US3884304A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Fire safety systems
Assignee: Individual
•
Filing: 1972-07-24
•
Granted: 1975-05-20
•
Expires: 1992-07-24
Abstract
Abstract Conventional water sprinkler heads, mounted in separate rooms, are set off by smoke detectors respectively mounted in the same rooms. A sprinkler head is set off by connecting a resistance wire coil across an electric potential. The heat generated melts the fusible link of the sprinkler head to discharge water therefrom. The coil is resilient to position it on the sprinkler head and is incorporated into a removable probe so that it may be replaced when desired. At a remote nurse''s station, a set of lights indicates system readiness and also when one or more sprinklers has been set off. Manually operated switches, at the nurse''s station, permit selected resistance coils to be energized to set off other sprinkler heads. A hallway smoke detector also provides an alarm at the nurse''s station to alert an attendant to the possible need for remotely actuating selected sprinkler heads or all sprinkler heads by closing a ''''gang'''' switch which is also provided.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert P Messerschmidt
- 👤 Lloyd D Montag
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-30 16:14
CPC Classifications
G; G08; G08B; G08B17/00; A; A62; A62C; A62C35/00; A62C35/58; A62C35/60; A62C35/605
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 32
Claim 1
Independent Claim
86 words
A fire safety system comprising: a water sprinkler head connected to a source of pressurized water, and including a valve and means, restrained by a fusible element, for holding said valve in a closed position preventing discharge of water from said sprinkler, a smoke detector including means for producing an output signal in response to a given rise in smoke density, means responsive to said output signal for generating heat sufficient to melt said fusible element, thereby releasing said valve and discharging water from said sprinkler.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
86 words
A fire safety system comprising: a water sprinkler head connected to a source of pressurized water, and including a valve and means, restrained by a fusible element, for holding said valve in a closed position preventing discharge of water from said sprinkler, a smoke detector including means for producing an output signal in response to a given rise in smoke density, means responsive to said output signal for generating heat sufficient to melt said fusible element, thereby releasing said valve and discharging water from said sprinkler.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
43 words
A fire safety system as in claim 1 wherein the heat generating means comprise an electrical resistance wire juxtapositioned relative to said fusible element and means for connecting said electrical resistance element across an electrical potential sufficient to generate a predetermined heat level.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
20 words
A fire safety system as in claim 1 further comprising manually operated means for independently actuating the heat generating means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
61 words
A fire safety system as in claim 1 wherein a plurality of said sprinkler heads are provided a plurality of said smoke detectors are provided, and additional means, responsive to the output signal of each additional smoke detector are provided for generating heat sufficient to melt the fusible element of a given sprinkler head thereby discharging water from said sprinkler head.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
33 words
A fire safety system as in claim 4 further comprising manually operated means for separately activating selected heat generating means and manually operated means for manually actuating all of said heat generating means.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
46 words
A fire safety system as in claim 5 wherein each of the heat generating means comprise an electrical resistance wire juxtapositioned relative to each of fusible element and means for connecting said electrical resistance element across an electrical potential sufficient to generate a predetermined heat level.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
110 words
A fire safety system as in claim 6 in combination with a building comprising a plurality of rooms and a common area and further wherein a smoke detector and a water sprinkler head combination are respectively mounted in separate rooms thereof, the resistance element of the water sprinkler in one room is connected across the electrical potential in response to the output signal of the smoke detector in that room, and further comprising a further said smoke detector mounted in said common area and means, responsive to said further smoke detector, for providing an alarm for alerting an attendant as to the possible need for operating said manually operated means.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
27 words
A fire safety system as in claim 7 wherein the manually operated means and the means for providing an alarm are disposed in a common, remote location.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
36 words
A fire safety system as in claim 4 in combination with a building comprising a plurality of rooms and further wherein a smoke detector and water sprinkler head combination are respectively mounted in separate rooms thereof.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
74 words
A fire safety system as in claim 9 wherein each of the heat generating means comprise electrical resistance wires respectively juxapositioned relative to the fusible elements of each sprinkler head and an electrical potential across which said resistance wires are adapted to be connected, and the means responsive to the output signal of a smoke detector in a room connect the resistance element of the water sprinkler in that room across the electrical potential.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
32 words
A fire safety system as in claim 10 wherein the means responsive to said smoke detectors include normally open switches respectively connected in series with said resistance wires across the electrical potential.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
75 words
A fire safety system as in claim 11 wherein ''''ready'''' light bulbs are respectively connected in parallel across said switches and ''''alarm'''' light bulbs are connected in parallel with said resistance wire and further wherein, the resistance of said ''''ready'''' light bulbs is substantially greater than the resistance of said resistance wires and further wherein the resistance of the ''''alarm'''' light bulbs is at least approximately as great as that of said ''''ready'''' light bulbs.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
51 words
A fire safety system as in claim 12 wherein said light bulbs are mounted at a common, remote station and further wherein manually operable switches are respectively mounted in parallel with the parallel connected ''''ready'''' light bulbs and switches, said manually operated switches also being mounted at said common, remote stations.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
95 words
A fire safety system as in claim 13 wherein a hallway, or the like, is adjacent said separate rooms and a further, said smoke detector is mounted in said hallway means responsive to the output signal of said hallway smoke detector provide an alarm signal at said common, remote station and a normally open, manually operable switch adjacent said hallway alarm is connected in series with a plurality of said resistance wires, across said electrical potential, whereby all of said resistance wires can be connected across said electrical potential in response to the hallway alarm.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
24 words
A fire safety system as in claim 10 wherein each resistance wire is incorporated into a probe removably connected into the electrical connections therefor.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
26 words
A fire safety system as in claim 15 wherein the resistance wire is in the form of a resilient coil and is covered with insulation material.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
42 words
A fire safety system as in claim 16 wherein each sprinkler head has opposed arms adjacent the fusible element thereof and positioning means are provided at the opposite ends of said coil to hold said coil in juxtaposition with said fusible element.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
31 words
A fire safety system as in claim 2 wherein the electrical resistance wire is incorporated into a probe removably connected with the means connecting the resistance wire across the electrical potential.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
31 words
A fire safety system as in claim 2 wherein the electrical resistance wire is in the form of a resilient coil and is covered with flexible, low melting point dielectric material.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
25 words
A fire safety system as in claim 19 wherein said electrical resistance probe includes means for positioning said coil in juxtaposition with said fusible element.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
71 words
A probe for use in a fire safety system, said probe comprising an electrical resistance wire adapted to be juxtapositioned relative to a fusible element which is to be melted to set off a sprinkler head, and electrical leads connected to the opposite ends of said coil and removably connectable into an electrical circuit for passing current through the resistance wire to generate heat sufficient to quickly melt the fusible element.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
71 words
A probe for use in a fire safety system, said probe comprising an electrical resistance wire adapted to be juxtapositioned relative to a fusible element which is to be melted to set off a sprinkler head, and electrical leads connected to the opposite ends of said coil and removably connectable into an electrical circuit for passing current through the resistance wire to generate heat sufficient to quickly melt the fusible element.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
19 words
A probe as in claim 21 wherein the electrical resistance wire is in the form of a resilient coil.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
34 words
A probe as in claim 22 wherein the electrical resistance wire, including the coil, is covered with a flexible, low melting point dielectric material having a distinctive odor when heated to an elevated temperature.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
30 words
A probe as in claim 23 wherein the probe includes means for gripping the water sprinkler head and position the resistance wire coil in juxtaposition to the fusible element thereof.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
28 words
A probe as in claim 24 wherein the gripping means are integrally formed of said insulating dielectric material and comprise lugs at the opposite ends of said coil.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
65 words
A fire safety system comprising a water sprinkler head connected to a source of pressurized water, and including a valve and means, restrained by a fusible element, for holding said valve in a closed position preventing discharge of water from said sprinkler, and electrical resistance means for generating heat suffIcient to melt said fusible element, thereby releasing said valve and discharging water from said sprinkler.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
65 words
A fire safety system comprising a water sprinkler head connected to a source of pressurized water, and including a valve and means, restrained by a fusible element, for holding said valve in a closed position preventing discharge of water from said sprinkler, and electrical resistance means for generating heat suffIcient to melt said fusible element, thereby releasing said valve and discharging water from said sprinkler.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
47 words
A fire safety system as in claim 25 wherein the heat generating means comprise an electrical resistance wire juxtapositioned relative to said fusible element and manually operable means are provided for connecting said electrical resistance element across an electrical potential sufficient to generate a predetermined heat level.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
32 words
A fire safety system as in claim 27 wherein the electrical resistance wire is in the form of a resilient coil and is covered with a flexible, low melting point dielectrical material.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
28 words
A fire safety system as in claim 28 wherein the electrical resistance wire is incorporated into a probe removably connected with the electrical connections to said electrical potential.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US3139143A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-05-19 | 1978-11-18 | 1979-05-20 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-05-19 | 1982-11-18 | 1983-05-20 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-05-19 | 1986-11-18 | 1987-05-20 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |