US1388560A - Furnace-cleaner - Google Patents

Description

J. DE GRAFF.

FURNACE CLEANER.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 18, 1919.

1,388,560, V Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

INVENTOR ATTORNEY5 PATENT OFFICE.

JAN DE GRAFF, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN.

FURNACE-CLEANER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

Application filed October 18, 1919.- Serial No. 331,527.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAN DE GRAFF, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Detroit, in the county of lVayne and State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Furnace- Cleaners, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

In my copending application, filed December 9, 1918, Serial No. 265,850, there is disclosed a furnace brush or scraper composed of a plurality of articulated tubular or hollow sections forming a flexible member which may be inserted in a flue, cavity or sinuous channel or passage to brush, scrape or otherwise agitate the Walls of the flue or passage to loosen and remove soot, dust, incrustation or other matter that may adhere to the walls of the flue or passage. After thousands of these devices have been used it is found that the foreign matter brushed or scraped from the flue walls enters the tubular or hollow member and interferes with its flexibility and manipulation in the flue.

The present invention is directed to means for closing the ends of the tubular or hollow sections embodied in the scraper or cleaning device, also certain improvements by which the device is simplified from a manufacturing standpoint and made more perfect or efficient as a cleaner.

Reference will now be had to the drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the clean in device, partly broken away.

ig. 2 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view of a portion of the device showing the articulation and closures at the confronting ends of two sections or members.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view of the same.

Fig. 4: is a cross sectional view taken on the line H of Fig. 2 showing the sectional lines 22 and 3-3 on which Figs. 2 and 3 are taken.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a detached closure.

Fig. 6 is a view of the outer end of the device.

Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. 6.

Fig. 8 is a front elevation of a detached scraper or cleaning element and Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 7.

As in my former construction there is a plurality of hollow or tubular sections or members 1 having the ends thereof provided with opposed apertured ears 2 and 3, the ears at one end of a member or section longitudinally alining with the ears at the opposed end thereof and the cars at one side of the member or section being in the same plane. This is somewhat a different arrangement of ears from that of my former construction, as will hereinafter appear. The cars protrude from the ends of the members or sections and the ears 2 of one member or section are adapted to be pivotally connected to the ears 3 of an adjacent member or section by rivets or pins 4. In order that the ears 2 and 3 may be placed in parallelism, as best shown in Fig. 3, it is necessary that one of the ears 3 engage the inner wall of one of the ears 2 and the other ear 3 engage the outer wall of the other ear 2 thereby placing adjoining members or sections slightly out of alinement, but since these members or sections are made of comparatively thin gage metal it is immaterial whether the members or sections are in perfect alinement or not as the cleaning device is always used in a flue or passage of greater diameter then the members or sections 1.

By using a plurality of members or sections 1 a cleaning device of desirable length may be obtained and the innermost member or section may be of less length than the other members or sections, as shown in Fig. 1, and provided With a suitable handle 5 so that the device may be pushed, pulled, turned and otherwise manipulated in a furnace flue or passage.

My first important improvement is that of providing closures or caps 6 for the C011- fronting open ends of the members or sec tions 1, and each cap is stamped or pressed from sheet metal to engage the end walls of the members or sections 1. Each cap or closure has a plurality of prongs 7 that extend over an end of the member 1 to prevent lateral displacement of the cap or closure and to prevent longitudinal displacement, each cap has a central pressed-out seat portion 8 that engages a rivet or pin 4;,

- but does not interfere with pivotal movement of the member 1 or the rivet 4. Each cap is furthermore cut away, as at 9, to proenter the members 1 and such soot or matter that lod es between the caps can be shaken or .forci l ejected therefrom during the manipulation of'the cleaning device. The prongs 7 prevent the caps from entering the members 1 by pressure on the confronting faces of the caps, and it isobvious that various kinds of closures, somewhat along the lines of the caps 6, can be employed for sealin the ends of the members 1. 7

next improvement is at the outer end of ti? cleaning device and instead of providing the device with detachable interchangeable tools of various kinds, I provide the outermost member '1 with a permanent central and irregularly shaped scraper 10. The outermost member 1 has its outer end formed with opposed lugs 11 adapted to extend through slits or slots 12 in the scraper 10, said lugs being bent against the outer face of the scraper and riveted or otherwise h connected to the scraper, as at 13. The scraper is therefore rigidly held in a plane ata right angle to the longitudinal axis of the outer member 1 and said'scraper closes said member, as best shown in Fig. 7.

7 From the foregoing it will be observed that I have made valuable improvements in connection with my former cleaning device,

and even now I do not care to confine myself to the precise construction and arrangement of parts, other then defined by the appending claims.

What I claim is v 1. A flexible device comprising a plurality of tubular members having apertured ears at the end thereof, pins connecting the apertured ears of one member to the ears of an adjacent member, caps on the confronting ends of said members, and prongs carried by said caps engaging the outer sides of said members between said ears.

2. A flexible device composed of hollow members, pins pivotally connecting said members, and dirt excluding caps at the ends of said members retained in enga ement therewith by bearing against opposite sides of said pins.

3. A flexible device comprising a lurality of tubular members, pins pivotal y connecting said members, and caps at the ends of said members and having prongs engaging the edges of said members, said caps aving pressed out portions engaging said ins. In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

JAN DE GRAFF.

Witnesses:

ANNA M. Donn, KARL H. BUTLER.

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