EP0002542A1 - Fire-retardant curtain with positive drive - Google Patents

Abstract

The positively-controlled fire curtain is for use in a theatre, and is suspended by two ropes (4, 5). A hydraulic ram (13) acts between the ropes and a fixed structure, so as to lift and lower the curtain (2). The ram can be mounted horizontally above the uppermost position of the curtain. The ram cylinder can be fixed to the supporting structure, while the piston rod end has a bracket with two freely-rotating pulleys, round which the ropes are reeved. On a horizontal line through the ram and above each rope there can be a further pulley, each freely rotating on the fixed structure.

Description

The present invention relates to a fire curtain, that is to say to a curtain or screen which is installed in a theater or in a similar room, to allow, in the event of a fire, to effectively isolate the 'space located in front of the proscenium of the space behind the proscenium.

According to the embodiments known to date, such a curtain, which must be solidly constructed of metal and therefore has a significant weight, is always suspended from a lifting device, hoist or the like, which is provided with a mechanism for immobilization to maintain the curtain in its upper position, said curtain being generally provided at each end with a counterweight which, once said immobilization mechanism is released, must somewhat slow down the descent of said curtain, and means being further provided which, when said curtain has almost reached its lower position, must brake the subsequent descent of said curtain. These latter means are generally constituted by cylinders filled with air, which are each provided with a small outlet orifice, the piston of these cylinders being set in motion by the descending curtain, more especially at the end of the movement of the descending curtain. , in order to expel through said small orifice the air present in the cylinders and to obtain a braking action on said curtain.

It is clear that in this way we are dealing not only to a relatively expensive construction, but also to a construction such that once said immobilization mechanism is unlocked, the curtain descends, so that, when the curtain has to be raised again, this can only be done by operating again said hoist, said lifting device or the like, after which the immobilizing device is again activated.

It goes without saying that this is an operation which, especially in circumstances of panic, can take a long time.

The present invention therefore relates to such a fire curtain, which is positively driven both in its downward movement and in its upward movement, said curtain being able to be maintained in any position and the construction, very simple but extremely effective, being able to be carried out in a simple and very reliable manner, on the one hand, while the safety of the suspension is as high as possible, on the other hand.

For this purpose, said fire curtain consists of the association of the curtain itself, of two cables to which said curtain is suspended and of a hydraulic cylinder, which is mounted between said cables and a fixed structure, to allow bringing said curtain, as the case may be, in the high position or in the low position.

• la figure 1 représente une vue de face en élévation d'un rideau coupe-feu à commande positive selon l'invention, ledit rideau se trouvant en sa position supérieure;
• la figure 2 représente une coupe selon la flèche F2 de la figure 1:
• la figure 3 représente une coupe selon la ligne III-III de la figure 1;
• la figure 4 représente une vue pareille à celle de la figure 1, mais pour le rideau coupe-feu en sa position inférieure;
• la figure 5 représente une coupe schématique du vérin hydraulique avec raccordements;
• la figure 6 représente une vue analogue à celle de la figure 1, mais pour une variante d'exécution;
• la figure 7 représente une vue selon la flèche F7 de la figure 6; et
• la figure 8 représente une coupe selon la ligne VIII-VIII de la figure 6.

To better highlight the characteristics of the invention, two preferred embodiments, cited by way of example, will be described below with a fire barrier according to the invention, reference made to the accompanying drawings, of which

• FIG. 1 represents a front elevation view of a positively controlled fire curtain according to the invention, said curtain being in its upper position;
• FIG. 2 represents a section along arrow F2 in FIG. 1:
• Figure 3 shows a section along line III-III of Figure 1;
• Figure 4 shows a view similar to that of Figure 1, but for the fire curtain in its lower position;
• Figure 5 shows a schematic section of the hydraulic cylinder with connections;
• Figure 6 shows a view similar to that of Figure 1, but for an alternative embodiment;
• Figure 7 shows a view along arrow F7 of Figure 6; and
• FIG. 8 represents a section along line VIII-VIII of FIG. 6.

Figures 1 to 5 show a fire curtain 1, which is mainly constituted by profiled panels 2 of sheet steel fixed in a frame 3, so as to form a rigid assembly. To the upper horizontal element of said frame 3 are fixed two cables, respectively 4 and 5, the cable 4 passing, in this case, on a first idler pulley 6 mounted on an axis 7, which is itself supported in a structure 8 suitable, and then on a second idler pulley 9 mounted on an axis 10 which, by means of a suitable U-shaped support 11, is fixed to the free end of the piston rod 12 of a hydraulic cylinder 13 , the body of which is appropriately fixed, for example also to said structure 8, this fixing being, in the present case, carried out by fixing the body of said hydraulic jack 13 to the cross members 14 and 15 of said structure 8.

The cable 4 is then brought back under the idler pulley 9 and is finally fixed to said structure 8, more particularly to a cross member 16 provided for this purpose.

The cable 5, on its side, passes on a mad pulley 17 my tee on an axis 18 fixed in an appropriate manner in said structure 8, and is then led on an idler pulley 19 mounted on an axis 20 fixed to a support 21, 22, itself fixed to the structure 8.

After passing around the idler pulley 19, the cable .5 passes over a third idler pulley 23, which is mounted next to the idler pulley 9 on the axis 10 fixed in said support 11. Then the cable 5 is finally also fixed to said cross member 16.

It is clear that in this way we achieve this result that, by shortening the hydraulic cylinder 13, the idler pulleys 9 and 23 are brought closer to the idler pulley 6, so that the fire curtain can descend in a controlled manner , so that it can be retained at any convenient time, and can, when it has reached a certain position, be moved again upwards by displacement of the idle pulleys 9 and 23 in the direction of the idle pulley 17.

FIG. 5 also shows schematically that the hydraulic cylinder 13 will preferably be provided with a limit switch damping system consisting, in the present case, in that a conical appendage 25, situated at the end of the piston 24 of the hydraulic cylinder 13, cooperates with a conical cavity 26 provided in the bottom of the body of the hydraulic cylinder 13.

It goes without saying that this goal is achieved by this, that when the fire curtain is almost completely lowered, the conical appendage 25 of the piston 24 enters the conical cavity 26, which has the effect of driving back l oil present in this conical cavity 26, between the walls 25 and 26, providing a slowing down of the speed of descent of the metal curtain, which therefore comes gently into contact with the ground.

Figure 5 also schematically shows that for ser the curtain, oil is brought, via a piloted check valve 27, behind the piston 24, which has the effect, on the one hand, that the piston moves and, on the other hand, that the oil which is in front of the piston, is evacuated by the piloted check valve.

Conversely, to move the metal curtain upwards, it suffices to bring oil in front of the piston 24 and to evacuate the oil behind the piston. The main purpose of the battery check valve is to prevent any further movement of the fire curtain when the piston is no longer operated.

A hydraulic valve 13 is connected to a flap valve 28, which is connected by a line 29 to an oil reservoir, not shown, a normally closed valve 30 being provided in the line 29. The purpose of this valve 28 is to ensure that that in the event of a rupture of the pipe 29, the valve 28 would close, due to an exaggerated flow speed of the oil, so that, on this side also, an untimely descent of the curtain cuts - fire is avoided in the event of a pipe rupture.

The execution according to FIGS. 6 to 8 is similar to that described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, with the simple difference that the hydraulic cylinder is significantly shorter, which can be advantageous in the event of lack of space. In the present case, to allow a sufficient height movement of the fire curtain 1, the cables 4 and 5 are arranged like those of a multi-strand hoist on a larger number of pulleys.

In this case, in fact, the cable 4 is driven on a mad pulley 6 mounted on an axis 7, from where it passes over a mad pulley 9 mounted on an axis 10, from where it is brought back on a second mad pulley 31 mounted on axis 7, from where it passes over a second idler pulley 32 on axis 10, to be finally fixed to said crosspiece 16, while the cable 5 passes over the idler pulley 17 mounted on the axis 18, from where it passes over the idler pulley 19 mounted on the axis 20, from where it passes over a third idler pulley 34 mounted on the axis 7, from where it still passes over a fourth idler pulley 35 mounted on the axis 10, to be finally fixed to said crosspiece 16.

It goes without saying that the present invention is in no way limited to the embodiment described by way of example and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.

Claims (10)

1.- Fire curtain with positive control, characterized in that it consists of the association of an actual curtain (1), of two cables (4-5) to which the said curtain (1) is suspended and d 'a hydraulic cylinder (13) disposed between said cables (4-5) and a fixed structure (8), in order to be able to bring said curtain (1), as appropriate, to its upper position or to its lower position. 2. A positively controlled fire curtain according to claim 1, characterized in that said hydraulic cylinder (13) is arranged horizontally above the upper position of the fire curtain (1). 3.- fire curtain with positive control according to one of claims 1 or 2, characterized in that the body of the hydraulic cylinder (13) is fixed to a fixed structure (8), while the free end of the rod piston (12) is provided with a support (11) in which are mounted two first idler pulleys (9-23) for said cables (4-5). 4. Fire curtain with positive control according to one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that in the axis of said cylinder (13) and above each cable (4-5) above is provided for the cable concerned a second idler pulley, these second idler pulleys (6-17) being mounted on an axis (7-18) fixed to said fixed structure (8). 5. Fire curtain with positive control according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the first cable (4) is first led on the second idler pulley (6) concerned, from there on the first idler pulley ( 9) concerned, to be brought back towards said second idler pulley (6) and finally to be fixed to the fixed structure (8) at the location of the cylinder body (13). 6. Fire curtain with positive control according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the second cable (5) passes first over the second idler pulley (17) concerned, from where it is led to the other end of the device and is brought back from there, after passing over a third idler pulley (19), to said first idler pulley (23), to be brought back again towards said third idler pulley (19) and finally fixed to the fixed structure (8) at the location of the cylinder body (13). 7. A fire curtain with positive control according to claim 6, characterized in that the third pulley (19) is a mad pulley mounted on an axis (20) fixed to said fixed structure (8). 8. A positively controlled fire curtain according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hydraulic cylinder (13) has a length approximately equal to the height of the fire curtain (1), that is to say say approximately equal to the length of movement of the fire curtain. 9. A fire curtain according to one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the hydraulic cylinder (13) has a length less than the height of the fire curtain (1), that is to say at the length of movement of the fire curtain (1), two additional idler pulleys or a greater number of additional idler pulleys (31-33) and (32-34) being provided in the vicinity of one of the second idler pulleys (6- 17) and in the vicinity of the first idler pulleys (9-23) and said cables (4-5) being driven twice or a greater number of times between these three or more second idler pulleys and these four or more first pulleys crazy. 10.- Fire curtain with positive control according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the hydraulic cylinder (13) comprises a damping device (25-26) of limit switch.

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