Improved Fire Extinguishing Apparatus.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 26th Nov., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Fire Extinguishing Apparatus.
I, ANDRIES BOOMGAART of Curaçao, in the Island of Curaçao, Dutch West
Indies, retired Major in the Army, 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 :-
This invention has for object the automatic supply and delivery of water under
pressure at the particular place only in a building where fire has broken out, and
the automatic stoppage of the water supply when the fire has been extinguished.
In the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 is a view of the apparatus of this invention
applied by way of example to a factory building where there is no direct water
supply. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan of the building shewing an arrangement of
pipes and other fittings forming part of the apparatus. Figs. 3, 4, 5, 7, are
enlarged views of details. Fig. 6 shews the arrangement for the automatic
stoppage of the water supply when the fire has been extinguished.
Two bottles A, of which one only is shown, containing liquid carbonic acid, say
about 10 kilogrammes in cach, are placed in a vessel in which they are
surrounded with sawdust, wool waste, or other bad conductor of heat. They
are in connection with each other by a tube and cock. It is known that at
0° Celsius carbonic acid has a pressure of 36 atmospheres and at 30° Celsius
or 86° Fahrenheit a pressure of 74 atmospheres. From the two bottles, at
ordinary atmospheric pressure 9000 liters of gas may be evolved. a is a steel
screw upon turning which the gas is directed to a carbonic acid reservoir B
shewn somewhat small in the drawing, of a capacity of about 4000 liters of the
gas, and provided with a pressure gauge and safety valve d. h is a tube
connecting gas reservoir B with a water reservoir C of a capacity of about
12000 liters of water and provided with a pressure gauge g, water gauge and
opening n closeable air tight by one or more screws or bolts and serving for
charging the same with water. In tube there is interposed a cock i opened
and shut by a handle from which a weight is suspended by a cord / this
latter being carried upwards over a pulley and at m having attached to it a
glass tube charged with gunpowder. V1, V2, V3, are fire conducting lines or cords
the ends of which are entered into the gunpowder tube, leading thence to the
different stories of the building through pipe o. The water is driven or forced
from reservoir C through horizontal pipe D to vertical pipe F in the building E
and horizontal pipes G1, G2, G3, fixed to the ceilings of the different stories of the
building. K is an alarm bell placed at about half the height of the bottom story.
It consists of a flywheel located in vertical pipe F on a spindle to one projecting
end of which reaching out of the building two movable clappers are attached.
Upon the ascent of water in pipe F the flywheel and therewith its spindle will
be set in motion and the clappers struck alternately against the bell (Figs. 1, 2).
H (Figs. 1, 2, 3) are sprinklers in connection with horizontal water pipes G, G, G³
They have the form of a hollow perforated sphere of about 25 centimetres internal
diameter. At the top of each sprinkler H there is a neck or aperture kept
normally closed by a stopper L (Fig. 3) carried on the upper end of rod M the
lower end of which rests upon a glass tube m charged with gunpowder. This latter
tube is carried in two bearings s fitted with set screws t for adjusting the powder
tube against rod M so that stopper L provided at top with a gutta percha bearing
surface shuts off sprinkler H from pipe G. P, are sheet metal cases (Figs. 1, 2, 4)
a number of which are fixed overhead or to the ceiling of each story. They are
closed on all sides, but the under cover is fixed with an easily fusible substance.
They are each furnished with a coil of fire conducting line or match cord (Fig. 4)
?'

page_text: The
which must be long enough to reach the floor upon falling from the case.
other end is passed through an orifice in the top cover of the case to the powder
tube m of the corresponding sprinkler H into which tube it is entered through
orifice W (Fig. 5), and so placed in communication with the powder. The fire
conducting lines or match cords V1, V2, V3, before referred to, pass into the different
stories of the building over rollers, thence alongside the powder tubes of the
sprinklers. They are covered with waterproof material except at the places which
are opposite the powder tubes of the sprinklers, where they are provided with a
taffet or cloth covering. Their extreme outer ends are fixed to the wall of the
building, the opposite ends being twisted together and introduced through orifice W
into the glass powder tube m shewn placed near the water reservoir C. The outside
portion of the apparatus of which this reservoir forms part, may be conveniently
located, as shewn, in an outhouse adjacent to the building.
The apparatus operates as follows:-By turning screw a to open communication
between bottles A and carbonic acid reservoir B the liquid carbonic acid is able to
expand, the gas passing through tube e into reservoir B. When the pressure gauge
on this latter shews a pressure of from 3 to 4 atmospheres, the carbonic acid supply
is shut off and the apparatus is then ready for use in extinguishing fire in the
adjacent building. Upon this occurring, the air at the particular place becomes
heated thereby melting the readily fusible solder of the under covers of metal
cases containing match cords r, these and the covers falling to the ground, and
any one (or more) of such cords coming in contact with the fire it (or they) ignite
carrying the fire to the powder tube m of the corresponding sprinkler H. The
powder is thereby ignited, the tube bursts and the rod M of the sprinkler stopper
then losing its support falls down and opens the sprinkler to the water supply. By
the ignition of the powder, a match cord V1, V2 or V³, as the case may be, is also
ignited at the place where, passing alongside the powder tube it is provided with
ouly a thin covering. This match cord communicates fire to the powder tube m in
the outhouse which also bursts thereby releasing weight to turn on cock i.
Carbonic acid then passes out of the carbonic acid reservoir B to water reservoir C
forcing by its pressure water therefrom into water pipes D and F. Upon the
ascent of the water in the latter pipe the flywheel before referred to is set in
rotation and the alarm bell K sounded. The water continues to ascend and flows
into horizontal pipes G1, G2, G3, and into any one or more of the sprinklers the
stoppers of which have been released, the water falling in a shower upon what lies
underneath it. One of the sprinklers is shewn in operation on the bottom floor of
the building (Fig. 1). The sprinklers whose match cords do not ignite remain shut
off from the water supply so that the corresponding part of the building is not
played on with water. When the fire is extinguished the cock i by which the gas
is allowed to pass to the water reservoir is closed, the gas there present allowed to
escape, and the reservoir again charged with water, whereupon the gas and the
gas reservoir are again placed under the original pressure.
Fig. 6 shews the means for stopping the water supply when the fire has been
extinguished. In the lower story of the building a cock a by which the water may
be shut off is interposed in the vertical water pipe from 1 to 1 metres from the
ground. It is provided with a handle or lever about 75 centimetres in length its
end carrying a soft iron weight of about 10 kilogrammes. When the cock is
open the handle rests with the end of the weight upon a wood lever chaving two
arms of unequal length the longer carrying a weight d sufficiently heavy to keep
the weight gently pressed against horse shoe magnet f. The wood lever is carried
on upright so as to be capable of oscillation at . The end of its shorter arm
carries a small bucket i which receives the lower end of a tube leading from the
water pipe a little distance above cock a. The horse shoe magnet is wound with
insulated copper wire from which copper wire conductors proceed to tubes p' carried
from the ceilings of the different stories of the building. These are somewhat in
the form of a thermometer and are charged with quicksilver this being small in
quantity but its container having a large surface in order that it may be very

page_text: quickly acted upon to indicate a difference of temperature. Tubes p' are closed
at top by a glass stopper through which passes a screw capable of being worked
up and down therein. To the bottom end of this, a platinum wire is attached so
that it may be adjusted at a suitable distance from the quicksilver. The head of the
screw is provided with a clamp in which the copper conductor may be fixed. From
within the lower end of the quicksilver bulb there projects a platinum wire to which
the wire of the other pole of the horse shoe magnet is connected. The wires o are
in connection with 3 or 4 Leclanché elements and as already said are carried along
the ceilings of the different stories. Upon the occurrence of a fire the quicksilver,
by reason of the increased temperature of the air, rises in tubes p' and reach the
platinum wire above it. The electric circuit is then closed, magnetising the horse
shoe magnet which then attracts weight on the end of cock lever. Some of
the ascending water flows down tube into bucket i. The weight thus added to
the shorter arm of lever c causes that arm to descend and no longer support
weight b. When the fire is extinguished and the temperature falls so also does the
quicksilver, breaking the electric circuit, and the horse shoe ceasing to be magnetised
releases the weight 6 which in falling carries with it the cock lever to close the
cock and stop the water supply.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner tlie same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim, is:
1. The general arrangement and construction of the apparatus for the purpose
of the delivery of water only at the place or places where fire has broken out,
substantially as described and shewn.
2. In the apparatus referred to, the means for automatically opening the cock of
the gas reservoir and thereby forcing water from the water reservoir into the water
supply pipes, substantially as described and shewn.
3. In the apparatus referred to, the means for automatically closing cock or
valve a and thereby stopping the water supply when the fire has been extinguished
or got under, substantially as described with reference to Figs. 6 and 7:
Dated this 26th day of October 1892.
THOMAS R. SHILLITO,
89, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.