TFT Offers Brand New Monitor Design

May 7, 2013

VALPARAISO, INDIANA: TFT’s new Hemisphere initial attack monitor outmaneuvers and out performs any other monitor on the market today.

It offers a full hemisphere (360 degrees) field of attack, as well as an easy-to-use monitor base mount that attaches quickly and safely to a beam, a railing, a tank lip, a concrete barrier, or even a common trailer hitch.

“The more traditional monitors like TFT’s Blitzfire or our Blitzfire HE, are great for what they do, but they have to be on stable surface or on the ground, so there was no ability to shoot down into things,” said Rod Carringer, TFT chief marketing officer. “Unlike the traditional line, the Hemisphere doesn’t rely on gravity, so it can be mounted where it’s needed, allowing us to shoot down into things. It’s amazing. This monitor can literally be mounted in any position, even upside down. It’s going to change the way we fight fires.”

Like the bestselling Blitzfire series, TFT’s first concern with the Hemisphere was safety. This revolutionary monitor, when attached to a two and a half or three inch attack line, delivers up to 500 gpm, with 200 (plus) pounds of nozzle reaction.

“That’s why we integrated a safety feature into the Hemisphere’s base that locks the monitor onto the base when it’s flowing,” said Scott Akins, TFT’s Vice President of New Product Development. “If you want to move it, you have to shut the Hemisphere down completely before you can detach it from the base.”

Similarly, the Hemisphere’s new “anti-drop” mechanism prevents operator errors. If the monitor is mounted upside down, and an operator pulls the release pin, the Hemisphere remains locked into place. The security mechanism requires the operator to support the monitor before it can be safely removed.

To attach the 22.5 pound Hemisphere to one of its four available mounts ( I-Beam Clamp that doubles as a 2-inch hitch mount, a dedicated Hitch Mount, and two Fixed Mounts), the operator simply slides the socket at the end of the monitor onto the quick attach mounting base. Once mounted, the rotation release lever allows the monitor to be rotated freely around its base. The variety of mounts allow industrial users to set up numerous “Hemisphere base stations” throughout their facilities.

The operator then carries the monitor to each station, attaching it to one of the individual base mounts as needed (cutting costs by allowing a single monitor to be used in multiple locations).

The unique bases and quick attach mounts aren’t the Hemisphere’s only design triumphs. The lightweight monitor features TFT’s newly developed timing or cam synchronization mechanism, which keeps the monitor’s double ball design perfectly aligned, so that the monitor is always balanced properly.

“This synchronization mechanism allows an additional 80 degrees of motion,” said Bill Walker, TFT design engineer and Hemisphere designer. “This was really a design challenge for us, because initially the reaction force made the two balls assume a position that wasn’t desirable. The synchronizing made it so that only one ball moved at a time.” The monitor can be pointed horizontally or vertically, unlike other ground monitors. Its integrated, quarter turn, aluminum half-ball valve with locking bail handle provides shutoff capability.

The monitor also boasts a unique rotating, swiveling waterway specifically designed to allow the stream to be pointed in virtually any direction within a 360 degree range, without disturbing the water flow.

Its stream integrity is ensured by the monitor’s built in stream straightener. As you’ve grown to expect, the monitor and valve bodies are hard coat anodized aluminum inside and out, with TFT’s signature powder coated blue finish.

“This is the next generation of lightweight portable monitors,” Carringer said. “Five hundred gpm, integrated low loss shut off, a field of fire that offers a hemisphere’s worth of movement, and the ability to direct the stream up, down or in any direction when it’s attached to any one of a number of fixed structures – even a common trailer hitch. This changes everything.”

For more information on the Hemisphere, visit www.tft.com.

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