Gas burning heaters

July 7, 1964

3,139,879

K. E. BAUER ETAL

GAS BURNING HEATERS

Filed Dec. 6, 1961

Sheets-Sheet 1

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ATTORNEYS'

July 7, 1964 κ. _E. bauer etal 3,139,879

GAS BURNING HEATERS Filed Dec. ¢, 1961 4 Sheets-Sheet 2

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ATTORNEYS

K. E. BAUER ETAL

3,139,879

GAS BURNING HEATERS

July 7, 1964

Filed Dec. ¢, 1961

Sheets-Sheet 3

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INVENTORS

Konrad E. Bauer Roy A. Ozaki

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ATTORNEYS

July 7, 1964

K. E. BAUER ETAL

3,139,879

Filed Dec. 6, 1961

GAS BURNING HEATERS

Sheets-Sheet 4

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INVENTORS

Konrad E. Bauer Roy A. Ozaki

BY

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ATTORNEYS

United States Patent Office

3,139,879

Patented July 7, 1964

3,139,879 GAS BURNING HEATERS

Konrad E. Bauer, Cleveland, and Roy A. Ozaki, Akron, Ohio, assignors to Hupp Corporation, Cleveland, Ohio, a corporation of Virginia

Filed Dec. 6, 1961, Ser. No. 157,411

Claims. (Cl. 126—4)

This invention relates to gas burning heaters and more particularly to portable self-contained heaters especially adapted for cooking or heating where conventional stoves and heaters are not available or are not suited for use.

The gas burning heaters of the present invention are particularly suited for use by sportsmen for cooking or heating and for emergency heating and cooking when devices normally used for this purpose are out of service. While relatively small, portable gas heaters have been proposed in the past, none has fully satisfied the exacting requirements which a commercially acceptable unit of this type must meet.

For example, a unit of this type must be very light and compact for easy storage and transportation, it must function independently of normal utilities, it must have high efficiency to minimize the amount of fuel required for its operation, it must be safe and easy to use and it must be adaptable to manufacture at low cost so that it can be sold at a price which will permit its widespread use.

It is the principal purpose and object of the present invention to provide improved gas burning heaters which satisfy these requirements to a unique degree.

In attaining this object and subordinate objects, the present invention provides heating apparatus incorporating a radiant burner, a source of fuel and unique mounting apparatus which supports the burner and the fuel source and permits the mounting of the entire unit in a number of positions to permit the effective utilization of the unit in a wide range of cooking and heating applications.

The fuel for the burners of the present invention is preferably liquefied gas which is widely available in one or two pound metal bottles in most hardware and sporting goods stores. This bottled fuel is easily transported and stored anywhere, it can be controlled and regulated for safe use and offers a particular advantage of safety for use on boats since it does not involve the filling of containers or danger of spilling or leakage.

This fuel can be burned with maximum efficiency in radiant burners of the type disclosed and claimed in U.S. Patent 2,775,294, granted Dec. 25, 1956. These burners incorporate a perforated ceramic tile at or near the outer surface of which combustion occurs heating the outer surface of the tile to a temperature in the neighborhood of 1600° F. at which temperature a field of intense infrared radiation is emitted. While burners of this type are preferred, other burners emitting infra-red radiation can also be utilized. For example, burners using wire screens instead of ceramic tiles are also contemplated for use in the present invention.

With the foregoing considerations in mind, it is a further object of the present invention to provide improved portable, self-contained heating units utilizing small propane cylinders as a fuel supply and having a burner element which transmits heat by infra-red radiation.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide improved gas burning heaters which can be adapted instantly either for cooking or heating use and which can be placed for such use on a floor or a table or hung from a bracket or can be carried around while in operation.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide improved gas burning heaters which are extremely light and compact and thus easily transportable, the entire weight of the apparatus being only slightly greater than the weight of the fuel tank alone.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide improved gas burning portable heaters in which all parts are connected in such a manner as to eliminate a source of potential danger which might result if the stove structure were separated from the fuel tank but with means which permit easy, quick and safe replacement of the fuel tank when the fuel supply is exhausted.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide improved gas burning heaters including means for regulating and controlling the flow of fuel from the fuel tank to the burner element and to assure the proper orientation of the fuel tank with respect to the burner so that fuel in gaseous form rather than liquid form flows to the burner.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide improved gas burning heaters which are constructed of a minimum number of parts of a relatively simple construction and made of relatively inexpensive materials to permit its manufacture and sale in large quantities at low cost.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the heater of the present invention as set up for use in cooking;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of the heater of the present invention arranged for heating when it is placed on a floor, table or other support surface;

FIGURE 3 is a front view of the heater of the present invention as it appears when suspended from a bracket for heating purposes;

FIGURE 4 is a side elevation of the heater with a burner per se being shown in section;

FIGURE 5 is a transverse section of the unit taken along line 5—5 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a top plan view of the burner as shown in FIGURE 4; and

FIGURE 7 is an enlarged section of the fuel nozzle and associated parts taken along line 7—7 of FIGURE 4.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, the principal components of the portable heater of the present invention comprise the burner per se indicated generally at 10, the fuel tank 12, the fuel feed apparatus indicated generally at 14 and a stand assembly indicated generally at 16 upon which all of the other components are supported.

The principal element of the burner assembly 10 is a perforated ceramic burner plate 18 of the type disclosed and claimed in the aforesaid U.S. Patent 2,775,294. In a typical case the ceramic block or tile 18 is approximately 5¼ inches long, inches wide and slightly less than % inch thick.

The tile is provided with a number of small through passages 20 which are approximately 0.05 inch in diameter, there being about 200 holes per square inch of the tile surface. As more fully disclosed in the aforesaid U.S. Patent 2,775,294, a mixture of fuel and air supplied to the rear face of the tile passes through the openings 20 and combustion occurs on the top surface of the tile to produce a field of intense infra-red radiation.

The tile 18 forms one wall of a sheet metal housing 22 to which a mixture of fuel and air is supplied through a mixing tube 24. The housing 22 is of uniform width and of increasing depth in a direction away from the mixing tube 24, the lower surface of the housing making an angle of about 15° with the plane of the tile 18. The end of the housing 22 remote from the mixing tube is smoothly curved as best shown in FIGURE 4. An internal baffle 26 is provided within the housing 22 to facili3,139,879 tate the even distribution of the fuel-air mixture to the rear surface of the tile 18. As best shown in FIGURE 5, the tile 18 is supported within the housing 22 by angles 28 and 30 spot welded to the side walls of the housing.

To prevent leakage of the fuel-air mixture from the housing around the outside of the tile, to cushion the tile against damage by shock, and to permit its expansion when heated, a gasket 32 is interposed between the edges of the tile and the adjacent portion of the housing. The gasket is preferably a felted ceramic sold by the Carborundum Company of Niagara Falls, New York, under the trademark “Fiberfrax.”

A frusto-conical reflecting shade indicated generally at 34 is made up of sheet aluminum end walls 36 and side walls 38 connected by spot welds 40 to form a unitary structure. The reflector assembly 34 is secured to a peripheral flange 42 formed integrally with the housing 22 by rivets 44. The end and side members 36 and 38, respectively, have inturned flanges 46 and 48 which extend over the border of the tile to hold the tile and the gasket in place. Lugs 50 are formed integrally with the flanges 48 to support a wire mesh screen 52 which extends parallel to the front face of the tile, the spacing between the screen and the tile being about 'A inch. The screen is preferably made of suitable heat resistant wire but preferably Nichrome or stainless steel having a mesh in the neighborhood of inch. Holes are provided in the lugs 50 to receive the ends of certain of the screen cross wires to retain the screen in place and yet permit its free expansion and contraction.

A relatively heavy grill 54 is assembled to the shade assembly 34 by springing the ends of the longitudinal wires of the grill through appropriate holes in the ends of the shade. The grill serves as a support for cooking utensils or food when the burner is used for cooking and as a flame guard when the stove is used as a heater. Preferably the center portion of the grill 54 is slightly depressed to retain the utensils or food thereon.

A principal component of the stand assembly 16 is a band 56 which has an essentially cylindrical section, the inside diameter of which is slightly greater than the outside diameter of the fuel tank 12 so that the tank can slide freely through the band. The burner housing is welded to an embossed offset 58 formed on the band, the offset being extended longitudinally as shown in FIGURE 4 to provide a support area of substantial size. Opposite the offset 8 the band terminates in parallel flanges 60 and 61, the flanges being loosely held together by a shouldered rivet 62 upon which a lever 63 is pivotally mounted. The end of the lever 63 is formed as a cam so that when the lever is normal to the axis of the fuel tank, the band fits around the tank loosely and when the lever is moved toward a position parallel to the tank as shown in FIGURE 4, the tank is locked tightly within the band.

Positioned symmetrically between the offset 58 and the flanges 60 and 61 are a pair of embossments 64 which carry trunnions 66 each having an outer serrated surface and each having a threaded shank 68. Adjusting nuts 70 provided with enlarged operating knobs 72 are threaded on the screws 68 and provide a bearing surface for eyes 74 and 76 formed respectively on the opposite ends of U-shaped bails 78 and 80. By loosening the nuts 70, the bails 78 and 80 may be moved to any desired position. For example, when the bails are in the position shown in FIGURES 1 and 4, the unit is positioned to dispose the burner in its normal position for cooking operations. When the bails are disposed as shown in FIGURE 2, they form legs to support the unit for use as a heater, or when the bails are disposed as in FIGURE 3 they provide means for suspending the unit from a bracket such as a wall bracket 82 or provide a convenient carrying handle to permit hand carrying the apparatus. To facilitate locking the bails 78 and 80 in adjusted position, the radial faces of the nuts 70 and the outer surface of the trunnions 66 are serrated.

The fuel control mechanism includes a standard commercial valve 86 with an operating knob 88. This unit, which per se forms no part of the present invention and is a standard commercial item, includes a presssure regulating mechanism which controls the flow of fuel and acts as a shut off when the control knob 88 is screwed in. The unit 86 also contains a needle or stem for automatically opening the normally closed valve incorporated in the standard commercial gas container 12. Accordingly, when the bottle 12 is removed from the unit 80, it is automatically sealed and conversely when it is threaded into the unit 80 it is automatically opened.

Fuel flows from the valve assembly 86 when it is open through an elbow fitting 90 into a copper tube 92, the outlet end of which is shown in FIGURE 7. An orifice member 94 is screwed into a fitting 96 attached by a compression gland 98 and nut 100 to the end of the tube 92. The mixing tube 24 is screwed onto the end of fitting 96 in concentric relation with the orifice member 94. The stream of gas flowing from the orifice member 94 aspirates a flow of air inwardly through side openings 102 in the wall of the mixing tube and the mixture of fuel and air is delivered by the mixing tube into the interior of the burner housing 22 for delivery to the tile 18.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 4, the axis of the fuel tank is inclined so that when the unit is supported with the grill 54 in horizontal position for cooking, the valve assembly 86 will be above the level of the liquid fuel in the tank 12 thus assuring that only gas will flow out of the tank.

To operate the unit the bails 78 and 80 are adjusted as desired, the valve knob 88 is turned to permit gas to flow to the burner and the burner is lighted at the screen 52. Combustion can then be adjusted by positioning the knob 88 to provide a relatively wide heat range. Almost immediately the face of the tile is heated to a temperature of about 1600° F. causing it and the adjacent screen 52 to radiate infra-red energy.

The shade assembly 34 directs radiation from the burner onto the utensil or food placed on the grill 54 if the unit is used for cooking or directs it toward an object to be heated.

To replace an empty fuel tank, it is necessary only to loosen the band 56 by operation of the quick release member 63 and unscrew the tank from the valve assembly 86. The full tank is then inserted into the band and screwed into the valve assembly 86 and the lever 63 is moved to its locked position.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the present invention has provided a very compact, lightweight and efficient heating unit for cooking or heating by the use of infra-red radiant radiation produced from the combustion of liquefied petroleum gas supplied in small commercially available containers.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiment is therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.