US3201771A - Fireman's helmet - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 17, 1965 J. J. PROULX y fi FIREMAN'S HELMET Filed Dec. 8, 1961 INVENTOR Jmfm QKPPWM. BY WW ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,201,771 FEREMANS HELMET .lohn I. Preuix, Glenweud Ave, Middlebury, Conn. Filed Dec. 8, 1951, Ser. No. 158,143 Claims. (Cl. 340-22'7) This invention relates to firemens helmets and particularly to one installed with a warning device to give audible and/ or visible signals when a fireman is exposed to too severe heat conditions.

One of the dangerous factors for firemen in fighting fires is that in their desire and enthusiasm to get at the source of the fire they often are not aware of the high ambient temperatures in which they may be operating to extinguish a blaze, and as a consequence they may be seriously burnt. Experience has also shown that often when fighting a fire, portions of a building or stock stored therewithin may have become so hot before the fireman arrive that when water is first applied a fiash of steam may result that can inflict a greater and more damaging injury than from a superheated atmosphere. It is for the purpose of giving adequate warning to any fireman that I have made this invention to forestall his entering too far into a burning building too dangerous for his own safety.

It is therefore one of the objects of this invention to provide a firemans helmet with a series of thermostatic elements tied into an electric circuit and placed at spaced positions around the helmet, and which thermostats are set to close the circuit and give audible and/or a light signal when the fireman wearing the helmet is exposed to a dangerous heat condition.

A further object is to place a switch in the circuit in such a manner as to short out the thermostats and permit the switch to be manually operated so as to energize the audible and light signals in case the fireman should get lost or trapped within a blazing building.

Other objects and advantages of the tnvention will be come apparent from the following description when read in connection with accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a firemans helmet embodying my invention and with portions broken away to show interior construction;

FIG. 2 is a front elevation of the same on a slightly smaller scale;

FIG. 3 is a top plan View of the same; and

FIG. 4 is a layout view of the wiring diagram for the electric units.

Referring now to the drawing, the numeral designates generally a firemans helmet consisting of a brim 11, a crown 12 and a reenforcing rib l3 raised upwardly and extending lengthwise of the apex of the crown. Mounted on the front of the crown above the brim is a casing 14 in which is located an audible warning unit 15. The casing includes a removable cover plate 16 secured to said casing as by screws 16a. A small light socket 17a is mounted upon the upper section of the cover plate 16 for receiving a light bulb 17 that functions as a warning signal. Projecting through a suitable opening 18 in the cover plate 16 and adjacent the warning light 17 is a manually operated switch 19 that operates said light and the audible warning unit as will be explained later.

The audible warning unit 15 is a tone oscillator or sounding device that is mounted on the back of the cover plate 16 and further description of this unit is considered unnecessary.

The battery required to operate the tone oscillator consists of two dry cells 20 such as used for operating a portable flash light and are confined in a casing 21. The casing 21 with its batteries are preferably mounted on the top of the helmet, so as to obtain a better distribution of the weight of the units attached to the helmet and not place 32%,??1 Patented Aug. 17, 1965 an excessive amount of weight on the front of the helmet. As shown in FIG. 1 the battery casing 21 is fixed to the top of the reenforcing rib 13 in any suitable manner. The dry cell batteries 20 are mounted on an insulated plate 22 and held in place by the usual spring clips 23.

In order to operate the tone oscillator 15 and warning light 17, use is made of four heat detector units, 25, 26, 27 and 28, one positioned on each of the four sides of the helmet crown 12 and preferably slightly above the brim 11. These detector units are preferably of the heatactuated thermostatic type using bi-metallic bars for closing the circuit when subjected to a predetermined amount of heat, and set to operate at approximately degrees (Fahrenheit). The front detector unit 15 is mounted on an offset bracket 29 secured to the front face of the audible unit casing 14, the oifset portion being spaced from an opening (not shown) in the cover plate 16 through which audible signals are emitted when said unit 15 is operating. The side detector units 2-6 and 27 and rear detector 28 are mounted respectively on the crown 12 as shown in the first three views of the drawing.

The manner in which all the electric units are electrically joined together is shown in FIG. 4. The heat detector units 25-28 are joined in parallel through main circuit lines 30 and 31, the line 30 being connected to one side of the battery 20 while the line 31 leads to one side of the tone oscillator 15. The opposite side of the tone oscillator is joined to the battery 20 through line 32. The signal light 17 is joined to line 31 and line 32 and thus in parallel with the tone oscillator 15 so that one of the warning units will at least operate in case the other fails. In case the operator should desire to operate the warning light or tone oscillator independently of the heat-detector units, the switch 19 is joined across the main circuit lines 30 and 31 between said detector units 25-28 and the warning units 15 and 17.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a firemans helmet having the usual brim and crown in combination with a warning system, of a casing mounted on said crown and having an electrically operated audible signal unit, a battery carried by said helmet, and plurality of heat-detector units positioned about the outside of said helmet and arranged in parallel with each other and in series with the battery and the audible signal unit so that when one or more of the heat-detector units is operated to close the circuit the audible signal unit will be energized.

2. In a firemans helmet having the usual brim and crown in combination with a warning system, of a casing mounted on said crown and having an electrically operated audible signal unit and a light signal unit, a battery carried by said helmet, and a plurality of heat detector units positioned about the outside of said helmet and arranged in parallel with each other and in series with the battery and the audible and light signal units so that when one or more of the heat-detector units is operated to close the circuit the audible and light signal units will be energized.

3. In a firemans helmet as defined in claim 2 wherein the casing for the audible and light signal units is mounted on front of the hat crown.

4. In a firemans helmet as defined in claim 3 wherein a casing is provided for housing the battery independent of the casing for the warning units and so positioned to the helmet as to counterbalance the weight of the audibleand-light signal unit casing.

5. In a firemans helmet as defined in claim 3 wherein a casing is provided for housing the battery independent of the casing for the warning units and which battery casing is mounted on the top of the helmet crown.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Finks 340-366 Ullery et a1 340190 Kratvi-lle 340-214 Wortman 340-321 Keller et a1 340366 Neu 340-58 NEIL C. READ, Primary Examiner.

BENNETT G. MILLER, Examiner.

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