Fire extinguishers – Processes
Patent
1986-06-04
1987-04-14
Peters, Jr., Joseph F.
Fire extinguishers
Processes
169 38, A62C 3714
Patent
active
046570853
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention relates to a sprinkler unit of the type which is supplied from the factory in an assembled state, ready for mounting in situ in an existing piping for the supply of a first extiguishing fluid in buildings and the like.
Such sprinkler units are assembled at the factory by insertion of the bulb into engagement with the bushing and subsequent insertion of the seal and the valve body, and the assembled unit is then subjected to pressure tests according to current standards.
The German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2 300 434 discloses a sprinkler unit of the stated type in which a dual bulb is inserted into the valve body which is to be inserted from the outside to engage the seal, and the bulb and the valve body are then fixed against the inner end of the body by the tightening of the bushing at the outer end of the body. This insertion operation is complicated, and the seal will be under a constant pressure due to the fixed state.
The British Patent Specification No. 1 582 360 discloses a sprinkler unit of the same type in which the inner end of the bulb is journalled directly in the outer end of the valve body, and the flow passage of the fluid is substantially circular-cylindrical in shape, the surface of the bore in the body having a recess for receiving the seal. This structure requires special care in the mounting operation, and it is not certain that the valve body will not be sucked backwards and release the bulb in the event that a negative pressure is generated in the piping when the piping is drained.
The British Patent Specification No. 1 595 116 and the German Offenlegungsschrift No. 2 921 304 disclose a sprinkler unit of a similar type in which the outer end of the bulb, without any intermediate valve body, engages the body through the seal, which upon insertion is kept in place by insertion of a thin tubular bushing. The fragile end of the bulb is unprotected during the mounting operation, and in case of release the seal will hang in the body and thus impede out-flow of the fluid.
The object of the invention is to provide a sprinkler unit of the stated type without these drawbacks.
This object is achieved according to the invention with a sprinkler unit of the type stated, where a flow passage is provided with an additional shoulder formed at an end portion of a valve body facing a piping application end of a unit body, whereby said additional shoulder will engage with a sealing element and move said element along the flow passage to rest in a working position in a staggered portion of said passage upon exertion of fluid pressure on the valve body.
The invention also relates to a method of assembling such a sprinkler unit at the factory, said method comprising the steps of inserting a bulb into the piping application end of the bore in the unit body to journal one end of the bulb in a bushing, then inserting the valve body, having an O-ring inserted therein and the sealing element loosely applied on the valve body surface, through the bore into engagement with an opposite end of the bulb, and subjecting the unit thus assembled to an actual pressure test, the sealing element thereby being pressed into working position by the additional shoulder without additional manipulations.
When the sprinkler unit of the invention is assembled at the factory, the sealing elment is simply placed around the valve body and is urged down by the additional shoulder on the valve body surface when the valve body, with the O-ring inserted therein, is urged through the bore in the unit body toward the previously positioned bulb.
During the subsequent obligatory pressure test the pressure fluid then automatically presses the seal into position between the shoulders at the staggered portion of the flow passage without any additional manual operations being needed, and the sealing element will then act both as a locking ring for the valve body against possible inward movement of the valve body in case of a reduction in the pressure in the piping, and as an equalizing means for partial absorption of tensions cause
REFERENCES:
patent: 4109727 (1978-08-01), Job
G. W. Sprinkler A/S
Jones Mary Beth O.
Peters Jr. Joseph F.
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