Improvements in Means for Automatically Supplying Water to Fire Hoses.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 9th Dec., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Automatically Supplying Water to
Fire Hoses.
L, FRANK BASIL POWERS, of No. 19, Church Street, in Chicopee Falls, in the
County of Hampden, and State of Massachusetts, United States of America,
Mechanic, 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 relates to improved means for opening a valve, connected with
a source of water-supply, actuated by drawing a line of hose from a reel or other
movable supporting element, on which it is placed for use, in case of a fire, where-
by water is caused to run into and fill the hose during the time in which a person
is carrying the discharge-nozzle of the hose to a point where it can be directed
on to a fire; the object being to provide means whereby there shall be no waiting
for a water-supply after the hose-pipe shall reach a fire-location, but that the
water shall be turned into the hose while the latter is being run off, or laid,
through the agency of devices acting to open the water-supply valve between
the water-supply and the hose, actuated by so running off the hose:
And the invention consists in the peculiar construction and arrangement of
the above referred to devices and means whereby said object is attained, all as
hereinafter fully described and more particularly pointed out in the claims.
In the drawings forming part of this specification,-
Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating the stand-pipe of a water-supply,
and a discharge-valve connected therein, and of a hose-reel having hose thereon,
and supporting devices for the reel having connection with said valve constructed
according to my invention.
Figure 2 is a sectional view of the hose-reel and of hose thereon, and of
structural parts intermediate of the reel and its supporting shaft, the latter being
shown in side elevation and with detail parts connected therewith, which are
hereinafter described.
Figure 3 is a detail side elevation of the reel-shaft and reel, and portions of
the supporting frame, and of detail parts which are fully described below.
Figure 4 is a sectional view of the said shaft and parts thereon, on line 44,
Figure 2, showing also portions of the hose-reel.
Referring to the drawings, 2 indicates a part of a vertical water-supply pipe
of a mill or other location, from which water may be drawn for extinguishing
fires, and 3 is a valve connected by one end to a branch from said pipe and having
a line of fire-hose 5 connected thereto, on which is the usual nozzle 4. Said
valve 3 has its stem 25 passing through a bearing 29 in a part of a frame 7, on
which the hose-reel 12 is supported contiguous to said supply-pipe.
A sleeve 24 is secured on said valve-stem 25 by a set-screw, as shown, and the
usual hand-wheel 24 of the valve-spindle is located on said sleeve, and on the
latter are two arms 28, projecting towards one side of the said hose-reel 12, on

page_text: which are two lugs 27 for engagement with said arms 28, as below described. The
said sleeve 24" has a socket in the end thereof opposite said reel to receive one end
of the reel-supporting shaft 8, and a concentric groove is formed around said end, in
which a screw 26, in said sleeve engages, and holds the sleeve and the shaft in
operative relations, but permits said sleeve to revolve on the end of the shaft.
The opposite end of said shaft 8 is squared and supported in a bearing 9, in a part
of said frame 7, non-rotatably, and in said shaft, near said end, is a catch-socket z.
A screw-threaded sleeve 6, having a slot through one side thereof, is located on
said shaft 8, and a pin 30 is driven through said slot into the shaft, holding said
sleeve against rotary movement on said shaft. A reel-stopping collar 23 is fixed
on the end of said sleeve 6, adjoining the end of said sleeve 24".
Said hose-reel 12 consists of two side-sections; as shown, united by a suitable
tubular barrel or shaft, and is adapted to rotate freely on the face portions of the
screw-thread on said sleeve 6. A lug or bar 22, fixed on the side of the reel, has
its lower extremity engaging the said screw-thread and thus effecting the move-
ment of the barrel, longitudinally, when it is rotated by drawing hose therefrom.
A catch-carrying block 17 is secured on said sleeve 6, near one end of said slot
therein, by a set-screw, as shown, and in said block is a vertically sliding catch-
pin 18, having its upper end inclined toward the adjoining side of said hose-reel,
and its lower end adapted to engage in said socket 2, in the shaft S.
A spring 19 draws said pin downward and causes its lower end to engage in
the socket in the shaft 8, when brought over said socket, as below set forth.
A bevel-edged circular protuberance 20 is provided on the side of said reel
adjoining said block 17, and the movement of said protuberance against the upper
end of said catch-pin causes the latter to be lifted and held out of engagement
with said socket z, as illustrated in Figure 2. A coil-spring 21, between the
bearing 9, and said block 17, acts to slide the sleeve 6, and the parts carried
thereon, toward the sleeve 24", at a certain point in the operation of the device,
as below described.
The method of winding the line of hose 5 onto said reel is necessarily peculiar
in this construction for the reason that one end of the hose is normally in con-
nection with the water-supply, as shown, so that it may be ready at all times for
use, while the end to which the hose-pipe is connected is free to be used and
generally hangs as shown in Figure 1.
Therefore, the line of hose is doubled one-half upon the other and the part
thereof midway between the ends is applied and wound upon the barrel of the
reel, with the section thereof to which the nozzle 4 is attached outermost, and
thus when the free end of the hose is grasped and the hose drawn off from the
reel, the latter is free, as shown in Figure 3.
The operation of the herein described devices is as follows, it being understood
that Figures 1 and 2 illustrate the positions thereof when ready for instant use:
When the hose-pipe is seized and the hose drawn from the reel, the latter is
rotated and is thereby moved along upon said threaded sleeve 6, and the lugs 27,
on the reel, become engaged with the arms 28 on the hand-wheel 2+, and cause
the valve stem 25 to be rotated, and the valve to be opened letting water How
from the pipe 2 into the hose.
The lengths of the said lugs 27 and the arms 28 are such as to insure the full
opening of the valve during the time of their mutual engagement, while the hose
is being drawn from the reel, and therefore the water then becomes fully turned
on ready to be applied to a fire when the person carrying the hose-pipe shall reach
the same.
After using the hose, as above, it is wound again on to the reel and the parts
are returned to the positions illustrated in Figures 1 and 2, as follows:-
First, the reel and its carrying sleeve 6 are slid against the coil-spring 21 on
the shaft 8, to the right, until the catch-pin 18 engages the socket z, in said shaft,
and thus disengaging said lugs 27 from the arms 28 on the wheel 24, and allowing

page_text: the water to be shut off.
The reel and sleeve 6 maintain their relative positions,
and the hose is then re-wound on to the reel, as atoresaid, and said re-winding,
through the rotation of the reel upon the threaded sleeve, carries the reel and the
protuberance 20 thereon, against the catch-carrying block 17, and lifts the catch-
pin 18 out of engagement with the shaft 8. This leaves the sleeve U and reel
thereon free to be returned to the positions shown in Figures 1 and 2, by the action
of the said spring 21, ready again for use.
The valve shown in the drawing is of the class known as a "gate-valve," in
which the gate is drawn on to the stem to open it, this action leaving the shaft 8
without endwise movement; but if an ordinary globe-valve be used, in which the
valve-stem moves out and in, the shaft 8 is free to accommodate such movement
owing to its elongated squared end which is supported in the bearing 9.
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
1 claim is;-
-
1. In devices for automatically opening water communication between a source
of water-supply and hose connected therewith while said hose is being laid for
extinguishing a fire, comprising a valve having a laterally projecting stem con-
nected with said source for governing the flow of water therefrom, a hose-carry-
ing element supported opposite the end of said stem and normally disconnected
therefrom, and means intermediate of said hose-carrying element and said valve,
whereby the movement of said hose-carrying element, due to drawing the hose
therefrom, serves to engage said element and valve-stem and to open water com-
munication between said source and hose, substantially as described.
2. In a device for automatically opening water communication between a source
of water supply and hose connected therewith while said hose is being laid for
extinguishing a fire, comprising a valve having a projecting stem connected with
said source, hose connected with said valve, a hose-containing reel having valve-stem
engaging devices thereon and normally disconnected from said stem, a support for
said reel whereby the rotary motion thereof, due to drawing hose therefrom, effects
the interlocking of said stem-engaging devices with said valve-stem and opens
communication between said source and hose, substantially as described.
3. In devices for automatically opening water-communication between a source
of water-supply, and hose connected therewith, while said hose is being laid
for extinguishing a fire, comprising a valve connected with said source and with
said hose, a hose-containing reel, a support for said reel, means intermediate of
said reel and support whereby the rotation of the reel results in the movement of
the same towards said valve, and means for temporarily inter-engaging said reel
and the stem of said valve, when hose is drawn from the reel, substantially as set
forth.
4. In a device of the class described, a non-rotatable shaft supported by one end
on a suitable frame, a hose-reel supported on said shaft, a water-supply conduit,
a discharge valve connected in said conduit, a hand-wheel for the stem of said
valve having arms thereon extending toward said reel, and a central sleeve
rigidly connected by one end to said stem and rotatably connected to one end of
said shaft, lugs on said reel for engagement with said arms, and means inter-
mediate of said reel and shaft whereby the rotation of the reel effects the inter-
engagement of said lugs and arms, substantially as described.
5. In a device of the class described, a centrally located supporting shaft having
a catch-pin socket therein, a frame in which said shaft is supported in a fixed
position, an outwardly screw-threaded sleeve on said shaft for limited longitudinal
movement thereon having a slot in its upper side extending over said catch-
socket, and means for maintaining said relative positions of slot and socket, a
spring-actuated catch-pin for engagement of its lower end with said socket, the
hose-reel having a protuberance on one side supported movably on said sleeve,

page_text: and engaged by the screw-thread thereon, a spring-actuated catch-pin for the
engagement of its lower end with said socket, and of its upper end with said reel-
protuberance suitably supported on said sleeve, and a spring acting to move said
sleeve toward the valve-wheel of the device, combined and operating substantially
as set forth.
1
T
FRANK BASIL POWERS.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.