The subject of the present invention is a fire extinguisher attachment equipped with a hanger mounted, together with the fire extinguisher, on a building wall, in order to secure permanent usefulness of the fire extinguisher in case of occurrence of Group A, B, C, or D fire, including of spilled highly inflammable liquids, solids, and gases as well as electrical appliances and metals. Applications of the invention include fire protection of workshops, storage facilities, factory shops, drilling platforms, ships, offices, public buildings, and other premises where cylindrical fire extinguishers are used for firefighting in case of fire breakout. It turned out that in dry powder extinguishers from which the fire extinguishing powder is ejected with the use of compressed gas (C0 ₂ ), the fire extinguishing powder filling up the cylinder of an extinguisher hanging on a wall of a fire-protected facility, after a longer period of remaining in such position is subject to agglomeration and such extinguisher cannot be used effectively in case of fire breakout. Moreover, to check whether a dry powder extinguisher is leakproof, it is also necessary to turn it upside down.

A known and commonly used method of maintaining a dry powder extinguisher in the state of continuous usability consists in periodical turning it upside down and shaking several times every few months. To this end, the user of a heavy extinguisher, which can have the weight of even twelve or so kilograms, must take the device off the wall hanger and turn it upside down manually in order to release or fragment the agglomerated fire- extinguishing powder which requires from the user to apply large physical force and strains his backbone.

A device for turning a dry powder fire extinguisher for mounting on surface of a building wall known from patent description KR 101888051 comprises a clamping ring and a rotating cradle coupled with a rotating rectangular housing fixed to the wall, equipped with a toothed wheel mounted on a shaft, the other end of which is coupled with said rotating cradle, whereas a portion of the housing has a vertical protrusion equipped with lever arm provided at its end with teeth engaged with a toothed wheel, whereas the lower end of the arm is coupled with transversally oriented arm of a lever which, in its central portion, is coupled pivotally with a bracket, and its other end is equipped with a foot pedal which, when stepped on, activates the drive of the cradle via the toothed wheel and rotates the cradle together with the cylinder of the powder fire extinguisher mounted in the device.

The objective of the present invention is to provide such a design for a fire extinguisher attachment which, compared to solutions known in the prior art, would enable to turn the extinguisher manually without requiring the user to make excessive effort of apply large physical force, with the objective to prevent the powder contained in the extinguisher from agglomeration and thus assure continuous usefulness of the extinguisher for firefighting.

The key feature of the fire extinguisher attachment according to the invention consists in that a vertically oriented element of the holding body of the extinguisher is joined with one surface of a first plate element, with the other surface of the first plate element equipped with a cylindrical element with a ball bearing mounted on said cylindrical element and in a sleeve-shaped protrusion of a second plate element, whereas both of the two plate elements of the attachment have features allowing to equip them with elements for locking the attachment together with the fire extinguisher fixed to it to prevent them from turning or unlocking them in case of turning the extinguisher upside down being required.

It is favourable when the plate elements of the attachment have straight-through holes situated opposite each other in which a cylindrical bolt is placed loosely locking the attachment together with the fire extinguisher and preventing it from turning or, if removed manually from the holes, making possible to turn the attachment upside down.

It is also favourable when the first plate element of the attachment is equipped with a sleeve-shaped guide with a slide and helical push spring placed inside the guide, and the second plate element of the attachment is equipped with two locks situated opposite each other, whereas the head of the slide rests on one of the locks, and an end of the slide is equipped with an element for fixing its position.

Simple structure of the fire extinguisher attachment according to the invention enables to fix it to a wall element of the fire-protected building and mount a fire extinguishers of any type in it, whereas to operate the attachment, neither specific skills nor physical strength required, thanks to which the operator is not at risk from damage to his health. Periodical maintenance of extinguisher by turning the attachment together with the extinguisher cylinder by 180° can be carried out by any person who attended a typical compulsory occupational safety and health training. On the other hand, periodical turning of, for instance, a dry powder extinguisher equipped this way, ensures reliability of the extinguishing powder placed in the extinguisher which maintains an immutable and invariable granulation extending thus the service life of such fire extinguisher.

The subject of the invention is illustrated with the use of views of its example embodiments in Figs. 1-22, with Figs. 1-9 depicting a first variant of embodiment of the extinguisher attachment equipped with a locking bolt preventing the extinguisher from turning, of which Fig. 1 shows the fire extinguisher attachment with the locking bolt preventing the extinguisher from turning, in the perspective view; Fig. 2— the exploded perspective view of elements of same attachment; Fig. 3— the same attachment, in the top view; Fig. 4— the same attachment, in vertical cross-section along line A-A; Fig. 5— enlarged detail“B” of the attachment, in vertical cross-section; Fig. 6— the same attachment in the state before turning the extinguisher, in the front view; Fig. 7— the same attachment in the state before turning the extinguisher, in the side view; Fig. 8— the same attachment in the state with the extinguisher turned by 180° and locked on the other side, in the front view; and Fig. 9— the same attachment after the extinguisher being turned by 180° and locked, in the side view. Figs. 10-22 show a second variant of embodiment of the fire extinguisher attachment equipped with a locking slider to prevent the extinguisher from turning, of which Fig. 10 shows the fire extinguisher attachment equipped with a locking slider, in the perspective view; Fig. 11 — the exploded perspective view of elements of same attachment; Fig. 12— the same attachment, in the top view; Fig. 13— the same attachment in vertical cross-section along line C-C; Fig. 14— the first rectangular plate element of the attachment fixed to a to strip-shaped element of the extinguisher holding body, in the front view; Fig. 15— the second rectangular element of the attachment, in the front view; Fig. 16— the same second rectangular element, in horizontal cross-section along line F-F; Fig. 17— the same attachment in the state before turning the extinguisher, in the top view; Fig. 18— the same attachment, in the top view; Fig. 19— the same attachment with the locking slide moved forward in the state prepared for turning the extinguisher, in the front view; Fig. 20— the same attachment, in the top view; Fig. 21— the same attachment in the state after the extinguisher being turned by 180°, in the front view; and Fig. 22— the same attachment, in the top view.

Example 1

As it is shown in Figs. 1-9, the fire extinguisher attachment according to the first variant if its embodiment has a holding body 1 to hold extinguisher 2, said holding body comprising a vertically oriented strip-shaped element 3 with perpendicularly bent lower end 4 constituting a support for the extinguisher bottom and with its upper end 5 bent preferably in two places, whereas between the two bends, the strip-shaped element 3 is provided with two elastic ring-shaped two-part stirrups 6 equipped with fasteners 7. Further, the outer surface of the strip-shaped element 3 of the holding body 1 is fixed to one surface of a first plate element 8, the other surface of which is equipped with a cylindrical element 9 in which a ball bearing 10 is mounted placed at the same time in a sleeve-shaped protrusion 11 of a second rectangular plate element 12 which on one side is secured with an outer spring ring 13 fixed in a annular groove 14 provided in the cylindrical element 9 preventing the plate elements 8 and 12 from disengagement; moreover, the bearing 10 is secured with an inner spring ring 15 fixed in an annular groove 16 provided in the sleeve-shaped protrusion 11, whereas both the plate element 8 and the plate element 12 have straight-through holes 17 and 17' situated opposite each other in which loosely placed is a cylindrical bolt 18 which locks and prevents the extinguisher 2 placed in its holding body 1 from turning. The second plate element 12 is provided with mounting holes 19 and by means of bolts 20 is fixed, together with other elements integrated therewith, to a wall 21 of a fire-protected facility.

The principle of operation of this version of the fire extinguisher attachment consists in that after removing the cylindrical locking bolt 18 from holes 17 and 17' provided in the plate elements 8 and 12, the whole attachment together with the powder extinguisher 2 mounted in the holding body 1 is turned manually by 180° relative to the wall element 21 and then, the locking bolt 18 is fastened in holes 17 and 17' of the plate elements 8 and 12 to lock the position of the attachment at the angle of 180° relative to the initial position.

Example 2

As it can be seen from Figs. 10-22, the fire extinguisher attachment according to the second variant of its embodiment has a structure similar to this of the first variant shown in Figs. 1-9 and described above. The difference between these two variants of the attachment consist only in that in the second variant, instead of the cylindrical bolt 18 fixed detachably in holes 17 and 17' provided in the plate elements 8 and 12 to prevent the extinguisher from turning, a manual slider 22 is used with a head 23 pressing a helical push spring 24, which are mounted slidably in a two-step circular hole 25 of a guide 26 welded to the plate element 12 of the attachment, and moreover, the free cylindrical end 27 of the slider protrudes outside the guide 26 and is equipped with a cotter pin 28 resting on its head and preventing the slide 22 from coming out of the hole 25 of the guide, and moreover in this second variant of the attachment, two cylindrical locks 29 are welded opposite each other to the plate element 8 along its diagonal, with the head 23 of the slide 22 adhering to one of the locks to prevent the attachment together with its extinguisher 2 from turning.

The principle of operation of the second variant of the fire extinguisher attachment consists in that the free cylindrical end 27 of the slide 22 protruding outside the guide 26 is pulled out manually from the guide which results simultaneously in compression of the helical spring 24 and in moving the head 23 of the slider away from the lock 29 after which, analogously as in Example 1 , the whole attachment together with the extinguisher mounted in the holding body 1 is manually turned by 180°.