US1655569A - Smokeless orchard heater - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 10, 1928.

W. C. SCHEU SROKELESS ORCHARD HEATER Filed June 21. 1 926 I v v h i 5 I.

Patented Jan. 10, 1928.

UNITED STATES WILLIAM C. SCHEU, OF UPLAND, CALIFORNIA.

SMOKELESS ORCHABD HEATER.

, Application filed June 21, 1926. Serial No. 117,297.

This invention relates to orchard heaters, and one of the principal objects is to rovide a construction of louver type stac in which the louvers will not burn out as readily as in constructions heretofore used or proposed. This result is obtained by providing a greater area within the burning chamber and a larger area of radiating surface for a given amount of heat.

Another important object is to make provision for admitting air to the lower end of the stack through an apron that projects outwardly from the stack opening of the vapor bowl.

Another object is to provide a construction which will cause the oil to discharge into the bowl a little at a time and spread over a heated surface, so as to quickly gasify and burn, thus avoiding the collection of any great amount of oil within the burner pan.

Another object is to provide a construction of which most of the parts, at least, can be readily made of sheet metal in ashop that produces tin cans and other sheet metal articles.

A further object is to construct the bowl in two sections, a lower section or pan and an upper section or cover, so as to facilitate cleaning of the deposited carbonaceous matter from the bowl.

Another object is to make provision for feeding the fuel from a reservoir and maintaining constant the hydraulic head under which the oil flows from the reservoir.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the sub-joined detailed description. The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a smokeless orchard heater constructed in accordance with the provisions of this invention, a portion of the side wall of the reservoir being broken away.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the bowl shown in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section on the line indicated by 33, Fig. 2, a fragment of the stack also being shown.

Figure 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of the float valve.

Figure 5 is an enlarged plan view of the damper cap.

A louver stack or, in other words, a stack having louvers for the entrance of air to the interior of the stack, as such, is not new, but

those heretofore employed have been substantially straight cylinders and I have found that when so constructed, the louvers have a tendency to burn out after continued use because of being subjected to the intense heat resultin from the flames in the stack, said flames p aying about the louvers and at times projecting through the louvers.

I therefore provide a louver stack that is considerably wider at the bottom thanthe vaporopening in the to of the bowl, and the stack 1s tapered gradua 1y to a smaller diameter at its top, thus providing more air withm the burning chamber and greater area of radiating surface for a given amount of heat. The louvers in this improved stack do not burn out as-readily as in the straight cylindrical stack, and this not only results 1n eater economy but avoids the inconvemence of having to replace the stack while the heater is in use and, in general, improved results are secured.

The stack is indicated, in general, b the character 8, and the bottom of the stac has an apron 9 that extends slightly aslant downwardly and inwardl to the vapor opening 10 in the top of a bowl which comprises a pan 11 and a cover 12. The apron 9 is provided with air ports 13. The straight joint portion 14 of the stack is provided with an internal annular shoulder 15 which engages the upper end of the thimble 16 when the stack is in place, to limit the distance to which the stack slides downwardly upon the thimble. The thimble 16 continues upwardly the vapor opening 10 so as to communicate said opening with the stack.

The cover 12 telescopes upon the pan 11 which, it will be noted, is relatively shallow. In this instance, the bowl 11, 12 is elongate, the openin 10 being near one end and there being provided near the other end an igniting opening 17 surrounded by a cylindrical flange 18 and closed by a damper cap 19, the rim of the cap being corrugated to provide airports 20 through which air can pass between the flange 18 and cap 19. The cap 19 is provided in its top with ports 21 and the flow of air through said ports is regulated by a damper 22 which is pivoted at 23 so that it can be turned to different positions to bring ports 24 in the damper into or out of registration with the ports 21. The bowl 11, 12 is provided in its interior with a plate 25 provided with a turned-up flange 26. In

this instance, the plate 25 is positioned be-' neath the opening 17 and extends aslant downwardl toward the opening 10. At the level 0 the upper edge of the flange 26, the side walls 27 of the bowl are rovided with louvers 28, which thus admit air to the bowl in a plane substantiall coextensive with. the plane of the rim 0 the pan 25. The pan 25 is provided near its center with a port 29, and surrounding said port is a tubular horizontal sleeve 30 into whichis telescoped a tubular nipple 31 of an 011 hne 32, there being an external shoulder 33 on the line 32 to limit the distance to which the line 32 is inserted in the sleeve 30 The sleeve 30 just projects through acircular opening 34 in one end of the cover 12.

In this instance the pan 25 is constructed separate from the bowl and is retained in osition therein by a lug or lugs 35 projecting up from the floor of the pan 11 and posi-v tioned to engage the lower edge ofthe plate. Near its upper edge, the plate 25 is provided wit-h a pair of spaced blades 36 which rest upon the floor of the pan 11.

The oil line 32 is provided with a valve 37 to regulate the flow of oil through said line, and is secured at the end opposite to that having the nipple 31 to an oil reservoir 38, said oil line entering the reservoir and having in the interior of the reservoir a flexible portion 39 constructed of some flexible material that will not be injured by immersion in the oil A in the reservoir. The tube 39 connects with a nipple 40 projecting from a valve chamber 41, a duct 42 extending through the nipple 40. Extending transversely of the duct 42 and communicating therewith is a port 43 provided at its inner end with a valve seat 44 on which is adapted to close a valve plug 45, the stem 46 of which is screwed into the valve chamber 41.

The valve chamber 41 projects from the bottom of a float 47 constructed of suitable material and in a manner to cause it to float upon or near the surface of the oil A. The construction of the float 47 need not be described in detail herein as such floats are well understood in the art relating to floatcontrolled valves.

It will be readily seen that, as the level of the oil A in the reservoir 38 lowers, because of consumption of the oil in the heater, the port 43 where the oil enters the oil line remains at a constant level with respect to the oil level, thus maintaining constant the hydraulic head to which the oil entering the port 43 is subjected.

As indicated at 48 in Fig. 1, the louver stack 8 may be provided with a cylindrical extension, preferably imperforate. The construction and operation ofthe invention will be understood from the foregoing description, and the operation may be briefly dememes scribed as follows: The cap 19 will be removed and the valve 37 will be opened slightly to admit oil to the plate 25, whereupon a lighting torch of well known construction or any other suitable igniting means will be thrust through the opening 17 and held there until the oil flowing into the pan 25 ignites. The igniting means will then be removed and the cap 19 be replaced. Any oil that is not consumed on the plate 25 will flow to the lower end thereof and into the pan 11, and heat from the burning oil will heat the oil that is overflowing sulficiently to vaporize said oil, and the vapors will pass upwardly into the burning chamber that is formed by the louver stack 8. Here air admitted throughthe louvers and ports 14 produces approximately complete combustion of the oil vapors, and the flames will issue from the upper end of the louver stack or, if the extension 48 is employed, from the upper end of said extension.

The size of the fire in the burning chamber is controlled entirely at the damper cap 19, since the volume of oil vapors flowing into the stack is dependent upon the amount of heat to which the oil in the pan 11 is subjected, and the amount of heat due to combustion of the oil on the plate25 is dependent upon the amount of air that is admitted through the damper 22.

It will be clear from the foregoing, that, as soon as the fire has been started on the plate 25, the volume of the fire can be regulated to a nicety by properly adjusting the damper and the valve 37.

As the oil in the reservoir A flows therefrom and lowers the level, the float 47 continues in fixed relation to the surface of the oil A and thus does not alter the pressure to which the oil entering the port 43 is subjected, the. volume of oil passing from said port into the duct 42 being regulated solely y adjustment of the valve plug 45 and, for any given adjustment of said valve plug, the rate of flow of oil from the port 43 into the duct 42 and thence to the bowl will be the same whether the oil level is higher or lower in the reservoir 38.

I claim:

1. A smokeless orchard heater comprising a bowl provided with a vapor outlet and with an igniting opening, a closure for the igniting opening, a plate positioned aslant beneath the igniting opening and provided with a port, a sleeve surrounding the port, and an oil line having a nipple telescoped into the sleeve.

2. A smokeless orchard heater comprising a bowl provided with a vapor outlet and with an igniting opening, a closure for the igniting opening, a reservoir, a float in the reservoir, a valve chamber supported by the float and provided with a port, a valve to control said port, and an oil line connecting the valve chamber with the bowl and provided within the reservoir with a flexible portion.

3. A smokeless orchard heater comprising a bowl provided with a vapor outlet and with an igniting opening, a closure for the igniting opening, a reservoir, 9. float in the reservoir, a chamber supported by the float and provided with a port, and an oil line connecting the'chamber with the bowl and 10 provided within the reservoir with a flexible portion.

Signed at Los Angeles, California, this 9 day of June, 1926.

WILLIAM G. SCHEU.

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