US565941A - Device for closing flue-thimbles - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 7 v J. STURGISS.

DEVICE FOR CLOSING FLUE THIMBLES- No. 565,941. Patented Aug. 18, 1896.

R I E zj e r i er James SturgisS,

@ lnbvnz yg UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

JAMES STURGISS, OF EDGERTON, MISSOURI.

DEVICE FOR CLOSING FLUE-THIMBLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 565,941, dated August 18, 1896.

Application filed May 29, 1896. Serial No. 593,650. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JAMES Scrunerssa citizen of the United States, residing at Edgerton, in the county of Platte and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Device for Closing Flue-Thimbles, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in devices for closing flue-.thimbles.

The object of the present invention is to improve the construction of devices for closing fines, and to provide a simple, inexpensive, and efficient one, adapted to be readily applied to a flue-opening, and capable of effectually closing the same to prevent the moisture of a chimney or flue from leaking through the flue-opening and spoiling wallpaper or other wall-coating, to avoid the accumulation of soot in a thimble, and also to exclude smoke or fire from a room.

The invention consists in the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claims hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view of a portion of a flue provided with a device for closing a flue-opening constructed in accordance with this invention. Fig. 2 is a detail perspective view of the inner plate. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the resilient clamp.

Like numerals of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures of the drawlngs.

1 designates a thimble arranged in a flueopening and having its inner and outer ends closed by an inner disk or plate 2 and an outer cap 3, which are adjustably connected by a rod 4:. The rod 4 is provided, at its inner end, with an eye 5, which is hinged to an eye 6 of the inner plate or disk, and its outer portion, which is threaded, extends through a central perforation of the cap 3 and receives anut 7, which engages the outer face of the cap and which firmly connects the parts.

The inner disk or plate is provided, at its top, with a substantially L-shaped arm or lug 8 for engaging the inner face of the chimney,

and it has, at its bottom, a curved flange 9, which is substantially L-shaped in cross-section, and which engages the chimney and forms a support for the plate or disk. The arm 8 and the flange 9 prevent the disk or plate 2 from being drawn into the thimble when the nut 7 is screwed inward on the rod 4.

The outer cap,which is preferably dished or concavo-convex, as shown, bears at its periphery against the wall around the flue-opening, and it is supported and prevented from dropping by a resilient clamping and embracing frame 10, hinged to the inner face of the plate or disk 2 and provided with central eye 11, receiving the rod 4.

The resilient bracing and clamping frame, which is constructed of a single piece of stout wire or similar material, is composed of similar curved forwardly-divergingsides 12 and an outwardly-bowed curved transverse portion 13, connecting the front end to the sides. The rear terminals of the sides are bent inward at' right angles,for1ning pintles 14:, which are arranged in suitable eyes 15 of the inner plate or disk 2. The outwardly-bowed transversely-disposed curved portion 13 is engaged by a nut 16, arranged on the threaded portionof the stem and adapted to force the front portion 13 of the clamping-frame rearward,

whereby the sides are spread and caused toengage the thimble frictionally. The frame firmly clamps the thimble and serves as a brace for supporting the front portion of the rod to prevent the cap from shifting its position.

The eyes 6 and 15,which maybe constructed in any suitable manner, preferably consist of perforated lugs or angle-plates, riveted or otherwise secured to the disk or plate 2.

It will be seen that the device for closing flues is exceedingly simple and inexpensive in construction, that it is adapted to be readily applied to a flue-opening, and that it is capable of excluding smoke, water, and fire from a room, and of preventing the accumulation of soot in a thimble.

Changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificin g any of the advantages of this invention. What I claim is- 1. In a device of the class described, the" combination of an inner plate, an outer cap,

a threaded rod hinged to the inner plate extending through the outer cap, a bracing and clamping frame hinged to the inner plate, adapted to engage a thimble and provided with a central eye receiving the rod, and nuts mounted on the rod and engaging the cap and the bracing and clamping frame, substantially as described.

2. In a device of the class described, the

combination of an inner plate provided atits mounted on the rod and engaging the cap and the bracing and clamping frame, substantially as described.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of an inner plate, a threaded rod hinged to the same, a resilient clamping and bracing frame comprising forwardly-diverging sides hinged to the inner plate, and an outwardly-bowed front portion connecting the front ends of the sides and provided With a centrally-arranged eye receiving the rod, a nut arranged on the latter and engaging the front portion of the frame, and a cap secured to the outer end of the rod, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JAMES STURGISS.

W'itnesses:

NELSON KERR, I. S. MILL R.

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