Stoves and furnaces – Stoves – Cooking
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-06
2001-10-16
Clarke, Sara (Department: 3743)
Stoves and furnaces
Stoves
Cooking
C126S059000, C126S204000, C062S259300, C062S261000, C062S434000, C135S092000, C004S598000, C297S180150
Reexamination Certificate
active
06302094
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to heating and cooling devices and in particular to an outdoor system for heating or cooling water in a coil and circulating the heated or cooled water through camping and outdoor survival apparatus and equipment, such as sleeping bags, tents, chairs, cooking utensils, emergency outdoor surgery table, and showers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
People have always sought an economical and efficient way to provide heat both indoors and outdoors.
In outdoor activity, such as camping, hiking, mountain climbing, skiing, hunting, or other outdoor recreation and in outdoor survival situations, such as people being stranded outdoors as a result of a vehicle breakdown or accident or plane crash, survival is threatened in conditions of extreme cold or extreme heat. Rapidly lowered body temperature in extreme cold and rapidly elevated body temperature in extreme heat can be life threatening conditions.
Even in conditions of moderate cold or heat, comfort provided by appropriate heating or cooling to moderate the temperature makes outdoor activity far more enjoyable, especially for sleeping outdoors at night. In addition creature comforts, such as a hot shower on a camping or hiking expedition or other extended outdoor activity makes a civilized and hygienically healthy addition to roughing it in the wilds.
Indoor heating systems have been brought to a high degree of efficiency, but when power outages occur from storms, earthquakes, and other natural or any man-made disasters, most indoor heating systems shut off because the temperature controls rely on electricity for their operation. Usually this shut down occurs during storms, which may produce high winds, snow, and ice to break power lines. Often the temperature is low. Efficient and inexpensive back-up heating systems would provide comfort under such circumstances and would save lives under conditions of extreme cold when the indoor heating system fails.
In extremely hot weather, when power outages occur often due to power drains from air conditioners, efficient and inexpensive back-up cooling systems would provide comfort and save lives by preventing heat strokes.
Prior art attempts at solving these problems have focused primarily on providing heat in cold conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,970 issued to Legare provides a heated sleeping bag ground pad using a flat heat reservoir which incorporates a shallow container of water with a metal bottom and pipes leading into and out of it and a top plastic cover housing a plastic water pump. The Legare device would not allow heating directly over an open fire because of the danger of melting the plastic top and pump. It appears that only a small amount of heat could be provided by the Legare device. The heat would only be supplied to a ground pad located close to the heating reservoir. Because it cannot be placed directly in a camp fire, but sits next to the fire, in time the apparatus will loose contact with the heat source rendering it ineffective. Legare provides a small reservoir of water which would soon evaporate. The thermal switch provided in the Legare patent is complex and subject to failure as a result, particularly under the rugged conditions of outdoor activities.
U.S. Design Pat. No. Des. 382,090 issued to Pruett, shows an electrically heated sleeping bag with an element that appears to plug into a cigarette lighter of a vehicle or other electrical source. This device is limited to use with a vehicle or in proximity to some source of electricity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,779 issued to Lee et al, describes an air-cushioned sleeping bag which incorporates a heating pad which must be plugged into an electric outlet, with limitation of use to the close proximity of an electrical outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,825,868 issued to Susa et al, provides a far infrared ray radiating mattress for heating the human body. It requires an electrical outlet as a power source.
None of the prior art devices provide an outdoor system that can be used both for heating and cooling.
None of the prior art devices provide an outdoor heating system with a heating unit that can be placed directly in the fire to produce a substantial amount of heat that can be circulated to devices a substantial distance from the fire and through a number of outdoor devices, including sleeping bags, tents, showers, heaters, emergency outdoor surgery tables, and cooking utensils.
None of the prior art devices having a heating unit that can remain in the fire for the life of the fire to produce heat for a prolonged amount of time.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
One object of the present invention is to provide a simple inexpensive system that can produce heat efficiently and require only the system, a fire or other source of heat, and water.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a lightweight and relatively compact heating and cooling system that can be drained of all fluid and is easily stored in a backpack and transported by people on foot outdoors. The dry system, including batteries weighs less than twelve pounds.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a coil in water heating unit that can be placed directly on a fire for maximum production of heat, or alternately, immersed in cold water or snow or ice with a pump to circulate the fluid in the coil to heat or cool the other elements of the system, such as a sleeping bag, a tent, a heater, furniture, bowls, a shower, or other devices.
A corollary object of the present invention is to provide a system in which the coil may be placed directly in the fire without being immersed in water, or the coil may be used effectively in the container even if the water has boiled away leaving the coil exposed to the air inside the container.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a heating unit with a broad flat base enabling the unit to remain in a wood fire until all of the wood burns down.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a funnel-like nonflammable container positioned over the heating pod, the funnel-like container having a top reservoir filled with snow or ice and a bottom hollow stem portion inserted in a top opening in the heating pod. The snow or ice melts from the heat above the heating pod and provides a source of water for the heating pod, especially important when no water is available, but there is plenty of snow or ice.
One more object of the present invention is to provide a heating system with a circulating pump positioned away from the heating unit, enabling the pump to be fabricated of lightweight material, which may be a flammable plastic, for ease of transportation by people on foot outdoors.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a timer with variable settings to control the pump for distributing the fluid as desired at intervals to save on the life of the battery.
One more object of the present invention is to provide a loop of tubing positioned inside each of the items to be heated or cooled, wherein the loop is curled around inside each of the items to form more surface area contacting each of the items and to create turbulent flow inside the tubing to slow the flow for longer heat exchange between the tubing and each of the items.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a system which can be either a heating or a cooling system by immersing the coil of the system in hot water or cold water, ice, or snow as desired to meet the prevailing conditions and provide comfort and life saving temperatures for individuals involved in outdoor activity.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an emergency back-up heating and cooling system for the home during power outages to provide heating in conditions of extreme cold and cooling in conditions of extreme heat.
In brief, a heat exchanging coil with water circulated through it is immersed in a container of either hot or cold water or ice or snow or other fluid of a desired temperature. For heating the container is placed over
Wehrly Agnes A.
Wehrly John D.
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