U.S. patent number 3,887,467 [Application Number 05/402,471] was granted by the patent office on 1975-06-03 for oil cooler and filter container for engine.
Invention is credited to Andrew L. Johnson.
United States Patent |
3,887,467 |
Johnson |
June 3, 1975 |
Oil cooler and filter container for engine
Abstract
A unit fits on a spin-type oil filter mount. The case of this
unit holds a replaceable cartridge filter and the exterior wall is
finned. The oil flow through the unit is directed along the fins to
cool the oil and through the filter to clean the oil.
Inventors: |
Johnson; Andrew L. (Skokie,
IL) |
Family
ID: |
23592030 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/402,471 |
Filed: |
October 1, 1973 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
210/186;
210/232 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F01M
11/03 (20130101); B01D 35/18 (20130101); B01D
29/11 (20130101); F01M 2011/033 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B01D
29/11 (20060101); B01D 35/18 (20060101); F01M
11/03 (20060101); B01D 35/00 (20060101); B01d
035/18 () |
Field of
Search: |
;210/232,184,185,186,187,DIG.17,167,168,440,443,457 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Granger; Theodore A.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Darbo, Robertson &
Vandenburgh
Claims
I claim:
1. In an oil filter apparatus for an internal combustion engine or
the like, which apparatus includes a filter, a case about said
filter, said case includes means whereby the oil is directed to
flow in a path with the filter being transverse to a first part of
said path so that the oil normally flows through the filter, the
improvement comprising:
said means including a first wall about at least part of the
periphery of the case and a second wall within said first wall,
said walls defining a space therebetween which space is a second
part of said path, said filter being within said second wall, said
first wall including fin means to increase the heat transfer area
of the wall, said fin means being in the form of corrugations in
the first wall thereby increasing the surface area on both the
interior and exterior of the wall,
said filter being a replaceable cartridge filter having two ends,
said second wall having two inwardly extending annular bands with
spaced openings through the bands, said first wall covering said
bands, said case having means positioning said filter in a given
location in said case such that said path and the openings in one
band are beyond one end of the filter, said case being in separable
parts with the line of separation extending other than through said
first wall whereby access may be obtained to the interior of the
case for replacement of the filter.
2. In an oil filter apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein the
case has a detachable mount at one end thereof with oil input and
outlet openings at said end of the case, the improvement wherein
said case is in two main parts, one part being said end and being
relatively flat, the other part being in the form of a deep dish
member, including an axial bolt holding the two parts together,
said one end of the filter being adjacent said one end of the case
and defining a space between said ends through which space said
path passes.
3. In an oil filter apparatus for an internal combustion engine or
the like, which apparatus includes a filter, a case about said
filter, said case includes means whereby the oil is directed to
flow in a path with the filter being transverse to a first part of
said path so that the oil normally flows through the filter, the
improvement comprising:
said means including a first wall about at least part of the
periphery of the case and a second wall within said first wall,
said walls defining a space therebetween which space is a second
part of said path, said filter being within said second wall said
filter being a replaceable cartridge filter having two ends, said
second wall has two inwardly extending annular bands with spaced
openings through the bands, said first wall covering said bands,
said case having means including said bands positioning said
cartridge filter in a given location within said second wall such
that said path and the opening in one band are beyond one end of
the filter, said case being in separable parts with the line of
separation extending other than through said first wall whereby
access may be obtained to the interior of the case for replacement
of the filter.
4. In an oil filter apparatus which includes a case having an
annular wall about an axis and two ends with one of said ends
forming a detachable mount with oil inlet and outlet communication
openings therein, an annular filter within said case, said case and
filter being arranged so that the oil flows between a first space
at the interior of the filter and a second space between the
exterior of the filter and said annular wall, the improvement
comprising:
said case means having portions defining an oil path from one of
said spaces to one of said openings without passing through said
filter, said portions of said means defining a heat exchanger for
the cooling of the oil moving in said path,
said portions including an exterior wall about part of said annular
wall and defining a third space therebetween having two ends
axially spaced from each other, said oil path extending through
said third space from adjacent one end thereof to adjacent the
other end thereof.
5. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said exterior
wall is formed of three components, two end rings and an annular
shell, said end rings being bonded to the annular shell and the
annular wall, said shell defining a plurality of corrugations
extending parallel to said axis, said rings covering the ends of
said corrugations.
6. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 5, wherein said filter
includes a cover plate at one end thereof, the improvement
comprising:
said annular wall having an inwardly extending annular band seated
against said cover plate, said annular wall having openings
therethrough positioned beyond said cover plate in the direction
away from said filter, said openings extending from the interior of
the annular wall into said second space.
7. In an apparatus for an internal combustion engine or the like
for filtering the engine oil and utilizing a fluid medium, such as
air, to also cool the engine oil, which apparatus includes an
annular filter, a case about said filter, said case includes means
whereby the oil is directed to flow in a path with the filter being
transverse to a first part of said path so that the oil normally
flows through the filter, the improvement comprising:
said means including a first wall about at least part of the
periphery of the case and an annular second wall within said first
wall, said walls defining a space therebetween which space is a
second part of said path, said filter being within said second
wall, said first wall being comprised of three components, namely
two end rings and a generally annular shell, said annular shell
being corrugated sheet metal whereby the inner and outer surface
areas of the shell are increased for greater contact with oil on
the inside of the shell and said medium on the outside of the
shell.
8. In an apparatus as set forth in claim 7, wherein said shell has
two ends, and said end rings are formed of sheet metal and are
bonded both to the second wall and to the respective ends of said
shell.
Description
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has long been recognized that excessive heat has a deleterious
effect on the lubrication oil of an internal combustion engine, and
also that one procedure for cooling an internal combustion engine
can be a cooling of the oil. Oil coolers are employed on many
internal combustion engines, but, of course, they add expense to
the cost of an engine. The usual passenger automobile does not go
to the expense of incorporating an oil cooler as such. Oil coolers
are made for passenger cars, however, and often are added when the
car is to be used for heavy duty purposes, such as the pulling of a
house trailer for example. The cost of such a cooler plus the
expense of installation is not inappreciable. Consequently, many
owners of passenger vehicles do not add them even when the step is
almost a necessity because of the severe service that will be
required of the automobile. Even a person who does not subject his
automobile to severe use, but merely drives it long distances at
comparatively high speeds can benefit by additional oil cooling,
but does not add it to the car because of the additional
expense.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a
simple and relatively inexpensive apparatus for adding an oil
cooler to a conventional internal combustion engine. Invariably an
automobile has an oil filter. The present invention takes advantage
of this situation, and adds oil cooling capabilities to the oil
filter. Thus the labor involved in adding an oil cooler to most
automobiles is no more than that labor involved in changing the oil
filter. A further advantage is that the oil cooler apparatus is
simple in construction and thus adds little in cost to that of the
usual replacement oil filter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partially broken away, of an
embodiment of the invention;
FIG. 2 is a partial section as viewed at line 2--2 of FIG. 1;
and
FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the portions added to an oil filter
case to supply oil coolant capabilities thereto.
DESCRIPTION OF SPECIFIC EMBODIMENT
The following disclosure is offered for public dissemination in
return for the grant of a patent. Although it is detailed to ensure
adequacy and aid understanding, this is not intended to prejudice
that purpose of a patent which is to cover each new inventive
concept therein no matter how others may later disguise it by
variations in form or additions or futher improvements.
The illustrated embodiment basically includes only two components.
That is, a case, generally 10, and a filter cartridge 11. The unit
is intended to be applied to a "spin-type" oil filter mount,
generally 12, on an internal combustion engine. Such a mount
includes a projecting conduit 13 with a pipe thread thereon. There
is a flat area 14 against which a gasket on the filter abuts and
within that flat area is a recess 15. The oil flow to the filter on
such a mount is from said recess to the filter and then returning
to the engine through threaded conduit 13.
The filter cartridge 11 employed in the disclosed embodiment is a
conventional, shelf item. It comprises a treated paper filtering
element 17, the ends of which are closed by cover plates 18 and 19.
There is an inner tube 20 having openings 21 therein, through which
the oil flows to get from the space enclosed by the filtering
element 17.
The case, generally 10, comprises a deep dish member formed by an
end 24 and an annular wall 25, which are integral with each other.
The other end of the deep dish member is open and this open end of
the member is closed by an end in the form of detachable mount 26.
Mount 26 has a peripheral groove 27 holding a seal 28, which groove
receives the open end of the deep dish member. Mount 26 holds an
elastomeric gasket 29. Within the space encompassed by this gasket
are oil flow openings 30. The mount includes a central boss 31
having threads 32 on the interior thereof to engage the threaded
conduit 13 of the engine filter mount 12. The center of boss 31
rotatably holds a threaded nut 33 which engages an axially
positioned bolt 34. Bolt 34 holds the deep dish member 24, 25 and
the detachable mount 26 together. A gasket 35 is positioned between
the head of the bolt and a reinforcing washer 36 on end 24 of the
case. The central boss 31 has openings 37 therein to permit oil to
flow from the central area about bolt 34 to the interior of
threaded pipe 13.
A washer 40 having a central elastomeric portion 41 bears against
end 19 of the filter by reason of the urging of spring 42. Thus
this provides a seal about the end of the filter and also holds the
filter so that the other end 18 thereof is against the other end of
the filter case. A C-ring 43 seated in a suitable groove in bolt 34
prevents the washer 40, 41 and the spring 42 from coming off the
bolt when the unit is disassembled for replacement of the filter
cartridge.
As a part of the mount end 26, there is a pressure relief valve to
let the oil bypass the filter when the filter becomes clogged. Such
devices are conventional upon oil filters. This comprises a ring 45
and a sleeve 46 which hold an annular flat gasket 47 of elastomeric
material therebetween. The ring 45 has a plurality of openings 48
and 49 therein. Openings 49 are normally covered by gasket 47. To
ensure that they remain covered there is an annular plunger 50
which is urged against the gasket 47 by a spring 51. Thus the oil
flow normally is through openings 48 to get to the oil cooler and
filter. However, if the filter becomes clogged, the build-up of
pressure will overcome the urging of spring 51 so that gasket 47
and plunger 50 will move up about the periphery of boss 31 (away
from ring 45) to permit oil to flow through openings 49 and about
the periphery of boss 31 to reach openings 37 and thus return to
the engine, bypassing the filter. The end 18 of the filter
cartridge 11 seats against the top of the sleeve 46 and forms an
oil tight seal at this point.
The annular wall 25 has two inward annular bands 53 and 54 formed
therein. These bands have openings 55 and 56 therethrough. The end
18 of the filter cartridge has a peripheral contact with band 54 so
as to prevent the flow of oil therebetween. Thus there is a space
57 between the end 18 of the filter cartridge and the end 26 of the
case 10, which space communicates both with openings 56 in the band
and openings 48 and 30 in the mount 26.
Surrounding that part of annular wall 25 which includes bands 53
and 54 and the part of the wall therebetween (all of which may be
referred to herein as the inner wall) is an exterior wall formed by
end rings 60 and 61 and an annular shell 62. This defines spaces 53
through which the oil flows between openings 56 and 55. This
exterior wall is finned so as to increase the contact area for heat
transfer. In the illustrated embodiment this finning takes the form
of a corrugation of the annular shell 62 (as perhaps best seen in
FIG. 2) which corrugations extend parallel to the axis of the
filter (the axis being depicted by bolt 34). This increases the
surface area of the shell both at the inside for contact with the
oil, and at the outside for contact with the air. The inner tips of
the corrugations are in contact with annular wall 25. As a process
of manufacture, the rings 60, 61 and the annular shell 62 would be
slipped onto the deep dish component 24, 25, as suggested by the
illustration of FIG. 3. The assembly would than be dipped in hot
tin to solder these four components together and supply a
protective coating.
In actual practice, when a car owner had his oil filter changed, he
could substitute one of these units as a replacement. The unit
would be threaded onto the engine mount 12 in the same manner as
would be employed in normally replacing the filter. The portion 65
of the annular wall 25 is the same configuration as that employed
on some oil filters to engage a special wrench for removing the oil
filter. When the engine was running, the oil from space 15 of the
engine mount 12 would flow in through openings 30 and 48 to space
57. From space 57 it would go through openings 56 and be
distributed about the periphery of the cooler through the annular
recess 66 defined by the inward band 54. The oil then would be
forced to flow through the spaces 53 defined by the annular shell
62 and the inner annular wall 25. At the other end of spaces 53 the
oil would enter annular recess 67 defined by the inwardly
projecting band 53. Then the oil would again return to the inside
of the annular wall 25 through openings 55. About the periphery of
the filter cartridge 11 there is a space 68 caused by the
positioning of the filter cartridge within the annular bands 53 and
54. This permits the oil to distribute itself uniformly about the
exterior of the filter cartridge. After flowing through the filter
cartridge the oil would pass through openings 21 into the center of
tube 20, thence through openings 37 to enter the threaded conduit
13 and return to the engine.
When the filter 11 became clogged, or it was otherwise due for
replacement, the unit would be removed from the engine. Thereafter,
bolt 34 would be unscrewed (holding nut 33 with a wrench) to permit
the mount end 26 to be separated from annular wall 25. After the
two were separated, the cartridge 11 could be slid out of the deep
dish member 24, 25. This is facilitated by the urging of spring 42.
After removal of the filter cartridge a new one would be inserted.
The bolt 34 would then be manipulated to reattach the end mount 26
to the deep dish member 24, 25. These being assembled, the unit is
then rethreaded onto mount 12.
* * * * *