Fire extinguishers – Sprinkler heads
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-11
2001-02-20
Kashnikow, Andres (Department: 3752)
Fire extinguishers
Sprinkler heads
C169S016000, C239S251000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06189622
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to firefighting equipment. More specifically, the present invention relates to an improved nozzle capable of delivering a huge quantity of water, in a fine spray, directly inside a blazing building.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Firemen risk their lives fighting the blaze, often with questionable success. At the high end of a truck-mounted ladder, when a fireman aims a conventional nozzle at a blaze, he can hardly see the blaze because of the thick black smoke coming out of the building. The conventional nozzle, which is so mounted to the ladder as to swivel therefrom, is aimed at the blaze by the fireman and can deliver a huge flow of water. The water jet must be dense since it must span the safe distance to be kept between the fireman and the blaze and must reach the building opening the fireman is aiming at.
Unfortunately, most of the water from the jet usually bounce on a wall opposite the opening or on the ceiling and come right back down, in the basement, through a staircase or an elevator shaft. This is unfortunate since the water that does not contact the portions of the building that are burning does not contribute to the extinguishing of the fire.
Other firemen of the same squad, at the same time, are likely to try to approach the blazing building at ground level. They use hand-held nozzles, necessarily much less powerful because of the recoil created by the ejected jet of water, but more efficient, up to a certain point, because their stream can be manually adjusted so as to deliver a larger spread of fine droplets. But one cannot easily come close to a blazing building without taking serious risks: objects, even walls, can fall on the firemen, or at other moments they can get choked by the smoke.
In either case, the tools the firefighters are conventionally using are not particularly well suited to achieve what is expected from them.
An improvement in firefighting nozzles has been brought forward by Leo J. Grzych in his U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,894 issued on Oct. 20, 1987. In this document, Grzych describes a fire nozzle forming a generally sphere-like water spray pattern. Grzych's fire nozzle assembly presents many drawbacks. First, it is formed of many mechanical pieces that are complicated, and therefore costly, to make. Furthermore, since there is no movement of the water jets created by the nozzle, problems arise should some of the apertures become clogged by foreign matter. Indeed, should that be the case, the sphere-like water spray pattern would be altered and some portions of the room would not get any water.
OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an improved nozzle, for fighting fires in buildings, free of the above-noted drawbacks of the prior art.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
More specifically, in accordance with the present invention, there is provided a nozzle for fighting fires configured to be mounted to the end of a rigid tube; the nozzle comprising:
a rotatable coupling assembly including a fixed element to be mounted to the end of the rigid tube and a rotatable sub-assembly so mounted to the fixed element as to rotate about a rotation axis generally aligned with the rigid tube; the rotatable sub-assembly including a nozzle head receiving element provided with an opening coaxial with the rotation axis;
a nozzle head mounted to the nozzle head receiving element of the rotatable coupling assembly; the nozzle head having a hollow generally spherical portion defining an inner surface and an inlet open to the rigid tube; the spherical portion having a) at least two torque generating jet apertures formed therein at an angle and b) at least two colliding jet apertures;
wherein when water pressure is applied to the rigid tube i) at least two torque generating jets exit the nozzle head at an angle to induce a rotational movement of the nozzle head about the rotation axis, ii) at least two colliding jets exit the nozzle, iii) each colliding jet collides with a corresponding torque generating jet to divide each torque generating jet into a plurality of smaller jets.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a nozzle for fighting fires configured to be mounted to the end of a rigid tube; the nozzle comprising:
a rotatable coupling assembly so mounted to the end of the rigid tube as to rotate about a rotation axis generally aligned with the rigid tube; the rotatable coupling including a nozzle head receiving element provided with an opening coaxial with the rotation axis;
a nozzle head mounted to the nozzle head receiving element of the rotatable coupling assembly; the nozzle head having a hollow generally spherical portion defining an inner surface and an inlet open to the rigid tube; the spherical portion having a) at least two torque generating jet apertures formed therein at an angle each generating, when water pressure is applied, torque generating jets at an angle to induce a rotational movement of the nozzle head about the rotation axis, and b) at least two colliding jet apertures; each colliding aperture being so positioned as to generate, when water pressure is applied, a colliding jet that collides with a corresponding torque generating jet to divide each torque generating jet into a plurality of smaller jets.
Other objects, advantages and features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading of the following non restrictive description of preferred embodiments thereof, given by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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Audet Clément
Boivin Richard
Douglas Lisa Ann
Kashnikow Andres
Le Group-Conseil LaSalle, Inc.
Merek & Voorhees
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