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US 4,366,368 AGranted
Electric heater-blower apparatus for removing frost and snow from vehicle windows
AssigneeNone recorded
InventorWilliam S. Stephens, III
Life of this patent
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AssigneeNone recorded
InventorWilliam S. Stephens, III
Estimating the term…
A portable frost and snow removing appliance for use in removing ice and snow from the surfaces of vehicle windows includes an elongated housing having a pistol handgrip at one end and containing an electrically operated two-speed blower and a resistance heater arranged to produce a high speed jet of unheated air or a slower stream of heated air through a discharge nozzle shiftably mounted on the other end of the housing and movable between first and second positions. The housing includes a lateral air outlet in a side wall between the heater and nozzle. The nozzle includes as a unitary one-piece structure therewith valve members within the housing and nozzle and cooperatively associated with the housing other end and the lateral air outlet to inversely open and close the lateral outlet and housing other end in response to shifting of the nozzle to its first and second positions, respectively, to permit air to be selectively discharged from either the nozzle or lateral air outlet. The housing is capable of being placed on its side upon the upper surface of a vehicle dash and operated in a manner to discharge heated air through the lateral air outlet upwardly along the inner windshield surface.
A frost and snow remover including an elongated portable hollow housing having first and second ends, said first end including an end outlet for air pumped through said housing and said second end including an inlet for the entrance of air into said housing, electrically actuated air pump means in said housing for pumping air therethrough from said second end to said first end, electrical resistance heating means in said housing downstream from said air pump means for heating air being pumped through said housing, said housing including an elongated lateral outlet formed in one longitudinal wall portion thereof spaced between said heating means and said outlet and opening laterally outwardly of said one housing wall portion, an outlet nozzle communicating with said end air outlet shiftably support on said first end of said housing for movement between first and second positions and including a cover panel coextensive in size with said elongated air outlet mounted within said housing for shifting relative thereto with said nozzle, said nozzle and housing including coacting portions operative to open and close said first end outlet responsive to shifting of said nozzle to said first and second positions, respectively, said cover panel, nozzle and coacting portion of said nozzle comprising a unitary one-piece structure, and said cover panel, when said nozzle is shifted to said first position being automatically shifted into closing registry with said elongated air outlet and, when said nozzle is shifted to said second position, being automatically shifted out of registry with said elongated air outlet to open said elongated air outlet, and circuit means for electrically connecting said air pump means and heating means with a source of electrical potential.
A frost and snow remover including an elongated portable hollow housing having first and second ends, said housing including hand grip defining means on said second end for hand support of said housing in one hand of the user, said housing being of a size and weight to be readily hand supported, said first end including an end outlet for air pumped through said housing and said second end including an inlet for the entrance of air into said housing, electrically actuated air pump means in said housing for pumping air therethrough from said second end to said first end, electrical resistance heating means in said housing downstream from said air pump means for heating air being pumped through said housing, said housing including an elongated lateral outlet formed in one longitudinal side wall portion thereof spaced between said heating means and said outlet and opening laterally outwardly of said one housing wall portion, an outlet nozzle communicating with said end air outlet shiftably supported on said first end of said housing for movement between first and second positions and including as a unitary one-piece structure therewith valve members within said housing and nozzle cooperatively associated with said end outlet and said lateral outlet for inversely opening and closing said end and lateral outlets in response to shifting of said nozzle to said first and second positions, respectively, and circuit means for electrically connecting said air pump means and heating means with a source of electrical potential, said housing including said handgrip being of greater length than width and of greater width than thickness, whereby said housing may be positioned with its other longitudinal side wall portion facing downwardly and supported from the upper surface of a vehicle dashboard and said one longitudinal side wall portion and said lateral outlet facing and opening upwardly toward the rearwardly and upwardly inclined inner surface of a vehicle windshield disposed thereabove.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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No related US applications are recorded in the indexed filing history.
The air being kept separate from the heating medium, e.g. using forced circulation of air over radiators: using electric energy supply; the…
Fluid heaters
Term ended 28 Dec 1999 (estimated)
USPTO file history isn’t available for this patent, so only indexed dates are shown.
Various forms of electrical resistance heated blower structures previously have been provided for use in removing snow and ice from the exterior and interior surfaces of vehicle windshields. Most of these structures are conventionally provided with plugs which may be plugged into a conventional cigarette lighter receptacle in lieu of the conventional cigarette lighter element in order to provide a suitable source of electrical potential from the associated vehicle's electrical system to actuate the blower and heater structure.
Examples of previously known forms of heating and blower structures of this type are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,121,753, 3,209,127, 3,331,940, 3,492,462, 3,610,881, 3,612,824 and 3,668,370.
However, these previously known forms of electrically actuated heaters and blowers are for various reasons not as effective as they might be for removing snow and ice from both the external and internal surfaces of a vehicle windshield. Accordingly, a need exists for an improved form of snow and ice removing blower which may be electrically actuated from a vehicle's electrical system and utilized effectively to remove both snow and ice from the exterior and interior surfaces of the windshield of the vehicle.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the electric frost and snow remover of the instant invention;
FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the apparatus illustrated in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged longitudinal vertical sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 3--3 of FIG. 2;
Referring now more specifically to the drawings, the numeral 10 generally designates the electric frost and snow remover of the instant invention. The remover 10 includes an elongated cylindrical housing 12 having first and second inlet and outlet ends 14 and 16. The inlet end 14 includes a grill-type closure 18 thereover defining an air inlet and the outlet end 16 includes a circumferential outwardly opening groove 20 in which a circumferentially extending and inwardly projecting rib 22 of a nozzle 24 is slidingly received to rotatably mount the nozzle 24 on the outlet end 16.
The outlet end 16 also includes a circumferential slot 26 of somewhat more than 180.degree. angular extend formed therein and an elongated transversely arcuate closure panel 28 is disposed within the housing 12 and is connected to the nozzle 24 by a tongue portion 30 slidingly received in and extending through the slot 26.
One longitudinal side wall 32 of the housing 12 includes a elongated louvered outlet 34 and the cover panel 28 is movable into and out of registry with the inner extremity of the outlet 34 upon rotation of the nozzle 24 relative to the housing 12. In addition, the outlet end 16 of the housing 12 includes a slightly greater than one-half circular end wall 36 and the nozzle 24 includes a slightly greater than one-half circular end wall 38. The end walls 36 and 38 are disposed in superposed registry with each other in the position of the nozzle illustrated in FIG. 3 whereby air passing through the housing 12 to the left in the direction of the arrows 40 may pass over both the end walls 36 and 38 and be discharged from the nozzle 24. However, when the nozzle 24 is rotated approximately 180.degree. from the position thereof illustrated in FIG. 3, the walls 36 and 38 coact to form a full end wall to completely block the inlet end of the nozzle 24. When the nozzle 24 is in the position thereof illustrated in FIG. 3, the cover panel 28 is in closing registry with the lateral outlet 34. However, when the nozzle 24 is rotated approximately 180.degree. from the position thereof illustrated in FIG. 3 in order to close the nozzle 24, the cover panel 28 is moved out of closing registry with the lateral outlet 34 and air may be exhausted from the interior of the housing 12 through the lateral outlet 34.