Humidifier mounting for warm air heating system

Abstract

A warm air passage in a heating system has a sheet metal wall with an opening in it that is normally closed by a metal plate that has a marginal area inside the passage extending along one side of the opening. The rest of the plate is outside the passage and is held flat against the outer surface of the wall around the rest of the opening by means of releasable securing means. Humidifier means mounted on the plate are exposed to the inside of the warm air passage. At opposite ends of said marginal area the plate is provided with slots extending inwardly toward each other at the junction of the marginal area and the rest of the plate for receiving the adjoining overlapped portions of the passage wall to form a hinge connection so that when the securing means is released, the plate can be swung outwardly away from the wall without becoming disconnected from it.

Description

In my Pat. No. 3,515,348 a spray humidifier for a warm air heat system is shown screwed to the wall of a furnace plenum or a warm air duct and projecting inwardly and outwardly from it. This requires the installer to not only cut an opening in the sheet metal wall, but also to form the holes for receiving the attaching screws. In order to inspect or change the nozzle when it becomes restricted or plugged by foreign matter, it is necessary to first remove the screws that hold the humidifier in place. A more sophisticated model of the humidifier includes a thermostat that controls the humidifier valve, and these elements, along with the spray humidifier, are mounted in a box that is screwed or bolted to the warm air passage wall around an opening that has been cut in it. Here again, a number of screw holes must be formed in the wall and of course it is necessary to remove the screws before the box can be removed from the wall in order to get at the spray nozzle.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide humidifying means which can be quickly and easily attached to the wall of a warm air passage, and which can be swung away from the wall without becoming disconnected from it.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which

FIG. 1 is a front view of the humidifier unit in operating position;

FIG. 2 is a rear view taken inside the warm air passage;

FIG. 3 is a reduced vertical section through the passage wall, with the cover of the unit broken away;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are enlarged fragmentary vertical sections taken on the lines IV--IV and V--V, respectively, of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a front view showing the unit swung out away from the passage wall.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawings, a sheet metal wall 1 of a warm air furnace plenum or a heating duct leading from it is provided with an opening 2 that preferably is rectangular. For the purpose of this description, the wall is shown vertical, but it could just as well be the bottom wall of a horizontal duct. The opening normally is closed by a metal plate 3 that also may be rectangular and that overlaps the outer surface of the wall at the two opposite sides of the opening and at its top side. Mounted on the outside of this plate is a humidifier unit consisting of a box containing humidifier means.

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 5, the box has a vertical back wall 4 and forwardly extending top and bottom walls 5. The back wall is provided with forwardly extruded holes that are internally threaded. Screws 6 extending forward through the mounting plate 3 are threaded in these holes to hold the box flat against the plate. The removable cover of the box has a front wall 7 and end walls 8, provided at top and bottom with flanges 9 that overlap top and bottom walls 5.

Inside the box there is a spray humidifier 11 that is attached to the back wall of the box by nuts 12 on threaded studs 13 (FIG. 4), the heads of which are pressed into the back wall 4 so that they will not prevent it from resting flat against plate 3. The humidifier, which may be similar to the one shown in my above-mentioned patent, includes an electrically operated valve 14 inside the box and a nozzle 15 that extends through openings in the back of the box and the mounting plate and into the warm air passage. The valve has an inlet that is detachably connected to a tube 16 leading from a water supply (not shown). An adjustable thermostat 17 in the box also is bolted to the back wall of the box in the same way as the humidifier and it includes a heat sensitive member 18 that extends through openings in the box and plate and into the warm air passage. This thermostat is electrically wired to the humidifier and into the house circuit.

It is a feature of this invention that mounting plate 3 is hinged to the wall of the warm air passage in a very simple and inexpensive but effective manner. Accordingly, the bottom of the plate has a marginal area 21 that extends through wall opening 2 into the passage. At opposite ends of this marginal area the plate is provided at the junction of that area and the rest of the plate with slots 22 extending inwardly toward each other and which receive the adjoining overlapped portions of wall 1 at the bottom of opening 2 to form a hinge connection between the mounting plate and wall. The plate is held flat against the outer surface of the wall by releasable securing means, such as a manually rotatable wing latch 23 pivotally connected to the wall above the center of the plate by means of a bolt 24. This latch overlaps the top of the plate and holds it against the passage wall. When the latch is turned to release it from the plate after the tube 16 has been disconnected from the humidifier if the tube is not flexible, the top of the plate can swing outwardly away from the wall and down as shown in FIGS. 3 and 6, this movement being allowed by the slots 22 in the lower part of the plate. However, due to the fact that wall 1 extends into these slots, the plate remains connected to the wall and supported by it.

It is preferred that the marginal area 21 of plate 3 inside the warm air passage overlap the inner surface of the passage wall directly below the rectangular opening 2 as shown in FIG. 5. To permit this, plate area 21 is offset inwardly from the rest of the plate, which is the major portion of the plate outside of the warm air passage. The two parts of the plate are offset relative to each other a distance at least as great as the thickness of the sheet metal wall. Preferably, the offset distance is substantially equal to the wall thickness so that marginal area 21 will lie flat against the inner surface of the wall when the rest of the mounting plate engages the outer surface of the wall, thereby helping to seal opening 2.

The size of the opening in the passage wall must be such that it will have a dimension extending across it at an angle to its bottom side that is longer than marginal area 21 of the plate inside the passage. This is necessary in order to permit the plate to be connected to the wall. The connection is made by holding the plate more or less perpendicular to the wall while tilted sufficiently to permit the marginal area to be passed through the wall opening, and then the plate is righted with its offset extending along the lower edge of the opening. The plate cannot become disconnected from the wall unless it again is tilted far enough, as indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 6, to permit marginal area 21 to be pulled out of the wall opening.

It will be seen that with this invention the humidifier means can be quickly and easily secured to a warm air passage wall without the use of separate fastener members. Once in place, the humidifier means can be swung out of and back to operative position by simply swinging the mounting plate on its hinge connection with the wall. All that the installer of this device has to do is to cut the opening in the passage wall and attach the pivoted latch to that wall. Then he merely inserts the slotted mounting plate in the opening in the manner previously described herein and latches it in place, ready for the humidifying means to be connected to a water line and an electric circuit.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

Claims

I claim:

1. In a warm air heating system, the combination with a warm air passage having a sheet metal wall with an opening therein, of a humidifying unit comprising a metal plate normally closing said opening and having a marginal area inside said passage extending along one side of the opening, the rest of the plate being outside the passage and overlapping said wall around the rest of the opening, releasable securing means holding the plate flat against the outer surface of said wall, and humidifier means mounted on the plate and exposed to the inside of said passage, the plate at opposite ends of said marginal area being provided with slots extending inwardly toward each other at the junction of said marginal area and the rest of the plate, and said slots receiving the adjoining overlapped portions of said wall to form a hinge connection between the wall and plate, whereby when said securing means is released, said plate and humidifier means can be swung outwardly away from said wall without becoming disconnected from it.

2. In a warm air heating system according to claim 1, said one side of said passage wall opening being straight.

3. In a warm air heating system according to claim 1, said passage wall opening being rectangular, and said wall at two opposite sides of the opening extending into said plate slots.

4. In a warm air heating system according to claim 1, said passage wall opening having a dimension extending across it at an angle to said one side that is longer than the length of said marginal area of the plate, whereby by tilting the plate in said opening it can be disconnected from said wall and removed from it.

5. In a warm air heating system according to claim 1, said marginal area of said plate overlapping said passage wall at said one side of said passage opening and being offset inwardly from the rest of the plate.

6. In a warm air heating system according to claim 5, said marginal area being offset from the rest of the plate a distance substantially equal to the thickness of said passage wall, and said marginal area lying in a plane substantially parallel to the rest of the plate.

7. In a warm air heating system according to claim 1, said passage wall opening being rectangular, the outer surface of said wall being overlapped by said plate at three sides of said opening, said marginal area of the plate overlapping said passage wall at said one side of said passage opening and being offset inwardly from the rest of the plate a distance substantially equal to the thickness of said passage wall, and said marginal area lying in a plane substantially parallel to the rest of the plate and resting flat against the inner surface of said wall.