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US 11,998,938 B2Granted
Fire protection sprinkler guard
AssigneesViking Group, Inc., Minimax Viking Research & Development GmbH
InventorsMartin H. Workman, Gary William Pleyte, Scott T. Franson
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Sprinkler guards to protect fire protection sprinklers in their installed and operative positions. A fire protection sprinkler guard includes a structure with a hinged arrangement to flexibly receive a fire protection sprinkler. A latch connection operates in combination with the hinge of the guard to form a rigid cage structure to shield and protect the sprinkler.
Claims32
A sprinkler guard having a central guard axis, the sprinkler guard comprising:
- a first guard portion having a first end and a second end axially spaced from one another and a first end plate disposed at the first end;
- a second guard portion having a first end and a second end axially spaced from one another and a second end plate disposed at the first end;
- and
- a hinged connection between the first and second guard portions to define an open state for receipt of a fire protection sprinkler and a closed state for surrounding and guarding the fire protection sprinkler;
- wherein in the closed state, the first and second guard portions form a plurality of latch connections radially spaced from and extending parallel to the central guard axis with the first ends of the first and second guard portions circumscribing the central guard axis to define a first end of the sprinkler guard with the first and second end plates disposed for cooperatively engaging a body of the fire protection sprinkler and the second ends of the first and second guard portions circumscribing the central guard axis to define a second end of the guard axially spaced from the first end of the guard;
- and
- wherein the first and second end plates include an additional latch connection therebetween that is aligned with the plurality of latch connections.
4 more elements
A sprinkler guard for protection of a fire protection sprinkler, the sprinkler guard comprising:
- a first guard portion having a first end and a second end axially spaced from one another, a first end plate disposed at the first end and a first grid of wire members affixed to the first end plate;
- a second guard portion having a first end and a second end axially spaced from one another, a second end plate disposed at the first end of the second guard portion and a second grid of wire members affixed to the second end plate;
- a first hinged connection between the first grid of wire members and the second grid of wire members to pivot the first and second grids of wire members with respect to one another and define an open state of the sprinkler guard for receipt of the fire protection sprinkler and a closed state of the sprinkler guard to form a cage structure with a central guard axis for surrounding and guarding the fire protection sprinkler;
- and
- a second hinged connection between and defined on the first end plate and the second end plate.
2 more elements
A sprinkler guard for protection of a fire protection sprinkler, the sprinkler guard comprising:
- a first guard portion having a first cage portion formed with a plurality of first wire members;
- and
- a second guard portion having a second cage portion formed with a plurality of second wire members;
- wherein:
- the first guard portion comprises a first hinge portion;
- the second guard portion comprises a second hinge portion configured to engage the first hinge portion along a common hinge axis;
- the first guard portion is pivotable relative to the second guard portion about the common hinge axis between an open configuration of the sprinkler guard and a closed configuration of the sprinkler guard;
- and
- when the sprinkler guard is in the closed configuration, the sprinkler guard defines an open area within the sprinkler guard that extends along a central axis from a first end of the sprinkler guard, through a second end of the sprinkler guard, and to a location external to the sprinkler guard.
6 more elements
A sprinkler guard for protection of a fire protection sprinkler, the sprinkler guard comprising:
- a first guard portion comprising a first wire cage portion connected to a first end plate;
- and
- a second guard portion comprising a second wire cage portion connected to a second end plate;
- wherein:
- the first wire cage portion is pivotable relative to the second wire cage portion;
- the first end plate is pivotable relative to the second end plate via a hinged connection between the first end plate and the second end plate;
- the first guard portion moves relative to the second guard portion between an open state of the sprinkler guard for receipt of a fire protection sprinkler and a closed state of the sprinkler guard for surrounding and guarding the fire protection sprinkler;
- and
- a portion of the first end plate overlaps a portion of the second end plate to form the hinged connection.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.