Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 12th July, 1898-Accepted, 11th Feb., 1899
A communication from JAMES ABERCROMBIE BURDEN, JUNR., of 908, Fifth Avenue,
Borough of Manhattan, City and State of New York, United States of
America, Iron Merchant.
I, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of 46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
London, Consulting Engineer, and Chartered Patent Agent, 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:-
The object of this invention is to provide a portable fire extinguisher with a
metal or wooden case, at the top of which is a finely blown glass bottle blown
with a concave ring in the glass so as to enable the bottle to be readily broken, the
said bottle containing acid which, when liberated by the bottle being broken by a
metal weight, will allow the fumes thereof to be directed on the fire for the purpose
of extinguishing the same. At the end of the case opposite from the glass bottle
is a sharp pointed metal weight with horizontal metal rods passing through it,
as indicated on the diagram, so arranged with three or more guide-rods running
from the bottom to the top of the case that when the case is entirely inverted, and
not until it is entirely inverted, will the metal weight fall with its point upon the
glass bottle containing the acid aforesaid. The bottom of the external case, upon
which the metal weight rests, is reinforced by two or more metal bars upon which,
when the extinguisher is turned back to its original position after use, the weight
will fall, instead of upon the bottom itself, thereby protecting the bottom from
injury and permitting the frequent recharging of the extinguisher. Important
features of the invention are the arrangement of the sharp pointed metal weight
with the horizontal bars passing through it, running between the guide rods placed
as aforesaid; and the form of the bottle.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1, is a vertical section through the centre of the extinguisher.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the extinguisher at the point indicated by
the letters "A, A," on Figure 1.
Similar letters refer to similar parts in both the drawings. a represents the outer
metal case, which is filled with liquid, such as an alkali solution of bicarbonate of
soda and water. is the glass bottle or vessel containing the acid, (such as
sulphuric), which, when the bottle is broken, combines with the liquor in the
extinguisher, forming the extinguishing fluid. c is the crease or indentation blown
in the bottle to enable it to be more readily broken by the weight when the ex-
tinguisher is inverted. d, d, d, are the vertical metal rods, made preferably of
brass or copper, tinned so as to resist the chemical action of the liquid. Said
rods are fastened to the top and bottom of the case a by soldering or riveting, and
are so placed so as to guide the metal weight e so that it will fall directly and
with full force upon the bottle 6 when, and not before, the extinguisher is entirely
inverted, thus breaking the bottle and releasing the acid. In experiments that
have been made three rods have been found sufficient but more may be found
expedient; the number is not material. f, f, f, f, represents the rods or arms
of metal passing through the metal weight e horizontally at right angles to each
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page_text: other and extending beyond the perpendicular rods d, d, d, so to accurately guide
the weight in its fall. represents the reinforcing bars, which are made of metal
similar to that of the rods 7, fastened to the bottom of the case by soldering or
riveting, upon which the weight e will fall when the extinguisher is returned to
its original position after use. It has been found by experiments in this ex-
tinguisher that the metal weight falling upon the bottom of the case when it is
restored to its original position after use, would bend or break the case so that it
could only be recharged a few times and with the arrangement of guide rods men-
tioned above compelling the weight always to strike in the same place, the damage
of such injury is greatly increased. The invention obviates or lessens this danger
and permits the case to be recharged an indefinite number of times.
Heretofore portable fire extinguishers in which glass bottles or vessels have been
used at the upper end of the metal or wooden case, (which bottle was intended to
be broken by a weight carried loose in the lower end of the case when the case
should be inverted), have always been more or less defective in practice, because
unless the case was very suddenly and quickly inverted, the weight in the lower
end of the case would not fall upon the bottle and break it, thus liberating the
acid therein contained, but would roll along the sides of the case and would reach
the bottle with a force insufficient to break it. I claim for my new improvement
that the guide rods will hold the metal weight in position until such time as the
case is entirely inverted, and, of course, when the case is entirely inverted, the metal
weight will fall immediately through the space confined by the guide rods along
the whole length of the case, acquiring by this sheer fall so great a force that
it cannot fail to break the glass bottle. This will always be true, because, as
will be readily seen by the diagram, this weight cannot roll along the guide rods
in the way that the loose weight in the extinguisher heretofore used used to roll
along the sides of the case.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is-
1. In a portable fire extinguisher of the type wherein two liquids when combined
form a fluid which will extinguish fire are arranged in separate receptacles, adapted
to operate through the breaking of one by a weight falling upon it, the combination
of the closed cylindrical receptacle a of wood or metal, having a concave bottom,
the weight guiding rods d, d, d, the weight e, arranged to move between said rods
endwise and provided with rods or prongs f, f, f, f, which engage with said
vertical rods d, d, d, the horizontal reinforcing bars 9 g fastened at the ends to
the concave bottom of the case a, all constructed, arranged and combined to operate
substantially as described so as to guide the said weight e when the extinguisher
is reversed from its normal position upon the bottle fixed in the tube of the barrel
in direct line with the thrust of said weight.
2. A portable fire extinguisher of the type aforesaid, consisting of a metal or
wooden case with a concave bottom and containing an alkaline solution, three or
more metal guiding rods fastened to the top and bottom of said case, a metal
weight having horizontal bars through the same engaging with said vertical
guiding rods, an acid-containing bottle fastened in the top of said extinguisher,
horizontal metal rods fastened by riveting or soldering to the bottom of the case
so as to receive the impact of the metal weight when the vessel is reversed, substan-
tially as described.