A New or Improved Fire Alarm or Fire and Heat Indicator.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application 18th Dec., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 17th Apr., 1890-Accepted, 17th May, 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Fire Alarm or Fire and Heat Indicator.
I CHARLES WILLIAM SUMMERSKILL of Hockley Heath in the County of Warwick
Apiarian, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object principally to give an alarm when a fire occurs in a
room or place where my said invention is fixed: but is also applicable to the giving
of an alarm when the room or place where it is fixed attains a temperature exceeding
the maximum temperature which it is desired the said room or place shall have.
My said invention consists of the following construction and arrangement of parts.
I take a flat closed chamber or vessel made of thin elastic sheet metal or alloy filled
with air the said chamber being preferably circular in figure and having one or both
of its sides corrugated with circular concentric corrugations. To the centre of the
corrugated side or one of the corrugated sides of the said flat closed metallic chamber
and at right angles thereto 1 fix a metallic rod the said rod being in the line of the
axis of the chamber.
In line with the said rod is another adjustable metallic rod capable of approaching
to or receding from the first named rod by a screwing motion. I will call this rod the
screwed rod. The parts described are supported by a framing the screwed rod being
electrically insulated from the closed metallic chamber and its axial rod. The said
chamber is supported at its periphery. When the parts are at an ordinary temperature
the end of the screwed rod is not in contact with the end of the axial rod of the
closed chamber. When however an abnormal temperature in the room or place
where the instrument is situated is attained the air in the closed chamber is expanded
the side or sides of the said chamber become bulged and the axial rod thereby moved
towards the screwed rod; and by the adjustment of the screwed rod the end of the
axial rod of the chamber may be made to come into metallic contact with the end of
the screwed rod at any required temperature.
I avail myself of the action described to prodere an alarm in the following manner.
The conducting wires from a voltaic battery or other source of an electric current are
connected respectively to the axial rod and the screwed rod the said rods being thus
made the respective electrodes of the voltaic battery. When the instrument is at
ordinary temperatures these electrodes are separated from each other. When however
the chamber is sufficiently heated to advance the axial rod so far as to bring its end
into electrical contact with the screwed rod the electric circuit is completed and a
voltaic current flows through the wires and parts forming the completed circuit. In
this circuit is an electro magnet which is excited on the completion of the current and
the said magnet acting on an armature may be made to ring a bell or put into operation
signals of various kinds as is well understood.
By driving home the screwed rod more or less the apparatus may be adjusted with
the greatest nicety to give an alarm at any required temperature.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Fire Alarm or Fire and Heat Indicator.
I CHARLES WILLIAM SUMMERSKILL of Hockley Heath in the County of Warwick,
Apiarian do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My invention has for its object principally to give an alarm when a fire occurs in a

page_text: room or place where my said invention is fixed; but is also applicable to the giving o
an alarm when the room or place where it is fixed attains a temperature exceeding th
maximum temperature which it is desired the said room or place shall have.
My said invention consists of the following construction and arrangement of parts
I take a flat closed chamber or vessel made of thin elastic sheet metal or alloy filled
with air or other elastic fluid the said chamber being preferably circular and having
one or both of its sides corrugated with circular concentric corrugations. To the
centre of the corrugated side or one of the corrugated sides of the said flat closed
metallic chamber and at right angles thereto I fix a metallic rod the said rod being
in the line of the axis of the chamber.
In line with the said rod is another adjustable metallic rod capable of approaching
to or receding from the first named rod by a screwing motion. I will call this rod
the screwed rod. The parts describe are supported by a framing, the screwed rod
being electrically insulated from the closed metallic chamber and its axial rod. The
said chamber is supported at its periphery. When the parts are at an ordinary
temperature the end of the screwed rod is not in contact with the end of the axial rod
of the closed chamber. When however an abnormal temperature in the room or place
where the instrument is situated is attained the air in the closed chamber is expanded
the side or sides of the said chamber become bulged and the axial rod thereby moved
towards the screwed rod and by the adjustment of the screwed rod the end of the
axial rod of the chamber may be made to come into metallic contact with the end of
the screwed rod at any required temperature.
I avail myself of the action described to produce an alarm in the following manner.
The conducting wires from a voltaic battery or other source of an electric current
are connected respectively to the axial rod and the screwed rod, the said rods being
thus made the respective electrodes of the voltaic battery. When the instrument is
at ordinary temperatures these electrodes are separated from each other. When
however the chamber is sufficiently heated to advance the axial rod so far as to bring
its end into electrical contact with the screwed rod the electric circuit is completed
and an electric current flows through the wires and parts forming the completed
circuit. In this circuit is an electro magnet which is excited on the completion of the
current and the said magnet acting on an armature may be made to ring a bell or put
into operation signals of various kinds as is well understood.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawing the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in front elevation, Figure 2 in side elevation and Figure 3 in
back elevation a fire alarm or fire and heat indicator, the parts of which are con-
structed and arranged according to my invention; Figure 4 represents a cross
section of the same taken on the line a, a of Figure 2 and Figures 5 and 6 represent
cross sections of the same taken in a plane at right angles to that in which the section
Figure 4 is taken. The section Figure 5 is taken on the line b, b Figures 1 and 4
through one of the terminals and the section Figure 6i s taken on the line c, c Figures 1
and 4 through the other terminal.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the
Drawing.
d is the circular wooden framing supporting the several parts of the apparatus
and e e are the flat closed chambers or vessels made of thin elastic metal or
alloy filled
with air the said chambers e, e being soldered together at their centres, the sides of
the said chambers being corrugated with concentric corrugations as represented.
Instead of two closed chambers a single chamber or more than two chambers may
be used, and when two or more chambers are used they need not open into one
another but constitute independent chambers: f is a metal casing or box soldered to
the edge of the outer chamber and the said casing f is secured by screws to the ebonite
disc g within the casing d. The ebonite disc is made in two pieces with distance tubes
or pillars between them.
In the line of the axis of the two chambers e e and on the inner chamber a metallic
rod his fixed which rod as the chambers expand is moved inwards or in the direction

page_text: of the back of the apparatus; k is the adjustable metallic rod situated in the line of
the axial metallic rod carried by the chambers e e. This second or screwed rod k
works in a screwed hole in the axis of the ebonite disc g so that the said screwed rod
is electrically insulated from the closed metallic chambers e, e and their rod h. The
rear end of the screwed rod k carries a pointer or index finger which traverses the
circular graduated dial or scale represented at the back of the apparatus. By turning
the said screwed rod k by its pointer the adjustment of its inner end nearer to or
further from the metallic rod h so as to bring the apparatus into operation at any
required temperature can be effected, the position of the screwed rod being indicated
by the position of the pointer on the graduated dial or scale. That is to say, if the
apparatus is required to be brought into operation when the room or place in which
it is used attains, say, a temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit the screwed rod k
has the position with respect to the axial rod represented.
Should the apparatus be required to be brought into operation when the room or
place attains a higher or lower temperature than that supposed the pointer is turned
on the dial or scale to the right or left and brought opposite the required figures on
the scale so as thereby to increase or diminish the distance between the end of the
adjustable screwed rod k and the axial rod h on the closed chambers.
Thus, by driving home the screwed rod k more or less the apparatus may be adjusted
with the greatest nicety to give an alarm at any required temperature in the manner
hereinafter described.
When the apparatus is fixed with its back against a wall or other surface as herein-
after described, the dial and pointer are protected and cannot be tampered with without
removing the apparatus.
Or the dial may be arranged on the periphery of the outer casing d and the end
of the pointer be bent at right angles to work over the said periphery as represented
in Figure 7. I prefer however the first described arrangement of the dial and
pointer.
On the supporting framing d of the apparatus are two terminals m p to which the
conducting wires of a voltaic battery or other source of an electric current are con-
nected and the two terminals mp are connected respectively to the axial rod / and
the screwed rod k in the following manner. The way in which the axial rod h is
connected to the terminal mis seen in Figure 5. The metallic casing of the chambers
is connected in part to the insulating disc g by the long screw q. To the inner end of
the said screw q a connecting wire r is secured which wire passes through the outer
supporting framing d and is connected to the terminal m. The manner in which the
screwed rod k is connected to the other terminal p is seen in Figures 4 and 6. On
the adjustable screw k is a disc to which one end of the spring connecting wires is
soldered the said disc having an axial screwed hole in which the screw works as
shown. The said spring wire s is bent in the manner seen in Figure 4 and its upper
end bears against the screw pin t. A second and thin wire u is fixed to the pin t
and passing through the framing d is secured to the screw of the terminal p. The two
rods h, k are thus made the respective electrodes of the voltaic battery or other source
of an electric current.
Instead of employing the disc to which the spring wire s is soldered for establishing
an electrical continuity with the screw ka thin metallic ribbon may be used in place
of the wires which ribbon may be coiled several times around the screw kits inner
end being soldered to the said screw k. The disc represented on the screw k is in
this case dispensed with and an unbroken metallic continuity established between the
pint and the screw k. In all cases where it is practicable the metallic connections or
junctions described and represented in the electric circuit are perfected by being
soldered.
The action of my new or improved fire alarm or fire and heat indicator is as
follows: When the instrument is at ordinary temperatures the ends h, k of the
electrodes of the voltaic battery are separated from each other as represented in
Figures 5 and 6. Should the room or place in which the apparatus is situated
become sufficiently heated the closed metallic chambers e e expand by the expansion

page_text: of the air in them and their corrugated sides become bulged and the axial rod h is so far
advanced as to bring its end into electrical contact with the end of the screwed rod k.
The electric circuit is thereby completed and a voltaic or electric current flows
through the said rods h and k and their connections and the wires joined to the
terminals n and p formning the completed circuit. In this circuit is an electro magnet
which is exited on, the completion of the circuit and the said magnet acting on an
armature may be made to ring a bell or put into operation signals of various kinds.
In this way an alarm is given when the room or place where the apparatus is fixed
attains a temperature higher than that which it is desired the said room or place shall
have.
In order to prevent any failure by corrosion or oxidation of electrical contact
between the ends of the rod h and screw k I tip or coat the said ends with gold or
platinum or other metal or alloy which does not oxidize by exposure to the air and as
the contact points are in a practically air tight chamber they are prevented from
being coated with any deposit from the air which might impair their efficiency. By
these means the passage of an electric current is secured whenever the end of the
rod is brought into contact with the end of the rod k.
In fixing my invention in the room or place where it is to be used it may be
attached to any wall or surface by means of the ear at the top of the frame as
represented in Figures 1, 2 and 3 the said ear having a hole in it through which a
screw or nail may be passed.
I prefer to employ the instrument or apparatus constituting my invention in pairs
so that if by accident or otherwise one of the instruments shall become disabled the
other may give the required signal in the manner hereinbefore described.
I also consider it a desirable precaution to examine or test the instruments at
regular intervals say of a week or a month in order to ascertain if they are in working
order.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I claim
as my invention;
First The employment in a fire alarm or fire and heat indicator of one two or
more closed elastic metallic chambers or vessels filled with air or other gaseous fluid
in combination with the screw adjusting arrangement described and represented
whereby the instrument or apparatus may be so adjusted that the expansion of the air
or other elastic fluid in the chamber or chambers shall at the required temperature
close an electric circuit combined with the, said instrument or apparatus and thereby
put into operation an electro magnet which effects the ringing of a bell or operates
any other signal substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawing.
Secondly-The employment in a fire alarm or fire and heat indicator of a finger
or pointer on the adjusting screw of the instrument or apparatus in conjunction
a graduated scale or dial by the position of which finger or pointer upon the said l
the instrument may be so adjusted that it will be put into operation and an a
given or signal operated when the temperature of the room or place in which
instrument is fixed has risen to the height indicated on the dial by the finger or
pointer substantially as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
1000