US602450A - Damper-controller and automatic indicator - Google Patents

Description

2 SheetsSheet '1.

(No Model.)

0. S. HOOD.

DAMPER CONTROLLER AND AUTOMATIC INDICATOR.

Patented Apr. 19,1898.

S E 1 S CL N n W (No Model.) 2 Sheet sSheet 2.

C. S. HOOD.

DAMPER CONTROLLER AND AUTOMATIC INDICATOR. No. 602,450. Patented Apr. 19,1898.

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WITNESSES: INg/Elggl? I lUNrrn CYRUS S. HOOD, OF GORNING, NEIV YORK.

DAMPER-CONTROLLER AND AUTOMATIC INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO; 602,450, dated April 19, 1898.

Application filed. May 21, 1897. Serial No. 637,643. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it ntay concern:

Be it known that I, CYRUS S. HOOD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Corning, in the county of Steuben and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Damper- Controllers and Automatic Indicators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in heating systems wherein the various rooms of a building are warmed by means of a heated fluid passed through conducting-pipes which branch upward from a furnace or heater located in the cellar or basement; and the objects of my improvements are, first, to provide improved means for controlling any one of the regulating-dampers of the furnace or any one of the current-controlling dampers or valves, which are preferably located in the conducting-pipes near the source of heat, not only from a switchboard located in a central room or apartment, such as the sitting-room or common living-room, but also from the several other apartmentsirrespective of their positions relative to said central apartment; second, to so construct and arrange these damper or valve controlling connections that any given damper or valve may be opened or closed or otherwise properly adjusted either from the central apartment or from one of the other apartments or in the basement at the damper or valve itself irrespective of how it has previously been set from any one of the apartments other than that from which at the time it is desired to accomplish the adjustment, and, third, to provide means by which the position of a damper or valve will be automatically indicated in all the apartments to which the connections are run immediately upon adjusting the damper or valve from any one of the apartments. I accomplish these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which I have shown my invention as applied to a hot-air furnace and heating system, and in which- Figure 1 represents an interior sectional view of a building provided with an air-heating system embodying my improvements; Fig. 2, a like view showing a modification in the arrangement of the parts of the device; Fig. 3, a detail in perspective, showing a controller-rod mounted in a separate indicatingplate; and Fig. 4, a similar detail showing a switchboard, with all the controllers mounted thereon, for use in the central controllingapartment.

Similar letters of reference indicate similar parts throughout the several views.

In the drawings, A and B indicate the vertical partition-walls of a building, and O and D the flooring.

E represents the basement, in which is located the furnace F, from which the fiues or conducting-pipes ff f, &c., lead to the several rooms above.

G represents the central apartment or living-room from which it is desired to control and regulate all the dampers, and H and I apartments, either adjacent thereto or remote therefrom, to which the hot-air conduits lead and from each of which apartments it is desired to control the damper belonging to that conduit which leads to that particular apartment.

The conduit f, leading to apartment I, has the flow of hot air through it controlled by the opening and closing of a damper d, pivoted, preferably, in an enlargement in the conduit located in the cellar close to the furnace for reasons well known and obvious to those skilled in the art. The damper is provided with a weighted arm a, rigidly secured to an extension of its pivotal rod b, said arm being disposed at an angle to the damper, so as to normally maintain the damper in its closed position. Attached to the arm a at a suitable distance from its pivot-point is a cord, chain,wire, or other motion-transmitting connection c, which extends from said weighted arm over direction-changing devices, such as pulleys e 6, up to the apartment I, into which the hot-air pipe discharges. This connection 0 I have shown held in tension by a weight g,which in the present instance I have located at the extreme end of said connection, but which might be located at any other suitable intermediate point in its length by means similar to that shown at the left in Fig. 1 and hereinafter to be more fully described. This weight might obviously be replaced by a spring or other suitable tension device.

In the apartment I, preferably near the discharge-opening of conduit f, the connection ,weights g and n.

0 is provided with any suitable handle or projection h, extending out therefrom through a vertical slot in a wall-plate 2', although the connection 0 in a more crude form might be carried up outside the wall in an exposed position, so as to be grasped by the hand.

Attached to the weighted lever to at or near the point of attachment of connection 0 is a second similar connectionj, which leads to the central controlling apartment G and which may be constructed precisely similar to the controlling device just described, but which I have chosen to show as connected to the arm k of a bell-crank lever, which is pivoted at l and has the arm on provided with notches to hold in proper adjustment the weight n. A third arm 0 extends out at right angles to arm is and carries at its end the rod p,which extends up verticallyin to apartment G,where it is provided with an operating-handle q. The rod in the present instance extends up through a passage in the wall and terminates in a recess 1". This recess maybe covered by a wall-plate provided with a vertical slot, through which the handle (1 projects, such a wall-plate being shown in Fig. 3 and being the same as the wall-plate described for apartment 1.

There will be as many conducting-pipes f leading from the furnace as there are rooms or apartments to be heated in a given building, and each pipe will have in it a damper similar to the one described, each damper being supplied with two controller connections, one connection leading to the room the heat ing of which is regulated by that particular damper and the other leading to the central apartment. In this central apartment then there will be a series of wall-plates and operating-handles, similar to that shown in Fig. 3, located adjacent each other in a convenient locality, or a single switchboard may be emplo'yed provided with the required number of vertical slots, or a board similar to that shown in Fig. 4, by the use of which the construction is simplified and cheapened, since the controller-rods p p, &c., may then be brought up through the floor outside of the wall instead of inside it, as in Fig. l.

In order to render this system operative, it is requisite that the pull of the draft-closing weight on arm a shall be approximately equal to the sum of the pulls exerted by the tension- This being the case, there is an equilibrium established, so that the operating-handles and the damper will remain at rest in whatever position they are left, the friction in the transmitting connections 0 and j being sufficient to maintain this state of rest so long as the proportion above is approximately maintained. In order toobtain readily this approximate equilibrium, I provide the bell-crank lever with the adjustable weight in the line of one of the transmitting connections, preferably that leading to the central apartment.

To operate any given damper, it is obvious that by grasping either of the handles 72. or q or the weighted lever a, or, indeed, any part of the connections 0 or 3', and exerting sufficient power merely to overcome the friction of the parts, said damper will be opened or closed, according to the direction of movement, and that said opening or closing will be automatically indicated by the position of the handle relative to the wall-plates. Thus, with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1, if an upward movement is given to the damper-arm a the tension on connection 0 will be relieved and the weight g will descend, causing an upward movement in handle h, and similarly the same movement will cause a relief of tension in connection j, which will permit the bell-crank lever to assume the position indicated by broken lines through the influence of weight n, and the rod 19, with its handle q,will be raised to a correspondingupper position.

In order that the condition of a given damper may be perfectly obvious to those unfamiliar with the operation of the mechanism involved, the wall-plates at top and bottom will be marked with words, as On and Off, to indicate in which direction to move the handles, also to show by the position of the handles relative to said marks the position of the dampers at any time. Also at the central switch-board, in addition to these positionmarks, each handle or the board adjacent to each handle will be engraved or otherwise inscribed with the name or initial of the room the damper for which is controlled by such handle-thus P for parlor, D for diningroom, P O for chamber or parlor, 8:0. In Fig. 3 a handle is shown in the form of the initial letter P, and other initial letters may also be formed in the handles in the same way.

As it requires some care to perfectly balance a controlling system such as described above, I have shown in Fig. 2 a modification which simplifies and cheapens the construction, although I prefer the perfectly-balanced system first described. Since the connections 0, &c., leading to the difierent portions of a building vary much in length, the tensionweights ought also to vary in size to correspond to the different weights of the connections; but by means of the construction now to be described I render this difference immaterial, it only being requisite that the two weights on the connections shall approximately counterbalance the weight on the damper-arm a. We will suppose that after the system is coupled up it is found that the weight on the arm a, Fig. 2, overbalances the weights g and n, tending to keep them always in elevated position and the damper closed. Then by use of recessed wall-plates 8, provided with hooks t 1, set back from the vertical line of the connections, and suitable rings it upon the connections, adapted to engage said hooks, the damper may be set and held in any position from either of the rooms ICS G or I. Thus suppose the damper is to be manipulated from I. The ring a will be drawn up, say, to the first hook t, which will open the damper half-way. The ring is then pressed in and hooked onto the hook, the downward pull on the connection holding it in place. The ring on the connection in room G will be drawn up a corresponding distance by weight 11, since the connection j is relieved of the weight of arm a. If it is now desired to manipulate the damper from room G, it is only necessary to raise the connection j slightly, this movement raising arm a and relieving connection 0' of its weight. The weight g will then pull ring to of connection 0 off its hook and the connection j is left free to move the damper in either direction. It will be seen from this how the damper can be manipulated from either apartment irrespective of how it has been previously set in one of them. In this way with weights of a given size this system can be installed without the counterbalancing adjustment, it only being requisite that the weights g and n, 850., shall outweigh their respective connections and that their sum shall approximately equal the weighted damper-arm to make the system easily operative.

The advantages of this double-controller and automatic-indicator system will be at once obvious. Thus the heat may be turned on or off. from apartment I by operating the controller in that apartment, and when so turned on or off may be again turned off or on in apartment G, and vice versa, and each operation,in whichever apartment performed, will be automatically indicated in the other.

It will be understood that the damper or valve may be weighted so that it will normally remain open if not counterbalanced by the elements of the controller mechanism, it only being essential that there shall be separate counterbalancing means acting on the connections and on the valve,that theyact in opposition, and that they be so proportioned and coordinated that the sum of their pulls upon the valve shall approximate zero, for this is all that is essential to maintain the entire system normally at rest, but under a tension which will cause a correlated movement in all the parts when the equilibrium is destroyed by the application of force at any point in the system.

While I have described my invention as applied to hot-air systems, I do not wish to be understood as confining myself to this application of it, as it may with equally good results be applied to control the flow of other heating fluids, whether gaseous or liquid. It will also be seen that my controller system may be applied to the furnace or heater dampers as well as to the conduit dampers or valves and that more than two connections may be used if it should be desired to control any one damper from more than two points in a building.

ready been devised in which a damper has been operated by double connections leading to difierent apartments of a building, also that a damper has been operated by a single counterbalanced connection leading to difierent floors of a building, and that such a controller has also been utilized to indicate the position of the damper, and I do not claim these things broadly.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a heating system, the combination, with a regulating valve or damper, of two sep arate motion-transmitting connections, one of said connections leading to a central point of control and the other connection leading to a point of control remote from the first, means for holding the connections in tension whereby when either one of the connections is operated in either direction to adjust the valve or damper a corresponding movement is imparted to the other connection, and a wallplate or other device at each point of control which by the relative position of the connection thereto forms an indicator to show the position of the valve or damper substantially as described.

2. In a heating system, the combination, with a weight-operated valve or damper, of two motion-transmitting connections, one of said connections leading to a central point of control and the other connection leading to a second point of control remote from the first, weights attached to the connections to hold them in tension, the combined effects of said weights being opposed to and approximately equal to the weight operating upon said valve or damper, operating-handholds on the connections at the points of control, and a wallplate or other device at each point of control which by the relative position of the connection thereto forms an indicator to show the position of the valve or damper substantially as described. I

3. In a heating system, the combination, with a weight-operated valve or damper, of two motion-transmitting connections, one of said connections leading to a central point of control and the other connection leading to a second point of control remote from the first, weights attached to the connections to hold them in tension, means for adjusting the pull of one of said weights whereby the combined effect of the two connection-weights is rendered approximately equal to that of the valve or damper weight and an equilibrium of the parts established for the purpose set forth, operating-handholds on the connections at the points of control, and a wall-plate or other device at each point of control which by the relative position of the connection thereto forms an indicator to show the position of the valve or damper substantially as described.

4. In a heating system, the combination, with a weight-operated valve or damper, of two motion-transmitting connections, one of I am aware that controller systems have alsaid connections leading to a central point of control, and the other connection leading to a point remote from the first, weights attached to the connections to hold them in tension, a bell-crank lever in the line of one of the connections to the horizontal arm of which one of said weights is movably attached, a third arm on said lever, a rod coupled to said arm and extending upward to one of the points of control, operating-handholds on the connections at the points of control and a Wall-plate or other device at each point of control which by the relative position of the connection thereto forms an indicator to show the position of the valve or damper substantially as described.

5. In a heating system, the combination,

with a weight-operated valve or damper, of a motion transmitting connection, said connection leading to a central point of control, a bell-crank lever in the line of said connection, to the horizontal arm of which a weight is movably attached, a third arm on said lever, a rod coupled to said arm and extending upward to the point of control, and an operating-handhold on the connection at the point of control substantially as described.

Signed in the presence of tWo subscribing witnesses this 22d day of April, 1897.

CYRUS S. HOOD. lVitnesses:

ED HOOD, S. B. MILLARD.

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