Damper control mechanism
OwnerJohn Prikkel, IIIinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
For use in a ventilation flue or the like, a damper positioning mechanism comprising a yieldable means biasing said damper toward a first position, motive means for opposing the bias of said yieldable means to drive said damper to a second position and thermally responsive means modulating the return of said damper from said second position to said first position, said thermally responsive means being strong in relation to said yieldable means. In one embodiment the thermally responsive means resists closure of said damper until exposed to a sufficiently low temperature. In another embodiment the thermally responsive means resists opening of said damper until exposed to a sufficiently high temperature.
Claims10
In a damper control mechanism of the type comprising a damper movable from a first position substantially closing a duct to a second position substantially opening said duct, yieldable means for biasing said damper to one of said first and second positions, motive means energizable to drive said damper against the bias of said yieldable means toward the other of said positions, and said duct having stop means for stopping said damper in one of said first and second positions, the improvement comprising thermally responsive means disposed in said duct and engaged to one of said damper and said stop means, said thermally responsive means having tab means engagable with the other of said damper and said stop means, said thermally responsive means exposed to matter passing through said duct for modulating the movement of said damper in response to the bias of said yieldable means.
In a mechanism for controllably venting gases from the flue of a combustion apparatus, said mechanism comprising a housing for mounting to said flue and into which said gases pass, a damper mounted in said housing and movable between a first position opening said housing for the passage of gases therefrom and a second position substantially closing said housing against the passage of gases therethrough, yieldable means biasing said damper to one of said first and second positions, motive means for holding said damper against the bias of said yieldable means in the other of said first and second positions, and a thermostatic control means in circuit with said motive means for disabling said motive means in response to a thermal condition sensed by said control means, the improvement wherein said housing has a stop member for arresting the movement of said damper, and including thermally responsive means exposed to gases passing through said housing for modulating the movement of said damper in response to the bias of said yieldable means.
The method of thermally modulating the movement of a damper within a duct which comprises providing said duct with means for stopping the movement of said damper at one position of the available damper movement, and interposing between said damper and said stop means a thermally responsive element which responds to the temperature of products within said duct to modulate movement of said damper relative to said stop means.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.