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US 4,301,784 AGranted
Fireplace insert
OwnerC. Ray Dinwiddieinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for improving the thermal efficiency of an existing fireplace is disclosed. The apparatus generally comprises a convection chamber having an open front and top, a bottom, a rear wall, and a plurality of side walls. The convection chamber is inserted into the existing fireplace and is spaced apart from the fireplace such that an air passage is defined under, behind, and along the sides of the convection chamber and the fireplace bottom, rear wall, and side walls respectively. The air passage draws room air to be heated under and behind the convection chamber, and discharges heated air into a room to be heated along the sides of the convection chamber in the air passage between the fireplace side walls and the convection chamber side walls.
Claims23
An apparatus for improving the thermal efficiency of an existing fireplace comprising:
- (a) a convection chamber having an open front and top, a bottom, a rear wall, and a plurality of side walls, said convection chamber being insertable into a fireplace and spaced apart from the bottom, rear wall, and side walls of the fireplace to cooperatively form air chambers therebetween for drawing room air to be heated under and behind said convection chamber, heating the room air as it passes through said bottom, rear and side air chamber, and discharging heated air into a room from the air side chambers defined by the fireplace side walls and said convection chamber side walls;
- (b) rear wall sealing means disposed along the top edge of and extending rearwardly from said convection chamber rear wall, said rear wall sealing means engaging said fireplace rear wall to prevent air conveyed from said room to be heated from passing therearound;
- (c) side wall sealing means extending outwardly from the upper edge portion of each of said convection chamber side walls, said side wall sealing means engaging said fireplace side walls to prevent heated air from passing therearound.
An apparatus for improving the thermal efficiency of an existing fireplace comprising:
- (a) a convection chamber having an open front and top, a bottom, a rear wall, and a plurality of side walls, said convection chamber being insertable into a fireplace and spaced apart from the bottom, rear wall, and side walls of the fireplace to define air passages therebetween for drawing room air to be heated under and behind said convection chamber, and discharging heated air into a room from the air passages defined by the fireplace side walls and said convection chamber side walls;
- (b) rear wall sealing means disposed along the top edge of said convection chamber rear wall extending outwardly therefrom, said rear wall sealing means engaging said fireplace rear wall preventing air conveyed from said room to be heated from passing therearound;
- (c) side wall sealing means disposed along the top edge of each of said plurality of convection chamber side walls extending outwardly therefrom, said side wall sealing means engaging said fireplace side walls preventing heated air from passing therearound;
- and
- wherein the convection chamber rear wall sealing means comprises:
- a flange extending outwardly from said convection chamber rear wall toward said fireplace rear wall along the top edge of said convection chamber rear wall;
- an upper plate slidably movable along the top surface of said flange into engagement with said fireplace rear wall;
- a lower plate slidably movable along the bottom surface of said flange into engagement with said fireplace rear wall, said lower plate having a downwardly extending section thereon forming a channel between said upper plate and said lower plate;
- a nonflammable material disposed within said channel;
- and,
- means for securing said upper plate and said lower plate to said flange at intervals along the length of said combustion chamber rear wall.
8 more elements
An apparatus for improving the thermal efficiency of an existing fireplace comprising:
- (a) a convection chamber having an open front and top, a bottom, a rear wall, and a plurality of side walls, said convection chamber being insertable into a fireplace and spaced apart from the bottom, rear wall, and side walls of the fireplace to define air passages therebetween for drawing room air to be heated under and behind said convection chamber, and discharging heated air into a room from the air passages defined by the fireplace side walls and said convection chamber side walls;
- (b) a rear wall sealing means disposed along the top edge of said convection chamber rear wall extending outwardly therefrom, said rear wall sealing means engaging said fireplace rear wall preventing air conveyed from said room to be heated from passing therearound;
- (c) side wall sealing means disposed along the top edge of each of said plurality of convection chamber side walls extending outwardly therefrom, said side wall sealing means engaging said fireplace side walls preventing heated air from passing therearound;
- and
- (d) wherein each convection chamber side wall sealing means comprises:
- a flange extending outwardly from said convection chamber side wall toward said fireplace side wall along the top edge of said convection chamber side wall;
- an upper plate slidably movable along the top surface of said flange into engagement with said fireplace side wall;
- a lower plate slidably movable along the bottom surface of said flange into engagement with said fireplace side wall, said lower plate having a downwardly extending section forming a channel between said upper plate and said lower plate;
- a nonflammable material disposed within said channel;
- and,
- means for securing said upper plate and said lower plate to said flange at intervals along the length of said convection chamber side wall.
8 more elements
A convection chamber disposed within an existing fireplace to improve the thermal efficiency thereof, said convection chamber having an open front and top, and comprising:
- (a) a bottom member spaced upwardly from the fireplace bottom to cooperatively form an air chamber for drawing by natural convection room air to be heated beneath said convection chamber;
- (b) a rear wall joined to said bottom member and spaced forwardly from the fireplace rear wall to cooperatively form an air chamber therebetween for drawing by natural convection room air to be heated behind said convection chamber, said convection chamber rear wall including a sealing means disposed along the top edge thereof extending rearwardly therefrom and sealing against said fireplace rear wall preventing air from passing upwardly therearound;
- (c) a pair of convection chamber side walls spaced inwardly from corresponding fireplace side walls and joined to opposite side edges of said convection chamber bottom and said rear wall, said side walls each having sealing means extending outwardly from the top edge thereof for sealing against corresponding fireplace side walls to prevent air from passing upwardly therearound, said side walls further being characterized by a side elevation having an increasing height above said combustion chamber bottom in a direction from said combustion chamber rear wall to said combustion chamber open front to thereby facilitate the heated air in the air chambers defined between said combustion chamber side walls and corresponding fireplace side walls to be deflected forwardly into the room to be heated along the top edge of each of said combustion chamber side walls.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.