US3171343A

US3171343A - Means for discharging or exhausting air from the interior of a building

Info

Publication number: US3171343A
Application number: US231647A
Authority: US
Inventors: Monroe L Wexler
Original assignee: Acme Manufacturing Co Inc
Current assignee: Acme Manufacturing Co Inc
Priority date: 1962-10-19
Filing date: 1962-10-19
Publication date: 1965-03-02
Anticipated expiration: 1982-03-02

Description

March 2, 1965 M. WEXLER MEANS FOR DISCHARGING 0R EXHAUSTING AIR FROM THE INTERIOR OF A BUILDING 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed OGt. 19, 1962 nvvavron MONROE 1.. WEXL El? 4 T TORNEYS March 2, 1965 M WEXLER 3,171,343

MEANS FOR DISCHAR GING OR EXHAUSTING AIR FROM THE INTERIOR OF A BUILDING Filed Oct. 19, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I V E N TOR MONROE L. WEXL 0 ATTORNEYS March 1965 M. L. WEXLER 3, 7 ,343

MEANS FOR DISCHARGING OR EXHAUSTING AIR FROM THE INTERIQR OF A BUILDING Filed Oct. 19, 1962 s Sheets-Sheet s FIG. 7 F

United States Patent 3,171,343 MEANS FOR DISCHARGING OR EXHAUSTING AIR FROM THE INTERIOR OF A BUILDING Monroe L. Wexler, Philadelphia, Pa., assignor to Acme Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pa. Filed Oct. 19, 1962, Ser. No. 231,647 4 Claims. (Cl. 98-119) The present invention relates to means for discharging or exhausting air from the interior of a building, and more particularly to means for exhausting moist air and lint emanating from home laundry dryers to the outside of the building.

T he widespread use in recent years of clothes dryers in the home created the problem of providing an elfective, inexpensive and readily installed unit for discharging the moist air from the dryer to the exterior of the building during operation of the dryer, and which unit also must close automatically when the dryer is not in operation, so as to prevent the entry of outside air, dust, insects and the like into the building. While numerous units have heretofore been proposed for solving the problems, such prior units are not entirely satisfactory, particularly with respect to the means for pivotally mounting the flap valve or damper to the face plate, and which valve functions to open and close the discharge end of the conduit or duct connected to the discharge opening of the dryer.

In existing pivotal flap valves, the mounting is accomplished by striking horizontally spaced tongues from the face plate with such tongues being bent to provide upright hooks. Each book engages a coacting aperture in the flap valve and an exposed opening is present in the face plate at each location from which a tongue has been struck.

For the-proper installation of a unit of the type described, it is necessary and always prescribed that weather caulking be applied to that surface of the face plate which is in contact with the other wall of the building. If the caulking compound enters one of the exposed face plate openings and touches the pivotal mounting located therein, functions of themounting will be impaired or stopped.

Accordingly, an important object of this invention is to provide an assemblage which will overcome the above and other objectionable characteristics existing in the art.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a unit of the type described in which the face plate and flap valve or damper include complemental means defining a pivotal connection which cannot bind with the flap valve in its fully open or partially open positions, thereby ensuring the proper setting of the flap valve when the dryer is not in operation.

Still another object of the invention is to provide an assemblage of the type under consideration which is simple in structural detail, positive and efiicient in operation, and capable of being readily and inexpensively manufactured.

Additional objects of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and annexed drawings, and in which drawings:

FIG. 1 is an exploded View of the components of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along the line 44 of FIG. 2, the view looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 5 is a front elevational view partly broken away of the wall plate;

FIG. 6 is a side view of the wall plate shown in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a front elevational view of the valve plate; and,

FIG. 8 is a side view of the valve plate shown in FIG. 7.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1, there is illus- 3,171,343 Patented Mar. 2, 1965 ice trated a substantially cylindrical exhaust conduit or duct 1 which is adapted to extend through the outer wall of a building, and being connected by suitable means, not shown, at its inner end, with the exhaust outlet of a dryer.

Suitably secured to the outer end of the duct 1 is a face plate or wall plate 2 which lies flush against the outer surface of the building wall, while a finishing pla te 3 engages the inner end and contacts the inside wall of the building. The plate 2 is formed with a circular opening 4 for receiving the outer end of the duct 1, and it will be seen that the outer end of the duct is flared as at 5, and provided with a head 6 for defining the connection between the duct and the plate.

A flap valve or damper plate 7 is pivotally connected to the wall plate 2, as denoted generally at 3, for opening and closing the outer end of the duct 1, as will later be more fully described. A hood 9 is connected to the wall plate 2, and the hood includes a front wall 11 sloping downwardly and outwardly, end walls 11 and substantially channel-shaped members 12 extending outwardly from the side walls. The channel-shaped members 12 are adapted to receive the vertical edges of the wall plate 2. In addition, the upper edge of the hood is provided with a depending flange 13 which will overlie the upper horizontal edge of the plate 2. The members 12 are chamfered as at 14 for tooling purposes, and the same is true of the flange 13, as indicated at 15'. In addition, each channel member 12 is provided with a hole 16 adjacent the chamfers 14 for receiving a dimple in the front flange.

The flap valve or damper plate 7 is of such dimensions 1 as to close the opening 4 in the plate 2 when the valve is in the closed position (FIG. 4). The upper edge of the valve 7 is notched or cut away intermediate the vertical edges, as shown at 17, to provide a pair of upstanding ears 18, and the ears are bent rearwardly from the plane of the front of the valve as indicated at 1%.

The wall plate 2 along its upper horizontal edge is provided with a pair of spaced apart, notched areas 26 separated by upstanding portion 21 of the wall plate 2. The wall plate 2 in the areas contiguous to the notched areas 215 slope forwardly as at 22, and the length of each notched area 20 corresponds substantially to the length of the ears 18, while the length of the notched area 17 of the flap valve 4 corresponds to that of the upstanding portion 21 of the wall plate 2. Manifestly, the rearwardly bent portions 19 of the cars 18 are adapted to fit over the upper edges of the notched areas 20 of the wall plate 2, so as to constitute the means for pivoting the flap valve 7 to the wall plate 2. Furthermore, as shown in FIG- URE 4, the depth of the notched areas 20 and the height of the ears 18 are such that the flap valve may move readily toward and away from the opening 3 without the portions 19 being bound to the upper edges of the notched areas 26. Also, the relationship between these components and the upper portion of the hood 9 prevents the flap valve from being displaced vertically a sufiicient distance for the rearwardly bent portion 19 to become disengaged from the upper edges of the notched areas 29.

It will further be noted that the flap valve 7 is provided with distorted or outwardly bulged portions 23 for enabling the valve to rest substantially flush with the outer surface of the wall plate when the valve is in the closed position.

Since the flange 13 of the hood overlies the upper horizontal edge of the wall plate 2 including the notched areas 21 there is no danger of a caulking compound applied between the plate 2 and the outer wall of the building entering the notched areas and impairing the functioning of the pivotal connection between the wall plate and the valve 7.

While I have described the invention with particular we regard to its use with home laundry dryers, it is obvious that the assembly can be employed in other situations.

The invention is not to be confined to any strict conformity to the drawings, but changes or modifications may be made therein, so long as such changes or modifications mark no material departure from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An air discharge assembly comprising a wall plate having an aperture therein adapted'to receive an end of a conduit, said wall plate having a horizontally extending edge portion spaced above the aperture, said edge portion lying in a plane spaced from the plane of the wall plate forwardly of the aperture, a flap valve for covering said aperture and including along its upper edge an inwardly and downwardly turned lip means overlying said horizontally extending edge portion of the wall plate for hingedly suspending the valve from said edge portion, complemental surfaces on said edge portion and lip means tor restricting lateral shifting movement of said flap valve relatively to said wall plate, and a hood fixedly secured to said wall plate and including a portion extending downwardly and forwardly from the top edge of said wall plate to provide an outwardly flaring outlet for the discharge of air from said conduit, and including an upper edge portion defining a downwardly facing channel overlying and enclosing said horizontally extending edge portion and associated lip means for preventing the flap valve lip means from being displaced vertically a sufficient distance to be disengaged from the horizontally extending portion of the wall plate.

2..The air discharge assembly as claimed in claim 1, in which said downwardly. facing channel includes an inner wall portion of sufficient length to cover fully said horizontally extending edge portion of the wall plate for preventing the entry of foreign matter into the means hingedly suspending the flap valve from the edge portion of the wall plate.

3. An air discharge assembly comprising a wall plate having an aperture therein for receiving an end of a conduit, a valve for closing and opening said aperture, a pair of spaced apart ears of substantial axial length extending from the upper edge of said valve and terminating in inwardly bent portions, the upper edge of said wall platebeing rovided with a pair of spaced apart notched areas each of substantially the same length as said ears for receiving said ears to provide a pivotal connection between the valve and the wall plate, a hood attached to said wall plate and provided with an outlet for discharging air downwardly therefrom, and said hood including an upper edge portion definin a downwardly facing channel overlying and enclosing said ears and notched areas for preventing the ears from being displaced vertically a sufiicient distance to be disengaged from said notched areas of the wall plate.

4. An air discharge assembly comprising a wall plate having an aperture therein for receiving an end of a conduit, a valve for opening and closing said aperture, a plurality of spaced apart ears of substantial axial length extending from the upper edge of said valve and terminating in inwardly bent portions, said wall plate having a horizontally extending edge portion spaced above the aperture, said edge portion lying in a plane spaced from the plane of the wall plate forwardly of the aperture, said edge portion of the wall plate being provided with a plurality of spaced apart notched areas each of substantially the same length as said ears for receiving said ears for providing a pivotal connection between the valve and wall plate, a hood attached to the wall plate and provided with an outlet for discharging air downwardly therefrom, said hood including an upper edge portion defining a downwardly facing channel overlying and enclosing said notched areas of the horizontally extending edge portion of the wall plate and said ears for preventing said ears from being displaced vertically a sufiicient distance to be disengaged from the edge portion of the wall plate, and said channel including an inner wall portion of sufficient length to cover fully said horizontally extending edge portion of the wall plate for preventing the entry of foreign matter into the pivotal connection.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS ROBERT A. OLEARY, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. AN AIR DISCHARGE ASSEMBLY COMPRISING A WALL PLATE HAVING AN APERTURE THEREIN ADAPTED TO RECEIVE AN END OF A CONDUIT, SAID WALL PLATE HAVING A HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING EDGE PORTION SPACED ABOVE THE APERTURE, SAID EDGE PORTION LYING IN A PLANE SPACED FROM THE PLANE OF THE WALL PLATE FORWARDLY OF THE APERTURE, A FLAP VALVE FOR COVERING SAID APERTURE AND INCLUDING ALONG ITS UPPER EDGE AN INWARDLY AND DOWNWARDLY TURNED LIP MEANS OVERLYING SAID HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING EDGE PORTION OF THE WALL PLATE FOR HINGEDLY SUSPENDING THE VALVE FROM SAID EDGE PORTION, COMPLEMENTAL SURFACES ON SAID EDGE PORTION AND LIP MEANS FOR RESTRICTING LATERAL SHIFTING MOVEMENT OF SAID FLAP VALVE RELATIVELY TO SAID WALL PLATE, AND A HOOD FIXEDLY SECURED TO SAID WALL PLATE AND INCLUDING A PORTION EXTENDING DOWNWARDLY AND FORWARDLY FROM THE TOP EDGE OF SAID WALL PLATE TO PROVIDE AN OUTWARDLY FLARING OUTLET FOR THE DISCHARGE OF AIR FROM SAID CONDUIT, AND INCLUDING AN UPPER EDGE PORTION DEFINING A DOWNWARDLY FACING CHANNEL OVERLYING AND ENCLOSING SAID HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING EDGE PORTION AND ASSOCIATED LIP MEANS FOR PREVENTING THE FLAP VALVE LIP MEANS FROM BEING DISPLACED VERTICALLY A SUFFICIENT DISTANCE TO BE DISENGAGED FROM THE HORIZONTALLY EXTENDING PORTION OF THE WALL PLATE.