sides of the guard, and render the latter
pressureless. Now in case the hollow body A should be ruptured or burst by an
excessive inside pressure, or from other causes (internal or external) the guard
obstructs the flow and prevents a rapid or sudden escape of the gaseous contents of
the hollow body, and, consequently, damage which would otherwise result to the
surrounding objects from the large volume of the suddenly liberated fluid, is
entirely avoided.
The form of the guard may be greatly varied, also the means for establishing
communication between the interior of the shell and the space C. For instance,
as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the guard is in the form of a tubular shell having
perforations B and heads B2, B3, which may be loose or fixed. The perforations
are formed by apertured inwardly extending dents, and are proportionately
scattered over the whole shell with a collective area sufficient to practically
maintain an equal pressure in the shell and the space C, so that when a rupture in
the body A occurs, the shell, owing to the equal pressure on both its inner and
outer sides is not liable to burst with the body A, and the shell by its obstruction
causes a slow reduction of the pressure of the gaseous fluid, and prevents instan-
taneous escapement of the fluid in large volume, and consequent destruction of
surrounding objects.

page_text: The loose head B' in the shell accomplisbes the closing up of the body A. The
shell may also be sprung into the body with its sides overlapping, as illustrated in
Figure 4, so that the shell can be readily fitted in bodies of different diameters.
The body A represents a tube with the heads welded on, and with the emergency
guard inserted into the body A before the last head is put into position for welding
or sealing.
In the modified form shown in Figure 5, the thin shell guard B³ is provided with
an exterior lining of asbestos cloth, or other suitable packing material B. The
exterior diameter of this shell and lining is slightly less than the interior diameter
of the hollow body, to form the space C for the fluid to pass into from the interior
of the shell, to prevent the said shell and its packing from forming a resistance to
the pressure of the fluid within the shell and before a rupture of the tube occurs.
It is understood that the space C is infinitely small, and in some cases
ordinary loose fit of the guard in the tube will form the necessary space and fully
answer the purpose.
an
For smooth bore bodies A, and smooth turned guards B, the latter is held_a
suitable distance from the inner surface of the body by minute spacing pieces D,
to form the space C and insure a film of the gaseous contents in said space, but
when the body A and guard B are in the ordinary rough form of iron and steel
tubes, then the minute protuberances formed by the roughness at the adjacent
surfaces are sufficient to produce the said space C and to insure a sufficient and
constant pressure therein, and equal to that within the shell until the rupture of
the body A occurs.
It is also evident that the heads of the shell may be dispensed with as shown in
Figure 3, so that the fluid passes through the open ends of the shell into the
space C, to insure an equal pressure on both the inside and outside of the shell.
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,
1. A hollow body and a pressureless emergency guard within the said hollow
body, substantially as shown and described.
2. A hollow body, provided with an independent internal emergency guard,
substantially as shown and described.
3. A hollow body and an internal emergency guard forming a space between the.
guard and body, the space being in communication with the interior of the guard,
to insure an equal pressure on both the inside and outside of the guard, substantially
as shown and described.
4. A hollow body and a perforated shell within the said body and forming a
space therewith, substantially as shown and described.
5. A hollow body and an emergency guard consisting of a perforated shell
within the said body, and spacing pieces or minute protuberances between the
inner surfaces of the said body and the exterior surface of the said shell,
substantially as shown and described.
6. A hollow body provided with an emergency guard, consisting of a perforated
shell within the said body and having overlapping sides, substantially as shown and
described.
7. A hollow body and an emergency guard, consisting of a perforated shell
within the body and forming a space between the said body and guard, the said
shell being provided with an adjustable head or heads, substantially as shown and
described.
Dated this 19th day of Lenuo 1907
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.