1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates generally to a partition system and more particularly to a partition system having a fluid delivery system.
2. Background of the Invention
In some situations, partitions may be required within temporary or permanent structures. Such partitions may be used for a wide variety of applications. Existing partitions, however, may not be capable of expanding in more than one direction. Other partitions, may not be capable of delivering fluid to an area defined by the partition. Still other partitions may not be capable of conforming to the structure within which they are erected and may not be resistant to their surroundings. For example, some existing partitions may not be flame retardant, ultra-violet ray stabilized, or chem-bio resistant. As a result, some existing partitions may not meet existing building codes or other safety regulations requiring a minimum level of resistance to such elements. For example, many fire codes require flame retardancy for temporary structures in indoor locations.
The system of the present disclosure is directed to overcoming one or more of the problems set forth above.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a partition system includes a partition, at least one support element associated with the partition, and a fluid delivery system associated with the partition and configured to deliver a fluid to a space adjacent to the partition.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of delivering a fluid to a space includes providing a substantially flexible partition having a plurality of removable hoses in communication therewith, each of the hoses having at least one nozzle useful in delivering a fluid, slidably supporting the partition with a plurality of support elements, and expanding the partition along a length of a support member proximate to the space.
In still another embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of supplying fluid includes defining a space with a partition that is at least one of flame retardant, ultra violet ray stabilized, or chemical resistant, delivering the fluid to at least one element of the partition, and directing the fluid to the space with a plurality of dispersion mechanisms of the at least one element.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, a fluid delivery partition system capable of rapidly deploying from a collapsed configuration to supply fluid to a space, the fluid delivery partition system includes a flexible partition expandable from a collapsed configuration in at least two directions, at least one support means associated with the partition to assist in the maintenance of the partition in an expanded configuration, and a fluid delivery means associated with the partition to deliver a fluid to a space adjacent to the partition.
In a further embodiment of the present disclosure, a method of rapidly delivering fluid to a space includes providing a rapidly deploying flexible partition expandable from a collapsed configuration in at least two directions and having a hose and nozzle assembly for delivering fluid to a space and support elements to assist in the maintenance of the partition in an expanded configuration, expanding the partition in at least two directions, slidably mounting the partition to a support member using the support elements, connecting the hose and nozzle assembly to a fluid source, and supplying fluid to a space adjacent to the partition through the hose and nozzle assembly.
Additional objects and advantages of this disclosure will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the embodiments of the disclosure. The objects and advantages of the disclosure will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the disclosure, as claimed.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several embodiments of the disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
a is the partition system of
b is the partition system of
a is a support element according to a further exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
a is a plan view of a hose sleeve according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.
Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments of the disclosure, example of which is are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts.
A partition system of the present disclosure may include a partition, a fluid delivery system, and at least one support element. In some embodiments, the fluid delivery system may include at least one hose having at least one dispersion mechanism. In addition, the at least one support element may be slidably mounted to, for example, a support member.
In addition, the partition 10 may be coated with any material, agent, combination of materials, or combination of agents known in the art. Such coatings may impart additional desirable characteristics to the partition depending on its intended use. For example, in one embodiment, the partition 10 may be a nylon scrim having a base weight of approximately 5 ounces per square yard and may be coated on each side with polyvinylchloride. In such an embodiment, the partition 10 may be chemical resistant, biological agent resistant, ultraviolet ray/light stabilized, and/or flame retardant. While such coatings may impart one or more desirable characteristics to the partition 10, it is understood that the materials used to construct the partition may impart the same or similar characteristics. Depending on the materials and/or coatings used, the partition 10 may be transparent, semi-transparent, or opaque.
The partition 10 may be any length, height, shape, or configuration known in the art, and its overall dimensions may conform to the room, hallway, tent, wall, shelter, or other structure in which it is used. For example, in an embodiment where the partition 10 is used in a dome-shaped shelter, the partition 10 may be substantially dome-shaped. Its dimensions may also be prescribed by the application in which it is used. For example, in an embodiment where the partition 10 is used to quarantine a patient within a shelter, the partition 10 may be dimensioned to completely close off at least a section of the shelter and may be at least as tall as and/or as long as the section.
The partition 10 may be substantially flexible such that it may be expanded and/or collapsed in any conventional way. The partition 10 may be expandable and collapsible in all directions such as, for example, along its length and along its height. For example, in a collapsed configuration the partition 10 may be folded in a substantially accordion-like fashion. An exemplary embodiment of such a collapsed configuration is shown in
b illustrates a partially collapsed configuration in which the partition 10 may be collapsed along its height to span a desired vertical area or structure. To substantially conform to the desired area or structure, the height of the partition may be tailored to substantially correspond to the dimensions of the area or structure. Alternatively, the partition 10 may be tied, bunched, rolled, folded, or otherwise secured as described above. As previously mentioned, to expand and/or collapse the partition 10 along at least its length or height, the partition 10 may include one or more collapsing mechanisms 12 known in the art. Such collapsing mechanisms 12 may be any type of collapsing device useful in expanding, withdrawing, and/or securing a flexible structure. Such collapsing mechanisms 12 may be, for example, drawstrings, ties, hooks, Velcro straps, or ropes. Alternatively, in some embodiments the collapsing mechanisms 12 may be omitted.
In a substantially expanded position, the partition 10 may be substantially flat and substantially vertical. In one embodiment, the partition 10 may expand along its length to span a desired area or structure and may have a length that corresponds to the desired area or structure.
In a substantially expanded position, the partition 10 may define a space 11 (
The partition 10 may also be structurally stable enough to support at least one hose 15 and may be capable of supporting multiple hoses 15. As will be discussed below, the hoses 15 may be capable of delivering liquids, and/or other similar substances. Thus, the partition may be rigid enough to support the hoses 15 while the substances are being delivered and may be able to withstand the forces applied thereby. For example, in an application where the hoses 15 deliver fluid to an object located within a close proximity to the partition 10, the partition 10 may be stable enough to remain in a substantially vertical position during fluid delivery. In some embodiments, the partition 10 may include bottom supports 50 (
As shown in
The partition 10 may be slidably supported by support elements 20. As shown in
As
The support portion 22 may be of any configuration known in the art such as, for example, a hook, prong, loop, concentric wire, gripper, flat piece of material, spring loaded structure, key ring-style structure, clothespin-style structure, and/or a combination thereof. As shown in
As shown in
In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the support portion 22 may not pass through the partition 10. In such embodiments, the support portion 22 may be a clothespin-style structure, a gripper, or any other like structure known in the art.
Alternatively, as shown in
As shown in
The support member 25 may have any cross-sectional shape known in the art. For example the support member 25 may have a cross-section that is round, ovular, square, L-shaped, C-shaped, rectangular, and/or I-shaped, and may be solid or hollow. In some embodiments, the support member may be, for example, a rod, cable, wire, string, tube, channel, or bar, and may be an element of the structure in which the system 5 is being used. For example, in one embodiment, the support member 25 may be an interior rod of a tent structure.
As mentioned above,
As shown in
The bottom supports 50 may be connected to the partition 10 by any conventional means known in the art. For example, as shown in
The support sleeves 55 may define a channel 60. Each channel 60 may accept at least a portion of a bottom support 50 and may be sized to accept at least a portion of the vertical portion 51 of a bottom support 50. At least one end of the support sleeves 55 may be open. Alternatively, both ends of the support sleeves 55 may be open.
Referring again to
The hoses 15 may be fixedly or removably attached to the partition 10. In the fixed configuration, the hoses 15 may be integral the partition 10. In such an embodiment, the hoses 15 may be one or more channels within the partition 10 capable of delivering a desired amount of fluid.
In other embodiments of the fixed configuration, the hoses 15 may be formed separately and permanently joined to the partition. Such hoses 15 may include at least one layer and may be formed of any materials known in the art, such as rubbers, plastics, metal meshes, air-tight fabrics, vinyls, polymers, and/or combinations thereof.
Such hoses 15 in the fixed configuration may be joined to the partition 10 by any conventional means. For example, the hoses 15 may be heat sealed or sewn to the partition 10. As another example, the hoses 15 may be attached with mechanical fasteners, compression rings, adhesives, or other means. The permanent connection between the hoses 15 and the partition 10 may be sufficient to support the hoses 15 while the hoses 15 are filled with fluid and during fluid delivery.
Alternatively, in the removable configuration the hoses 15 may be secured behind one or more flaps 70 of the partition 10. As shown in
The first portion 75 may be attached by any permanent connection means 76 known in the art, such as permanent adhesives, weldments, heat seals, stitching, or other like means. Alternatively, the flap 70 may be a part of the partition 10. The second portion 80 may be secured to the partition 10 by any temporary connection means 81 known in the art such as Velcro, ties, mechanical fasteners, magnetic fasteners, and adhesives. It is understood that in some embodiments of the removable configuration, the first and second portions 75, 80 may both be removably secured to the partition 10 and means 76, 81 may both be temporary connection means.
In another embodiment, each hose 15 may be substantially completely enclosed within a hose sleeve 71. As shown in
In yet another embodiment, the hoses 15 may be removably secured directly to a surface of the partition 10. In such an embodiment, the hoses 15 may include a temporary connection means like the means described above or any other known structure for removably securing objects: Such means may include, for example, Velcro straps, hook and loop fasteners, and corresponding male/female connectors.
In both the fixed and the removable configurations, the connection between the hoses 15 and the partition 10 may also allow the partition 10 to be easily moved between the expanded position and the collapsed position described above. The hoses 15 may be flexible and collapsible such that they may collapse when empty and expand when at least partially full.
As shown in
In addition, each hose 15 may further include at least one dispersion mechanism 35. The dispersion mechanisms 35 may be, for example, any type of injector, nozzle, end effector, or other structure capable of distributing fluid in a controlled manner. The dispersion mechanisms 35 may be positioned anywhere along the length of the hoses 15. For example, in one embodiment of the present disclosure, the dispersion mechanisms 35 may be substantially evenly distributed along the length of each hose 15 for a substantially even distribution of fluid. The dispersion mechanisms 35 may be of any shape or size and, in some embodiments, may be sized so as not to interfere with the expansion and/or collapse of the partition 10. In some embodiments, at least a portion of the dispersion mechanisms 35 may be flexible and/or collapsible. In other embodiments, the dispersion mechanisms 35 may be substantially flat, thereby causing minimal interference with the partition 10 in a collapsed configuration. In still other embodiments, the dispersion mechanisms 35 may be configured to allow the user to aim at least a portion of the flow delivered by the hoses 15. In further embodiments, each dispersion mechanism 35 may be individually adjusted to control the volume of fluid delivered. The dispersion mechanisms 35 may open, close, partially open or close, or be otherwise actuated by hand or automatically. Alternatively, the dispersion mechanisms 35 may be controlled remotely and may thus include a motor, a solenoid, or other like device (not shown) to facilitate this actuation.
The partition 10 may be used in a range of applications, including, for example, military, medical, fire and rescue, commercial, government, and/or consumer applications. For example, in some embodiments, the partition 10 may be used in decontamination applications associated with emergencies and/or accidents, such as, chemical spills, radiation leaks, or other events. Other applications may include decontamination in response to military or terrorist attacks involving chemical, radioactive, and/or bio-hazardous materials. The partition 10 may also be used for many non-emergency applications such as, for example, periodic cleaning and/or decontamination of workers and/or equipment.
In addition, the partition 10 may be used to divide a tent or other temporary structure used in treating patients on the field of battle. In some embodiments, the partition 10 may assist in quarantining the patient during surgery, recovery, or other treatment. In other embodiments, the partition 10 may assist in forming a barrier in a shower facility or structure. In further embodiments, the partition 10 may be used in commercial applications such as, for example, periodically cleaning and/or decontaminating workers and/or equipment, and temporarily closing-off or forming temporary spaces within indoor staging areas, such as banquet halls, auditorium, and other like places. It is understood that applications for the system of the present disclosure other than those listed herein are also envisioned.
As shown in
Before entering each hose 15, the fluid may pass through a valve 30 disposed in the respective hose 15. As shown in
Each hose 15 may include one or more additional valves 30 (not shown) disposed between each dispersion mechanism 35. Such valves 30 may assist in controlling the flow of fluid within the hoses 15 and may enable the user to direct flow to one or more of the dispersion mechanisms 35 while restricting flow to other dispersion mechanisms 15. Such valves 30 may also facilitate a connection between the respective hose 15 and the supply line 90, or a hose extension 85, for the delivery of fluid. Although not shown in
As shown in
Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure discussed herein. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.
This patent application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/487,582, filed Jul. 17, 2003.
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