US1985559A - Circulation equalizer for furnace flues - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 25, 1934. J, D N

CIRCULATION EQUALIZER FOR FURNACE FLUES Fild March 20, 1933 2 Sheets-Sheet l *LN Inventor t]. Z. Anderson f] Home y Dec. 25, 1934. J, z. ANDERSON CIRCULATION EQUALIZER FOR FURNACE FLUES Filed March 20, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Cf. Z Anderson Mum.

v fl Home y Patented Dec. 25, 1934 PATENT OFFICE.

CIRCULATION EQUALIZER FOR FURNACE FLUES James Z. Anderson, Brookfield, Ill.

, Application March 20, 1933, Serial No. 661,859

I 9 Claims.

This invention relates generally to hot air fur-- naces, and particularly .to means -for automatically .evacuating the mother flue of cold air when starting up a furnace and increasing the amount of warm air conveyed by the mother flue when the K sults.

furnace is in full operation.

I have discovered that cold air present in the mother flue of a hot air furnace before the furnace has been fired and while thefurnace is heat-- air or raise the temperature thereof, and where a the mother flue opens into aclosed room or space, the cold air in the room-must be-displaced orraised in .temperature before any substantial rise in the temperature in the room can take place. Here-v toforeexpensive mechanical means has been suggested for evacuating the mother flue and the cold room of cold air to provide quickly for a free flow .of hot air from the furnace and none .of these means have been automatic in action, and required.skillfuloperation to secure satisfactory re- My inventionsupplies an entirely automatic means dependent for its action on the state of the air in the. mother flue and the operating condition of the furnace, and the costs of manufacturing and installing .of my invention are so 1 smallas topresent no obstacle to its use .by every owner of a hot 'air furnace. In the drawings: Figure l is a top plan view and its motherflue showing an embodiment of my invention applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken through Figure 1. approximately on the line 2--2.

- Figure 3 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken approximately on the .line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 44 of Figure 2.

Referring now .toFig-ure .2 of the drawings, the numeral -5 designates .a hot air furnace including the customary firepot, 6. Spacedly enclosing the furnace 5 is the usual casing forming the air heating chamber and having the dome 7a. The cold air to be heated is admitted to the chamber by an intake 8. Before proceeding further, I .desire to call attention to the fact that any suitable number of mother fines 10. may lead from the dome 7a of the casing 7. :It will be understood that. the cold air entering the chamber through the intake :8 will be heated by contact with the furnaceand will rise in the-chamber and pass out.

of a hot air-furnace.

through the outlet neck 9 to which is connected the mother flue 10. This :flue .10 includes the usual horizontal portion which extends radiallyoutwardly from the dome 7a to convey the hot air toa room or other enclosure to be heated.

In the case of an ordinary hot air furnace it is in the horizontal portion of the mother flue 10 that the cold .air collects and opposes the passage of hot air to the room to be heated. As the furnace is first fired and the temperature of the air in the .air heating chamber of the furnace gradually rises, it exerts a gradually increasing outward pressure on thecolumn of cold air in the said horizontal portion so that this column of cold air begins to move outwardly, allthe time resisting thepassage of warm air through the mother flue. Since the column of cold air must gosomewhere, it ordinarilygoes into the already cold room, and there being no escape 'forthe cold air inxthe room thus augmented,- the air in the room will notrbecome warm until its temperature has been slowly raised by contact with such hot air as finally'enters the room through the mother flue Taking advantage of thenatural tendency of cold air to sink to lower levels, I tap the said horizontal portion at a radially outward point by connecting .to one side of the lower part thereof one .endof a. pipe or flue 11 of relatively small diameter, into which the cold air flows downwardly of itself and in its downward flow in the pipe is assisted by the movement of the mentionedcolumn of cold air under the impetus of the developing column of hot air behind the column of cold air. 4.

The auxiliary flue, which may also be referred to as an equalizing flue lies along and preferably in contact with the side of the lower part of said horizontal portion of the mother flue as indicated by the numeral 16. The elbow connecting the outer end of the auxiliary flue with the mother flue is designated 17. The inner end of the portion 16 merges into a vertical portion 15 which lies along and close to or in contact with the casing '7 and receives into its lower end a .neck 14 on the top of a box-shaped trap generally designated 12.

The trap 12 is horizontally elongated and its open inner end approaches closely the sides of the fire pot 6, the place where the greatestheat radiation occurs. The trap is placed through asubstantially fitting square or other. suitable shape of opening in the side wall of the casing '7 where it is secured by attaching means 13.

It will be obvious that the cold air movingdown wardly through the pipe 11 in the manner described and while the furnace is heating up will pass into the lower part of the heating chamber through the trap, but that as soon as the furnace gets hot, the trap 12 will be heated to such an extent that warm air will develop in the trap 12 and the direction of movement of the cold air in the pipe 11 gradually reversed until a column of hot air moves upwardly in the pipe 11 and entering the horizontal portion of the mother flue augments the column of hot air into the mother flue in a manner to increase the volume and heating efiect thereof.

A structural assembly of this classification costs little, is much more satisfactory than present arrangements of this character, and economically afiords safety and comfort not otherwise obtainable.

A careful consideration of the foregoing description in conjunction with the illustrative drawings will enable the reader toobtain a clear understanding of the purpose, features and advantages, the explicit construction, and the invention as hereinafter claimed.

It is to be understood that minor changes in shape, size, relative proportions, and materials may be resorted to in practice without department from the spirit and scope of the invention as now claimed.

I claim:

1. A circulation equalizer for a furnace flue comprising, in combination, a furnace including a fire box, a heated air trapping casing completely surrounding said furnace and spaced therefrom, an air delivery pipe connected to the lower portion of said casing, a heated air conducting flue connected to the top of the casing and extending angularly therefrom, a substantially rectangular additional air trapping box fitted through an opening in the wall of said casing and open at its inner end, said open inner end being located in close spaced proximity to the fire box of said furnace, the opposite end of said box extending through and beyond the opening in said casing and being provided with a heated air discharge nipple, a substantially L-shaped equalizer conduit embodying a vertical branch located on the exterior of and in close proximity to one wall of said casing and connected at its intake end with said nipple, the horizontal branch of said pipe being located in close spaced parallelism to said flue and having communicating connection with said flue at a point remote from said casing.

2. In combination, a hot air furnace including a stove member and a casing member surrounding and enclosing said stove member and forming an air heating chamber, said chamber having a cold air intake at its lower end and a heated air outlet at its upper end, a mother flue connected to and fed by said heated air outlet and having a substantially horizontal portion leading away from said furnace, an auxiliary flue having its upper end connected to and communicating with the lower part of one side of said substantially horizontal portion at a point remote from said furnace, the lower end of said auxiliary flue being connected to an intermediate part of one side of said casing member and communicating with the interior of said air heating chamber, said auxiliary flue being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said horizontal portion of the mother flue and convey such descending cold air into said air heating chamber whereby the cold air in said horizontal portion is automatically evacuated therefrom when said stove member is first fired and heated air first starts to move outwardly from said chamber and through said mother flue.

3. In combination, a hot air furnace including a stove member and a casing member surrounding and enclosing said stove member and forming an air heating chamber, said chamberhaving a cold air intake at its lower end and a heated air outlet at its upper end, a mother flue connected to and fed by said heated air outlet and having a substantially horizontal portion leading away from said furnace, an auxiliary flue having its upper end connected to and communicating with the lower part of one side of said substantially horizontal portion at a point remote from said furnace, the lower end of said auxiliary flue being connected to an intermediate part of one side of said casing member and communicating with the interior of said air heating chamber, said auxiliary flue being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said horizontal portion of the mother flue and convey such descending cold air into'said air heating chamber whereby the cold air in said horizontal portion is automatically evacuated therefrom when said stove member is first fired and heated air first starts to move outwardly from said chamber and through said mother flue, said lower end of said auxiliary flue being arranged in heat exchange relation with said stove member whereby additional heated air is produced in said lower end of the auxiliary flue as soon as full firing of the stove member is accomplished, said additional heated air then rising through said auxiliary flue and entering said mother flue so as to augment the heated air therein.

4. In combination, a hot air furnace including a stove member and a casing member surrounding and enclosing said stove member and forming an air heating chamber, said chamber having a cold air intake at its lower end and a heated air outlet at its upper end, a mother flue connected to and fed by said heated air outlet and having a substantially horizontal portion leading away from said furnace, an auxiliary flue having its upper end connected-to and communicating with the lower part of one side of said substantially horizontal portion at a point remote from said furnace, the lower end of said auxiliary flue being connected to an intermediate part of one side of said casing member and communicating with the interior of said air heating chamber, said auxiliary flue being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said horizontal portion of the mother flue and convey such descending cold air into said air heating chamber whereby the cold air in said horizontal portion is automatically evacuated therefrom when said stove member is first fired and heated air first starts to move outwardly from said chamber and through said mother flue, said lower end of said auxiliary flue being arranged in heat exchange relation with said stove member whereby additional heated air is produced in said lower end of the auxiliary flue as soon as full firing of the stove member is accomplished, said additional heated air then rising through said auxiliary flue and entering said mother flue so as to augment the heated air therein, said lower end of the auxiliary flue having attached thereto, a trap comprising a box having a portion arranged through an opening in the side wall of said casing member and extending toward said stove member, the radially inward end of said portion of the box being closely spaced from the side of said stove member and open to pass cold air into said chamber against the side-of said stove mem-,

means later and receive heated air from said "chamber from the hotside of said stove member. I

5. In combination, a hotair furnace including a stove member and a casing member surrounding and enclosing said stove member and forming an air heating chamber, said chamber having a cold air intake at its lower end and a heated air outlet at its upper end, a mother flue connected to and fed by said heated air outlet and having a substantially horizontal portion leading away from said furnace, an auxiliary flue having its upper end connected to and communicating with the lower part of one side of said substantially horizontal portion at a point remote from said furnace, the lower end of said auxiliary flue being connected to an intermediate part of one side of said casing member and communicating with the interior of said air heating chamber, said auxiliary flue being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said horizontal portion of the mother flue and convey such descending cold air into said air heating chamber whereby the cold air in said horizontal portion is automatically evacuated therefrom when said stove member is first fired and heated air first starts to move outwardly from said chamber and through said mother flue, said auxiliary flue having a substantially horizontal part lying along said horizontal portion of the mother flue in heat exchange relation thereto.

6. In combination, a hot air furnace including a stove member and a casing member surrounding and enclosing said stove member and forming an air heating chamber, said chamber having a cold air intake at its lower end and a heated air outlet at its upper end, a mother flue connected to and fed by said heated air outlet and having a substantially horizontal portion leading away from said furnace, an auxiliary flue having its upper end connected to and communicating with the lower part of one side of said substantially horizontal portion at a point remote from said furnace, the lower end of said auxiliary flue being connected to an intermediate part of one side of said casing member and communicating with the interior of said air heating chamber, said auxiliary flue being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said horizontal portion of the mother flue and convey such descending cold air into said air heating chamber whereby the cold air in said horizontal portion is automatically evacuated therefrom when said stove member is first fired and heated air first starts to move outwardly from said chamber and through said mother flue, said auxiliary flue having a substantially horizontal part lying along said horizontal portion of the mother flue in heat exchange relation thereto, said auxiliary flue being arranged exteriorly of said mother flue.

'7. In combination, a hot air furnace including a stove member and a casing member surrounding and enclosing said stove member and forming an air heating chamber, said chamber having a cold air intake at its lower end and a heated air outlet at its upper end, a mother flue connected to and fed by said heated air outlet and having a substantially horizontal portion leading away from said furnace, an auxiliary flue having its upper end connected to and communicating with the lower part of one side of said substantially horizontal portion at a point remote from said furnace, the lower end of said auxiliary flue being connected to an intermediate part of one side of said casing member and communicating with the interior of said air heating chamber, said auxiliary flue *being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said horizontal portion of the mother flue and convey such de-- scending cold air into-said :air heating chamber whereby .the 'cold air insaid horizontal portion is automatically evacuated therefromwhenzsaid stove member is first fired and heated air first starts to move outwardly from said chamber and through said mother flue, said auxiliary flue having a substantially horizontal part lying along said horizontal portion of the mother flue in heat exchange relation thereto, said auxiliary flue having a vertical portion arranged exterior of and in heat exchange relation to the side wall of said casing member.

8. In combination, a hot air furnace including a stove member and a casing member surrounding and enclosing said stove member and forming an air heating chamber, said chamber having a cold air intake at its lower end and a heated air outlet at its upper end, a mother flue connected to and fed by said heated air outlet and having a substantially horizontal portion leading away from said furnace, an auxiliary flue having its upper end connected to and communicating with the lower part of one side of said substantially horizontal portion at a point remote from said furnace, the lower end of said auxiliary flue being connected to an intermediate part of one side of said casing member and communicating with the interior of said air heating chamber, said auxiliary flue being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said horizontal portion of the mother flue and convey such descending cold air into said air heating chamber whereby the cold air in said horizontal portion is automatically evacuated therefrom when said stove member is first fired and heated air first starts to move outwardly from said chamber and through said mother flue, said lower end of said auxiliary flue being arranged in heat exchange relation with said stove member whereby additional heated air is produced in said lower end of the auxiliary flue as soon as full firing of the stove member is accomplished, said additional heated air then rising through said auxiliary flue and entering said mother flue so as to augment the heated air therein, said lower end of the auxiliary flue having attached thereto, a trap comprising a box having a portion arranged through an opening in the side wall of said casing member and extending toward said stove member, the radially inward end of said portion of the box being closely spaced from the side of said stove member and open to pass cold air into said chamber against the side of said stove member and receive heated air from said chamber from the hot side of said stove member, said lower end of the auxiliary flue entering the topof a portion of said box which extends outwardly of said casing member.

9. A hot air furnace including a stove spacedly enclosed by a casing defining an air heating chamber, said chamber having an unheated air inlet in its lower part and a heated air outlet in its upper part to which outlet a main heated air flue is connected and leads away from said furnace to deliver heated air to an enclosure to be heated, means connected between an outward part of said main flue and leading downwardly and connected to a lower part of said casing and communicating with the interior of said chamber and having a portion close to and in heat exchange relation to said stove, said means being arranged to receive naturally descending cold air present in said main flue and convey the same into said lower part of said chamber while the stove is first being fired and heated air starts outwardly in said main flue, said portion of said 5 means which is in heat exchange relation to said stove being arranged to be heated by said stove as the stove becomes hot whereby heated air will be caused to rise and be conveyed by said means to said main flue to augment the heated air in said main flue.

JAMES Z. ANDERSON.

Images