US2788086A - Air cleaner with dual air intake - Google Patents

Description

J. B. SEBOK 4 Sheets-Sheet l EYE TL'TZZLET dose 01L :5. 561m AIR CLEANER WITH DUAL AIR INTAKE April 9, 1957 Filed Nov. 15, 1952 April 9, 1957 J. B. SEBOK AIR CLEANER WITH DUAL AIR INTAKE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15, 1952 I17 FE 1121: Jase 01L B. Sebok April 9, 1957 Filed NOV. 15, 1952 J. B. SEBOK 2,788,086

- AIR CLEANER WITH DUAL AIR INTAKE 4 Shee cS-Sheet 3 Q a I 2 Q Q H q w m {L Q I w In I} I 8 U r bug N ETFE'IfifET dime 0h B. Seboi April 9, 1957 J. B. SEBOK AIR CLEANER WITH DUAL AIR INTAKE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Nov. 15, 1952 N N Joseph B. 56601? n n United States Patent AIR CLEANER WITH DUAL AIR INTAKE Joseph B. Sebok, Detroit, 'Mich., assignor to Houdaille Industries, Inc Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application November 15, 1952, Serial No. 320,645 9 Claims. (Cl. 183-44) This invention relates to-improvements inan air cleaner with dual air intake, andmore particularly to a combination .air cleansing and intake silencing unit equipped with two air intakes to provide admission for either warm or cold air, or a combination of both, such intakes be- :ing either manually or automatically controlled as may 'be desired, although'the invention may have other uses and purposes as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

In connection with automotive vehicles, difiiculty has been experienced in the past in preventing the engine dying .at idle speed in cold weather due to so-called icing of the carburetor. Essentially there is a small hole in the throttle valve of a carburetor, and because of high humidity in the air or other reasons, ice frequentlyforrns adjacent that hole in the throttle valve thereby partially or :fully .obstructingit so that the engine :receives an insutiicient amount of fuel when at idle speed and so will mostatic temperature responsive control.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important-object of the instant invention to provide an air cleaner and .silencingunit shrouded for the purpose of admitting air from two separate sources, and wherein vibration and rattling is eliminated by virtue of maintaining the top of the shroud under tension.

Also a feature of the invention is to provide an air cleaner and silencing unit with the shroud defining an intake chamber from two sources :of air supply, and wherein both the shroud and the filtering means are removable from the remainder of the structure, rattling and vibration being eliminated by maintaining both the top of the aircleaner and the top of the shroud under tension during operation.

Still another feature of the invention resides in the provision of an air cleaner and intake silencer unit shrouded to receive-air from two different sources, and wherein the upper section of the air cleaner and silencer .unit is removable alone, without disturbing the mounting of the lowersection and the shroud.

Yet another object of this invention is the provision of a shrouded air cleaner and silencer unit, wherein the shroud is fixed to the lower casing section of the unit, an'dthe upper section is individually and separatelyremovable.

It is also a feature of this invention to provide a shrouded air cleaner and intake silencer unit, so arranged that 'the shroud not only functions as a distribution means for'air obtained from different sources, but also 2,788,086 Patented Apr. 9, 1957 :for noises developed in the internal combustion engine with which the structure is associated.

Still another feature of the invention resides in the provision of a shrouded air cleaner and silencing unit, in which one portion of the structure is a combined shroud and silencing chamber operating upon the resonator principle.

Still a further feature of the invention resides in the provision of a shrouded air cleaner and silencing unit, in which there is a silencing or attenuating chamber on each side of the air cleansing means; that is, sound waves traveling reversely through the unit will be subjected to an attenuating chamber before reaching the means.

It is still a further feature of the invention to provide a shrouded air cleaner and silencer unit in which incoming air passes through a sound attenuating chamber, whereby the entire structure may be made of relatively small size.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantages of the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will become apparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a part side elevational, part central vertical sectional view, with parts shown in elevation, of a shrouded air cleaning and silencing unit embodying prin ciples of the instant invention, and wherein the shroud and upper section of the cleaning and silencing unit are separately removable;

Figure 2 is a bottom plan view of the structure of Fig. 1;

Figure 3 is a view similar in character to Fig. 1, namely a part elevational and part central vertical sectional View of a shrouded air cleaning and silencing unit, embodying principles of the instant invention but showing a different form of construction, wherein the shroud is aifixed to the lower casing section, and the upper casing section of the unit is alone removable;

Figure 4 is a bottom plan view of the structure of Fig. 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary central vertical sectional view of a shrouded air cleaning and silencing unit, parts being shown in elevation, and illustrating -a still different 'form of structure; and

an upper casing section generally indicated by numeral 2, and a shroud generally indicated by numeral 3.

The lower casing section embodies an enlarged outlet conduit 4, centrally disposed, and having at its lower end'a gasket seat and gasket as indicated at 5 for disposition on a flange or platform of a carburetor. Connected to this conduit 4 is an outer casing wall 6 which extends upwardly at the side, and turns inwardly to join :a cylindrical portion of an inside partition 7. The outer wall 6 of the lower casing section is distorted at the bottom in order to adjust the volume thereof since this casing encloses a sound attenuating chamber Operating on the resonator principle. The partition 7 is curvate at the bottom to provide a sump 8 for cleansing liquid, and then is secured to an upstanding cylindrical member 9 which extends inwardly at the top and then downwardly as at 10 to provide an outlet for cleaned air. It will'be noted that the outlet nozzle 10 is concentric with but spaced from the opening in the top of the conduit 4 so "as to provide a passage '11 through which sound waves the cab of the vehicle.

may enter the relatively large attenuating chamber 11a between the partition 7 and the casing wall 6. This attenuating chamber is adjusted as to inside volume for the attenuation of the fundamental tone emanating from the internal combustion engine through the carburetor with which the cleaner and silencing unit is associated.

Between the partition 7 and the inner partition or wall 9 is a seat for a gasket 12 upon which the upper casing section seats. This upper casing section 2 embodies a cover 13, a depending filter shell 14, and a filter mass 15 is carried in the filter holding shell. The filter holding shell is provided with enlarged openings in the bottom thereof, and depending from the shell is a peaked baffle 16 disposed Over the (liquid in the sump 8.

The shroud 3 comprises a cover 17 and a side wall or skirt 18 which intimately engages the upper portion of the lower casing section 1, this shroud fully enclosing the exposed portion of the upper casing section. The shroud, as best seen in Fig. 2, is provided with a pair of inlet conduits 19 and 20 in which dampers or valves 21 and 22, respectively, are mounted on the same common shaft 23. The two valves or control elements are out-ofphase, preferably 90, and rotate in unison, so that the eflective area of both inlets 19 and 20 is never greater than the area of one of these inlet-s, because if one of the valves is fully open, the other is fully closed and vice versa, with proportionate opening of each valve in between the fully open and fully closed positions. One of the inlets is connected to a source of warm air which might be from the engine compartment, and the other is connected to a source of cool air, which might be in automatically by thermostatic or temperature responsive means, or controlled manually as may be most desired. In any event, all the incoming air may be cool, all of it may be warm, or there may be a predetermined mixture of warm and cool air.

The separable parts of the structure are held together by means of a bolt 24 which would be secured in the upper portion of a carburetor, not shown in the drawings. The upper casing section is telescoped inside the lower section upon the gasket 12, having an enlarged aperture 25 in the cover 13 thereof. Outside this aperture a wing nut 26 may be tightened down on the bolt, a washer being used if so desired, and it will be noted that the tightening of the wing nut places the center portion of the cover 13 under tension, thereby eliminating vibration and rattling. The belt extends upwardly through the cover 17 of the shroud and this cover has an enlarged opening 27 around the bolt, and when a wing nut 28 is tightened down, the cover of the shroud is also placed under tension so as to eliminate rattling and vibration. The enlarged apertures 25 and 27 also serve another function, namely the easy and ready positioning of the upper casing section and shroud over the bolt, in case the bolt is disposed at a slightly oif angle for any reason.

In operation, incoming air enters through one or the other or both of the inlets 19 and 20, passes downwardly through the space 29 between the partitions 7 in the lower section and the filter holding shell 14 in the upper section, mingles with the liquid in the sump, passes upwardly through the filter mass 15, and descends into the interior of the conduit 4 and from there into the carburetor. Noise emanating from the engine and returning in the reverse direction will be silenced as to the fundamental tone byvirtue of the sound waves entering through the port 11 into the attenuating chamber 11a. However, a higher pitched sound, such as a harmonic or a second fundamental tone, will also be attenuated by passing rearwardly through the filter mass and entering the chamber defined by the shroud, this chamber being efiective to establish material silencing on the resonator principle, especially by virtue of the fact that the area at the inlet to the chamber is only equivalent to one of the inlets 19 or 20 at any time. The chamber inside the shroud may also be tuned by varying the amount of The vailves may be controlled volume or size of the shroud, and by changing the size of the air inlet tubes 19 or 26. Thus, a silencing chamber is provided on each side of the filtering means. The entire structure is thereby kept as compact as possible, the shroud performing the dual function of establishing a secondary silencing chamber, as well as establishing a means for admitting warm or cold air.

The structure seen in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings is different to the extent that it is made for connection to a carburetor air intake horn, rather than actually housing the carburetor, and the upper casing section may be at once removed, since the shroud is fixed to the lower casing section.

In this construction, there is a lower casing section 30 which together with a partition 31, of the same character as the aforesaid partition 7, houses a sound attenuating chamber 32. Centrally of the bottom, a lower casing section 30 is connected to a conduit 33 equipped with means for attachment to a carburetor air intake horn. The partition 31 has its central portion connected to a clean air outlet conduit 34 which is concentric with but of less diameter than the conduit 33 so as to leave a space therebetween through which sound waves may enter the attenuating chamber 32. A Z-bar 35 in this outlet conduit 34 has secured thereto the lower end of an attaching bolt 36.

On the upper portion of the lower casing section is a shroud 37 which is permanently aflixed to the lower casing section. The shroud is of greater diameter than the lower casing section, and extends thereabove terminating centrally in its cover at a relatively large aperture defined by a flange or seat 38 which may carry a gasket if so desired. As seen best in Fig. 4, the shroud is provided with a pair of inlet conduits 39 and 40 having valves 41 and 42, respectively therein and disposed out-ofphase on a common shaft 43. These valves function in the same manner as the valves 21 and 22 above described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2.

The upper casing section 44 is substantially the same as that shown in Fig. l, and includes a filter holding shell, the filter mass 45, a bafiie 46 extending therebelow over the liquid sump defined by the partition 31, and a cover 47. The cover 47 where it joins the filter holding shell is outwardly flanged so that this casing section will seat upon the flange 38 of the shroud as clearly seen in Fig. 3. The attaching bolt 36 extends upwardly through the cover 47, and the upper casing section is held in place by a wing nut 48. The operation of the structure shown in Figs. 3 and 4 is substantially the same as that described in connection with Figs. 1 and 2. However, in this instance, the upper casing section may be immediately removed by detaching the single thumb nut 48, and the shroud remains afiixed to the lower casing section.

In Figs. 5 and 6 I have shown what may be the preferred form of construction. Here, we have a lower casing section 49 connected centrally at the bottom with an inwardly extending conduit 50 flanged at the lower end and provided with a gasket 51 to seat on a platform of a carburetor, the conduit 50 housing the major portion of the carburetor, which is not shown in the drawings.

This lower casing section 49 is lock seamed so as to be substantially integral with a shroud 52 the cover of which has a relatively large opening therein defined by a formation designed to function as a seat for a gasket 53. Inside the shroud is a partition having a cylindrical upstanding wall 54 and a horizontal irregular portion 55 which provides a sump for cleansing liquid, this part 55 extending over and being secured to the aforesaid conduit 50. A horizontal annular partition 56 separates the interior of the shroud or chamber 57 from the chamber 58 in the lower casing section 49, both of which chambers function as sound attenuators. It will be noted that the cylindrical partition 54 except for a relatively small inlet conduit 59 extends clear to the top of the shroud thus closing off the region inside the partition 54 except for that inlet opening.

Sound =waves may enter the large chamber 58, which is ports is a tuning tube 61, which may be varied in length to alter the tuning of the silencing chamber.

The upper casing section embodies a cover 62 from which'depends a filter holding shell 63 containing a suitable filtering element 64, and on the underside of this 'filter holding shell is secured a bafile'65 which extends over the aforesaid liquid sump. An inwardly sloping substantially conical tube 66 inside the filter holding shell afiords a discharge for cleaned air after this air is passed through the filter element, and the air descends into the conduit 50 where it may enter the carburetor. A securing bolt 67, the lower end of which is preferably screw threaded into the carburetor extends upwardly through an enlarged aperture in the top 62 of the upper casing section, and the upper casing section may be held tightly in position by a wing nut 68 or the equivalent, it being noted that the tightening of the wing nut places a central portion of the cover of the upper casing section under tension to eliminate rattling and vibration.

Leading into the shroud 52 at the side opposite the inlet conduit 59 to the air cleaning means proper, is a pair of inlet conduits 69 and 70 each of which is provided with a valve 71 and 72, respectively, the valves being mounted upon a common shaft 73, as above explained in connection with the other modifications.

It will also be noted that in connection with the illustrated structure, the upper casing section carrying the filter element is eccentrically disposed in relation to the shroud, which extends more to one side than the other in order to provide adequate volume for the attenuating chamber 57.

In operation of this modification of the invention, cold air, warm air, or a mixture of both enters the conduit 69 and 70, circles the partition 54 on both sides thereof, and then enters the inlet conduit 59 to descend between the filter holding shell 63 and the partition 54, pass over the liquid in the sump, pass upwardly through the filter mass, and then descend into the conduit 50. The fundamental noise developed by the engine will be neutralized by virtue of its sound waves entering the attenuating chamber 58 through the ports 60. The secondary fundamental tone of the engine will be neutralized by the sound waves passing backwardly through the filter mass, and entering the attenuating chamber 57 inside the shroud, this chamber functioning as an attenuating chamber, particularly by virtue of the fact that only the area of one of the inlet conduits 69 or 70 can be effective at any time.

Certain higher pitched and shorter wave length sound waves may also be neutralized inside the partition 54, by virtue of the relatively small size of the inlet 59 thereto. Thus, there is provided attenuating chambers on both sides of the filter element, and the series arrangement of attenuating chambers on one side of that element. Consequently, this modification is more effective as a sound attenuating arrangement than either of the modifications above described.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be etfected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an air cleaner and silencing unit, a casing having an inlet and an outlet, air cleansing means in the casing in the path of air traveling from the inlet to the outlet, said casing having an attenuating chamber in communication with the path of the air traveling between the cleansing means and the outlet, and a shroud over a part of said casing and enclosing said inlet, a second attenuating chamber defined by said shroud and said casing, and said shroud having an air inlet thereto spaced from said casing inlet.

2. In an air cleaner and silencing unit, a casing having an inlet and an outlet, air cleansing means in the casing in the path of air travelling from the inlet to the outlet,

said casing having an attenuating chamber in communication with the path of the air travelling between the cleansing means and the outlet, and a shroud sealed over a part of said casing and enclosing said inlet, a second chamber defined by said shroud and said casing and located on the opposite side of said air cleansing means from said first attenuating chamber, said shroud having a relatively small air inlet opening spaced from said casing inlet thereby permitting said second chamber to effectively function as a second attenuating chamber.

3. In an air cleaner, a casing having an inlet and an outlet, means defining a path of travel for air from the inlet to the outlet, air cleansing means in said path having an intake side and an outlet side, a shroud enclosing a part of said casing and said inlet, said shroud having a pair of inlet openings therein for air from different sources, out-of-phase control means for the shroud inlet openings whereby the effective area of these openings is not greater than the area of one of them at any time, a sound attenuating chamber enclosed by said shroud and being on the intake side of said cleansing means, and means in said casing defining another sound attenuating chamber on the outlet side of said cleansing means.

4. In an air cleaning and silencing unit, a lower casing section having an air outlet and housing an attenuating chamber therein, an upper casing section, filter means in said upper section, a shroud enclosing the upper casing section and having an air inlet, and mounting means for removably connecting said sections and said shroud, said shroud and said upper section being separably removable from the lower section.

5. In an air cleaning and silencing unit, a lower casing section having an air outlet and housing an attenuating chamber therein, an upper casing section, filter means in said upper section, a shroud fixed to said lower section and enclosing the upper section, said shroud having an opening therein to receive the upper section, and mounting means to removably hold said upper section in position.

6. In an air cleaning and silencing unit, a lower casing section having an air outlet and housing an attenuating chamber therein, an upper casing section, filter means in said upper section, a shroud fixed to said lower section and enclosing the upper section, said shroud having an opening therein to receive the upper section, gasket means around said opening, a flange on said upper section to seat on said gasket means, and mounting means to removably hold the upper section in operative position in said shroud.

7. In an air cleaning and silencing unit, a casing structure including a lower casing part, a conduit therein, partition means defining an attenuating chamber around said conduit, a shroud over the top of said casing part, a removable upper casing section extending through said shroud, filter means in said upper casing section, partition means between the first said partition means and the top of said shroud, the last said partition means having a relatively small air inlet therein, and said shroud having an air inlet in the side opposite the first said inlet.

8. In an air cleaning and silencing unit, a casing structure including a lower casing part, a conduit therein, partition means defining an attenuating chamber around said conduit, a shroud over the top of said casing part, partition means defining a second attenuating chamber in said shroud, said shroud having an opening in the top thereof inside said other partition means, a filter carrying casing section insertable through said opening in spaced relationship to said other partition means, said other partition means having a relatively small opening therethrough, and said shroud having a relatively small 7 air inlet opening at a point remote from the opening in said other partition means.

9. In an air cleaning unit, a lower casing section having an outlet for cleaned air, an upper casing section separable from the lower section and defining with said lower section an inlet path for air, filter means in said upper section, an upstanding securing element, said upper section having an enlarged opening in the top thereof, means external of said top engageable With said element to hold said top under tension and connect said casing sections, a shroud over said upper section and having an aperture therein through which said element projects, and a second means external of the shroud engageable with said element to hold the shroud in place with its top also under tension.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Benjamin Apr. 10, Acton May 29, Kamrath Ian. 10, Rohm June 15, Dreznes Sept. 28,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Jan. 1, France May 21, France Sept. 26, France June 24,

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