Info needed: Foam extinguishers fitted on trucks

[Richard Farrant]

Originally Posted by Tony Smith

Richard's experience of the non-working extinguishers was a lucky one. The extinguishers were supposed to be emptied, cleaned and refilled every 12 months, as vapours off the sulphuric acid could corrode the copper internals, resulting in big green flakes of crud blocking the hose. If not cleaned out and left sitting for long periods, when activated the expanding Hydrogen gases would have no route of escape past the crud blockage and the cylinder would rupture explosively. The Cylinders were tested to 300psi.

Hi Tony,
I distinctly remember these old extinguishers were cream in colour, where they a foam type? Long time ago and they quickly disappeared after the incident and we had more user friendly ones. When the newer ones were due for a refill we used them on practice sessions.

[Mike Cecil]

The extinguisher fitted to Battery Staff, Office etc was described as:

'Extinguisher, Fire, 2-gallon, Foam Type' in most instances.

The Vocab number was LV6-MT1 0879-Z.

In one instance I have, the nomenclature was extended to include 'MT Type', which I take to mean 'Mechanised Transport' or 'Mechanical Transport' or 'Motor Transport' - the abbreviation has multiple meanings.

The 15 cwt fire tender had one each of:

'Extinguisher, fire, 2 gallon, Foam (marine or transportation type)'
'Extinguisher, fire, 2 gallon, Soda-Acid (marine or transportation type)'

The Vocab numbers are: KG 2063 and KG 2067.

The latter ones mentioned would appear to be the same or a similar design to that detailed by Tony, but I'm not sure about the first one above, which lacks the 'marine or transport type' descriptor, and has a different vocab number. Common sense would suggest the extinguisher would have some means to prevent unintended initiation during cross country travel, but in only one description I have does it indicate that it was specifically for 'MT Transport'.

Mike

[Jacques Reed]

Thank you all for the many inputs to my questions.

I have attached photo of the tube and lead weight cap fitted inside the foam extinguisher.

As an aside:
it was quite an effort to loosen the cap. When I got it open there was still a remnant of foul liquid inside. I purchased the Foam along with a Soda Acid type as a package from a photographer who only bought them for a fashion photoshoot. He obviously never opened them up! May also explain the fresh light blue coat of paint on the Foam one and fresh red paint on the Soda Acid.

As Tony mentioned the Soda Acid had a glass bottle inside for the acid. A lead stopper sat on top of it. That type were never used on my ships but instead stored pressure water type were used hence my describing them as water and painted red.

Richard jogged my memory and I remember the Foam extinguishers on my ship were also cream in colour. I believe modern standards now have all extinguishers red in colour with just colour bands determining the medium inside them.

I think Tony's description of a Marine Version would most likely be a version also specified for vehicular use. A rough day at sea can be as bad as a cross country trip so a means of keeping the two chemicals from mixing would be a priority.

Early foam ones we used were called chemical type where two chemicals were kept isolated by the tube and cap shown in the photo. Later on we changed to mechanical type which had a CO2 charge to expel the chemical into plain water inside the extinguisher.

So I will probably still keep the extinguisher so something can sit in the bracket until something else comes along. It looks good and looks close, to my tired eyes, to the one shown in a photo Keith posted of a F15-A battery staff vehicle.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Originally Posted by Mike Cecil

The extinguisher fitted to Battery Staff, Office etc was described as:

'Extinguisher, Fire, 2-gallon, Foam Type' in most instances.

The Vocab number was LV6-MT1 0879-Z.

In one instance I have, the nomenclature was extended to include 'MT Type', which I take to mean 'Mechanised Transport' or 'Mechanical Transport' or 'Motor Transport' - the abbreviation has multiple meanings.

The 15 cwt fire tender had one each of:

'Extinguisher, fire, 2 gallon, Foam (marine or transportation type)'
'Extinguisher, fire, 2 gallon, Soda-Acid (marine or transportation type)'

The Vocab numbers are: KG 2063 and KG 2067.

The latter ones mentioned would appear to be the same or a similar design to that detailed by Tony, but I'm not sure about the first one above, which lacks the 'marine or transport type' descriptor, and has a different vocab number. Common sense would suggest the extinguisher would have some means to prevent unintended initiation during cross country travel, but in only one description I have does it indicate that it was specifically for 'MT Transport'.

Mike

Good Day all,

A late follow up to the info in this thread:

Backtracking a bit I contacted the Fire Service Museum of Victoria last year and they kindly provide me with the attached information.

I just obtained a Transport or Marine type Soda Acid extinguisher based on the info they supplied.

The soda acid type has the glass bottle attached to the top in a cage and the foam type extinguisher lacks that cage and perhaps has a different stopper for the foam tube. Other than that I believe both types of caps are the same.

Hope this is of some interest.

Cheers,

[Jacques Reed]

Good Day,

Well I finally found a transport type foam fire extinguisher. Picked it up today since some travel is now allowed under the lockdown. I felt one on one with an old gentleman at arms length is still safer than half an hour at Woollies' or Coles with dozens of others.

The major difference between a Soda Acid Transport type and Foam Transport Type extinguisher is the cap. The Soda Acid has a basket to hold the acid bottle and stopper but the foam type just has a pin to hold the foam tube cap down.

Hope this is of some interest.

Cheers,

[Tony Smith]

Originally Posted by Richard Farrant

Hi Tony,
I distinctly remember these old extinguishers were cream in colour, where they a foam type?

Different national marking standards. In the UK (and Europe?), Foam extinguishers are painted cream, or red with a cream band, while the AU/NZ Standard says Foam cylinders should be blue, or red with a blue band.

[Jacques Reed]

Hi Tony,

Just looking at Keith Webb's photo of the F15-A battery staff vehicle with the foam extinguisher on the side and wondering if he has the photo number of it so I could purchase a higher resolution one of it from the AWM.

I might be able to then see if there is a raised cap for the T handle you mentioned for the marine version of the extinguishers.

In the low res photo it looks flat but it is anyone's guess.

Cheers,