Fire extinguisher had been developed by DuPont and the US Army in 1954. Both 1211 and 1301 work by inhibiting the chain reaction of the fire, and in the case of Halon 1211, cooling class A fuels as well. Halon is still in use today but is falling out of favor for many uses due to its environmental impact. Europe and Australia have severely restricted its use, since the Montreal Protocol of 1987. Less severe restrictions have been implemented in the United States, the Middle East, and Asia. Internationally there are several accepted classification methods for hand-held fire extinguisher. Each classification is
Fire extinguisher Association (NFPA), is for fire extinguishers weighing less than . However, compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) also needs to be followed within the United States. The ADA height limit of the fire extinguisher, as measured at the handle, is . Fire extinguisher installations are also limited to protruding no more than 4 inches into the adjacent path of travel. The ADA rule states that any object adjacent to a path of travel cannot project more than if the object's bottom leading edge is higher than . The 4-inch protrusion rule was designed to protect people with low-vision