US2530001A - Fire extinguisher - Google Patents

Description

Nov. 14, 1950 M. H. COWAN 2,530,001

FIRE EXTINGUISHER Filed Aug. 2, 1948 ATTOR N EY Patented Nov. 14, 1950 FIRE EXTINGUISHER Malcolm H. Cowan, Parkton, N. C.

Application August 2, 1948, Serial No. 41,961

3 Claims.

This invention relates in general to fire extinguishers and deals, more particularly, with improvements in nre extinguishers designed for usel in tobacco curing barns, and the like, for protection against fire while tobacco is in the process of curing or drying.

In the curing of tobacco, it is a common practice to suspend or otherwise attach bunches of loose tobacco leaves along the lengths of rods or sticks which are mounted in a tobacco curing barn or shed in closely spaced parallel relation in the manner of horizontal tiers. In any such arrangement of the tobacco for drying in a tobacco curing barn, the tobacco is more or less in the form of a large composite mass of tobacco leaves which presents a special problem in providing for protection against the constant danger of a sudden re that might rapidly consume the valuable tobacco and destroy the tobacco barn.

The use of the well known fused-or iixed type sprinkler heads arranged in rows along'the tiers of hung tobacco leaves is unsatisfactory inasmuch as the fixed sprinkler heads are surrounded on all sides by the suspended tobacco which necessarily restricts the spray of the extinguishing uid to only relatively small areas. Likewise, the useY of fused or other xed type sprinkler heads along the roof of the tobacco curing barn is inadequate and unsatisfactory due to the fact that any nre occurring in the lower area of the b arn would burn upwardly through the valuable tobacco before the fused sprinkler heads are set in operation. Moreover, the use of xed sprinkler heads requires a considerable number of individual sprinklers and an elaborate system of pipes which makes any such installation entirely too costly and the use thereof prohibitive inzinstances which warrant only an inexpensive re extinguisher.

AThe're extinguisher of the present invention is especially designed for use in tobacco curing barns, and the like, to overcome the foregoing problems and insufciencies, and a primary object of the invention is to provide highly simplied lire extinguisher apparatus and arrangement which is relatively cheap and inexpensive and may be installed readily in any existing tobacco barn or included in any new tobacco barn structure at relatively low cost and expense.

iThe apparatus is particularly advantageous from a cost standpoint in that most installations' require only a pair of inexpensive rotary sprinklers which are mounted adjacent the roof and'V floor, respectively, of the tobacco vcuring barn and which, in the case of re, are arranged to spray the fire extinguishing fluid over re1a" tively wide areas simultaneously from both the top and bottom of the tiers of hung tobacco to provide what may be termed a compression effect` of the sprayed fire extinguishing uid on any re withinv the barn to extinguish the same' quickly and positively. Another object of the invention, therefore, is to provide a rlre extinguisher of the character described which includes the novel arrangement of cooperating sprinklers or sprays arranged at both the top and bottom of a building structure such as a tobacco barn, and which comprises, furthenrotary jet-type sprinklers which are adapted to throw a greater volume of re extinguishing iluid and spray the same over relatively large areas in the most effective manner.

A further object of the invention is to provide-a re extinguisher of the kind aforesaid,l which is automatically set into operation in the case of a fire and in which the re extinguishing fluid is supplied to the rotary sprinklers under pressure in such a way that a maximum volume of the fluid is diffused as quickly as possible to extinguish any fire in the shortest time and in the most effective manner.

Further objects and advantages and other new and useful features in the construction, arrangement' and general combination of parts of the invention will be readily apparent as the following description proceeds with reference to the accompanying-drawings, for purposes of illustration but not of limitation in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through aV tobacco barn,or the like, showing the general organization of the re extinguisher of the invention in which rotary type sprinklers are arranged for vspraying the nre extinguishing fluid from both the top and bottom of the tiers of hung tobacco;

Y Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of the storage tank included in the general organization of F'ig.

*1 which contains the fire extinguishing uid and includes means for forcing said fluid under pressure to the rotary sprinklers;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of the spring loaded valve shown employed in Fig. 1 for providing an automatic discharge of the nre extinguishing vllud to the rotary sprinklers; and

Fig. 4k is a perspective view illustrating one ofv the nozzles on` the arms of the rotary sprinklers.

Referring now more particularly to the draw- 3. ings, the nre extinguisher of the invention is shown in Fig. 1, by way of illustration only, as installed in a building structure B, Which may be of any size, design or construction. in the present example, the structure B is illustrated as one of conventional type comprising walls I on the oorng or ground 3, and a roof 5 representing a tobacco curing barn of any desired size. The barn is provided with any suitable means for mounting a series of rods 8, sticks or poles in horizontal, generally parallel and spaced relation throughout the height of the barn except for a suitable spacing from the floor 3 and adjacent the roof 5. Prior to the mounting ofA the rods or sticks in the barn, bunches of green tobacco leaves 9 to be dried or cured are secured to the sticks in suspended relation along the lengths thereof. The tobacco carrying sticks as thus loaded with tobacco are mounted throughout the barn in a series of horizontal tiers so that the hung tobacco is arranged in a mass of closely spaced bunches of tobacco leaves to be subjected to the drying or curing process..

The heat for the curing or drying process is supplied by one or two or more heating devices (not shown) which are located in thespace between the lowermost tiers of tobacco and the ground or flooring 3 of the barn. During the curing process, a barn temperature is maintained from 140 F. to 180 F., the latter being the nal temperature used to dry the stem on the tobacco leaf. The heat for these high temperatures is usually supplied by heating devices using kerosene or fuel oil andA these heating devices maintain a temperature of 800 F. to 1200" F. in order to produce the desired barn temperature. This barn temperature is maintained for a period of some one hundred twenty hoursvwithout interruption during which the barn and the tobacco being cured are subject to constant danger of loss by nre due to various causes such as, overheating ofthe heating devices, broken fuel lines, flooded oil burners, loose tobacco and tobacco sticks falling on hot parts of the heating devices, and spontaneous combustion` as a result of overheated conditions in the tobacco barnv after the tobacco has dried.

Thefire extinguisher arrangement. of the present invention guards against these various re hazards in that it is adapted to operate automatically toy extinguish quickly any fire within the barn, particularly in the mass of hung. tobacco and also in the area of the heating devicesl which are usually the source ofy the fire; Inasmuch as such heating devices are usually oil fired, the arrangement preferably is such that the fire extinguishing fluid employed is especially suited for extinguishing oilfires and with such fluid sprayed under pressure in the most effectivey manner. f

As shown in Fig. l, a sprinkling or spraying. deviceY I in the form of a simple rotary jet sprinkler is provided below the mass of hung tobacco in the space between the flooring 3 of the barn and thelowermost tiers of tobacco sticks 8. The rotary sprinkler is mounted in any suitable manner in connection with a Yfeed pipe 20 which preferably is embedded in the ground below the flooring 3 to minimize any fire hazard in this respect. The rotary sprinkler l0 preferably is of the type having a series of Yradial arms H, carried by a rotatable head I 2, and provided on their extremities with nozzles i3 having-spraying perforations lll, as illustra-ted in Fig. 4. The rotary sprinkler, otherwise, is Vdesirably onewhich 4 is precision-built and with the head 2 mounted on stainless steel ball bearings to ensure rotation of the sprinkler head at high speed and to avoid any possibility of faulty operation as a result 5 of rusting over any extended period in which the fire extinguisher may be idle before it is required to be used.

About the mass of hung tobacco, a similar rotary sprinkler I0 is mounted for operation in the space between the top of the barn and the uppermost tiers of tobacco. In the present example, the upper sprinkler iii is shown mounted on a brace i6 adjacent the roof 5 of the barn and connected to a feed pipe 2l extending down along l5 the side Wall of the barn to a T-connection 25. The feed pipe to the lower sprinkler l!! is also joined to Vsaid T-connection in communication with a supply pipe 27 from a storage tank 30 containing the fire extinguishing uid 32, Fig. 2.

20 In association with the piping to the sprinklers iii; i0', as described,A similar conduits to the :areas of the heating devices (not shown) .are provided having suitable nozzles forrspraying the.- oil burners of the heating `devices with re' extinguishing fluid to smother and extinguishA the; same at the same time-the rotary sprinklers arev set into operation to extinguishanygiire in and around thel tobacco, therebypreventing any recurrence of fire' after theVV extinguisher has been;F

30l discharged. Y Y. n f

The storage tank 3G rfor there extinguishing?. fluid may be of any;selecteddesign'andas shown. in Fig. 2. comprises an'elongate cylinder lmounted on the outside of the vbar in connection with the;

upper end of the supply pipe 21. f The tank 305isrl provided in a size sufficient toY contain the. quired'volumeiof the'selected type of? reexe tinguishing` fluidV asv necessary for. thegpurposesin.- .l

tended depending on'` the size. of-"the barnor.- other.

40 building and the areas therein to be protectedi The fire extinguishing iluid may be eith'erwater, carbon tetrachloride, carbon-'dioxide or any other' suitable liquid. Inthe present example, the-nre extinguishing fluid 32 preferablyis carbon tetra.'-`

chloride and is maintained in Areadiness for oper-Y ationof the re extinguisher at` all times under apressure of aboutfty pounds provided by a pressure container 35 such as a CO2 bottle, compressed air cylinder, or the like; The CO2 con-V tainer 35 is suitably mounted on the tank 30 andi provides, for example, a pressure of three hun--l Y dred to nve hundred pounds passingthrough-the connection 35 to a reducing regulator Sithat-re-'f-` duces this pressure to the constant-pressure of?V 55 about fifty pounds which is directed through thev outlet 38 to the interior of the tank 30 and ontothe supply of carbon tetrachloride'z withinfthe tank. The tank apparatusotherwise includes a suitable safety valve Iii-itc preventf'the develop-f 00 ment of any dangerous pressure within the-tariky The actuating meansfor theire extinguisher is designed vto set the same into operationautoev nfiaticallyv and, to this end, a spring loaded valve 40j is provided in the supplyv pipeline 21,. Figsl;`

and 3. As shown in Fig. 3, the springv loaded;

valvecoinprises a generally 'F-shapedvbogdyhav.-

ing a fluid passage therethrough whichincludesgazf.

washer seat; ilA `that is normally; closed by: a; disc; 42 carried by an axially movable-plungergr?, hav-e ing suitable bushing elements andthe like anda:A

head t; retaining oneV or more leaf springs 4550n the plunger'.V The leaf springs' r415; arebiasedrinfi; Wa-rdly inthe normal closed position oftheivalvei by a, push-'pin d; whichinturn is forced; inward-1. ly by alever;4;1 pivotedintermediate its ends; byca'.;

hinged connection to a pair of spaced ears 48 provided by an arm 49 on the valve body. The lower end of lthe lever 41, accordingly, engages the push-pin 46 to urge the same inwardly under force when the upper end of said lever 41 is moved outwardly.

= The upper end of said lever 41 is connected to a fusible cable 5U, wire, or the like, which extends horizontally through an opening in the adjacent wall of the barn. Fig. l and is secured to the opposite wall, for example, in tightly drawn tensioned condition to cause said lever 41 to maintain the lvalve 4@ in its normal closed condition, as aforesaid.4 The fusible wire or cable 50 thus is arranged in the most appropriate position paralleling the tobacco carrying sticks 8 in the lower portion of the barn or in any other suitable manner throughout the barn `in the most practical relation to the heating devices on the ground or flooring 3. The fusible wire or cable 50 may be of any suitable character and in the present example, is shown comprising a series of wires 5| joined by fusible links 52 which are adapted to melt and rupture when subjected to a predetermined temperature. In any installation, such a fusible cable or wire 5D is provided in accordance with the construction of the tobacco curing barn or other building in a manner whereby the Cable extends throughout the various parts of the barn to meet any and all fire conditions.

In operation, it will be understood from the foregoing that when a fire occurs within the barn, the temperature, of course, rises to a point in which the excessive heat causes one or more of the fusible links 52 to melt and rupture, thereby breaking the cable 50 and releasing the same from its normal tensioned condition. The valve lever 41 connected to said cable, accordingly, is free to move to inoperative position, shown in broken lines in Fig. 3, thereby releasing the pressure on the push-pin 46 controlling the valve 40. This permits the inwardly biased leaf springs 45 to assume their untensioned condition, as represented in dotted lines, to pull the valve plunger 43 outwardly and thereby space the washer disc 42 from the seat 4| to allow the re extinguishing fluid to pass through the valve 4B, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 3. AS soon as the valve 4G is thus atomatically opened, the pressure from the CO2 container 35 serves to force the carbon tetrachloride 32 or other re extinguishing liquid within the tank 36 to ilow swiftly through the supply pipe 2l' to the feed pipes 2Q, 2l, leading to the rotary sprinklers IB, l0', at the base and top of the barn, respectively, and to the auxiliary pipes leading to the heating devices to extinguish the burners therein as promptly as possible, as aforesaid.

The fire extinguishing liquid under pressure causes the rotary sprinklers lll, l0', to rotate simultaneously at high speed and thereby spray the fire extinguishing liquid in a dense mist over relatively large areas into and completely around the mass of hung tobacco. The action is such that the lower rotary sprinkler l0 sprays a spiraling mist upwardly and outwardly while the upper sprinkler I0 provides a spiraling mist downwardly and outwardly. Consequently the opposing dense mists of re extinguishing fluid provide a compression eect on the mass of hung tobacco in a manner which quickly smothers and positively extinguishes in very little time any fire in the tobacco or otherwise within the barn.

After any such use of the fire extinguisher, the same may be readily prepared for further use Vsimply by recharging the storage-tank 3U and the pressure cylinder 35 and repairing the fusible cable 50 as required to provide the variousV parts in the relation shown in Fig. l in readiness for another fire extinguishing operation in a repetition of the foregoing described "procedure. y l l j It will be appreciated that Various other arrangements may be employed .in which other kinds of vfire extinguishing fluids are supplied under pressure to the rotary sprinklersat the top and bottom of the barn, respectively. For example, there extinguisher may be operated at very little cost by the use of water as the extinguishing fluid which is forced to theY rotary sprinklers under air pressure in the pressure cylinder 35 in a substantially equivalent arrangement operating in the same general manner.

Also, in any installation in a relatively large tobacco curing barn, for example, or other building in which it appears necessary or advisable to provide a greater volume of ilre extinguishing fluid over larger areas, the rotary sprinklers may be installed in multiple at the top and base of the barn, as in the manner of opposing series of rotary sprinklers in cooperating relation.

While the invention has been described in detail with a specific example, such example is intended as an illustration only, inasmuch as it will be apparent that other modifications in the construction, arrangement and general combination of parts may be devised without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, with all changes falling within the scope, meaning and range of equivalency of the claims intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be secured by United States Letters Patent is:

l. A re extinguisher for a tobacco curing barn or other building, said re extinguisher comprising a rotary sprinkler positioned in the lower area of said building adapted to provide a mist of re extinguishing fluid directed upwardly and outwardly, a cooperating rotary sprinkler positioned in the upper area of said building adapted to provide a mist of re extinguishing uid directed downwardly and outwardly, means for automatically supplying fire extinguishing fluid to said rotary sprinklers comprising a pipe connected to a supply of fire extinguishing fluid, a normally closed valve associated with said pipe and re detecting means in said building associated with said valve and providing for opening of said valve in the event of re.

2. A fire extinguisher for a tobacco curing barn or other building, said re extinguisher comprising a rotary sprinkler positioned in the lower area of said building adapted to provide a mist of fire extinguish-ing fluid directed upwardly and outwardly, a cooperating rotary sprinkler positioned in the upper area of said building adapted to provide a mist of fire extinguishing :duid directed downwardly and outwardly, means for automatically supplying fire extinguishing fluid to said rotary sprinklers comprising a pipe connected to a supply of fire extinguishing fluid, a spring loaded valve associated with said pipe, and a fusible cable in said building connected to said spring loaded valve and maintaining the same normally in closed position.

3. Aiire extinguisher. for atobacco curing" barn onotherbuilding,l saidre extinguisher comprisinga rotary sprinkler positioned in the lower areaof said building adapted. to providea mist of re extinguishing fluid directed upwardly and outwardly;l a cooperating rotary sprinkler positioned in the upper area of said building adapted toprovide a mist of re extinguishing uid. directed downwardly and outwardly, a, tank containingre. extinguishing fluid to be supplied to saidrotary sprinklers, a pressure container associated with said tank providing for flow of said fluid under pressure, a. pipe connected to said tankv and leading to said rotary sprinklers, a spring loaded valveassocated with said pipe, and a fusible cable insaid building connected to said The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,488,289 Ruff Mar. 25, 1924 1,551,872 Fudalski Sept. 1, 1925 1,594,321 Norman July 27, 1926 1,826,072 Hamilton Oct.. 6, 1931 2,171,487 Theeler Aug.- 29, 1939

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