Capsule Fire Extinguisher Concept by Woo Seok Park

As far as futuristic design concepts go "Capsule," a fire safety device by Woo Seok Park, certainly looks the part. And I adore the idea of the little heat-sensitive balls that can be thrown or rolled into the area of a fire where they will explode in a burst of fire-extinguishing powder. But I have to question the merit of a tank of oxygen being anywhere near a fire at all, no matter how nice it might be to breathe a lungful or two of fresh air when trying to escape a fire.

Keep thinking about those extinguisher balls, Park, but leave the explodo gas outside.

Roll to Put a Fire Out [Yanko Design]

[#1 posted by hawkins , January 28, 2008 6:52 AM]

You may be on to something with your "lungful of fresh air" remark: why does it have to contain pure oxygen?

Seems like what you'd want when running through a smoke- and flame-filled building would be a little compressed AIR up your nose.

Awfully cool-looking, though.

[#2 posted by Anonymous , January 28, 2008 1:55 PM]

i believe the idea of fire balls , or fire grenades has been around for a long while , i remember my parents having an empty blue glass victorian era version. im not sure what it was filled with, but a very similar concept

heres a similar one on ebay http://collectibles.search.ebay.com/_Bottles-Insulators_W0QQsacatZ29797QQsassZcentsiblestuff

[#3 posted by Memepunks , January 28, 2008 9:00 PM]

Here are some suggestions for version 2.0. Swap out the compressed oxygen for compressed air. Add a mechanism to use some of the compressed air to launch the anti-fire balls a solid distance.

And perhaps a nice big recessed flashlight, to act as both a spot sight for the launcher, and to help you navigate through a burning building. And some kind of emergency one button cell phone.

I'd buy two.

[#4 posted by Mandel , January 29, 2008 6:52 PM]

Weirdly enough, I'm staying in a hotel tonight that has in the treat basket, along with the absurdly priced peanuts, a canister of 90% pure oxygen for $15. First time I've even heard of this - some pseudoscientific claim that it will help with jet lag, refresh you, etc, but it only just occurred to me that this could be something you could use in a fire. It says you'd get 5 to 10 deep breaths out of it; enough to make your way through the smoke??

[#5 posted by SXA , January 31, 2008 9:21 AM]

Well, Im concerned about the whole idea. How can you be sure the capsule breaks? What if a soft, bouncy, material is on fire?
Id use the compressed air to propel a powdered or liquid agent--these really work on any fire you can get near.

[#6 posted by Umbriel , January 31, 2008 1:40 PM]

Fire resistant filter hoods have been around for some time:
http://www.thetravelinsider.info/travelaccessories/evacu8smokehood.htm

If there's enough oxygen present for there to be a fire, there should be enough for you to breathe, it's the toxic and hot gasses that get you, as well as hot air and smoke blinding you so you can't find your way to an exit. Hoods like the "Evac-U8" buy you time against both of those threats. Even if the smoke itself still obscures vision, you have a better chance at picking up visual cues if your eyes aren't painfully tearing.