US2048104A - Heater - Google Patents

Description

y 1, 1936. J. c. CLINEFELTER 2,048,104

HEATER Filed March 2, 1932 NVENTOR James Cllinefe lrer BY M ATTORNEY Patented July 21, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HEATER James 0. Olinefelter, Akron, Ohio Application March 2, 1932, Serial No. 596,228

4 Claims. (01. 219-38) This invention relates to heaters, and more especially it relates to heaters for imparting a high heat to fluids such as water, air, steam or gases.

The invention has been used advantageously in the rubber industry for super-heating air or steam for use in the interior of inner tubes and the like during vulcanization, and in this situation it has reduced the time required for vulcanization, and has improved the article in that the state of vulcanization is more uniform, oxidation is diminished and the vulcanizing interval is shortened.

The chief object of the invention is to provide an improved, simple, and compact heater of the character mentioned. A more specific object is to provide for more eflicient heat transfer from a heating member to the fluid to be heated. Other objects will be manifest.

Of the accompanying drawing:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a heater embodying the invention in its preferred form;

Figure 2 is a vertical section through another embodiment of the invention.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, III is a tubular shell or housing having respective top and bottom caps II, I! that are welded or otherwise secured thereto. An immersion type electrical heating element I3 is axially positioned within the housing ill, said element being supported by the top cap Ii with which it may have threaded connection. The heating element i3 extends nearly to the bottom of the housing I! as shown, and the usual electrical conductor wires H extend from its upper end, exteriorly of the housing.

Mounted within the housing ll concentrically of the heating element I3 are one or more concentric coils l5, lli consisting of a plurality of adjacent helical convolutions of a single metal pipe H, the respective ends of said pipe extending through top cap II and being provided with respective couplings l8, l8 for convenient attachment to other fluid-conducting pipes. Preferably the convolutions of the coils II, I! are-spaced from each other, and from the heating element and housing wall.

The interior of the housing to not otherwise occupied is filled with heat-conducting material 20 that extends nearly to the under side of the top cover II, and said material preferably consists of metal having a reasonably low melting point, such as lead or a lead-tin alloy which will fuse on the surfaces of the heating element It and coils l5 and It to insure complete contact of these parts with the heat conducting material. It is also possible to use a liquid having a high boiling point as a heat-conducting medium, such as linseed oil. Preferably the exterior of the heater is covered with a layer 2| of suitable heatinsulating material, such as an asbestos composition.

In the operation of the device, electric current is passed through the heating element II by means of conductor wires H, the metal 20 conducting the heat by radiation to pipe II. Furthermore, when the heating element becomes sufllciently hot to fuse the metal 20 and reduce it to a fluid state, convection currents set up in the molten metal 20 cause it to circulate around and between the convolutions of the pipe I 1 so that all of said convolutions are substantially uniformly heated to the same temperature as the molten metal. Thus air or steam passed through the pipe H is likewise heated.

The device is simple in construction, cheap to manufacture, and efficient in operation. Insulation 2| may be applied to the exterior of the device of such thickness that while a reasonable that the heating element is inadvertently left inoperative or heating condition when no fluid is being passed through the pipe ll.

The embodiment of the invention shown in F18- ure 2 is identical with that shown in Figure 1 except that the pipe I! and coils l5, ii are omitted, and in their stead are employed an inlet pipe 23 and an outlet pipe 2!, both of which extend through the top cover ll of the housing It). The inlet pipe extends downwardly into the heat conducting material 2i! to a point near the bottom of the housing, and the lower end of the outlet pipe 24 is positioned just below the top cap I I, above the level of the material 20 when the latter is heated. Thus when fluid such as air or steam is passed into the heater through the pipe 23, it emerges from the latter and passes upwardly through the liquid material 20 in the form of bubbles, taking heat from said liquid by direct contact therewith, and passes out of the heater through pipe 24,

Modification may be resorted to within the scope of the appended claims which are not limited wholly to the specific construction shown and described.

What is claimed is:

1. In a heater, the combination of a sealed housing, a heating element disposed therein, heat conducting metal in intimate contact with and surrounding said heating element, and means for passing fluid to be heated through said heat conducting material, said means being in intimate contact with said heat conducting metal.

2. In a heater, the combination of a housing, an electrical heating element disposed therein, a coil of pipe adapted to convey fluid to be heated therethrough, and heat conducting material consisting oi a metal in the housing surrounding said heating element and in contact with said heating element and with said pipe coil.

3. In a heater, the combination of a heating element, a body of metallic heat conducting medium surrounding said heating element. a conduit in intimate contact with said metallic heat conducting medium adapted to have fluid passed therethrough to be heated through said heat conducting medium, the metallic heat conducting medium having a lower melting point than the temperature of said heating element whereby at least the portion of the metallic heat conducting medium immediately surrounding the heating element will be melted during operation of the heater to make an intimate contact with said heating element.

4. In a heater adapted for supplying a heated fluid at definite intervals, the combination of a heating element, a body of metallic heat conducting medium surrounding said heating element, a conduit in intimate contact with said metallic heat conducting medium adapted to have fluid passed therethrough at definite intervals to be heated through said heat conducting medium, and an insulating jacket surrounding said body of heat conducting medium, the characteristics of the insulation, the heating element and the heat conducting medium being predetermined so that the desired quantity of heat is stored in the heat conducting medium between said definite intervals. whereby a thermostat is not required.

JAIIES C. CLINEFELTER.

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