IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
Year: 1885

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I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AUTOMATIC FIRE EXTINGUISHERS
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 an automatic fire extinguisher adapted to be placed in
buildings, vessels, cars mines and other places, in such a way as to be affected by
heat and explode automatically when the temperature reaches a certain point, this
explosion being caused by the internal pressure or the expansion occasioned by the
external heat, and permitting the expansible extinguishing gases or fumes formed or
released thereby to escape into or onto the fire.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is an elevation of an extinguisher formed from a short piece of
frangible metallic tubing.
Figure 2 is a sectional view thereof on the line x, x and
Figure 3 is a sectional view illustrating a modification thereof.
A represents a section or piece of tubing, B the soldered ends thereof, and C a.
wire loop or hanger.
The vessels or receptacles containing the extinguishing gas or material should be
frangible, at least in some one place, and may be made of metal, glass, or any other
substance capable of easy fracture; and I prefer a substance whose point of
frangibility can be readily and reliably determined.
Any number of these receptacles may be put into a room, suspended from the
sides or walls, or otherwise, and for dwelling houses, they are preferably put into
the partition walls while the house is being built and thus concealed from view
and protected from molestation.
The vessels or receptacles themselves may be made of any size, form or material
desired; but I prefer short sections of frangible tubing the ends being closed by
fusible joints or otherwise in such a way as to securely confine the contents until

page_text: an explosion is caused by the expansion thereof occasioned by extraneous heat. In
the drawings, I have shewn a short piece or section of a frangible metallic tube,
say of about an inch in diameter and three inches in length, having its sides at
each end compressed and soldered or otherwise hermetically sealed and fastened
together, The whole or any part of the receptacle may be coated or enamelled on
the inside with wax or other non-corrosive substances.
The extinguishing material may consist of any suitable gas, liquid or solid which
will expand and operate as an extinguishing gas or fumes, upon heating and
explosion; but I consider carbonic acid gas, ammonia gas compressed to a liquid,
or any ordinary powder whose fumes absorb oxygen, to be practical and useful for
extinguishing purposes. These gases or materials may be used separately or in
combination with others as found desirable.
•
In operation, these automatic extinguishers are readily affected by heat whenever
a fire breaks out in the structure containing them; and the extinguishing gas or
material expanding by reason of the outside heat will cause them to burst or
explode as soon as their point of frangibility is reached, thus allowing the
extinguishing gases, so released or formed, to perineate the building, room, or space
containing the fire, to automatically extinguish the same..
My invention is intended primarily for putting out fires in their incipient stages;
but my extinguishers will be found.useful whenever exploded, even if this should
not be until after the fire has gained great headway.
My automatic extinguishers can be manufactured very economically, and so it
will be comparatively inexpensive to provide an ordinary house, ship, car or other
building, with a sufficient number to afford ample protection.
My invention differs from other fire extinguishers now in use, particularly in
these respects, viz that the inside pressure or expansion caused by the outside heat
operates automatically to liberate and apply the extinguishing gas or fumes; and,
that being automatic they are not required to be in any way handled in their use
or application, and, especially when put in walls as a structure is being built, will
be protected against misplacement, accidents or carelessness, and therefore be more
lasting and reliable than the ordinary grenades and other fire extinguishers now
in use.
It will be understood that the object of frangibility in the vessels is simply to
permit their bursting when subjected to the inside pressure or expansion caused by
outside heat, and thus allow the extinguishing gases or fumes to escape; and this
object being fully accomplished by frangibility at any point, I do not in using this
term, mean that the vessels shall be frangible at all points, or necessarily at more
than some one place. Nor do I wish to be understood when using the term
expansible," with reference to my extinguishing gas or material, as meaning that
such material itself must necessarily be expansible, but simply that in some of its
parts or properties it contain sufficient expansibility to accomplish the object in
view, as in the case, for instance, of expanding fumes formed or produced by the
explosion of powder. Nor have I intended to use the term "gas "in its technical
sense, but in its use I also mean any substance or material from which a gas or
.fumes suitable for extinguishing purposes may be produced by heat.
The essential feature of my invention being the making of an automatic fire
extinguisher, consisting of a frangible vessel or receptacle containing an expansible
extinguishing gas or material, (these terms meaning as above) I do not wish to be
understood as in anywise limiting myself to special forms or details of construc-
tion, but I disclaim the use of any means outside the extinguishing gases
themselves, or material for producing them, for exploding or to aid in exploding
the receptacles, as for instance, gunpowder, it being my intention, as already
stated, that the inside pressure or expansion of' such gases or material caused by
the outside heat shall alone perform this office. Nor do I contemplate that the
fusible solder used for sealing the ends of the receptacles shall necessarily operate
for this purpose, inasmuch as the receptacles themselves may be frangible at any
-other point.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign Correspondent I declare that what I claim is
First. An automatic fire extinguisher comprising a closed frangible vessel or
receptacle containing an expausible extinguishing gas, or material for producing
such a gas or fumes, such vessel or receptacle depending for its fracture and the
liberation of its contents upon the expansion of the latter when affected by
extraneous heat, substantially as described.
Second. An automatic fire extinguisher comprising a closed frangible vessel or
receptacle containing an expansible extinguishing gas, or material for producing
such a gas or fumes, such vessel or receptacle depending for its fracture and the
liberation of its contents upon the expansion of the latter when affected by
extraneous heat of a certain specified point or degree, substantially as described.
Third. An automatic fire extinguisher, comprising a frangible vessel or receptacle.
formed from the section of a tube hermetically sealed at both ends, and containing
an expansible extinguishing gas, or material for producing such a gas or fumes,
such vessel or receptacle depending for its fracture and the liberation of its
contents upon the expansion of the latter when affected by heat, substantially as
described.