Patent Application
20170183148
The present invention is generally directed to a foldable water tank and specifically to a foldable water tank having an extended capacity that fits within a single lane of travel of a road.
The present invention provides a foldable water comprising a foldable receptacle including an open receptacle portion and a closed receptacle portion, the open receptacle portion communicating with the closed receptacle portion such that water from the open receptacle flows to the closed receptacle, the open receptacle portion including side walls; a folding frame operably associated with the side walls to support the sidewalls in an upright position; and the closed receptacle portion extending outwardly from the frame.
A foldable tank 2 embodying the present invention is disclosed in
The open receptacle portion 6 includes side walls 10 supported by the frame 4 and a bottom wall 12. A side wall 14 is supported by the frame 4 and is attached to a top wall 16 of the closed receptacle portion 8 to form a continuous top wall. A bottom wall 18 (see
The closed receptacle 8 extends away from the frame 4 at the side wall 14 along a central axis 23 parallel to the two opposed sides 28 of the frame 4. The closed receptacle 8 is preferably rectangular in plan view, with substantially the same width as the width of the frame 4 so that it occupies the same lane of the road on which the open receptacle 6 is deployed, and when folded the closed receptacle 8 is substantially the same width as the width of the frame 4. A connector 24 (shown with a cap) for connecting to a hose (not shown) is advantageously provided at an end portion of the closed receptacle portion 8 for drawing water from the tank 2. The connector 24 is preferably attached to the top wall 16.
The closed receptacle portion 8 may be formed by joining two overlapping sheet materials and joining their three outer edges 26 by standard means and joining the remaining edges to the respective side wall 14 and the bottom wall 12.
Referring to
The closed receptacle portion 8 may also be provided at the opposite side of the frame 4 to provide even more capacity for the foldable tank 2.
The preferred capacity specified by most fire departments is 2000 gallons or more, which increases the footprint of the standard tank frames to 11′ or more. Using such standard tanks on narrow county roads, which may only be 14′-16′ wide, creates a hazard by either risking damage to the portable tank by setting up the frame to overhang the drainage ditch on the road side, or if the tank frame is fully on the pavement (or gravel) the water tanker truck must veer off on to the shoulder toward the opposite side of the road and risk rollover. The tank 2 advantageously provides the preferred capacity without impinging into the adjacent travel lane.
Many fire trucks cannot store a folding tank frame, which is longer than 8′ on the storage rack on their trucks. For example, a popular 2100 gallon folding frame tank is 11′3″ L×11′ W. A 2000 gallon rectangular frame is 14′ L×8′ W. The tank 2 advantageously provides a folded dimension of about 8′ that is suitable for storage on the fire truck rack while at the same time providing the preferred capacity.
Referring to
The sides 30 and 32 are attached to the corresponding sides 28 with hinges 48 secured to the respective corners of the adjacent sides. Each of the sides 28 is made of two sections 50 attached to each other with hinges 52 and 54. The frame 4 is preferably made from tubular members of any cross-sectional shape, such as square or circular.
Referring to
The hinges 48 may be the same as the hinges 54. The hinges 52 are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,938,291, hereby incorporated by reference. The hinges 52 advantageously protect the user's hand from being pinched during folding or unfolding of the tank 2.
Referring to
Referring to
The tank 2 advantageously doubles or triples the capacity of any standard folding tank. The tank 2 is only as wide as a fire truck and therefore does not impede traffic flow on narrow rural roads, but provides a larger water capacity on a smaller profile. The tank 2 further allows existing water tender trucks to carry single lane style tanks without having to lengthen the frame as in the original rectangular folding tanks. For example, a standard 2000 gallon square folding tank measures 11′ 3″ square. To make that capacity function in a “single lane” configuration, the proportions must be 8′ wide, but stretched to 14′ in length. With the tank 2 of the present invention, the tank frame is about 8′3″ square, with up to a 16′ extension provided by the closed receptacle portion 8 to advantageously increase the capacity up to 2500 gallons and still fit within a single lane of the road, thereby avoiding impeding oncoming traffic on a narrow rural road.
The capacity of the tank 2 may still be extended by installing a second closed receptacle portion 8 to the side 32 of the frame 4. The vertical posts 38 shown will have to be removed to provide a large opening such as the opening 46 at the side 30. The second closed receptacle portion 8 will extend outwardly from the frame 4 in the opposite direction as the first closed receptacle portion 8 shown in
While this invention has been described as having preferred design, it is understood that it is capable of further modification, uses and/or adaptations following in general the principle of the invention and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice in the art to which the invention pertains, and as may be applied to the essential features set forth, and fall within the scope of the invention or the limits of the appended claims.
This is a nonprovisional application of Provisional Application Serial No. 62/240,558, filed Oct. 13, 2015, hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62240558 | Oct 2015 | US |
