WO1991006080A1

WO1991006080A1 - A stopping smoke alarm watch

Info

Publication number: WO1991006080A1
Application number: PCT/FI1990/000241
Authority: WO
Inventors: Rauno Tapio Kinnunen
Original assignee: Rauno Tapio Kinnunen
Priority date: 1989-10-17
Filing date: 1990-10-17
Publication date: 1991-05-02
Also published as: FI905043A0; AU6521090A

Abstract

All known smoke alarms meant to be used at home have a serious problem, the battery gets too empty in secret. For instance a traveller just returned home does never know if the smoke alarm is ready for action. Most people forget to test the proper action of the smoke alarm. There are many people who even don't buy a smoke alarm because they think it is too hard to install or it is unreliable or clumsy or it does not belong to home. A right solution is to join a smoke alarm to a kitchen- or a wallwatch so that the watch will stop when the battery of the smoke alarm gets too empty to maintain the right action of the smoke alarm. This is how a traveller who has just got home can immediately see, if the smoke alarm is not working anymore and he knows that he has to change the battery.

Description

NAME OF THE INVENTION:

A STOPPING SMOKEAIARMWATCH

A smokealarm can safe the lives of sleeping people in the fire, if it works. A serious problem of smokealarms used at homes nowadays is their uncertain action. All smokealarms get their power from one 9 voltage battery, which has limited operating time. And still, most smokealarms are working at threir extreme limit of voltage. Most

batteries loose their power in a year, even the new lithiumbatteries in two years. A battery can maintain its power less than 6 months, if it has been months in a stock

or shop. Thats why a principal, that the battery of

smokealarm should be changed once a year, does not

desidedly improve the reliability of smokealarm.

All smokealarms on market ment to be used at home have some kind of a warningsystem when the battery gets too empty. The system requires that the user is at home or follows the action of smokealarm regulary. Models, which have a now and then blinking light to show that the smokealarm is in order, require that the user follows smokealarms action

in unpleasant situation, because the smokealarm is mostly staying at the ceiling. Models, which are warning by a signal when the battery is getting too weak, require that the user is at home. Even if the warning sound can last for days, system is not reliable at modern times, when people are travelling a lot.

It is a common knowledge that people who are returning home do not remember to check is the smokealarm working or not. A brief, in neighbourhood done study showed that even three of ten smokealarms were out of order because the battery had got empty or out of order, even if the user believed that the smokealarm was still working.

The reason why so few people checked the proper action of smokealarm was its situation, high on the ceiling, and the complexity of manual and testing. Many people presumed that the smokealarm is always in order. Not a single one of studied people had tested the proper action of smokealarm by smoke. Those few who had even once tested their smokealarm, had trusted the testbutton of smokealarm.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fiqure 10

shows a solution of a smokealarmwatch, which can be used even at spaces, where there is no electricity available. This kind of a smokelarmwatch can be used for instance at holidaycottages and also in cases when it is difficult to lead electricity into the watch even by an extension without an electrician. A smokealarmwatchelement showed at the figure 10 is working by batteries. At the place of a inverter (3) of the smokealarmwatchelement there has been installed a 9-voltage battery (36) to give power to

a detector (2) and an alarm. A watch (34) gets its power by a battery of 1,5 V (37) through a switch (38). The switch has been contacted to the wires which are coming from the detector (2) to the alarm (1) so that when the detector sends to the alarm an impulse, which turnes the alarm on for a moment to warn that the battery (36) is

getting too empty, the impulse also gets into a switch

(38) and turns it off. This is how the power from the battery (37) to the watch is also turned off and the watch stops.

This kind of a system quarantees that the watch

always stops running when the battery of the smokealarmelement gets too empty. This is how for instance a traveller returning home sees imediately, that there is some trouble in the smokealarmwatch. It is easy to take the watch out of the wall and check if the trouble is in the batteries. When the battery of the smokealarmelement is replaced by a new one and the push button of the switch (38) is pushed down, the watch should be get running again. If not, also the battery of the watch (37) must be replaced by ao new one, because it is cousing the trouble. At the same time also the battery of the smokealarm has been replaced and the protect of fire is quaranteed for some time.

The changing and testing the batteries is easy to do because the back of the watch is whole open. Batteries can be changed without tools. Otherwise the watch is same kind as shown in figures 9 and 9 B.

In the figure 9

can be seen that the outlook of the watch can be similar to a usual watch. The dial of the watch can be similar to any wall- or kitchenwatch and the machinary can bee similar to any machinary used in watches same kind.

In the figure 9 B

can be seen that application of the alarmelement suitable for a wallwatch is a whole different completeness, which has a fructure which reminds the frukture of a baseelement by outsight except that the wacthelement is round and a little bit bigger. The dial of the watch and the alarmaelement are fastened together by the machinery of the watch. The alarmaelement will be fastened at its proper place when the machinery which is layed on the alarmelement will be tightened by one screw (35). Also the hands of the watch

can be tightened at their proper place by the same screw. The back of the alarmelement ment to be used in a smokealarmwatch is whole open. The smokealarmwatch will be

hanged on the wall by a hook (39) The smokealarmwatch is off the wall by pegs (14). To make it easier for smoke to get throug the watch there are some elongated holes in the outer cover of the smokealarmwatch. It is easy to take the smokealarmwatch out of the wall for service and cleaning and so on.

Claims

1. A smokealarm joined to a kitchen- or a wall- watch known of the fact that the watch stops when the battery of the smokealarm has got too weak to maintain the proper warningaction of the smokealarm.

2. A smokealarm joined to a kitchen or a wallwatch known of the fact that the watch stops when the accu of the smokealarm has got too weak to maintain the proper warningaction of the smokealarm.

3. A smokealarm joined to a kitchen- or a wallwatch known of the fact that the watch stops when the smokealarm gets out of order or gets in some kind of funcktional trouble.