US3486003A

US3486003A - Heater assembly

Info

Publication number: US3486003A
Application number: US666819A
Authority: US
Inventors: Ernest Francis Cox
Original assignee: Ronson Corp
Current assignee: Ronson Corp
Priority date: 1967-05-02
Filing date: 1967-09-11
Publication date: 1969-12-23
Anticipated expiration: 1986-12-23

Description

Dec. 23, 1969 E. F. cox

HEATER ASSEMBLY Filed Sept. 11, 1967 ATTORNEY United States Patent l 3,486,003 HEATER ASSEMBLY Ernest Francis Cox, Ryd-e, Isle of Wight, England, as-

signor to Ronsou Corporation, Woodbridge, N.J., a corporation of New Jersey Filed Sept. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 666,819

Claims priority, application Australia, May 2, 1967,

Int. Cl. H05b 1/00 US. Cl. 219-375 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF DISCLOSURE Heaters comprising wire filaments wrapped around a core of insulating material have been used in hair dryers, however, such heaters have not proved efiicient.

Other heater units have been suggested which use a length of coiled resistance wire which is arranged about a set of insulating supports to provide a staggered array of elements extending across the path of the air flow. The assembly of such a heater is tedious and requires a great deal of time. The winding of such heating elements does not lend itself readily to a machine operation and generally must be accomplished by hand. The latter assembly is difiicult to repair in the event the continuous length of filament is broken or burned because the entire assembly must be rewired at considerable expense.

The present invention seeks to overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art heaters by utilizing individual heating elements which are joined together in a novel assembly.

The improved heater unit comprises two members formed of electrical and thermal insulating material. Each member has a base portion and opposed upstanding walls thereon. The walls on one member include spaced apart grooves which are designed to receive therein mating tongues on the other member. When the mating portions are joined they form an enclosure which is Open on two sides.

A plurality of heating elements are placed within the enclosure and are supported on the upstanding walls by means of electrical connectors. The connector frictionally engage the upstanding walls in each of the grooves on the walls and are firmly clamped therein when the upper housing member having tongues on the side walls is mated with the lower housing member. Thus, there is formed an enclosure for the heating elements which has proved of high efiiciency, because the air flow contacts the heating coils in a confined space.

Each heating coil is separately wound and if a coil goes bad it is quickly and simply replaced with a new wound unit.

FIG. 1 is an exploded view showing the elements in perspective;

FIG. 2 is an assembly showing the parts in assembled relationship; and

FIG. 3 is a view showing the details of the electrical connector.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a heater assembly comprising a lower housing portion 10 and an upper housing portion 11.

3,486,003 Patented Dec. 23, 1969 The lower housing portion comprises a base 12. Fixed to the base 12 are upstanding walls 14 and 15. The walls have tongues 16 formed thereon which are separated by grooves. Each of the tongues 16 has a depression 17 formed therein which will be fully described below.

The upper housing portion 11 also comprises a base 18 to which are fixed depending

walls

19 and 20 having tongues 21 thereon. A forward wall 22 is attached to the base 18 and a rear wall 23 bounds the rear portion of the base 18. The rear wall has a notch 24 therein which is fully described below.

The upper housing portion 11 and the lower housing portion are formed of electrical and thermal insulating materials such as a ceramic or Bakelite. The tongues 21 on the upper housing 11 are formed to fit in the grooves between the tongues 16 on the lower housing 10. A small space exists between the extremity of each

tongue

16 and 21 and the groove within which it rests forming the depression 17.

Placed within each depression 17 is a heating element denoted generally by numeral 25. The number of heating elements used is a matter of choice. I have found five to be satisfactory. The heating elements each comprise a ceramic element 26 which can have any cross-sectional configuration. Wrapped around each ceramic element 26 is a resistive heater wire 27. A terminal 28 is fixed to each end of the element 26 and to the wire 27 by any known attaching means. The terminal includes an inner U-shaped clip portion 29 and an outer U-shaped connector portion 30.

Each U-shaped clip 29 is supported by the upstanding walls 14 and 15 on the lower housing 10 by placing the clip 29 within each depression 17 such that the U-shaped clip straddles the wall whereby the bight of the U-shaped clip 29 fits within the confines of the depression 17. The depth of the depression 17 equals the thickness of the terminal 18. The upper housing 11 is placed over the lower housing 10 by placing each tongue 21 within a groove between the tongues 16 on the lower housing 10. Each ceramic element 26 is spaced one from the other and is confined within a housing comprising the upper and lower portions 10 and 11. The housing is open on two sides for the reception and exit of air. A known thermal cutout 31 can be placed in the heating circuit if desired and held in place such as by screws.

A portion 32 of the base 18 is cut away for the reception of a clamp 34 which has an end resting in the portion 32, the notch 24, and an end which fits snugly on the bottom of the base portion 12. The upper and lower housing sections 10 and 11 are thereby tightly held together, but can be easily separated in the event repair or replacement of parts must be made.

The terminals 28 of the heating elements 26 are outside the

walls

14, 15, 19 and 20. A connecting wire 33 is placed over the terminals 28 such as to connect the heating elements 26 in series or in parallel with or without the thermal cut-out 31, as desired, by appropriate connections.

If desired, one or more of the heating elements may be dimensioned as a voltage dropping resistor for sup plying current to a rectifier feeding a low voltage DC motor for driving a blower to force air through the passageway between the walls 14, 15-, 19 and 20 of the upper and lower housings 11 and 10.

I have thereby disclosed a compact heater assembly which can be easily disassembled for repair or replacement of parts by simply removing the clamp 34. The heaters 26 themselves are maintained separated and confined in a housing which is open on tWo sides. Air forced into the housing by a known blower unit is thus confined between the walls and the molecules of air having been brought in such close proximity are readily heated and passed into a hose and thence into a hair drying hood worn on the users head.

It is to be understood that the aforementioned description of an embodiment of my invention is for illustrative purposes only. The true scope of my invention is to be measured by the claims included herein which are meant to encompass all reasonable equivalents of my invention.

I claim:

1. In a heater assembly for a hairdryer comprising (a) a lower housing portion having spaced upstanding walls thereon, said upstanding walls having at least one indentation on each of said spaced upstanding 'walls, I,

(b) an upper housing portion having spaced upstanding walls thereon which mate with the walls on said lower housing portion to form an open enclosure adapted to receive air forced therethrough,

(c) at least one heating element within the open enclosure,

(d) electrical terminal means secured to the heating element and constituting a support for said heating element and being supported on said spaced upstanding walls of the lower housing in said indentations, whereby air which is forced through said enclosure will contact the heating element.

2. In a heater assembly for a hairdryer as defined in claim 1 in which the Walls forming said upper and lower housing portions are in the form of complimentary tongue and groove members which interfit to form said upstanding walls.

3. A heater assembly as defined in claim 2 in which said tongue and grooves have said indentations formed References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,324,994 12/1919 Benjamin 17492 X 1,561,814 11/1925 Aske 338315 2,225,592 12/1940 MacFadden 29453 X 2,261,496 11/1941 Happe et al. 219-463 2,294,322 8/1942 Van der Woude.

2,856,229 10/1958 Adell 29-453 X 2,917,616 12/1959 Thomson 219-347 X 3,095,496 6/1963 Omohundro a 3499 X 3,298,111 1/1967 Parr 719-374 X JOSEPH V. TRUHE, Primary Examiner P. W. GOWDEY, Assistant Examiner U.S. C1. X.R.