IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID DISCHARGING APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN THE MEANS FOR GENERATING GAS WITHIN SUCH APPARATUS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Brown at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 27th
January 1869.-A communication from abroad by William Lincoln,
of Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America.
I, THOMAS BROWN, of No. 96, Newgate Street, in the City of London,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN LIQUID DISCHARGING APPARATUS FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE AND
OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN THE MEANS FOR GENERATING GAS WITHIN SUCH APPARATUS,"
a communication, to be as follows:→
My Invention relates to apparatus wherein a body of water or other
liquid is contained in a vessel, in which is generated by the combustion
of certain compounds an elastic fluid or gas, by whose pressure the
said liquid is expelled through a suitable outlet aperture.
The said Invention also relates to combustible compositions or com
pounds which are ignited and consumed within the vessel to generate
the elastic fluid or gas.

page_text: The said Invention is chiefly designed to furnish a cheap and effective
fire extinguishing apparatus which will always be ready for use at a
moment's notice, and which may be operated by one person of ordinary
skill. The apparatus may be made capable of throwing any quantity of
water, according to the capacity of the vessel.
In carrying my Invention into practice, I employ a strong and tight
metallic vessel enclosing a smaller vessel or tube, the latter extending
nearly to the bottom of the main vessel. The said tube opens at
bottom into the main vessel, and is closed at the top by a screw cap,
this cap being outside of the top of the main vessel. The main and
smaller vessels are united at the top. The tube has an aperture through
it about one-fourth of its length from the top, and just above this
aperture is a wire or open partition for supporting the combustible
charge, whereby the gas is evolved. The main vessel may be of the
proper size to hold any desired quantity of water, and is made perfectly
tight. The said vessel is provided with a waste cock and an ejecting
tube. The screw cap is inserted into the top of the tube, and has an
aperture through it which is tightly closed by a screw plug. Near the
top of the tube is an orifice leading from the interior of the tube into
the main chamber, and at or about in line with this aperture is the
waste cock leading from the main chamber. Across the tube at a little
distance above the said orifice is the wire or open partition which holds
a basket containing the compound to be burned. Leading from the
top of the main chamber is a tube, entrance into which is controlled by
a cock, and to this tube is attached the hose or pipe, whereby the
water in the vessel is conducted to, and ejected upon the fire to be
extinguished.
The composition to be burned in the tube may be ignited, and then
placed directly on the partition, the cap being removed for that purpose,
but generally I prefer to keep the cap closed, and to lead a fuse from
the composition to the aperture, the composition being preferably con-
tained in a small pasteboard case enclosed in a basket which is placed
upon the partition, the plug only being removed to ignite the charge.
The apparatus being supplied with water and with the combustible
charge the screw plug is removed, the fuse lighted, and the plug then
replaced. Instead of this plug a cock may be used having a hole
through the key large enough for the fuse to extend through it. When
the fuse is lighted the key is turned, thus closing the passage through

page_text: it into the vessel. The fuse ignites the composition, which consumes
quietly and regularly without flame or explosion, producing one or more
of the gases herein-after mentioned, the elastic force of which will eject
the water through the delivery aperture and hose. When the water is
expended the basket is taken out, the remains of the first charge are
removed and replaced by a second charge. The main vessel or barrel
is again supplied with water and the charge is lighted as before.
The gas generating charge to be burned may be composed of char-
coal or sulphur, with silicate of potassa or soda, and substances capable
of furnishing oxygen in proper proportions to produce carbonic acid, car-
bonic oxide, nitrogen, or sulphurous acid gas, either mixed or separately,
according to the nature of the mixture, and with such composition I
prefer to use a fuse saturated with a hot solution of nitrate of potassa or
other suitable substance, and gum water properly dried, such fuse being
connected at one end with the composition in the basket, its other end
being passed through the hole in the screw cap.
The composition used in the pasteboard cases consists of mixtures of
chlorate or nitrate of potassa or soda, with charcoal or sulphur, and
silicate of soda or potassa, in a liquid form, and in varying proportions
according to the object for which the mixture is used. If for raising
or propelling water, simply gases insoluble in water are required, such
as nitrogen or carbonic oxide. The last of these is produced by a
mixture of one hundred and twenty-two parts of chlorate of potassa and
thirty-six parts of charcoal in fine powder, made into a paste with
liquid silicate of soda or potassa, and carefully dried.
If it is desired to produce carbonic acid gas, the following compounds
may be used:-Chlorate of potassa one hundred and twenty-two parts, and
charcoal eighteen parts, mixed with silicate of soda or potassa. Chlorate
of soda may in all cases be substituted for the potassa salt. Where
nitrates are used, nitrogen gas is produced at the same time as the car-
bonic acid.
Nitrate of potassa twenty parts and charcoal three parts, mixed with
an equal weight of sand and made into a paste with two or three ounces
of strong mucilage of gum arabio, when dried, forms an excellent charge
for the same purpose.
For producing sulphurous acid mixtures I use chlorate of potassa
one hundred and twenty-two parts, and sulphur forty-eight parts, mixed
with silicate of potassa or soda. Nitrate of potassa or soda may be

page_text: substituted in this case, in proportion according to its chemical
equivalent. These mixtures should be made and handled with care, the
ingredients should be powdered separately, and mixed on a flat surface or
by sifting. After the addition of the silicate of soda, no special precaution
need be taken, as they are then non-explosive and take fire with some
difficulty.
For extinguishing fires silicate of soda or potassa should be added to
the water in the vessel, the whole to be well mixed by agitation before
the charge is inserted. The silicates of soda or potassa mixed with water
have most powerful effects in extinguishing flame. Ammonia water, con-
taining as it does so much gas in solution, the gas being driven out by
the slightest beat, and possessing so great a diffusive power, is also a very
powerful agent in extinguishing flame.