Ventilation – Having inlet airway
Reexamination Certificate
1999-05-13
2001-08-14
Joyce, Harold (Department: 3744)
Ventilation
Having inlet airway
C119S448000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06273813
ABSTRACT:
The invention relates to a ventilation apparatus for arranging in a wall-surface region of a building.
Such ventilation apparatuses are customary for so-called unheated sheds (stables, cowsheds, pigsties, etc.). In this case, an outer side of a shed building is closed against the entry of wind only with one or more tarpaulin-like wall elements, which are arranged one above the other and can be opened more or less wide for more extensive ventilation of the shed by virtue of the fact that the bottom margin of one wall element is lifted, the top margin is lowered or the wall element is wound toward the top like a roller blind.
These opening actions may be effected, for example, by electric drives in a thermostatically controlled manner.
The wall elements used are films which are relatively thin but are impermeable to wind and are very tear-resistant but are relatively sensitive with regard to abrasion stress. For this reason, it is not very advisable to simply gather such a wall element by the top margin being lowered or by the bottom margin being raised and by the wall element being folded up in an undefined manner in the process. Winding the wall element is therefore the more desirable action.
However, winding the wall element toward the top like a roller blind has the disadvantage that, when the wall element is opened slightly, the air draft arises first of all in that region of the shed which is closer to the floor, so that there is a risk that the animals housed in the shed will catch a chill.
The object of the invention is therefore to provide a ventilation apparatus of the generic type mentioned at the beginning in which the wall element is opened by defined or controlled lowering of the top margin of the wall element while simultaneously winding the wall element and only by means of a single drive.
This object is achieved according to the invention by the defining features of claim
1
.
Advantageous developments follow from the subclaims.
In the ventilation apparatus according to the invention, the wall element and the tension element alone or together with further elements form a bow or loop, ultimately more or less closed via the single common drive member, in which case the tension member itself is preferably unwound on the winding shaft to the same extent as the wall element is wound, or vice versa, specifically in opposite directions to one another. This has the advantage that, in absolute synchronism, the tension member gives way to the wall element precisely to the extent which is necessary, so that, during the winding action with the opening direction toward the bottom, the top margin of the wall element is held or eased in a defined manner by means of a single drive.
The type of drive, as in the prior art, may be effected manually, e.g. by means of cranks and universal shafts, or electrically or in another suitable manner, and also in particular in a thermostatically controlled manner.
The coordination of the tension member and the wall element, with regard to the uniform space requirement and thus a proper winding action without the drive being subjected to greater loading, is ensured in an especially effective manner if, as provided in a preferred development of the invention, the tension member, as a sheet, is made of the same tarpaulin material as the wall element itself. Irrespective of this, however, it is also conceivable, in order to cushion any loading forces, to arrange the drive member in a flexible manner, e.g. with spring suspension, or to accommodate appropriately flexible sections or elements in the loop of tension member and wall element.
The tension member may be attached directly to the wall element or may act on a horizontal bar, which is movable up and down and from which the wall element hangs down, in which case the term “bar” is to be understood here in the widest sense and may denote, for example, any strengthening or stiffening of the top margin of the wall element.
Direct fastening of the tension member to the wall element is possible and is of advantage in particular if, as provided in a development of the invention, the tension member extends with its own width essentially over the entire width of the wall element. This is possible if the tension member is of net-like design, so that the passage of air through the tension member, even if choked, depending on mesh width, is possible, so that the wall element opens through the tension member. Certain choking of the air, depending on the prevailing wind conditions, is often entirely desirable, in which case the degree of choking can be preset by the proportion of holes in the tension member. Tension members having different proportions of holes could be interchangeable, or the tension member could even have strips which run horizontally one above the other and have different proportions of holes, so that the degree of opening of the wall element and the degree of choking of the tension member are correlated with one another in an advantageous manner.
In a development of the invention, the tension member may be divided into two strands, which are connected to one another via a common winding core, on which they can be wound and unwound in opposite directions or in contra-rotation. Such a winding core may also be designed as a type of horizontal bar. If the tension member should extend over the width of the wall element in such a design of the apparatus according to the invention, it ought to be severed, for example in the region of rotary bearings of the winding core, which if need be are arranged equidistantly, and thus be divided into vertical strips.
The tension member is preferably arranged so as to be laterally offset from the wall element in order not to allow the winding actions of the wall element and the tension member to mutually hinder one another. Such a lateral offset is equally possible by means of deflection pulleys and via a winding core.
The next development of the invention, for which independent protection is also claimed, is distinguished by the fact that the top margin of the wall element can be fixed directly or indirectly in a top position, and the winding shaft can be lifted by its own winding work while winding the wall element and preferably while carrying the appropriately guided drive member with it. As a result, the wall element (by way of exception) can be wound completely to the top and is to be opened in order to bring it into a rest position in which it is better protected, for example, from the effects of the weather and from being grabbed by animals—animals in the shed or, for example, rodents—and in fact again with the game single drive.
A further development of the invention, for which independent protection is likewise claimed, provides for the winding shaft, the winding core, the horizontal bar and/or a bar-like or tubular element of similar function to be designed as a rail, which has slot guides, arranged approximately diametrically opposite one another, for the positive-locking insertion of a widened marginal region (of a so-called weatherstrip) of the tarpaulin-like wall element and the tension member respectively.
Such a “double weatherstrip rail”, which constitutes a separate further development of the apparatus according to the invention, is especially advantageous and easy to assemble for the simultaneous winding of tarpaulin elements but also simply for their reliable connection. To form a weatherstrip, the tarpaulin element, for example, may be turned up in the marginal region to form a tube shape open only at the end faces and may be connected to itself. A bar, for example, can then be pushed into the tube shape in order to widen it. The tube shape with the bar located therein can then be pushed from the end face into the slot guide of essentially C-shaped profile, the tarpaulin element projecting through the slot, which is open over the length of the slot guide.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3669350 (1972-06-01), White
patent: 5813599 (1998-09-01), Hoff
Gottlieb Rackman & Reisman P.C.
Joyce Harold
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