US2297965A - Radiator cover - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 6, 1942. KUYPER 2,297,965

RADIATOR COVER Filed Feb. 26, 1940 INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEYS Patented Oct. 6, 1942 RADIATOR COVER Peter H. Kuyper, Pella, Iowa, assignor to Rolscreen Company, Pella, Iowa, a corporation of Iowa Application February 26, 1940, Serial No. 320,925

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to a cover for an automobile radiator with a screen or similarly perforated flexible sheet and in the wintertime covers the radiator to a greater or less degree with a substantially imperforate flexible sheet, the portion of the radiator uncovered by the imperforate sheet being covered by the perforate sheet,

one object of the invention is to provide the perforate and imperforate sheets in the form of screen wire and a suitable fabric, respectively, secured together end to end, and to wind the free ends on spring actuated rollers so that the portions of the sheets between the rollers are maintained taut, the rollers being mounted in casings at the top and bottom of the radiator and the entire assembly being thus constructed and arranged so that the fabric can cover the bottom of the radiator to a greater or less degree with the screen covering the upper portion of the radiator.

A further object is to provide a radiator cover which may be readily installed in the presentday types of automobiles provided with front housings including a grill through which air may pass to the radiator and a pan at the bottom of the radiator.

Still another object is to provide an installation which includes hooked binder bars on the free ends of the fabric and screen so that the binder bars may be detached from each other during the installation process, thus facilitating installation, and after installation has been completed then the binder bars can be drawn toward each other and hooked together, whereaft-er an adjusting means such as a web or the like attached to the binder bar may be used for the purpose of raising or lowering the binder bar and thereby changing the degree of coverage of the fabric relative to the radiator.

With the foregoing and other contemplated as well as obvious objects in view, the invention comprises the combination of elements and arrangement of parts so combined as to coact and cooperate with each other in the performance of the functions and the accomplishment of the results herein contemplated, and comprises in one of its adaptations the species or preferred form illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein.

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view through the front housing of an automobile in which the radiator is mounted, the radiator being shown in side elevation and my radiator cover being shown in end elevation as applied thereon;

.which air may enter to the radiator.

Figure 2 is an enlarged view of portions of Figure 1 showing particularly the construction of the housings for enclosing rollers on which the cover members of my invention are wound;

Figure 3 is a plan view of Figure 1 as taken on the line 3--3 thereof, and

Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing my cover installed in another type of automo- I bile.

I am aware that heretofore covers have been provided for radiators of automobiles, but ordinarily these are of the type used merely for winter use and consist of cover members which can cover the radiator to a greater or less degree. It is also necessary to protect radiators in the summertime from the entrance of butterflies, bugs and the like to the radiator core, and for this purpose the winter cover is usually removed and a screen substituted in place of it. To overcome the necessity of interchanging the winter cover and the screen cover, I have provided an arrangement in which a winter cover may be adjusted to cover more or less of the radiator as desired, and a screen is provided to cover the remaining part of the radiator.

With reference to my invention in detail, it includes in general a lower casing C and an upper casing C. The casing C has a roller ID therein and the casing C has a similar roller I2. Wound on the roller is a substantially imperforate flexible sheet I3 of fabric or the like and wound on the roller I2 is a perforate flexible sheet I4 of screen wire or the like. The free ends of the sheets I3 and I4 are enclosed in hooked binder bars I5 and I6 which are detachably hooked together as illustrated.

The casings C and C may be mounted in any suitable manner adjacent the bottom and top, respectively, of a radiator R, as shown in Figures 1 and 4. In Figures 1, 2 and 3 I show for this purpose strap irons I'I secured to the casing C and other strap irons I8 formed in the shape of an L secured to the casing C. The strap irons I! may be secured as by screws I9 to a pan 20 at the bottom of the radiator R. The brackets I8 may be secured as by screws 2I to flanges 22 of a housing H for the radiator R. Most present-day cars are provided with housings of this kind having a grill 23 consisting of spaced bars of the like at the front of the housing through There is plenty of room within the housing ahead of the radiator for installing my radiator cover.

In Figure 4 I show the cover adapted for another type of radiator R in which the housing H has a grill 23 and a pan 20 has the casing C secured thereto. A modified form of bracket l8 is secured to a cross bar 22 of the housing H. Various brackets or strap irons of difierent shapes may be substituted in an obvious manner for the elements I! and I8 to accommodate different types of automobile construction.

The rollers l and I2 are preferably springurged to rotate in opposed directions. The springs are indicated at 24. The springs are of the coiled type surrounding rods 25 and each spring has one end 26 connected with the rod and its other end 21 connected with the roller. The rods are held against rotation by pins 28 through slots 29 in the ends of the rods. The pins are inserted after the rods have been rotated to wind the springs to the desired tension. Thereafter cotter keys 3!) are inserted through the rods to prevent dislocation of the pins.

Any convenient arrangement may be provided for adjusting the binder bars l and I6 upwardly for covering more of the radiator, or downwardly for covering less or for covering the entire radiator with screen only, as shown in Figure 4. By way of example, I show a web 3| secured as at 32 to one of the binder bars and passing around pulleys 33 and 34. The pulleys 33 and 34 are supported by brackets 35 and 36 on the casings C and C, respectively. The web 3| may have a knot 31 tied therein at a bracket 38 so as to hold the binder bars at the desired position. In order to change the position of the binder bar the knot is untied, the respective ends of the web 3| are readjusted as desired, and the knot tied at the bracket 38.

With my radiator cover it is unnecessary to remove a winter cover and substitute a summer cover in the spring-time, and vice versa at the beginning of winter. The matter of untying the knot 31 and readjusting the binder bars can be readily accomplished at the proper times. The fabric and screen are automatically housed in such a manner that only the part of either being used is exposed, and the degree of exposure may be changed as desired, depending on weather conditions in the winter time, when more or less of the radiator should be covered by the fabric, depending on whether the weather is colder or warmer. Any portion of the radiator not covered by the fabric is covered by the screen so that foreign substances cannot enter the radiator in the winter time. When the cover is adjusted for summer operation, then the radiator is completely covered with screen, without the necessity of having to remove the winter cover and place a screen cover in position. The advantages of such an arrangement are quite obvious.

As many changes could be made in the foregoing construction and many apparently widely difierent embodiments of this invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawing shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claims is intended to cover all of the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements of the scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be considered as falling therebetween.

I claim as my invention:

1. Mounting means for a pair of flexible sheets secured together end to end comprising an individual casing for each of said sheets, the casing for one of said sheets being mounted adjacent one end of an opening to be covered by said sheets and the casing for the other of said sheets being mounted adjacent the other end of said opening, a roller in each of said casings, said sheets being wound on said rollers, means tending to rotate said rollers in opposed directions to retain said sheets taut between them, and means for inversely changing the degree of exposure of said sheets exterior of each of said casings, said last means being operable to stationarily fix the connecting point of said sheets with respect to said opening and at any point intermediate said casings.

2. Means for mounting a pair of flexible sheets comprising a hooked binder bar along one end of each of said sheets, said binder bars being detachably hooked together, a casing for each of said sheets, the casing for one of said sheets being supported adjacent one side of an opening to be variably covered by said sheets and the casing for the other of said sheets supported adjacent the opposite side of said opening, a roller in each of said casings, said sheets being wound on said rollers, said rollers being spring actuated in opposed directions to retain said sheets taut between them and to retain said binder bars normally hooked together, and means for raising and lowering said binder bars.

PETER H. KUYPER.

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