USRE20397E - Register and grille - Google Patents

Description

June 8, 1937. J. A. GERMONPREZ 4 REGISTER AND GRILLE Original Filed Sept. 30, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INYENTOR ATTORNEYS June 8, 1937. J GERMQNPREZ Q Re. 20,397

REGISTER AND GRILLE Original File d Sept. 50, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTQR ATTORNEYS V Reissued .June a, 1937 UNITED STATE REGISTER AND GRILLE John a. Germonprel. Grosse Pointe Park, Mich, assignor to Uni-Flo Corporation, a corporation of Michigan Original No.1,945,'972, dated February 8, 1934,

Serial No. 566,149, September 30, 1931.

App

cation 'ior reissue April 1, 1935, Serial No.

12 Claims. (Cl. 98-108) This invention relates to aregister and grille construction adapted more particularly for mounting in an opening in the wall or floor of .a room, through which opening heated or ventilat- 5 ing air is forced into the room. Y

One of the primary objects of this invention is to provide a grille construction which will be sub- I stantiallyinvisible and which will not'thereiore 'i'orcibly attract the eye of a person entering the room in which the register is mounted.

, A further object oi this invention is to provide a register and grille construction by which vision into the stack head or concealed heat, cabinet with which the grille is associated will be minimized.

of an air duct, operates to control air flow beyond the grille causing rapid mixing of the incoming air with the room air [thereby reducing the ,ve-

locity of the former and accelerating'circulation of the latter into the incomingair current so that the resultant moving air will be thoroughly distributed throughout the room and have a velocity and temperature which is comfortable to the occupants of the room and this in spite of pronounced diflerences in temperature between the incoming air and the room air.

The invention further contemplates the provision of a structure of the above mentioned character in which all air noises will be minimized, in which a uniform flow of the air will be effected, and by which foreign objects will be entirely prevented from entering the stack or heat cabinet with which the grille is associated.

A further object is to provide a register for an air duct having a damper arranged for actuation ina novel manner. I v

Numerous other objects and advantages of this invention will become more apparent as the following description ,proceeds, particularly when reference is had to the accompanying drawings,

wherein: Fig. 1 is an elevational view of a register and grille constructed in accordance with the'teachings of this invention; v

Fig. 21s a sectional view taken substantially on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail perspective An important object of the invention is to pro-- elements forming a part of the structure shown in Fig. 1; o

' Fig. 4 is an enlarged elevational view of a portion of the grille shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line H of Fig. 5; and Fig. 'l is a'view similar to Fig. 4 showing a slightly modified form of. construction.

It is, at the present time, quite generally the practice to provide forced air conditioning or ventilating systems or concealed radiation in buildings. For these systems, register openings are formed in the walls or floorsof the rooms and grilles'are utilized for partially closing these openings.

Heretofore grilles for this purpose have been constructed on the theory that the main requirement was a maximum of free air opening. As a result, these grilles have been built with face design sections or bars of substantial width and arranged to provide relatively large openings through which the air might pass. The most popular type of grille has been the square mesh grille with three-quarter inch square holes formed by spaced bars, these bars being usually onequarter of aninch in width.

Grilles of this character, even though formed to provide pleasing designs, have possessed numerous disadvantages, and it is an object of the present invention to eliminate these disadvantages in a manner which will hereinafter be more fully described. a

Referring then particularly to the drawings wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout all views, the numeral III designates the wall or floor of a room, this wall being provided with a suitably located opening II. The reference character I! designates a stack or housing located within the opening 1 I, it being understood that this stack may be in communication with a forced air conditioning and ventilating system or a remotely located heating-system. Rather, the stack I! might consti cured thereto in any desired'manner. This casing is bent. or otherwise formed. adjacent its view of one of the outer end to provide an inwardly extending flange l6 and an outwardly extending flange l'|,.

character 23. The flange 22 of this inner cas-' ing preferably extends at an obtuse angle to the flange 24 of the casing'so that when the inner casing is forced within the outer casing the I flange 22 thereof resiliently engages the grille v2|I to firmly force the same into engagement with the flange Ii. V

The inner casing 2| constitutes a support for a damper 25, this damper being hingedly mounted in the upper end of the inner casing, as desig nated by the reference character 26. A coil spring 21 coiled about a pin 28 fixed to the inner casing adjacent the upper end thereof is fixed at 5 its end to the damper and tends to move the same to open position. 1

For moving the damper to closed position, there is provided a flexible pull member or chain Ill provided throughout its length with spaced 30 balls or protuberances 31. This chain extends at its one end through an opening 32 formed in the damper. Fitted in this opening is a sleeve 33, and this sleeve is provided with an enlarged recess It to provide a seat for a spring 35. 'Ihis 35 spring is of conical shape. and the "chain passes through this spring and is provided at its end the chain through the slot and thus hold the damper in position. The spring 35 provides in for facilitating locking engagement of the chain in the slot when the damper is moved to closed position since this spring will give sumciently to permit movement of the chain to -a position where two of the enlargements therein will be arranged on opposite sides of the slot in the locking member. I k

i It will be noted that the grille is maintain within the outer casing by engagement of the flange of the inner casing with the inner-face of the grille adjacent the edge thereof. Thus grilles of different thicknesses'may be mounted in the outer casing, the inner casing being prop i erly positioned within the outer casing to effectively hold the grille in position.

It will be noted mrther that the portion of the grille frame or outer casing which fits into the stack head is entirely smooth so that a perfect seal is effected at this point, thus eliminating the escape of the air around the grille frame. Still further, the flange 24 of the inner casing provides a shelf or flat surface'which snugly engages the free edges of the damper when the latter is moved to closed position. This is an important feature of the construction since it eliminates air noises such, for example, as air whistle which frequently develops because of the presence of a small opening between the edge of the damper-and the damper frame when the damper. is in closed position.

As brought out before, the present invention contemplates so constructing the grille 20 as to eliminate the numerous objections and disadvantages of the grilles heretofore used. The structure'of the grille will first be described, and then several of the advantages of this type of grille will be explained in detail in order that a more complete understanding of the inventive principles embodied in' this application'may be obtained. p 7

Referring then particularly to Figs. 2 and 4 to 6, inclusive of the drawings, it will be noted that the grille comprises a. plurality of spaced thin strips or fins Ii which are supported and held 1 position .by thin flat bars 45, the latter being orced through slots 41 formed in the fins.

Flanges J8 are preferably formed surrounding the slots, and these flanges embrace the adiacent portions of the bars, as clearly illustrated 1 in Fig. 6' of the drawings. After thebars. and fins have been properly assembled, the .whole unit may be made rigid by sweating the unit in,

, edges out of the planes of the fln bodies leaving inclined and rounded surfaces extending partially across the narrow passages defined by the By providing such depressions adjacent fins. along both the entering and discharge edges of the fins, the latter are deformed uniformly and objectionable distortion thereof avoided. The projections along the discharge edges constitute agitators which break up the air streams confined by the flns with the result that the air discharged from the grille is mixed with or distributed-throughout the room in an advantageous manner later to be described.

In Fig. 7 a slightly modified form of grille construction is disclosed as comprising thin strips or fins 46', these stripsbeing provided in their edges with the depressions 50'. These strips are bent into a-zig-zag formation, as illustrated, and then the abutting portions of these strips, when a number of strips are assembled together, are sweated together to form a unitary construction of the cellular or honeycomb type. Thus the grille may be formed without the use of the supporting bars and thus he formed entirely of thin strips or fins.

Among'.the numerous advantages of the construction described above, several will be described in detail. As brought out before, a grille construction, when mounted in a room, should the same. With the old type grille in which the cross bars were three-thirty-seconds of an inch or greater in width, the grille was readily visible from -any point in theroom and in fact, forcibly attracted the attention of persons entering the room. This condition is evidenced by the fact that designers frequently attempted to improve the appearance of these grilles by curving the cross-bars or otherwise shaping the same into suitable designs.

with a grille constructed, however, in accordance with'the teachings of this invention, the

- be as nearly invisible as it is possible to make eye passesthe grille without any noticeable reac 75 li -s07 tion and without being forcibly attracted to the same. with the approximately twentythousandths of an .inch thick and with these fins spaced apart approximately one-quarter of an inch and with the supporting bars of onesixteenth of an inch thickness and of one-quarter inch width it has been found that thegrille hecomes practically invisible at a distance of approximately-ten feet. At less distances the only 10 visible parts of the grille are the narrow vertical supporting bars. Also it will be seen that by making the fins from narrow metallic strips of ribbon-like thinness, very little resistance is V offered thereby to the flow of air. At the same time, they are sufiiciently wide to straighten out the flow of air'through the grille.

A further'important advantage of this construction is the fact that the grille practically eliminates vision into the stack head. with the old type construction in which the bars define relatively large openings, .it was possible to readily see through thefgrille into the stack or concealed heat chamber back of the grille. With the relatively thin strips spaced and supported in the manner described in this application, the open-' grille in the manner described. Any resistance to the fiow of .air tends not only to throw the whole air heating or conditioning system out of balance, but tends also to' decrease the eiliciency of the entire installation. If the system utilizes 40 air blowers or the like to eii'ect a circulation of the air, increased pressure must be provided to overcome the resistance to which the air flow is subjected. If the grille is utilized with a heating system of the concealedradiation type or gravity warm air installation, increased head pressure has to be produced. It is therefore apparent that a grille which reduces the air resistance to a minimum is particularly desirable. This is accomplished in the present instance through the use of the thin sheet metal fins and cross bars and' by constructing the deflecting elements Ill so that they project .only part way to the adjacent fins and are spaced along the latter with the corresponding elements on the diilerent fins arranged in alinement with each other. i i A grille constructed in accordance with the teachings of this 'invention when compared with a standard perforated metal square mesh grille with thirteenssixteenths inch square holes and three-sixteenths inch spacing bars, shows the fol- I lowing comparison as to air resistance. The .above mentioned type of standard grille was chosen because of its past popularity, while a grille having openings and bars of the size mentioned was selected as compared to a grille having three-quarter inch square holes and onequarter inch space bars which are usually used to give a greater free air opening- Compared to daylight area which is the maximum condition 6 obtainable or thecondition which would exist if the air were permitted to flow through the wall opening without any grille whatever, it was found. that a grille constructed in accordance with the teachings of this invention was approximately 7 89.8 percent effective as compared to an effectivements .5! as deflectors is that they render -unnecness of 7'1 percent of the. standard square mesh grille. Compared to the aperture of the frame, the added resistance to the air flow imposed by the fin and bar type grille at 400 ft. velocity was only .0041 inch water gauge, or 25 percent above 5 that of the aperture alone, while with agrille of the standard square meshtype, there wasan additional air resistance of 71 percent over the aperture of the frame. Since the horse power re-- quiredto force the air through the grille is direct- 10 iy proportional to the resistance, it is obvious that a considerable saving in horse power-is effected, it having been found that it requires 36 percent more horse power to force air through an old type grille than to force air through a grille con- 15 structed in accordance with the teachings of this invention.

Asbrought out before, a further advantage of this construction consists in the elimination of air noises, such as air whistle, and the elimination of 20 all projections on the grille frame so that an effective seal is obtained between the stack and this frame.

.The' invention possesses a further important advantage in that with the'agitators or deflectors 2 J 0 constructed and arranged as above described,

air may be discharged into the room at a comparatively high velocity and there may be a pronounced diflerence between the temperature of the incoming air and the room air. This desir- 3 able action may be attributed in part to a turbulence or swirling of the air streams produced beyond the discharge face of the grille by impingement of the confined air streams against the in--' clined' deflecting surfaces of the bent portions 50 40 as these streams are discharged from the grille. Also, since the elements 50 are uniformly inclined in one direction transversely of the front face of the grille, and are spaced a short distance apart longitudinally of the fins, they exert a deflecting 4.5 eifect upon the whole body of air discharged from the grille and thusaifect the angle at which the air leaves the grille, As herein shown, those deflectors protrude approximately one-third of the distance across the passages formed between the 50 fins and the longitudinal spacing of the deflectors is only slightly greater than the distance between the fins.

An important advantage in the use of the eleessary the mounting of the fins at different angles to obtain various degrees "of deflection, but on v the contrary permit the fins to be assembled uniformly for all grilles. This is desirable from a manufacturing. standpoint in that it simplifies 60 and reduces the cost of construction. In addition toythe performance of the diffusing function above referred to, due to the spacing of the ele- .ments so longitudinally of the fins, such spacingserves to perform an important function aifecting 65 the appearance of the grille. Thus it will'be seen that these elenrents have the function of breaking up the straight line effect which would otherwise be formed by the front edges of the fins. Therefore any accidental departure of the forward edges of the fins from true parallel relation is rendered unnoticeable. v l

To enable the diflusingelements Slto perform the above functions, the fins III are spaced uili ciently close together and the spa erect is 75 y so correlated with the widths of the fins measured in the direction of the air flow from the grille that the narrow air streams into which the body of air moving through the duct is divided by the fins are so. closely confined that the major portion of each air stream is subjected to the action of the. elements. Thus, the fins III are preferably spaced apart not more than a distance of approximately one-quarter of an inch and the width of the fins 20 through the provision of the diflusing elements 50 which do not add to the manufacturing cost, the grille isutilized not only to provide a neat and substantially unnoticeabie covering for a duct opening but also performs the additional func- 25 tion of controlling the air flow beyond the face of the grille to-eiIect proper distribution of the incoming air throughout the room and this without increasing appreciably the resistance offered by the grille to the flow of air therethrough.

It will be noted that the flexible actuating member which hangs downwardly adjacent the wall in any position of adjustment of the damper eliminates the necessity of providing a rigid ac tuating member which might project into the 35 room and which might, because of its projection, become damaged or tear the clothingof persons coming into contact with the same. The resillent means associated with theend of the flexible control member which is secured to the damper 40 provides for a complete closing of the damper, thus facilitating the elimination of an opening between the edge of the damper and the flange 24.

It has been found further that the close spacing of the flns of the grille, together with their 45, depth, provides for a uniform flow of air through the grille opening without the necessity of utilizing air deflector blades such as have heretofore been utilized with the grilles of standard con-1 struction. Still further, the close spacing of the 50 fins makes the openings through the grille so small that all foreign objects are prevented from passing through the grille and into the stack or heat chamber in back of the same.

From the above it will be apparent that the 55 invention provides an improved registerand grille construction which efliciently accomplishes the results desired and eiiminates'the numerous objections and disadvantages of the grilles heretofore used.- While the invention has been de- 00 scribed in detail, it is to be clearly understood that the description is for the purposes of illustration only and is not definitive of the limits of the inventive idea. The right is reserved to make such changes in the details of construction and 65 arrangement of parts as will fall within the purview of the attached claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a device of the character describedna.

casing adapted to be positioned in an opening 70 in a wall, said casing being provided-with an inwardly extending flange adjacent its outer end,

a grille insaid casing engaging the rear 'face ofsaid flange, and a second casing within said first mentioned casing having an inwardly directed 75' flange rmiliently engaging the rear faceof said casing providing relatively through which the air discharged from said stack 7 grille to urge the same, into engagement with the flange of the first mentioned casing.

2. In a device of the character descrl bed'an outer casing adapted to be positioned in an open ing in a wall, said casing being provided with an 5 outwardly extending flange adapted to engage the outer surface of the wall adjacent, the opening therein and being provided with an inwardly extending flange adjacent its outer end, a grille within said casinggfor substantially closing the 10 front thereof, said grille engaging the inner face of the inwardly directed flange on said casing,. and a second casing fixed within said first mentioned casing, said second casing being provided with an inwardly extending flange arranged to engage the rear face of said grille and to yieldably urge the same into engagement with the rear face of the inwardly directed flange formed on the outer casing.

3. In a device of the character described, a casing, a damper having an opening, a hinge for hingedly mounting said damper within said casing,

a spring for normally moving said damper in one direction about its point of hinged mounting, a

flexible actuating member for moving said damper in the other direction about its point of hinged mounting, said actuating member being extended through said opening .formed in said damper, and means for 'anchoring said actuating member to said damper comprising a bushing mounted in the opening in said damper, a spring seating in a a of to the damper, and a bushing in the opening in said damper providing a seat for one end of said spring. a i

5. In a device of the character described, an outer casing having a flange, a grille positioned within said outer casing, an inner casing fixed within said outer casing and having a portion engaging said grille f or yieldably urging the same into engagement with said flange formed onsaid outer casing,'a damper hingedly mounted in said inner casing, means normally urging said damper to open position, a flexible member anchored to said'damper and extending through the said grille formoving the damper to closed position,

said flexible member being provided throughout its length with a plurality of spaced enlargements, and a locking member fixed 'to said outer casing, said locking member being provided with an opening through which said flexible member loosely extends and being provided with a slot with which said flexiblemember may be engaged, the enlargements of said flexible member being arranged to prevent longitudinal movement of the flexible member through the slot. I

6. The combination with a room wall having an opening therein for the discharge of air into the room, and a stack positioned in said opening and arranged to discharge air through the same,

of a casing mounted in said opening and hav ng an inwardly extending plane surfaced portion vsnugly engaging the said stack adjacent the discharge end thereof, a grille positioned in said small openings may flow, a second casing mounted in the first casing and supporting the grille therein, and a damper member hingedly'mounted in the second casing adapted to be adjusted toward or from closed position relative to the grille.

'l. The combination with a room wall having an opening therein, and a stack arranged in said opening for discharge through the same into a room, of an 'outer casing having a portion engaging the wall adjacent the opening therein and having a second portion engaging the stack adjacent the discharge end thereof, a second casing positioned within the outer casing and having an inwardly extending resilient flange, and a damper pivotally mounted in said second casing and so arranged with respect thereto that the edge of said damper snugly engages the inwardly extending flange on said second casing when the damper is in closed position.

8. A grille for controlling the discharge of air at one temperature into a room having air at a different temperature, said grille comprising a plurality of fins made from narrow strips of ribboa-like thinness and adapted to be supported across an air discharge opening with opposing side faces in closely spaced relation, said fins cooperating to form a multiplicity of narrow transversely elongated passages operative to divide a moving body of air flowing through the grille into separately confined streams, the width of the fins being substantially greater than and correlated with the spacing between them so as to impart directional control to said air streams while passing through the grille, and a multiplicity of diffusing elements protruding from the discharge edgeportions of the fins partially acres said narrow passages and arranged to provide a plurality of transversely spaced rows with the elements in 7 each row protruding in the same direction,rsaid elements being in the form of depressions bent from the discharge edge portions of the fins and shaped to provide outwardly and laterally inclined deflecting surfaces with rounded sides, adapted to be impinged upon by said air stream to produce a turbulence in the moving body of air beyond the grille.

-9. A grille for controlling the forcible discharge of air at one temperature into a room having air at a'different temperature comprising, incomdifferent temperature comprising, in combina-- tion', a supporting frame, a group of thin narrow fins supported in said frame in uniformly spaced relation with their discharge edges coacting to form the front face of the grille, said fins cooperating to form a plurality of narrow transversely elongated air passages and having longitudinally spaced portions bent to form a multiplicity of deflectors inclined toward said front face .of the grille for impingement by the air streams confined by said passages, said deflectors being arranged in parallel rows spaced a short distance apart across the front face of the grille with the deflectors of adjacent rows protruding from the discharge edge portions of the respective fins in the same direction.

11. A grille for controlling the discharge of air at one temperature-into a room having air at a different temperature comprising, in combination, a supporting frame, a group of thin narrow fins mounted in said frame with their side faces spaced a short distance apart uniformly and in opposing relation and with their discharge edges coacting to form the front face of the grille, said fins cooperating to form a plurality of narrow transversely elongated air passages and having their discharge edge portions bent to form a multiplicity of deflectors'spaced apart lengthwise of the fins and disposed so as to be impinged upon by the air streams in their discharge from said passages, said deflectors being located at regular intervals across the front face of the grille and forming with the intervening portions of each of the fins a continuous forward edge with a periodic departure from a straight line.

, 12. A grille for controlling the discharge of air into a room comprising, in combination, a supporting frame, a group of thin narrow fins supported in said frame in closely spaced relation with their discharge edges coaeting to form a front face, said fins cooperating to'form a plurality of narrow transversely elongated air passages extending rearwardly from said face, and a multiplicity ofidefiectors spaced apart longiztudinally of the fins and disposed in the paths of the air streams passing through the grill said deflectors being positioned to act upon said streams adjacent the point .of discharge thereof from the grille so as to change the direction of flow of spaced portions of the streams upon leaving the grille relative to adjacent intervening portions of the streams.

JOHN a. qnauonrnm'.

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