Info needed: Foam extinguishers fitted on trucks

[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,