Vent assembly for outdoor combustion facility and associated method
AssigneeEngineered Product Supply, LLC
InventorPetar Dimitrijevic
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A vent assembly for a firepit or other outdoor combustion facility includes a face member and a support member. The face member has a perimeter and a thickness in a direction orthogonal to the perimeter. The support member has a predetermined resilience allowing limited elastic deformation of the support member upon application of manual compressive force to the support member. Connectors on the face member and the support member cooperate to lock the face member and the support member to one another.
Claims16
A vent assembly for an outdoor combustion facility, comprising:
- a face member having a perimeter and a thickness in a direction orthogonal to said perimeter;
- a support member having a predetermined resilience allowing limited elastic deformation of the support member upon application of manual compressive force to the support member, said support member having a first terminal portion along one end and a second terminal portion along an opposite end, wherein said first terminal portion and said second terminal portion are disposed at a first distance from one another in a relaxed or unstressed configuration of said support member;
- first connectors provided on said face member proximate opposing ends thereof, said first connectors being spaced from one another along a length dimension of said face member;
- and
- second connectors provided on said support member at said first terminal portion and at said second terminal portion,
- wherein:
- said second connectors are configured to cooperate with respective ones of said first connectors to attach said support member to said face member;
- said predetermined resilience is effective to generate a spreading force within said support member to press said first terminal portion and said second terminal portion away from one another and lock said second connectors to said respective ones of said first connectors;
- said first terminal portion and said second terminal portion being disposed at a second distance from one another in an assembled or locked configuration of said face member and said support member;
- and
- said second distance is less than said first distance.
A method for installing a vent assembly in a wall of an outdoor combustion facility, comprising:
- providing a combustion space defined in part by a wall with at least one through-hole or recess in a lower portion of said wall;
- providing a face plate;
- providing a support member of elastically deformable material;
- exerting a compressive force on said support member to thereby press end portions of said support member towards one another;
- while said end portions are disposed at a reduced distance from one another owing to the pressing of said end portions towards one another, manipulating the support member to position projections on one of said face plate and said support member proximate respective receiving formations on the other of said face plate and said support member;
- thereafter releasing the compressive force on said support member to lodge said projections in the proximate respective ones of said receiving formations and thereby attach said face member and said support member to one another to form an assembled configuration of said face member and said support member, said support member having a predetermined resilience or elasticity effective to exert a spreading force on said support member to press said end portions of said support member away from one another and lock said projections to said respective ones of said receiving formations;
- and
- manipulating said assembled configuration to dispose said support member in said through-hole or recess and dispose said face plate near an outer surface of said wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.