Fire extinguishers – Sprinkler heads
Patent
1996-10-31
1999-10-19
Hoge, Gary C.
Fire extinguishers
Sprinkler heads
169 38, A62C 3714
Patent
active
059672374
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a sprinkler having, in a standby state, a heat-sensitive release means, which is in contact with a spindle. More specifically, the invention relates to a sprinkler comprising a frame, into which at least one nozzle has been mounted, whereby the frame has a fluid inlet and a passage for conveying extinguishing medium to at least one nozzle, whereby the sprinkler, in the standby state, has a heat-sensitive release means, which is in contact with a spindle slidably arranged in a conduit having an inlet and an outlet to said nozzle.
The release means may be, for instance, a glass vial that explodes at an elevated temperature. To achieve a rapid release, it is desirable to make the vial as thin as possible. Even a thin vial is able to withstand a sufficiently high mechanical load at a normal temperature, provided that the load is located directly on the vial end and is even.
Such a sprinkler is previously known from SE 501,267. However, this known sprinkler does not permit a high fluid pressure to exist in the fluid inlet, when the sprinkler is in the standby position, to achieve a rapid release of the sprinkler, since the fluid pressure would exert on the release means a force so great that the release means would break; alternatively, the release means would require a special construction.
The object of the invention is to provide a new sprinkler that ensures an even and straightlined load on the release means, whereby the load is not so high that the release means could break merely as a result of the fluid pressure in the sprinkler when the sprinkler is in the standby position.
The sprinkler according to the invention is characterized in that the conduit is composed of a channel, the wall of which the spindle is arranged in a slidable or almost slidable contact with, and that the spindle and the channel extend on both sides of the channel inlet in order to at least partially balance the fluid pressure in the inlet when the sprinkler is in the standby state.
In a preferred embodiment, the nozzles, the release means and the spindle are mounted into an insert housing, which thus premounted can in turn be mounted into a sprinkler retaining housing having a fluid inlet, which is in contact with the fluid inlet of the insert housing. It is thus easy to perform the mounting carefully without causing any damage to a vial sensitive to impacts and uneven load.
The preferred embodiments of the invention are described in the enclosed claims 2-12.
The invention will be described in greater detail below with reference to the preferred embodiments illustrated in the enclosed drawing.
FIG. 1 shows a longitudinal section of a first embodiment of the invention in the standby state.
FIG. 2 shows the sprinkler according to FIG. 1 in the released state.
FIG. 3 shows a longitudinal section of a second embodiment of the invention in the standby state.
FIG. 4 shows a longitudinal section of a third embodiment of the invention in the standby state.
FIG. 5 shows the sprinkler according to FIG. 4 in an intermediate position shortly after the release means has broken.
FIG. 6 shows the sprinkler according to FIG. 4 in a fully released state.
FIG. 7 shows a detail of the sprinkler in FIG. 4 in the standby state.
FIG. 8 shows a detail of the sprinkler in FIG. 5, i.e. in an intermediate position.
In FIGS. 1 and 2, a sprinkler is generally indicated by 1. The sprinkler has a housing 2, which is fastened to a ceiling 4 with a number of screws 3 and which has a fluid inlet 5 leading to a central channel 6. The sprinkler has further an insert 7 having an insert housing 8 fastened to the sprinkler housing 2 with a number of screws 9. Due to an insert housing 8, which can be detached from the sprinkler housing 2, the installation of the sprinkler is simple, hydrostatic tests on fluid tubes can be performed and the danger of mechanically deforming such components of the sprinkler that are sensitive to impacts is minimized. The insert 7 has a head 10, which is introduced into the central or receiving channel 6 and
REFERENCES:
patent: 3584689 (1971-06-01), Williams
patent: 4175677 (1979-11-01), Poeschl et al.
patent: 4597451 (1986-07-01), Moore et al.
patent: 5188185 (1993-02-01), Mears
patent: 5573065 (1996-11-01), Sundholm
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