US 7,588,087 B2Granted

Helicopter water bucket improvements

AssigneeLois Ashford

InventorRobert Cafferata

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Abstract

A collapsible wild fire fighting water bucket made from pliable material and suspended from an aircraft to be lowered into an open body of water for filling. A weighted Rim Opening Device holds the bucket top open for filling and facilitates a tipping over action during filling. The buckets open top being free of any centrally located supports. The bucket is equipped with a tubular extension which forms a discharge port for dumping water. The tubular extension being releasably supported under water inside the bucket under tension. Purse lines running through openings in the tubular extension and resilient sealing lips bring sealing lip bulbs into abutment sealing the discharge port of the tubular extension. Suspension lines suspend the bucket from the aircraft and a releasable support, releasably supports the free end of the tubular extension within the bucket body extending upwardly from the openings to close the discharge port. The releasable support cooperates with the openings to allow the tubular extension to be rapidly lowered so as to extend downwardly from the bottom to open the discharge port for dumping the water. The purse lines cooperate with the releasable support to lift and lower the tubular extension. The buckets also are equipped with emergency extractor Jump Seats, secured to the inside wall of the bucket to be used for dire straits emergency extraction of wild fire ground crews trapped by fire storm.

A wild fire fighting water bucket “Rim Opening Device”, which being mechanical, collapsible, symmetrical and polygonal in form and shape, is circumferentially disposed around and affixed inside the rim of the pliable, collapsible aerial wild fire fighting water bucket, which is dimensional as such to be suspended from a helicopter, and to be filled by dipping into an open body of water, the “Rim Opening Device” cooperating with the pliable side walls of the wild fire fighting water bucket to automatically open both concentrically when under tension from a helicopter and to automatically hold and lock open same, and to selectively accommodate manual collapse of both the Rim Opening Device and the pliable, collapsible wild fire fighting water bucket, the Rim Opening Device comprising:

(a) a plurality of interconnected mechanical wishbone apparatuses comprising;
(i) interconnected, adjustable, mechanical swing arms,
(ii) fixed end connectors,
(iii) fixed end rotatable fasteners,
(iv) free end connectors,
(v) free end rotatable fasteners,
(vi) fixed end of mechanical wishbones,
(vii) free end of mechanical wishbones,
(viii) a mechanical wishbone restrainer,
all of which functionally cooperate with the pliable side walls of the collapsible wild fire water bucket to open, hold open or close same,
(b) an angle of inclination which converts lifting tension to horizontal, concentric development of the Rim Opening Device,
(c) a connector swing arm tract which guides the Rim Opening Device's concentric development,
(d) a Rim Opening Device integrated weight differential system comprising;
(i) a means for variably adjust the tipping weight to achieve rapid tipping and submersion of the wild fire fighting water bucket,
(ii) a means for variably regulate the wild fire fighting water buckets in flight aerodynamics,
(iii) a specific gravity weight differential system to achieve rapid tipping and submersion of the wild fire fighting water bucket,
(e) vertically arranged, interconnected structural components of a collapsed Rim Opening Device, ie, the Mechanical Swing Arms, Fixed End Connectors, and the Free End Connectors embody design content and capacity to progressively transition perpendicularly therefrom into a defined horizontally arranged closed plane, symmetrical and polygonal in form and shape, having a centrally open orifice providing unrestricted access into the interior of the wild fire fighting water bucket.

14 more elements

Abstract

Claims27