초록 ▼

A collapsible fire fighting bucket assembly to be suspended from an aircraft for fighting wild fires, the bucket being made of pliable material and having an open upper end for filling from a body of water. A tubular extension extends from an opening in the bottom of the bucket and has a free end fo

A collapsible fire fighting bucket assembly to be suspended from an aircraft for fighting wild fires, the bucket being made of pliable material and having an open upper end for filling from a body of water. A tubular extension extends from an opening in the bottom of the bucket and has a free end formed with a discharge port provided with resilient sealing lips which are brought into sealing engagement with each other to close the port to minimize water leakage from the tubular extension. A harness suspends 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 opening 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 sealing lips are drawn together by purse lines passing through openings adjacent the discharge port but spaced from the sealing lips to avoid abrasion of the lips that occurred with prior art bucket valves. The purse lines cooperate with the releasable support to control location of the free end of the tubular extension.

대표청구항 ▼

A collapsible fire fighting bucket assembly to be suspended from an aircraft comprising: (a) an open bucket body of pliable material having an open upper rim to facilitate filling from an open body of water, a side wall extending downwardly from the rim and a bottom cooperating with the side wall an

A collapsible fire fighting bucket assembly to be suspended from an aircraft comprising: (a) an open bucket body of pliable material having an open upper rim to facilitate filling from an open body of water, a side wall extending downwardly from the rim and a bottom cooperating with the side wall and having an opening; (b) a tubular extension made of pliable material and extending from the opening in the bottom, the tubular extension having a free end formed with a discharge port to serve as a dump valve, the discharge port having a sealing lip of resilient sealing material which forms two opposite lip portions which are brought into sealing engagement with each other for minimizing water leakage from the tubular extension, the tubular extension having a plurality of openings spaced from the resilient sealing material of the sealing lip so that the resilient material of the sealing lip is clear of the openings and essentially free of obstruction; (c) a harness for suspending the bucket from the aircraft, the harness comprising a connector for connecting to the aircraft and a plurality of first flexible tension links connected between the bucket and the connector; and (d) a releasable support for releasably supporting the free end of the tubular extension, the support comprising a second flexible tension link cooperating with the openings in the extension for holding the tubular extension in a raised position in which the free end thereof extends upwardly from the bottom with the discharge port positioned below a full water level in the bucket, the support means being releasable for allowing the tubular extension to extend downwardly from the bottom of the bucket for dumping the water.