Fire apparatus.

(Application filed Mar. 8, 1900.)

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^THE NORRIS PETERS CO., PHOTO-LITHO., WASHINGTON. 0. C.

No. 667,149.

Patented Jan. 29, 1901.

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F. E. KENNEY. FIRE APPARATUS. (Application filed Mar. 8, 1900.1

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the' nohris peters co.. photo-htho.. Washington,

United States Patent Office

FRANK E. KENNEY, OF ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA.

FIRE APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION forming· part of Letters Patent No. 667,149, dated January 29,1901.

Application filed March 8,1900. Serial No. 7,792. (No model.)

To all zchom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Frank E. Kenney, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the county of Ramsey and State of 5 Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire Apparatus; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to io which it appertains to make and use the same.

My present invention has for its object to provide an improved fire apparatus adapted to draw the smoke from a burning building or house; and to this end the invention con15 sists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described, and defined in the claims.

It very frequently happens, particularly when fires are started in large buildings, that· 20 the smoke will so fill certain of the rooms, and especially the basement or cellar, that the fire cannot properly be located and firemen cannot enter on account of the density of the smoke. While water thrown into such a 25 burning room at random may have more or less tendency to put out the fire, still it will not reduce the amount of smoke, but will rather increase the same. There are many reasons why it will often be very desirable to 30 quickly draw out the smoke from a room or basement of a building so that the firemen may enter. While the most common necessity for thus clearing out the smoke is to permit the proper location of the fire, it is, how35 ever, by no means the most important, as it will sometimes happen, especially in hotels, that persons may be overcome by the smoke and liable to suffocate unless rescued. The above and other reasons make an apparatus 40 of the character which I have provided very desirable. Such a device will be used as auxiliary to the ordinary fire apparatus generally employed in large cities, and it would preferably be carried by a light fire-wagon 45 provided especially for such purpose, although it might be mounted on certain of the fire-wagons now employed, such as the hookand-ladder or hose-carts, for instance.

My improved fire apparatus will now be de50 scribed in its preferred form and arrangement, the said apparatus being illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a view showing a section of a 55 portion of a building and showing in elevation my improved smoke-ejecting apparatus applied in position for action, the truck which carries it being shown in rear end elevation. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation with some 60 parts broken away, showing the apparatus as it would appear on the wagon or truck in its packed or inoperative position. Fig. 3 is a detail view approximately on the line a;³ a;³ of Fig. 1, showing the water-motor employed to 65 run the fan or blower. Fig. 4 is a vertical section showing the inner end of the draft pipe or tube and its connection to the fancase. Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the outer or receiving member of the draft-tube, some 70 parts being broken away and the expansible leaves thereof being shown as closed. Fig. 6 is a transverse section on the line a;⁶ a;⁶ of Fig. 5. Fig. 7 is a transverse section on the line x? x' of Fig. 5; and Fig. 8 is a view looking 75 at the said receiving end of the draft-tube in the direction indicated by the arrow marked z on Fig. 6, some parts being broken away.

The wagon or truck illustrated is indicated as an entirety by the numeral 1, and it will 80 of course be understood that the same may be of any suitable construction, although it would preferably be built much after the design of an ordinary hose-cart, but could be considerably lighter. On this truck or wagon 85 is mounted a fan or blower (indicated as an entirety by the letter a) and a water-motor, (indicated as an entirety by the letter &amp;.) The fan-case a' has an inlet, neck, or passage a³ at one side, and it is provided with a tan- 90 gentially-opening peripheral discharge-spout a³, which is preferably extended beyond the rear of the wagon. The fan proper, a⁴, is carried by a shaft a⁵, which is mounted in the hubs of spider-brackets a⁶ a⁷, supported from 95 the fan-case.

The case V of the water-motor is shown as supported by a frame b⁸from the body of the wagon. The water-wheel b³ of this motor is rigidly secured on the fan-shaft a^s, which is 100 projected through the case b' and is mounted in suitable bearings b⁴. A water-inlet pipe b⁵, which is provided at its outer end with a hydrant connection consisting of a hose b⁶

667,149 and couplings If' b^s, extends through the case b' and terminates in a nozzle b⁹, which directs the water onto the peripheral blades of the water-wheel b\ At the bottom of the case b' 5 is a discharge-tube &amp;^!0, to which a dischargehose ύ¹¹ is preferably connected, as by the coupling &amp;¹². By means of the coupling b^sthe outer end of the supply-hose b⁶ to the water-motor may be connected in the ordiio nary manner to a hydrant, (indicated by the numeral 2.)

The draft-tube which leads to the fan-case is made up of telescoping and flexibly-connected sections. As shown in the drawings, 15 there are three telescoping sections f f f².

The section f² is connected to a thimble-section f^s by a plurality of telescoping sections /⁴, which are connected toa spring-rib/⁵,thereby making a flexible joint or a section that 20 may be bent more or less on the arc of a circle. The thimble-section /³ is swiveled to the neck portion a² of the fan-case a', the same for this purpose being provided with an annular flange/⁶, which works between a 25 fixed annular flange a^s within the said neck a² and the inturued flange of a collar g, which is screw-threaded onto the said neck a². At its outer or receiving end the section / of the draft-tube is in a similar manner connected 30 to a short sleeve-section k by a plurality of short telescoping sections 7c',secured to a common spring-rib k². The sleeve-section 7c is rounded at its inner end and approximates a square at its outer end. To the outer end of 35 the section k is attached a head which is adapted to expand in four directions and which when the apparatus is applied in working position is inserted through a window of the room or basement which is to be cleared of 40 smoke. This expansible end of the tube as preferably constructed is as follows: To each of the four rectangular sides of the sections 7c a rectangular leaf m is hinged at m’. Overlapping with the adjacentlongitudinal ledges 45 of the leaves m are angle-pieces m², that are beveled or tapered toward their inner ends and are there hinged or coupled by links m^sto the section 7c. Springs m*, which,as shown, are in the form of leaf-springs secured at 50 their ends to the adjacent edges of the anglepieces m², tend to force the said angle-pieces apart, so that thereby the expansible section is put under strain to open up to its limit in all four directions. Normally the parts are 55 secured in their closed or overlapped positions, as indicated in Figs. 5, 6, and 7, by means of clamping-strips t, which are pressed against the alined flanges of the angle-pieces m² by means of short bolts p’, having thumb60 nutsp².

In applying the expansible end of the tube to the window or opening of the building it is first inserted within the same and then the thumb-nuts p² are loosened, thereby permitting the springs w.·⁴ to become effective to au- 65 tomatically throw the said expansible end open, so as to fill the window in which it is placed.

The use of the water-motor with the hydrant connection to drive the fan or blower 70 especially adapts this apparatus to the work for which it is designed, inasmuch as water from the hydrant is always available in cities or towns of any importance. However, the hydrant connection might be applied to any 75 other source of water-supply under pressure. This water-motor with its hydrant connection also affords a motive-power device of small cost.

Another advantage derived from the use 80 of the water-motor and hydrant connection is that the fan may be started into action as soon as connection is made with the hydrant.