GB200756A - Improvements in or relating to automatic control apparatus for sprinkler installations - Google Patents

Abstract

200,756. Mills, G. L., and Mills, S. E. Nov. 13, 1922. Sprinklers, automatic; water supply to distributing systems.-Automatic control apparatus of the type adapted to supply steam to a pump for increasing the pressure in a sprinkler installation in the event of such pressure falling below a predetermined level comprises a casing 1 connected with the main steam supply pipe 2 and provided with an inner cylinder 3, in which slides a combined piston and beat valve 5, the stem 7 of which also carries a piston 10 of greater diameter than the piston 5. Normally, the valve 5 is held against its seat by a spring 12 and by the pressure of steam in the chamber 11, which is connected through a passage 14, a valve 16, a chamber 22, and a branch pipe to the main steam pipe 2. If the pressure in the sprinkler installation falls, a diaphragm 19 connected thereto by a pipe 21 recedes under the action of a spring 25, thus closing the valve 16 and opening a valve 17, the steam in the chamber 11 thus escaping through a chamber 23 and an exhaust pipe 23a. The steam pressure then opens the valve 5, and steam passes through ports 4<a> into a space 9, thence through ports 4, 6 to the interior of the valve 5, and finally through a pipe 26 to the steam pump. When the pressure in the installation is restored, the diaphragm 19 closes the valve 17 and opens the valve 16, thus causing the valve 5 to close and shut off the steam supply to the pump. The control apparatus may be designed to operate periodically every fiew hours by means of an automatic tank and ball valve device adapted to reduce the pressure in the installation main at any required interval.