GB2126888A - Emergency shower - Google Patents

Abstract

An emergency shower provides a uniform spray that covers the whole body-surface, by a judicious positioning of several spraying elements (8). One of the alternative constructions includes tanks (12) containing neutralizing and/or cell- regenerating agents and mixing elements (7) adding the above chemicals to the spray-water. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Emergency shower Safety showers presently known sprinkle an agent essentially from above on an injured person whose injuries have been caused by a strongly corrosive (destructive) material (acids and bases) through running or splashing. A major disadvantage of the known safety showers (i.e.

those described in the UK Patents Nos. 1300125 and 1499806, for example) is that they either sprinkle the washing liquid only from above onto the injured person or direct the liquid to a given area, thus giving time for the corrosive poisonous agent (e.g. organic matter) to exert is destructive effect on the person involved.

Furthermore, these known shower systems cannot extinguish flames quickly and intensively when a worker's clothing has caught light, and therefore, quite frequently there are occurrences of serious (and many times fatal) injuries which could have been avoided or their effect reduced to an insignificant level if quick and intensive extinguishing had taken place.

Another disadvantage of the known emergency showers is that they are only suitable for normal water supply systems, so the great advantage of utilizing appropriate chemicals (neutralizing agents, cell-regeneration stimulants) for the moderation of the post-accident injuries cannot be realized with them.

A newly invented shower system makes it possible to uniformly and quickly sprinkle fluid over the whole body of an injured person. The water volume and the optional additives mixed with it, is distributed over the body-surface, and ensures the quenching of flaming clothing and hair, the cooling of the body-surface, the uniform washing and flushing of the body-surface, the neutralization of any corrosive agents present there, as well as the regeneration of the skin cells destroyed as a result of burning.

The maximum and uniform water distribution is achieved through the proper selection of the number of nozzles and of their angle of dispersion.

Consequently, this shower system can be used as a fire protector and as a piece of occupational safety equipment.

The operation of the shower is very simple, it can be actuated by moving a single lever or by entering the equipment in which case the shower stops when the injured person leaves.

The system can be used indoors and outdoors, in the latter case, of course, with an appropriatelydesigned anti-freeze heating facility.

This anti-freeze facility ensures the water contained in the system is maintained at a preselected temperature, in practice within the range of 1 70C to 250C. (The temperature limits, of course, are adjustable.) A properly-designed eye-rinsing system may form a part of the safety shower equipment, which system can be operated independently of the shower.

A neutralizing solution can be added to the water entering the eye-rinsing system, which moderates or presents the destructive effect of chemicals in the eye.

The volume of water maintained at a proper temperature in the shower system should be sufficient to rinse with warm water the eye that has been splashed with a chemical, even in the case of outdoor installations.

The neutralising and/or cell-regenerating agents may be stored in one or more tanks from where these additives are automatically fed into the water flow when the emergency shower is set into operation.

The construction and operation of the system will become apparent from the following description, where four examples of different embodiments are given with reference to the attached figures, which are as follows: Figure 1: Side-view of an emergency shower with overhead spraying system for outdoor applications; Figure 2: Front-view of the same shower system as shown in Fig. 1 (schematic drawing); Figure 3: Side-view of an emergency shower with a spraying-gate configuration of spraying elements connected in series, for outdoor installations; Figure 4: Front-view of the same shower system as shown in Fig. 3 (schematic drawing); Figure 5: Side-view of an emergency shower containing an overhead spraying element (as shown in Figs. 1 and 2) and facilities for additive mixing; Figure 6: Front-view of the same equipment as shown in Fig. 5 (schematic drawing); Figure 7:Side-view of an emergency shower with a "spraying-gate" configuration as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, supplemented with additive-tanks and additive-mixing elements; and Figure 8: Front-view of the same shower system as shown in Fig. 7 (schematic diagram).

The safety emergency shower for fire extinguishing and for removing caustic agents incorporates a vertical pipe (1) which, beyond its role as a water pipe, provides support. It is connected to the water system with an easily removable connecting element (2). There is a horizontal overhead branch from the pipe, or the pipe itself is curved to form a horizontal section.

The pipe or the latter horizontal section contains an opening and closing shower cock (3). The cock is held in the closed position by a spring (4), and it can be opened by a pull lever (5) and/or by a pedal (6). The opening pedal (6) is in practice of a sufficiently large size that the person getting under the shower can step on it without having to search for it. It serves at the same time as a foot grid.

A mixing element (7), if present, (see Figures 5 to 8) and the spraying system (I) are connected beyond the operating cock (3). The spraying system (I) may consist of one or more downwardly-directed spraying elements (nozzles) the axes of which may be vertical or may be set to an angle of 1 to 60O with respect to the vertical direction (see Figs. 1 and 3, 5 and 6), or it may consist of one or more downwardly-directed nozzles having vertical axes as well as other batteries of spraying elements (8) mounted on two or more vertical pipes (9), with the elements (8) having nearly norizontal axes (see Figs. 3 and 4, 7 and 8).

The design and positioning of the nozzles are such that the sprayed areas completely cover the whole body-surface of a person standing under the shower.

An eye-rinsing system (11) is connected to the aforementioned pipe (1) upstream of the showeroperating cock (3) by way of a branch (10) and a separate cock, the latter allowing independent use of the eye-rinsing system of the shower section.

This sytem consists of a solid and a flexible pipe section, the former incorporates a filter, a pressure controller and a mixer assembly, while the end of the latter holds a hand eye-shower. The pipe (1) serves as a warm water container for the eyerinsing system.

In one construction (Figs. 1 and 2, 5 and 6), the water spraying system consists of a central and a few other spraying elements (nozzles) distributed around a ring duct, and these latter elements (8) form an angle of O to 600 between their axes and the vertical direction.

In the other construction (Figs. 3 and 4, 7 and 8), the spraying element (8) (nozzles) mostly (but with a few exceptions) are located on the vertical distribution pipes (9), which in practice form a "spraying-gate", while the "exception" nozzles (8) are mounted overhead with vertical axes.

In both alternatives of the shower system, one or more tanks (12) can be mounted on the equipment or in a separate place for storing various chemicals or their solutions that can alleviate the seriousness of the injury (Figs. 5 to 8).

These tanks (12) are connected to the mixing elements (7) of the emergency shower, which each contain a standard water jet or an electric feed pump, and both can be supplemented with a -- practically static -- mixer which, in case of operation of the emergency shower, provides a spray-liquid of optimum composition depending of the nature of the injury.

For both alternatives there are two alternatives, i.e. an indoor device to be installed in frost-free locations and an outdoor device to be installed in places endangered by frost. The latter is controlled by heating facility (13) (e.g. adjustable electric heating to within a range of 10 to 370C.) The equipment can be supplemented with a standard signalling device (giving sound, light or other signals), (remote indication), which sounds an alarm or gives some other indication at a required place (i.e. a control board, first aid station, etc.) upon the operation of the emergency shower.

This is necessary in hazardous places, where in order to reduce the number of people in danger only one person is working or staying.

It is obvious, that the above discussed sub-units can be combined according to the local requirements, creating alternative designs without departing from the framework of the invention.

It is possible, for example, to build the elements described above with a less energy-intensive but at the same time apparently less demanding -- construction for installation in danger of frost, where the operating cock in its closed postion drains the water of the consumers side.

Claims (11)

1. An emergency shower with or without antifront protection, pedal and/or manual operation, characterised in that it has a spraying system that approximately uniformly covers both parts of the body-surface, as well as in that optionally it can be supplemented by tanks containing neutralizing and/or other agents that assist the regeneration of skin tissues, and a feeding device which automatically meters the required or a preset quantity of chemicals into the water flow to be sprayed, when the shower is put into operation.

2. The emergency shower claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that it has an overhead distribution system containing spraying elements with vertical and oblique orientation, where the angle of the axis of each element forms an angle of O to 600 with the vertical direction, positioned in such a way that their spray cones impinge on different parts of the body-surface, and together covering the whole body area.

3. The emergency shower claimed in Claim 1, characterised in that the spraying elements are located overhead and along two or more essentially vertical distributor pipes positioned in such a way that their ejected spray cones uniformly cover the body-surface.

4. The emergency shower claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that it includes a water jet feeder and a static mixer.

5. The emergency shower claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 3, characterised in that it includes an electric pump feeder and a static mixer.

6. The emergency shower claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 5, characterised in that it includes an eye-rinsing facility.

7. The emergency shower claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 6, characterised in that the spraying system is operated by a single unit which can be opened by means of a pedal and/or manually, and which goes back to the closed position after release.

8. The emergency shower claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 7, characterised in that it includes an electric or other heating facility as a protection against frost.

9. The emergency shower claimed in any of Claims 1 to 8, characterised in that it includes a remote operation-indication facility.

1 0. An emergency shower having a plurality of spray nozzles that together are capable of spraying liquid simultaneously against the whole body area of a person in the shower.

11. An emergency shower substantially as hereinbefore described in connection with, and as illustrated in, Figures 1 and 2, Figures 3 and 4, Figures 5 and 6 or Figures 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings.