US3421687A - Vertical air circulation fan - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 14, 1969 B. 2. DAILY 3,421,687

VERTICAL AIR CIRCULATION FAN Filed Jan. 20, 1967 IN VEN TOR. suaov z 04/4 Y,

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United States Patent 3,421,687 VERTICAL AIR CIRCULATION FAN Buddy Z. Daily, 950 Goodman, Memphis, Tenn. 38111 Filed Jan. 20, 1967, Ser. No.-610,531 U.S. Cl. 230- 117 3 Claims Int. Cl. F04d 25/08; F04d 19/00 ABSTRACT on THE DISCLOSURE A fan and motor mounted in a cylindrical housing having unitarily formed extensions on one end to form feet and a plurality of elongate channel forming air directors at the other end for drawing air from spaces adjacent the feet from a floor area and directing the air in a vertically extending column'to the ceiling area of a room is disclosed. i

BACKGROUND oF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates to electric fans and more particularly to room air circulating fans.

Description of the prior art Room air circulating fans are well known in the prior art. A great many designs and modifications of such air circulating fans are known for circulating air in a horizontal plane and in angular planes including the vertical. Such fans are frequently very large and cause severe drafts in the room. Most of such fans are designed for.

SUMMARY The present invention is directed to a small, compact, rugged, fan which is constructed to occupy an absolute mimimum of space and yet operate with the highest efficiency to move cold air from a floor area to the ceiling area of the room. The circulation provided by this fan is advantageous in the summer, but its primary advantage resides in its removal of cold air from a floor area and mixing of the cold air with the warm air which, by its density, is stratified in the ceiling area to thereby bring about uniformity of temperature of all the air in a room.

Considerable heat is wasted in the winter in warming rooms. The typical situation is that a layer of relatively cool air, which often is uncomfortably cool, rests adjacent the floor area of a room. Not infrequently, a person may be generally comfortable except that his feet will be cold as a result of the Stratification of air in a room in which the cold air settles to the bottom. Also, it frequently occurs that a person may be uncomfortably warm in a room, especially in the winter time, because .it is necessary to supply sufiicient heat to warm the stratified cold layer of air adjacent the floor. This naturally results in waste of heat since the warmer layers of air in the room may often become uncomfortably warm. A primary object of this invention, then, is the provision of a simple, compact, and highly efficient air circulation fan for moving the cold air immediately adjacent the fioor area to the ceiling area to mix the air in the room without causing undue drafts. This results not only in a more comfortable room atmosphere but in reduced heating costs.

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A further object of the invention involves the particular and novel constructional features of the air circulation fan.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the overall air directing fan of this invention.

FIGURE 2 is a top view looking downwardly toward the air directing means of the fan.

FIGURE 3 is a side view in partial cross section showing the interior construction of the fan.

FIGURE 4 is a top view in partial cross section taken just above the fan and below the air directing means showing the relation of the air impelling fan in the housing.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the figures, the vertical air circulation fan 10 of the present invention comprises a cylindrical housing 12 which, in the preferred embodiment, has unitarily formed therewith a plurality of extensions 14, 16 and 18 which form a plurality of openings 20, 22 and 24. In a highly preferred embodiment, the extensions 14, 16 and 18 are arcuate portions of the cylinder and extend downwardly in a modified trangular or arcuate configuration leaving similarly shaped openings 20, 22 and 24.

A motor 28 which drivingly carries an air impelling fan 30 may be connected by cord 32 to a source of electric energy. The motor 28 is connected by a plurality of eye bolts 34 and 36 having eyes 38 and 40 which are secured to the motor by bolts 42 and 44 and are received at the other end in apertures in the side wall of the housing 12. The motor is fixed coaxial of the housing by nuts 43 and 45. Additional eye bolts 46 may be secured by bolts 48 to the motor and are secured to the housing in the same manner. In a preferred embodiment, three or four such eye bolts are sufficient.

Preferably, a screen or other foraminous member 50 is secured below the motor by a pair of keeper rings 52 and 54 to prevent foreign objects from being picked up from the floor and carried through the fan housing.

A highly important feature of the invention resides in the provision of a plurality of air directing members 56 which are received in the upper part of housing 12 above the air impeller 30 and serve to form a vertically directed column of air extending from housing 12 to the ceiling of the room. In the absence of such air directing members much of the efficiency of the fan would be lost since the air leaving the fan housing 12 would be dispersed and mixed in with the room air adjacent the top of the housing 12. The provision of a plurality of such air directors materially increases the efficiency of the fan *by forming a column of air which reaches substantially to the room ceiling.

In the preferred embodiment, the air directing members 56 are tubular units approximately one inch in diameter and between about one and one-half and two and one-half inches in length and are spaced approximately one inch below the top open end of housing 12. In practice, the cylindrical member should have a length of at least one and one-half times the diameter of the cylindrical air directing member and the diameter of the air directing member should be less than one-fourth the diameter of the housing. Considerable loss of efiiciency results if the diameter to length ratio of the air directing member and the ratio of the diameter of the air directing member to the fan housing lies outside the indicated dimensions.

It is believed that it will 'be apparent to those skilled in the art that the essential novelty and advantage of the present fan lies in the combination of constructional features to form a highly efficient fan especially designed and adapted to draw air from immediately adjacent the fioor area and direct the air in a column to the ceiling of a room. Consequently, it is desired to obtain patent protection upon the overall combinational features as a whole; and, while the invention has been abstracted, summarized and disclosed with reference to a very specific embodiment to permit easy practice of the invention, it will be realized that the disclosure is exemplary and not limiting and that the scope of the invention is intended to be limited only by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A vertical air circulation fan, comprising:

an elongated cylindrical housing, having an open top and bottom and air impervious closed side walls;

a plurality of extensions integrally formed on the bottom end of said housing forming feet for supporting said bottom end on a floor to sup-port the housing substantially perpendicularly to the floor;

an electric motor coaxially arranged in said housing;

a fan drivingly connected to said motor and substantially equal to the inside diameter of the housing for free rotation therein for preventing slippage and back circulation in the housing;

means supporting said motor in said housing; and

a plurality of elongated cylindrical air directing means 25 ing a diameter substantially less than the diameter of said housing for directing a stream of air into a vertically extending cylindrical solid column of air,

to move air from the area immediately adjacent the floor to the ceiling of a room to thereby circulate cold air from the floor area to the ceiling area.

2. The invention of claim 1, further comprising:

a foraminous filter member secured in the housing below the motor to prevent foreign objects from the floor from being passed through the fan.

3. The invention of claim 2, wherein:

said extensions are unitary with said housing and comprise, three equally spaced arcuate extensions, forming three equally spaced arcuate openings for passage of air between the housing and the floor into the housing.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,135,842 7/1937 Prutton 230-274 2,415,621 2/1947 Arnhym 230-274 XR 3,144,201 8/1964 Rundle 230-120 ROBERT M. WALKER, Primary Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R.

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