US2162410A - Floor furnace - Google Patents

Description

11111613, 1939- B. F. STEPHENS 2,162,410

' H.003 FURNACE I Filed Dec 24, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 41 June 13, 1939. B. F. STEPHENS 2,

FLOOR FURNACE v Fil ed Dec. 24, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 PM June is, 1939 UNITED STATES PATENT ,OFFlCE noon. FURNACE Benjamin F. Stephens, Tulsa, Okla.

Application December 24, 1937, Serial No. 181,555

a claims. (c1. 126-116) This invention relates in general to furnaces,

and while the principles thereof may be embodied in furnaces of various characters, the particular here disclosed as illustrative of my 6 inventlonis whatiscmnmercially known as a floor furnace of the gas burning type.

In localities where intensely cold temperatures prevail only infrequently many residences, particularly of the cheaper type, are not provided 10 with cuts or with steam or hot-water heating equipment. n the contrary, floor furnaces oi the hot air type are utilized which set below the floor level of the house and are customarily suspended from the floor joists. To accommo- 15 date such a furnace, it is usually necessary to excavate a shallow hol below the ground level beneath the house into which the lower end of the furnace extends, a

Great diiliculty and inconvenience is occam sinned, however, with this. type of installation when, as a result of a heavy rainfall, water col-.-

lects in the hole into which the furnace extends, since such water flows into the, open lower end of the furnace casing submerging the burners and 25 the flame. Furthermore, the fuel gas escaping from the extinguished burners accumulates in the combustion chamber and the flues, and when an attempt is made to light the burner with a torch or flame, serious explosions 30 and fires are frequently caused.

' One of the primary purposes of my present invention is to provide a furnace of the floor type which will be hermetically sealed. to a height well above the groundline so that any water accumua lating in the excavation into which the furnace extends will be precluded from entering the furnace casing and extinguishing or in any way interferlng with the operation of the burners.

Another object of my invention is to provide 49 a furnace which wili be highly eflicient in operationso as to utilize for heating purposes the maximum number of heat units liberated by the burner. with this end in view, my invention contmnplates a furnace in which the products of 45 combustion are caused to travel in a tortuous path from the combustion chamber to the stack flue so as to enable the delivery of a maximum number of heat units therefrom to-the surrounding circulating air to be utilized for heating purposes.

50 Other objects and many of the inherent advantages of my invention should be readily appreeluted as at same becomes"better understood by reference to the following description when considered in connection with the accompanying Referring to the drawings:.

Fig. 1 is a longitudinal, vertical sectional view through a furnace constructed in accordance with my invention;

. Fig. 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the 5 staggered line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a vertical, transverse sectional view on the staggered line 3--3 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view, partially broken away, of the main portion of, my furnace structure with the casing removed.

Referring to the drawings more in detail, reference character 5 indicates a casing of rectangular shape formed of sheet metal or other suitable impervious material adapted to be introduced through an opening 6 in a floor 1 and suspended in operative position, as illustrated, between the floor joists 8 to which, if desirable, it may be anchored by screws or other fastening means. The vertical portion of the casing'icomprises the sidewalls! and II and-the end walls I! and I3 sealed at their joints to prevent water leakage therethrough, and the lower end of the casing is closed by a bottom I also sealed to the side and end walls so as to provide. a water tight casing structure.

Within the casing there is disposed an elongated, preferably rectangular, combustion chamber [I comprising the end walls I8 and I1 restin upon the bottom ll, the side walls II and IS, the

bottom II, and the top 12. The side walls comprise the inclined portions 23 and 24 which narrow the upper portion of the combustion chamber so that the upper walls of this portion are offset inwardly with respect to the side walls of the lower portions. The top wall 22 is provided with an opening II normally closed'by a removable cap 7 26 through which access to the interior of the combustion chamber for the purpose of igniting the pilot burners with a torch or the like may be 40 had. The bottom 2| is provided with elongated openings 21 in proximity to the burner,.to be 4 later described, andthe space beneath and between these openings is enclosed by a depressed wall a providing an air passage 2| for the supply of air to the burner; This passage, as will be apparent from'Flgs. 2 and 4, is extended laterally beyond each side wall of the combustion chamber to form a closed conduit having upwardly opening nipples II for connection with conduits u I! which extend upwardly a substantial distance above the casing bottom and, in the form shown,

atflleast one-half the-height of the casing where they open to atmosphere throughopenings 33 formed in the side walls of the casing. plurality u of the combustion chamber i5.

of air supply conduits is thereby provided for conducting air from a level considerably, above the ground line outside the casing to the vicinity of the burners for combustion purposes.

The burners 34 are carried by a suitable manifold I! mounted in the bottom wall of the combustion chamber, as shown in Fig. l, and gas or other fuel is supplied to these burners through a pipe 36 equipped with a control and shut-off valve 31 adapted to be manipulated from a point in proximity to the floor level by 'a suitable rod II. One or more pilot burners 39 are mounted in proximity to the main burners, the pilot burners receiving their fuel supply through a pipe ll also equipped with a shut-off and control valve 42 operable through a rod similar to rod 18.

The products of combustion rising from the burners flow from the combustion chamber through openings 43 and H at the top and near each end of the chamber. For the purpose of retarding the escape of the products of combustion so that more heat units may be given oif, the upper portion of the combustion chamber is equipped with a pair of transversely disposed, downwardly inclined baiiies 45 and 16 around which the products of combustion escape, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. From the openings 43 and 44 the products of combustion enter-a pair of transversely extending flue'passages I! and ll, respectively, both of which communicate at their outer ends with heating chambers 4| and ii disposed laterally of, parallel with, and spaced from the narrow upper portion- At their'rear ends these chambers communicate with an outlet box "through the passages I3 and 54, respectively, the outlet box being centrally connected with a stack flue II. For the purpose of further retarding the direct escape of the products of combustion and .thereby augmenting the delivery of heat units from these products, the heating chambers are provided with the downwardly inclined walls or baiiles 58 and 51, respectively, which cause the products issuing from the flue 4| to flow to the forward ends of the respective heating chambers and then down and back to the discharge passages 53 and II. During the travel of the products of combustion around the baiiies I5 and 46, through the flues l1 and 40, and through the heating chambers 40 and ii and around the bailies therein, ample opportunity is afforded for the delivery of heat units from the products'of combustion to the surrounding air which carries the heat units upwardly from the furnace into the'dwelling. It'will be observed that the spacing of the heating chambers from the upper portions of the combustion chamber provides passages between these chambers through which the air beportion of shell I is of truncated form, as indicated at 88, to direct the heated air centrally upwardly through the usual grill or grating 64,

while the cold air-along the floor of the building is drawn downwardly through the outer margin of the grill into the down-draft passage 58 at the bottom of which it turns inwardly and upwardly to be heated by the combustion and heating chambers and delivered from the furnace back into the building.

From the foregoing it should be manifest that I have provided a furnace which is very efficient 'the burner becoming submerged and extinguished by any seepage or flow of water into the excavation. Since the air intake openings 33 are always located well above the ground line, the

possibility of flame extinguishment and the danger. of explosions and fires resulting therefrom,

all occasioned by the presence of water inthe furnace casing, are entirely eliminated by my invention.

While I have shown and described for illustrative purposes that embodiment of my invention which at present seems preferable, it should be understood that the structural details disclosed may be varied within wide limits without .departing from the essence of my invention as deflned in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A furnace comprising a casing composed of side walls and a closed bottom, a combustion chamber located therein, a burner in said combustion chamber, a partition wail dividing the space between the combustion chamber and the casing into a cold air down-draft passage and a hot air up-draft passage, means for conducting the products of combustion from said chamber in a tortuous path surrounded by said partition to a delivery point outside of said casing, a combustion air inlet opening in said casing located a substantial distance above the level of said burner, and conduit means for conducting air from said air inlet opening to said combustion chamber, said casing below the inletof said conduit being sealed to preclude the entrance of water thereinto.

2. A furnace comprising a casing having vertical side walls and a closed bottom wall, a heating unit in said casing including a combustion chamber spaced from the bottom wall of said casing. a burner in said combustion chamber, a combustion air inlet opening in said casing located a substantial distance above the level of said burner, an air inlet conduit communicating at one end with said opening and extending downwardly within the casing and beneath the combustion chamber and communicating at its opposite end with the combustion chamber in proximity to said burner, said casing being sealed below said air inlet'opening to preclude the en-' trance of water thereinto, means for retarding the flow of combustion gases through said heating unit, a stack flue, and means for establishing communication between said combustion chamber and said stack flue.

3 A furnace comprising a casing including an upright side wall and a bottom wall, a heating unit in said casing having a combustion chamber comprising an upright wall and a top wall,

the lower end of said combustion chamber being spaced irom the bottom wall of said casing, a

burner in said combustion chamber, a jacket in said casing surrounding said heating unit and dividing the space between said casing and said height substantially above the level of said burn-.

er, an air conduit havingan upright portion between said casing and said jacket for conducting air from said air inlet opening to said combustion chamber, said casing being sealed below said air inlet opening to preclude the entrance of water thereinto. v

' BENJAMIN F. STEPHENS.

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