WO1992012763A1

WO1992012763A1 - Projectile for spraying fire-resistant substances over burning areas

Info

Publication number: WO1992012763A1
Application number: PCT/IT1992/000005
Authority: WO
Inventors: Dario Fiorelli
Original assignee: Dario Fiorelli
Priority date: 1991-01-18
Filing date: 1992-01-17
Publication date: 1992-08-06
Also published as: AU1174192A

Abstract

Spray-type fire-extinguishing device consisting of a projectile (1) for mortars, rocket launchers and the like, comprising a frontally situated tank (2) to carry fire-resistant products, having at least one door (9), a cylindrical chamber (3) at the back to take a propelling charge, an automatic release system (14-19) working by gravity and able to ensure that each door (9) opens automatically during the downward section of the arc followed by the launched projectile (1).

Description

PROJECTILE FOR SPRAYING FIRE-RESISTANT SUBSTANCES OVER BURNING AREAS

The invention concerns a device for extinguishing fires in which substances are sprayed over the area by means of mortars and rocket launchers.

To put out extensive fires, such as those started in wood¬ ed areas, solid and liquid fire-resistant substances are spread over the affected area in various ways; manual tools may be resorted to in the first instance to try and stop the fire spreading, or else systems such as pumped water using hydrants, but these can only serve if there are paths or roads to bring the equipment close enough. Fire-fighting aeroplanes provide the most effective means so far known but unfortunately enough of them are not always available.

If fires start in mountainous areas there is at present no other way of putting them out except by such special aeroplanes . Purpose of the above invention is to realise a fire-fight- device able to spray material over the burning area from a distance, designed to deal with large fires but prot ct ing the operating personnel from any risk. A further purpose is to realise an effective and fully reliable means for spraying on material, as above, but at a very much lower cost than that incurred using aero¬ planes equipped for extinguishing large-scale fires. This and other purposes will be explained more clearly in the following description.

Subject of the invention is a fire-fighting device that sprays material over the fire, consisting of a projec¬ tile, sent up by a mortar or rocket launcher and the like, comprising a tank at the front for carrying the substan¬ ces able to put the fire out.

Said tank has at least one door, a cylindrical chamber for a propelling charge inserted at the rear, and an automatic releasing means worked by gravity so that the doors open automatically when the projectile is on its downward course.

The automatic releasing means comprises a mass, free to translate along an axial pin in the projectile, and at least one rocker lever. When the above mass is in its rear position, one end of said lever, fitted with a roller or some alternative means, is held against one side of said mass. The other end of the lever, fitted with a hook, holds onto an opposing hook on the door of the tank. After the projectile has been launched and has reached the downward section of its arc, the above mass slides by gravity towards the front of the projectile; the lever thus left free to rotate, in turn frees the hook at its other end from the opposite hook on the door. The door is then free to open by gravity and the fire- resistant material in the tank is scattered over the flames below. A compression spring tends to push the hook on the end of the rocker lever away from the hook on the door. This ensures that the door opens wide when the above mass moves towards the front of the projectile. According to a preferred type of execution the doors open radially, fanwise, in relation to the axis of the tank, turning on hinges placed near the front. In the cylindrical back end of the tank there are two practically diametrical holes across the line of move- ment of the translating mass, and through these a rod can be inserted by hand to keep said mass in its rear position and stop the doors from opening accidentally. According to a preferred execution the tank is divided into substantially equal radial compartments each of which has its own door.

Further characteris ics and advantages of this present invention will be made still clearer by the following description of one ot its possible executions illustra¬ ted by diagrammatic figures. Fig.1 An axial section of the projectile subject of the invention. Fig.2 An axial section to show the automatic release mechanism in detail. Fig.3 Perspective view of a rod to lock the automatic mechanism.

The fire-fighting spraying device subject of the inven¬ tion consists of a projectile 1 that comprises a cylin^¬ drical tank 2, at one end of which there is an ogive and at the opposite end a tubular appendix 4 that forms a chamber 3 containing an ordinary propelling charge and fuse or detonator to go with it. By means of this propelling charge the projectile 1 can be launched over a distance by a ballistic mortar 26 or rocket launcher tube.

Fitted to the tubular appendix 4 are angularly equidistant fins 5, their purpose naturally being to guide and stabi¬ lize the projectile and its tank during the flight. The tank 2 is reinforced throughout by four longitudinal ribs 6 at 90°, of the transversal section,one from another, and has at its rear end a transversal wall 7 fixed to said longitudinal ribs thus creating a chamber 8 at the back separate from the rest of the tank.

Some known type of fire-resistant material, in liquid or in powder form, is placed inside the tank 2, said material then falling from the tank through the doors 9, tire size of which is substantially equal and naturally depends on how many doors there are.

Said doors turn round hinges 10 when opening. In Fig. 1 the doors 9 are shown by dotted lines in their open position . The tank is filled through a duct 11.

In the chamber 8, between the end 12 of the chamber 3 and the partition wall 7, there is a device the purpose of which is to ensure that the doors of the tank remain shut when out of use and, after the projectile has been launched by the mortar 26, to open said doors automati¬ cally when the projectile enters the downward arc 13 (Fig. 4) of its parabolic trajectory.

This device comprises a fixed axial shaft 14 on which a freely sliding mass 15 is mounted, its form being cylin- drical or similar. Movement of said mass is therefore limited between the two fixed sides 12 and 7. Rollers 16, idly supported at the ends of rocker lovers

17, rest against the mass 15. Each lever is of the first class kind, balanced on pins 18 fixed to the inner wall of the chamber 8. The other end of each lever ends in a hook 19 that fits into a corresponding hook 20 on the end of a door 9.

The hooks 20 are housed at the ends of flanges fixed tυ the inner wal1 7.

Clearly, therefore, if the mass 15 is situated in the po- sition shown in Fig. 1, the rollers 16 press against the outer surface of said mass keeping the hooks 19 held fast by the door hooks 20 and said doors remain closed.

When the mass 15, moving towards the wall 7, has completed its stroke, the ends of the levers 17 with roll rs 16 are left free and levers 17 will turn on the fulcrum point 18 thus freeing the hooks 19 from those on the door.

The doors, pushed by the flat springs 22 placed on rota¬ ting pins 10 on each door, can then open.

Quick and correct rotation of the rocker levers, when the mass 15 has moved, is ensured by pre-loaded compression springs 23 between said levers and the intermediate wall

21 in the above-mentioned chamber 8.

Finally, to make sure that the mass 15 remains stationary while loading the tank, keeping the projectile in storage or during transport, a locking rod 24 is pushed through two holes 25 at diam trically opposing points in the rear wall of the chamber 8 at the back of the projectile I.

When launching is imminent, said rod is removed.

From the foregoing it will be clear that this pro ectile is used by launching it with the mortar 4 and that wh n it enters the downward arc 13 of its trajectory, he mass ι5 moves by its own weight towards the wall 7 once the ogive has taken a downward turn. „

Movement of the mass 15 frees the levers 17 which in turn free the hooks 20 allowing the doors, further assisted by the flat springs 22 and compression springs 23, to open fanwise so permitting the fire-resistant material to shower down onto the flames.

Claims

CLA IMS

I. Spray-type fire-ex nguishing device characterized in that it consists of a projectile ( 1) for mortars, rock¬ et launchers and the like comprising a tank (2)at the front to hold fire-resistant products having at least one door (9), a cylindrical chamber (3) for a propelling charge at the back, an automatic release device worked by gravity which causes each door (9) to open automa ically during the fall of the launched projectile ( 1).

2. Fire-extinguishing device as in claim 1, characterized in that the automatic release sys em com¬ prises a mass ( 15) free to translate along an axial pin

( 14) in the projectile ( 1), and a rocker lever ( 17) one of whose ends,having on it a small roller ( 16) or some alternative means, is held against the side of said mass

( 15) when it is at the back end of its stroke, while the other end fitted with a hook ( 19) is held fast by an op¬ posite hook (20) on a door (9) so that when the project¬ ile ( I) has been launched and has started on its down- ward course, the mass ( 15) translating by gravity towards the front of the projectile ( 1) allows the lever ( 17) to rotate which frees the hook ( 19) at its other end from the opposite hook (20)on the door (9) causing the door to open by gravity and the fire-resistant product to fall spraywise onto the area below in flames.

3. Fire-extinguishing device as in claim 2, characterized in that a compression spring (23) tends to push the hook ( 19) on the rocker lever ( 17) away from the hook (20) on the door and therefore ensures that he door (9) is freed when the translating mass ( 15) moves towards the front of the projectile ( 1).

4. Fire-extinguishing device as in claim 2, characterized in that the doors (9) open radially, fanwise, in relation to the axis of the tank (2) turning on a hinge (10) on the front of the tank (2).

5. Fire-extinguishing device as in claim 2, characterized in that, in the cylindrical rear part of the tank, two practically diametrical holes are made through it at the point where the translating mass ( 15) moves, and through which holes a rod (24) can be pushed by hand to keep said mass (15) in its rear end-stroke position thus preventing the doors (9) from opening accidentally.

6. Fire-extinguishing device as in claim 1, characterized in that the tank (2) is divided i to radial compartments each of which is fitted with a door (9).