US2268789A - Combination water and room heater - Google Patents

Description

`Ian. 6, 1942. Q, G, WATT 29258;?89

COMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Filed June 22, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet l Z5 Z2 Z6 47 38 figg rz.

Jan. 6, 1942. Q, WATT COMBINATION WATER AND RooM HEATER Filed June 22, 1959 Shee"r,s-Shee"f. 2

Jan. 6, 1942. O. G. WATT COMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Jan. 6, 1942. o, G, WAT-r 2,268,789

COMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Filed June 22, 1939 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 "New @13 M174* QA Patented Jan. 6, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE COMBINATION WATER AND ROOM HEATER Oscar G. Watt, Tulsa, Okla.

Application June 22, 1939, Serial No. 280,639

Claims.

'I'his invention relates to a combination water heater and room heater and more particularly to one employing a conventional insulated water tank. This application is a continuation in part of applicants prior application No. 273,803 tiled May 15,1939.

Some ofthe objects of the invention are:

To utilize the favorable and eliminate the unfavorable features oi the present day automatic water heaters and to provide an apparatus that will perform a dual service, that of heating water and room air, yet each service being under the separate control of the user;

To provide a bathroom heater that will eliminate the open flame gas or oil heating stove in the bathroom which has a triple hazard, that of burning the unclad bather, asphyxiation of the bather, or burning the building by some article of clothing or a towel being carelessly tossed on the stove;

To provide a heater that will insure a warm bathroom when there is hot water for the bath, this being particularly advantageous during the early Fall or late Spring when the general house heating plant is not in operation; and

To furnish a heater which, if located in a kitchen., will serve to keep the kitchen warm during the times when cooking is not being done, but will prevent the overheating of the kitchen by the water heater while cooking.

In bathrooms which are heated by a radiator or the like from a steam heating system or like heating system for the house, the radiators and their necessary connections present an unsightly appearance by their unconcealed fixtures and fittings, also such radiators occupy unnecessary floor space and are not insulated so that the bather is subjected to the possibility of becom- -ing burned. Furthermore, in such a heating apparatus, it is connected to the house heating plant and therefore it is necessary that the heating plant be inr operation to supply heat. This has its disadvantages in that at certain times of the year, such as early fall and late spring, it is desirous to have the bathroom heated, yet the weather is not sufficiently cold to warrant the operation oi the home heating plant. It is therefore an object of this invention to supply a heating unit for a bathroom or the like which is connected to the hot water circulating system independently of the home heating system, thus utilizing the same hot water that supplies the domestic iixtures for furnishing heat to a room any time there is hot water present in the hot water tank.

A further object is to provide a heater having an enclosing casing so protected as to prevent the same from becoming hot enough to burn the skin.

An additional object is to provide a combined hot water heater and room heater having a casing that conceals substantially all unsightly pipes and fittings.

A still further object is to produce a relatively simple and inexpensive combination heater and yet one which will be exceedingly effective for the purpose for which it is designed. With the foregoing objects outlined and with other objects in View which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described in detail, illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particu ularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a iront elevation partly in vertical section of a conventional hot water heater provided with my improvements.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same partly broken away to illustrate internal elements.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view on the line llof Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a front elevation of a modification.

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the modication.

Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view of the circulating pipe portion of the thermal web which acts as a heat exchanger.

Fig. 8 is a perspective view of a piece of sheet melgal which may be used as part of the thermal we Referring to the drawings, 9 designates a conventional hot Water heater comprising supporting legs l on which rests a pan bottom il having a central opening l2 to admit air into a combustion chamber i3. An annular inner wall i4 of metal rests on the pan il, and a partition i5 serves as the bottom of a water chamber i6 and as the top of the combustion chamber.

Any suitable heater such as a gas burner il is arranged in the combustion chamber and is supplied with gas through a pipe i8. The flow of gas to the burner is controlled by a thermostatic element I9 which extends into the water chamber.

A central nue 20 extends through the water chamber as well as through the top 2| of the latter and is connected with a conventional vent pipe 22.

An outer jacket 23 of any suitable material is and this space is filled with insulating material 24.

Cold water is introduced into the tank through a pipe 25 which extends downwardly through the top of the tank and terminates close to its bottom l5. Hot water is discharged from the top of the tank through a pipe 25 having a T connection 2 through which the hot water may pass to a pipe 23 leading to domestic fixtures, or through a pipe 29 to my improved thermal jacket which will now be described. Such jacket comprises a metallic pipe skeleton comprising an upper annular tube or manifold 30, a lower annular tube or manifold 3i, and vertical pipes 32 which place the manifolds in communication. The pipe skeleton surrounds the hot water tank and hot water is fed to the upper end of the same through the pipe 29 and is discharged through a pipe 33 at the lower end which leads back to the water tank and is provided with a control valve 34. Whenever the valve 34 is open, hot water can circulate through the system of pipes 35, 32 and 3l. Instead of making the water conduits of pipes, obviously this portion of the jacket might be in the form of a casting, and in either event clean-out plugs (not shown) might be provided to facilitate cleaning.

35 designates heat conducting sheet portions of the thermal jacket which may consist of any.

suitable thin heat conducting material such as sheet copper or brass. The surface of such sheet material, obviously, may be smooth, corrugated, as indicated at 36 (Fig. 8), or perforated, as indicated at 31. If corrugated metal is used, the corrugations preferably extend vertically. The sheet material is stretched from one conduit 32 containing the'heating medium, to another and bonded to the conduits by good heat-conducting bonds. The web is so arranged that air contacting it becomes heated and is permitted to rise and pass on. This heat is transferred from'the water to the room air.

As best shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the thermal web is cut so as to form outwardly and downwardly extending tongues 38 to give the rising air a zigzag motion back and forth through the heater, or to change the ascending currents of air from one channel to another.

A passageway for the air is provided by arranging a'. casing 39 of any suitable material such as sheet metal about the conventional hot water heater, If the heater is round, I prefer to make the casing square so that the corner spaces within the casing may be occupied by portions 35 of the web. In round heaters, this corner space is wasted, as a round heater takes up practically the same oor space as a square one. It will be obvious that my arrangement of the thermal jacket makes it possible to secure a large amount of heating surface in the thermal web, as the web need not be confined to the corner spaces but can extend entirely around the pipe skeleton, as will be apparent from Figs. and 6.

The operation of the thermal jacket is the same as any gravity circulating system of hot water and air. By opening the valve 34, which may be either on the supply or return connection, a circulation of hot water is set up which in turn induces a circulation of air in the passageway between the heater and the jacket 39.

When the valve is closed, both circulation of water and air ceases and the small amount of water in the pipe skeleton 30, 3l, 32 simply takes on the room air temperature and there is no exchange of heat. Obviously the thermal jacket can be made round as well as square, but in such case one would lose the advantage of the corner spaces.

There will be very little condensation from this type of heater, for as long as there is any hot water at all in the tank, the thermal jacket will be warm, and it is seldom that cold water would be in the pipe skeleton. However, to take care of condensation, I arrange a trough 4l! in the air passageway around the lower portion of the wall 23, and an annular shed 4i about the inner surface of the jacket 39. Condensation gathering in the trough 4@ iiows through a pipe 42 into a receptacle d3 arranged in the combustion chamber and due to the heat therein, will be vaporized and discharged through the ue 2B. The shed di diverts any condensate which it receives into a pan 44 on which the entirel structure may rest.

For the purpose of supporting the casing 39 I may arrange inverted U-shaped supports 45 within the pan 44 to support internal brackets 45, secured to the lower end portion of the casing.

At the upper end portion of the casing I provide internal brackets 4l which are secured to the casing and rest on metal bars 48 mounted on the top of the water heater. They may be secured to the latter by any suitable means such as screws 49, and they also function to support the thermal jacket, as the upper manifold 30 rests on such bars and may be secured thereto by retaining clamps 50.

The hot water tank may be provided with a conventional drain valve 5i (Fig. 2) and the casing 33 may be provided with removable doors 52 and 53 provided with handles 54.

The air will enter the lower end of the casing through the space between its lower edge and the upper edge of the pan 44 and, in traveling upwardly, will be diverted toward the water heater by means of the tongues 38, so as to prevent the casing from becoming hot enough to cause a burn.

Instead of having the casing entirely surround the heater, I may extend the same only partially around, as illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6. In these gures, t-he casing 39a is mounted on the heater 9a by a suitable means.' For example, it may be provided at its upper end with a strap 55 which rests on the top of the heater. The ends of the strap are in the form of wings 56 which are arranged at diametrically opposite sides of the heater and are connected to the front edge portions 5l of the casing; such edge portions being secured to diametrically opposite sides of the heater. In this form of the invention, the pipe skeleton 53 through which the hot water from the boiler is circulated, is provided with a thermal web 59 which may be of substantially the same area as the web used in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive. This is accomplished by arranging a larger number of plates in the smaller space allowed by the small casing.

I wish it distinctly understood that my improved combination room and water heater as described and illustrated is in forms which I prefer in constructing it, and that changes and variations may be made as may be convenient Vor desirable without departing from the salient features of the invention, and I therefore intend the following claims to cover such modications as naturally fall within the lines of the invention.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. In an individual room heater for small dwellings comprising a domestic hot water heater having an upstanding round hot water tank, an insulated jacket cooperating with the outer periphery of the tank, an angular casing having a wall cooperating with the outer periphery of the jacket to form an air passageway, hot water conducting means having heat conducting portions arranged in said passageway, said means being operatively connected to the tank to cause circulation of hot water from the upper portion of the tank to a lower portion thereof, thermal web means connected to the heat conducting portions or said means and arranged in said passageway, means for admitting cold air into the lower end of said passageway, means provided in the web to cause rising air to pass through the web and toward the heater, and means for discharging hot air from the upper end of said passageway.

2. In a domestic hot Water heater having a hot water tank, an insulated jacket disposed adjacent the outer periphery of the tank, an angular casing having a wall cooperating with the outer periphery of the jacket to form an air passageway, hot water conducting means having heat conducting portions arranged in said passageway, said means being operatively connected to the tank to cause circulation of hot water from the upper portion of the tank to the lower portion thereof, and comprising a plurality of horizontally disposed pipes interconnecting with a plurality of vertically disposed pipes, a thermal web means connected to the vertical pipespi said means, means for admitting cold air ,into the lowerl en d of said passageway, and means for discharging hot air from the upper end of said pass'a'geway.

3. In combination with a domestic hot water heater having an upstanding round hot water tank, an insulated jacket disposed adjacent to the outer periphery of the tank, a casing having a wall cooperating with the outer periphery of the jacket to form an air passageway, hot water conducting means comprising a plurality of horizontally disposed pipes interconnecting with Vertically disposed pipes arranged in said passageway, said horizontal pipes being operatively connected to the tank to provide circulation of the water from the upper portion of the tank to the lower p0rtion thereof, a thermal web means connected to the vertical pipes of said means, parts of said web being positioned within the corners of the casing, means for admitting cold air into the lower end of said passageway and means for discharging hot air from the upper end of said passageway.

4. In. combination with a hot water heater, a jacket having a wall spaced from the wall of the heater to provide an air passageway, hot water conducting means arranged in said passageway and connected with the heater to permit circulation of hot water from the heater through said conducting means, said means comprising a plurality of horizontally spaced pipes interconnecting with a plurality of vertically disposed pipes, a thermal web means connected to the vertical pipes, a plurality of tongues provided in the web for directing rising air toward the heater, and means cooperating with said jacket for discharging air from the passageway.

5. In combination with a hot water heater hav- .ing a tank, an insulated jacket surrounding the outerperiphery of the tank, a casing having a 'portion spaced froml the outer periphery of the jacket to provide an air passageway, a plurality of horizontally disposed pipes interconnecting with a plurality of vertically disposed pipes and operativelyconnected to 'the tank to provide circulation of hot water from'fthe upper portion of the tank to the lowerportion thereof, a thermal web means connected to the vertical pipes, means cooperating with said jacket provided in the web to direct rising air in the passageway toward the heater, and means for discharging hot air from theupper end of the passageway.

@SCAR G- WATT.

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