BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of the fire extinguisher, mounting bracket, fluffing wheel and the fluffing chuck.
FIG. 2 shows a side sectional view of the fire extinguisher, mounting bracket and the fluffing wheel shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 shows an exterior isometric view of the fire extinguisher mounted in the mounting bracket as shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 shows block diagram of the electronic circuit for the control, drive and signaling mechanism.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
FIG. 1 an isometric view of the fire extinguisher 10, mounting bracket, fluffing wheel and the fluffing chuck. The chamber 20 is substantially a cylindrical shape with a bottom 22 and a top 30. In the preferred embodiment the chamber is molded from a lightweight resilient material, but it is further contemplated that the chamber be made of aluminum, steel, brass or copper. The preferred embodiment of plastics allows the extinguisher to be placed in locations that could cause corrosion of metals. The top 30 is screwed onto the chamber, but it could also be attached with a bayonet or latching mechanism. The top 30 fits on top of an enlarged opening 72 on the chamber to allow easier filling of the chamber 20 with fire retardant materials. A wall hanging mechanism can be incorporated into the top of the extinguisher, wrap around the body of the cylinder or fork the top of the extinguisher. In this figure the fire extinguisher is shown with a wall mounting mechanism where the fire extinguisher sits on top if the bracket. The bracket is described with more detail below. A handle 40 allows the operator to hold the extinguisher in an upright orientation when it is being used. The fire extinguisher can also be stored and or transported in the upright orientation, but the upright orientation is not critical for the storage or operation of the extinguisher. Within the handle 40 a pressurized canister 50 is located. While in the preferred embodiment the pressurized canister is shown within the handle other locations such as within the top of the extinguisher or adjacent to the hose are contemplated.
The canister 50 consists essentially of a pressurized chamber, but canisters of different types of gas are possible that do not promote spreading of the fire. Because the gas within the canister is under high pressure or in a liquid state, a small canister of pressurized gas is required to expel the contents of the chamber 20. It is also contemplated that multiple pressurized canisters can be placed within the handle to accommodate a larger fire extinguisher without deviating from the inventive nature of the design. Pressurized canisters are available from a variety of sources and can be replaced or serviced without the need to service the entire fire extinguisher. The handle 40 provides some protection to the canister in the event the fire extinguisher is dropped or roughly handled. An arm 42 extends from the underside of the handle 40 to provide structural strength to the top of the fire extinguisher as well as providing a hole for gripping. A flip open door mechanism located on the top of the fire extinguisher 64 and is raised to expose the trigger 60 located under the door 64. The trigger mechanism opens the pressurized canister to pressurize the chamber and expel the fire extinguishing media out the front of the extinguisher out the application nozzle 90.
The location of the activation trigger the fire extinguisher to provide a fire extinguisher that is designed with both the safety pin and the hose retainer for ease of access for right and left handed person. Since the majority of individuals are right handed this creates real problems in life threatening situations. The trigger on top of the fire extinguisher and requires the operator to press down on the extinguisher to operate the extinguisher, but other embodiments are contemplated including but not limited to a finger trigger or a slide mechanism. A safety pin can be incorporated to prevent accidental operation of the extinguisher. The extinguisher is hung from a wall using a fork type holder that is not shown. It is further contemplated that the top housing has an extended tab on one or more side for hanging on an existing wall hanger. The extended tab includes a variety of details located on the top and sides of the extended tab for mounting on wall hangers that are available with older fire extinguisher.
The extinguisher has a powder release valve 80 that is rotated to open the nozzle 90. This valve can be rotated back to the closed position to prevent extinguishing powder from pouring out of the extinguisher when not desired. The path from the pressurized canister 50 to the nozzle 90 is best shown and described in FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 shows a side sectional view of the fire extinguisher, mounting bracket and the fluffing wheel shown in FIG. 1. This figure shows the chamber 20 filled with the fire extinguishing media 70 such as chemical retardant ABC, BC, Purple K etc. Various types of fire extinguishing media can be placed within the chamber. The upper portion of the chamber includes an enlarged opening 28 where it joins with the top 30 of the extinguisher. The enlarged opening 72 is greater than 50% of the diameter of the cylindrical fire extinguisher, but could be up to and including the same diameter as the cylinder with a threading mechanism located on the exterior lip of the cylinder at one or both ends of the cylinder. Threading or other fastening means is used to secure the top 30 and or bottom of the fire extinguisher onto the cylinder. The fastening means can be with internal or external threading on the cylinder and mating end closures or by methods of fastening such as but not limited to bayonet, pins, welding or adhesives. It is also contemplated that the cylinder be fabricated from tubular stock where both the top and the bottom of the extinguisher is identical and the ends are attached to the tube when the fire extinguisher is assembled. The bottom of the extinguisher 20 has a port, hole or opening 102 to allow access to the fluffing knob 105. In the preferred embodiment the top opening is between 75% and 90% of the diameter of the fire extinguisher. The larger opening allows the contents of the fire extinguisher to be filled, emptied, inspected, and serviced more easily. The top is screwed onto the chamber, but it could also be attached with a bayonet or latching mechanism. The top 30 of the fire extinguisher provides the propellant and the connections to emit the fire extinguishing material 70.
In this FIG. 2 the chamber is shown to provide a view of the fluffing mechanism(s) 120. The fluffing mechanism conditions the fire retardant media to provide anti-bridging of the media within the chamber to agitate, fluff, turn, disturb, stir, ruffle, and or alters the condition of the media to allow the media to maintain a powder consistency. This allows the fire retardant powder media to remain in a liquefied state so it is easier to spray the powder onto a fire. The conditioning of the media can be performed using a variety of methods and in the preferred embodiment the conditioning is performed with an appendage 110 that can be articulated from the exterior of the chamber at item 100. The appendage is a shaft that extends the length of the chamber and has a number of flaps 120 attached to the appendage. While flaps are shown and used in the preferred embodiment a variety of other appendages are contemplated that can condition the media that include but are not limited to rods, paddles, arms, disks, cable, chains or combination thereof. It is also contemplated that the appendage can be a simple hook or chain that conditions the fire extinguishing media. When the trigger is activated the pressure in canister 50 (FIG. 1) is released into the chamber and the fire suppressant medial 70 is pushed through holes 104 in the central fluffer shaft 108 where it is pushed out hole 92 than exiting out the nozzle 90 (FIG. 1).
The fluffer is formed from two halves of material that is joined to create the fluffing shaft. It is contemplated that the fluffing can be accomplished by blowing gas into the chamber through a hole and through the fluffing shaft to fluff the media within the chamber where the gas blows through the shaft and out fluffing holes 104. As previously described the appendage terminates 100 at the bottom of the chamber with a drive fitting where it can be articulated, but the appendage could terminate at the top or sides of the chamber. The termination at the bottom of the chamber 100 to allow articulation that requires either a key to attach to the appendage, or may terminate with manual knob, handle, wheel or other extension. A manually rotatable handle is shown for manual fluffing of the fire extinguishing media.
Referring back to FIG. 1 the head (delivery system) has an emission port and an entry port plus a pick-up tube. It has a safety guard 64 over the charging pin and a lever 60 to fire the powder through the emission port. The powering cartridge 50 is easily installed in the handle 40 attached to the head of the extinguisher. The powder cartridge has a fluffier tube with an opening to accept the pick-up tube within the head. Current fire extinguishers must be torn down every six years to fluff the powder, check for caking and to check the condition of the chemical. This extinguisher does not have to be broken down; the powder can be fluffed each month, once a year or the chemical cartridge can simple be replaced. The current fire extinguishers have to be subjected to a hydo test every five years for fleet vehicles and every twelve years for the standard extinguishers.
The nozzle 90 can be turned to direct the spray of fire retardant material as desired. A valve handle 80 is rotated up to allow the fire extinguishing media to be expelled and rotated down to block the flow of fire retardant material from falling out of the extinguisher when the tank is tipped. The nozzle is shown in a fixed direction but in another contemplated embodiment the nozzle is flexible to allow a user to hold the fire extinguisher and direct the fire extinguishing media out of the nozzle to a fire. While a nozzle is shown in the preferred embodiment other dispensing orifices can be used such as valves, tubing, spray nozzles or similar are contemplated. It is contemplated that an over pressure relief valve can be incorporated within the fire extinguisher to vent any excessive pressure from within the cylinder that could cause the fire extinguisher to burst due to over pressurization of the chamber.
The mounting bracket is shown without the fire extinguisher installed in FIG. 1 and in cross section in FIG. 2. The bracket is an elongated vertical structure 130 for mounting on the face of a vertical wall. Holes 134 allow the structure to be mounted directly to a wall or similar structure. A horizontal supporting base support 133 extends essentially horizontal from the lower portion of the elongated vertical structure 130 for supporting the bottom of a fire extinguisher. A cover arm 132 extends from the upper portion 132 of the elongated vertical structure to a position over at least a portion of the top of the fire extinguisher placed on the horizontal supporting base such that the arm covers the firing safety 60 and the powder release valve 80.
When the fire extinguisher is installed on the bracket a tab 136 extends vertically from the bottom support 133 and extends under the bottom housing of the fire extinguisher. Another clip 142 wraps around the top of the extinguisher to hold the extinguisher inside the bracket. A powered fluffing mechanism 148 is shown on the bottom of the bracket. The mechanism shown in FIG. 1 shows batteries 143 for a power source but it is also contemplated that the power can come from a wound clock spring type motor. A motor 141 is shown connected to a transmission 146 that is connected either directly to the bottom drive mechanism 100 of the fluffing shaft mechanism 120 or to an intermediary fluffing knob 105. A circuit board 140 is shown in FIG. 2 that provides control for an alarm, a visual indicator light 144 and control of the motor 141.
A strap 131 wraps around the fire extinguisher and snaps into the bracket to retain the fire extinguisher 10. FIG. 1 shows one contemplated design of a fluffer knob 105. The knob is a flattened toroidal shaped body with a plurality of elongated arms 106 extending horizontally from the flattened plainer toroidal shaped body. A geometric opening 101 that is concentric with the flattened toroidal shape is used to attach the knob 105 to the fire extinguisher having external powder fluffing capability.
A chuck 150 is shown in FIG. 1 where the elongated end 151 of the chuck 150 is configured for use with a conventional drill. The chuck 150 has a number of fingers 152 that engage in the arms 106 of the fluffing knob 105.
FIG. 3 shows an exterior isometric view of the fire extinguisher 10 mounted in the mounting bracket. The bottom 22 of the extinguisher 20 is shown sitting on top of the motorized housing 148 as shown in FIG. 1. The extinguisher 10 is mounted in the bracket. The front strap 131 wraps around the body of the extinguisher. The powder release handle 80 is under the top arm 132. The arm 132 extends over the activation portion 135 of the extinguisher to cover the trigger.
FIG. 4 shows block diagram of the electronic circuit for the control, drive and signaling mechanism. This block diagram is one contemplated configuration having a central controller 140. The central controller 140 may include electronics that periodically activate the motor 141 to turn the fluffer for a temporal period of time. One or more sensors 142 detect tampering or use of the fire extinguisher and can turn on lighting 144, and alarm 145 or transmit 146 a signal to another location using a wireless 147 or wired connection. The signal may include a location where the extinguisher was located, or other encoded information that provides information regarding the particular fire extinguisher including when it was serviced or fluffed. Another sensor or button 149 is used to manually activate the motor or the test the device. In the preferred embodiment the power is supplied by one or more batteries 143 that are replaceable, rechargeable or solar charged.
Thus, specific embodiments of an improved fire extinguisher have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, to those skilled in the art that many more modifications besides those described are possible without departing from the inventive concepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to be restricted except in the spirit of the appended claims.
Patent Application
20080053667
