US566073A - Draft-regulator - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

DRAFT REGULATOR.

No. 566,073. Patented Aug. 18, 1896.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN S. FOX, OF OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA.

DRAFT-REG U LATO R.

sr'EcIFIoA'rIoN forming part of Letters Patent NO. 566,073, dated August 18, 1896.

Application filed January 14, 1896. Serial No. 575 514. (N0 model-3 To all whom it may concern:

' Beit known that I, JOHN S. FOX, a citizen of the United States, residing at Oakland, county of Alameda, State of California, have 5 invented an Improvement in Draft-Regulators; and I hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

My invention relates to a device for regulating the draft and movement of airin furnaces for heating purposes.

It consistsof an arrangement of dampers and their connectionwith a propelling-wheel driven by the current of moving air, whereby the movement of the air itself automatically controls the supply. 7

It also consists in details of construction which will be more fully explained by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which the figure is a vertical section of a furnace and fiues illustrating my invention.

This invention is especially designed to be used in connection with heating-furnaces having a number of hot and cold air passages leading to various rooms to be heated, and in which it is necessary to regulate the supply of air passing to any one room and proportion it properly.

In theoperation of such an apparatus it has been found that the hot air will, when the fire is started, often go to certain rooms, while others will be left with little or no supply for a long time, and it is difiicult to regulate this 'matter without visiting the rooms and ascertaining the condition of each one. Tihs is especially the case in large schoolbuildings having many recitation-rooms to be heated by hot air.

In my device I employ a damper or dampers, which are actuated by propeller-wheels journaled in the air-shafts so as to be rotated by the current passing through the shaft, and when astrong current is passing through any one of the conduits it will act through the propeller to partially close the damper or gate in that conduit, and the air will thus be diverted to some other one in which the supply has previously been insufficient. The whole system will thus regulate itself without further attention.

In the present case I have illustrated my invention as applied to a centrally-disposed heating-furnace with two flues and the necessary passages for admitting and delivering air.

It will be manifest that any number of fiues may be employed and that any suitable or desired form of heating apparatus may be used. I do not desire to confine myself to any especial heater.

A represents a furnace having passages B leading to various rooms and delivering the heated air into these rooms. In the present case I have shown the outlet-passages B from the furnace connecting with conduits B, which lead the air from the furnace to the room where it is to be delivered. Below the passages B and opening directly into the passages B' are the cold-air passages B A damper or dampers O are fulcrumed or pivoted so that they normally close-the connection between the passages B and B, but if the heat of the room becomes too great the damper may be shifted so as to close the passage B and allow cold air to pass directly from B to B, and thence into the room. These dampers are operated by hand by means of a cord D hanging conveniently within the room, this feature not being a part of my invention.

E E are supplemental dampers pivoted in the passage B, so arranged that when the upper edges are drawn together to close the central portion of the passage the lower edges will be carried out against the sides of the passage and close the outer portion.

When the dampers stand in the vertical position, they offer no impediment to the free passage of the air.

' It will be understood that a single damper could be employed in the same position and be centrally fulcrumed, so that when turned it would extend entirely across the passage and close it, but I have found that the operation is more accurate and convenient when two dampers are employed. Each of these dampers may have a weight G suspended from its lower edge, or they may be connected by springs F,which normally hold them in a vertical position and will offer a certainresistance to their being closed. These weights may be applied in any suitable or well-known manner so that they can be varied to suit the amount of air which it is desired to carry to any particular room and the desired resistance to the movement of the damper.

Above the dampers and between them and the rooms to which the air is to be conveyed is situated a propeller-wheel 11, mounted upon a vertical shaft I, which is suitably journaled within the passage B. Upon this shaft is a drum J, and around this drum passes a chain K. The opposite end of the chain is connected with the upper edge of one of the dampers E.

Each of the dampers E might be connected in the same manner, so that when the shaft is turned in one direction the two chains will be wound upon the drum and the upper edges of the dampers drawn together, the lower edges being correspondingly thrown out toward the sides, so as to decrease the area of the passage. When turned in the other direction, the weights will act to bring the dampers into a vertical position. In the present case Ihave shown each of the dampers having a circular segment L fixed about the pivot-point as a center, and a chain M is fixed to the upper part of one segment and the lower part of the other, and only a single cord or chain is employed connecting the upper edge of one of the dampers with the winding-drum. With this construction, when the upper edge of one damper is drawn in by the rotation of the propeller and its shaft the chain M will wind upon the segment L of that damper, and the opposite end being connected with the segment of the other damper will draw it inward in a corresponding degree.

The propeller-wheel is situated in the passage above the dampers, and the operation will be as follows: The weights at the lower edges of the dampers hold them normally in avertical position, so as to offer the least obstruction to the passage of the heated air. When the furnace-fire is made, the heat will pass through these passages, and if too great a volume is passing through any one of the passages while the other ones are not properly supplied the current flowing through the passage B will rotate the propeller H, thus winding the chain K upon the drum J, it will act, as previously described, to close the dampers to an extent depending upon the strength of the current. When the dampers are so far closed that the current is not sufficient to act upon the propeller, the latter may stand in that position, or if the current becomes still more reduced the weights upon the lower edges of the dampers will act to draw them back again toward the vertical position, the propeller turning backward at the same time. As the dampers are situated between the source of supply and the propeller-wheel, it will be manifest that the latter will be acted upon by the air only when the damper is opened. The amount of air entering each room will be governed by the weight or spring. For instance, if there are four or six rooms to be heated from the same furnace and there is a capacity of four thousand cubic feet per minute and it is desirable to divide this into four equal parts, the amount of air passing through each of the fiues can be ascertained by means of an air-meter, and weights are then attached to the dampers to produce the necessary resistance, and these weights will be proportioned to the amount of air that is desired to have pass through either of the passages. If a large amount of air is wanted in any one room, heavier weights will be attached to the dampers of that passage. If less air is wanted, the weights are lighter, so that the propeller will act more readily upon the dampers.

If it be desired to shut the air off entirely, the dampers may be so disposed that they will close by gravitation after the weights are removed.

The dampers are fulcrumed either upon knife-edge bearings or any suitable or wellknown form of bearing which will allow them to turn very easily.

The dampers, propeller, the connecting cords or chains, and all the parts are made of metal, so that they will resist the heat and not be affected by it. By this construction the heat-passages will all regulate themselves automatically and the various rooms connected with the furnace will receive their proper share of the heated air.

It will be manifest that the dampers and propeller can be arranged in a horizontal passage and operated in a similar manner by connecting the counterbalance-weights with the periphery of the segments L, or an equivalent arrangement,-so as to retain the dampers normally open and to return them when the air-current ceases or is reduced.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. Flues or passages, dampers fulcrumed therein adapted to stand in line with the passage when opened, or be turned to close the passage, weights connected with the dampers to retain them normally in the open position, a propeller, the shaft of which is journaled in the passage near the dampers, a windingdrum upon the propeller-shaft, and connections with the dampers whereby the latter are closed by therotation of the propeller, caused by the passage of an air-current, and are opened by the action of the weights when the pressure upon the propeller is reduced.

2. A furnace having air-passages leading therefrom, dampers fulcrumed in the airfiues, weights or springs by which the dampers are normally retained in line with the passage so that the latter is unobstructed, a propeller-wheel havinga shaft journaled in the flue near the dampers, a cord or chain adapted to wind upon the propeller-shaft when the latter is rotated, and having the opposite end connected with one or both of the dampers so that the rotation of the propeller by the current of air will act to partially close the dampers are moved to decrease or close the air-passage when the propeller is rotated in one direction, circular segments concentric with the journals of the axes, chains connecting the peripheries of the segments on 0pp0- site sides of the journals so that the dampers are moved simultaneously in opposite directions, and weights or springs by which the dampers are returned to a normally open position when the air-pressure upon the propeller is reduced or ceases.

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

JOHN S. FOX.

Witnesses:

O. A. FAWOE'IT, FRED. A. CAMPBELL.

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