Fire fighting bucket assembly for aircraft
OwnerDonald B. Arneyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A collapsible fire fighting bucket to be suspended from an aircraft and to be filled from an open body of water. The bucket has two means for adjusting the capacity thereof to accomodate load carrying capacity of the aircraft. One means includes sidewall stiffening means in the bucket sidewall which bulge outwardly under load. The second means includes an adjusting means around the side wall for adjustably restricting the circumference thereof and thereby reducing the capacity of the bucket. A bucket assembly comprising a main bucket and a booster bucket is used for filling from shallow water. The booster bucket empties into the main bucket on lifting to give the main bucket a better fill.
Claims23
A collapsible fire fighting bucket to be suspended from an aircraft and to be filled from an open body of water, the bucket having suspending means for suspending the bucket from the aircraft, a dump valve and associated valve operating means, the bucket being characterized by:
- (a) an open bucket body made of pliable material and having an upper rim defining an upper opening, a side wall, and a bottom,
- (b) upper rim stiffening means cooperating with the upper rim to maintain the upper opening at an essentially constant size so that the bucket remains open while operative,
- (c) capacity adjusting means cooperating with the side wall for adjustably varying side wall circumference remote from the rim, so as to vary the capacity of the bucket with a negligible change in size of the opening, water within the bucket extending essentially all of the side wall axially for all capacities of the bucket so that there is a negligible change in length of the bucket as the capacity of the bucket is varied.
A collapsible fire fighting bucket assembly to be suspended from an aircraft and to be filled from an open body of water, the assembly being characterized by:
- (a) a main bucket having an upper rim, a side wall, and a bottom;
- (b) a dump valve in the bottom;
- (c) upper rim stiffening means;
- (d) suspending means for suspending the main bucket from the aircraft;
- (e) a booster bucket having an upper rim, a side wall, a bottom, and an outlet in the bottom, the booster bucket being connected to the suspending means above the main bucket, so that the booster bucket empties into the main bucket, when the bucket assembly is pulled out of the water.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.