Patents Assigned to Prefco Products, Inc.
  • Patent number: 4404990
    Abstract: A novel damper kit is described wherein blade stock having a hook-shaped hinge portion formed therein, and notched angle bracket stock having periodically spaced hook-shaped hinge elements formed therealong can easily be cut and assembled at the job site to custom fit and install a damper in a duct, opening, or plenum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 1980
    Date of Patent: September 20, 1983
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4304427
    Abstract: The present invention relates to slip joints for use with dampers, ducts, and mounting surfaces, as for example, fire dampers which are to be mounted through walls or other fire proof partitions and which are to have ducts mounted thereto. A novel duct-damper interface adaptor is disclosed which is constructed entirely from integral sheet material and which is slipped onto the inwardly depending flanges of a damper during the assembly of that damper. The damper adaptor unit is then ready to receive a complementally formed duct which is slidingly fitted thereon. This embodiment provides adaptors which are inexpensive, easy to manufacture, readily installable at the job site and provide superior advantage to the final damper-duct installation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 1978
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1981
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4295486
    Abstract: A novel operator is disclosed for use in combination with a butterfly fire and volume control damper, which operator may be concealed behind a standard concentric diffuser. Only a screwdriver aperture need be provided in the diffuser to facilitate the volume adjustment of the butterfly damper. In response to excessive heat in the vicinity of the damper, the blades of the damper will move to their fully closed position. Once activation conditions have passed, the damper may be reset by replacing the releasing device which separated in response to said heat.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 21, 1979
    Date of Patent: October 20, 1981
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4277870
    Abstract: A novel damper kit is described wherein blade stock having a hook-shaped hinge portion formed therein, and notched angle bracket stock having periodically spaced hook-shaped hinge elements formed therealong can easily be cut and assembled at the job site to custom fit and install a damper in a duct, opening, or plenum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 11, 1979
    Date of Patent: July 14, 1981
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4263930
    Abstract: A novel operator is disclosed for use in combination with a butterfly fire and volume control damper, which operator may be concealed behind a standard concentric diffuser. Only a screwdriver aperture need be provided in the diffuser to facilitate volume adjustment or resetting of the bufferfly damper. In response to excessive heat in the vicinity of the damper, or alternatively, in response to a remote signal received by the operator, the blades of the damper will move to their fully closed position. Once activation conditions have passed, a screwdriver is used to reset the damper to resume its volume control function.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 27, 1978
    Date of Patent: April 28, 1981
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4241748
    Abstract: A pair of butterfly smoke/fire dampers are mounted on a single frame. Each damper includes a pair of blades which can be locked in the open position and which, when released, rotate about a hinge to the closed position. The frame has a flange around the inner periphery thereof which engages the edges of the blades in the closed position. Each pair of blades are moved to the open position by an operator cable which extends through a first ferrule in the frame, through a second ferrule in one of the blades and thereafter across the blades to a point of attachment complementally located on the opposing blade. The frame ferrule is offset from the blade ferrule whereby withdrawing the cable causes both blades to be drawn toward each other. The blades can be held in the open position by maintaining tension on the operator cable or by a fusible link or other heat responsive latching mechanisms.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 29, 1978
    Date of Patent: December 30, 1980
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4219185
    Abstract: A fire, smoke and air control damper is disclosed wherein one or more hook-shaped hinge portions formed intermediate between the longitudinal edges of each damper blade engage complementally configured hook-shaped hinge elements formed on opposite sides of the damper frame. A novel notch configuration is made in an inwardly depending flange in the frame on opposite sides, the hinge elements being made from at least a portion of the material notched from the frame. In the closed position, various blade portions engage opposite sides of the inwardly depending flange in the frame to form a seal therebetween, thereby providing a positive pressure resistant seal. The seal is made more complete along the flange in the area of the hinge element because of the novel notch configuration.Several embodiments of actuating the blades to move them between open and closed positions are disclosed. In one such embodiment, a link passes through an arcuate opening in the wall of the frame to engage a linkage rod.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 16, 1978
    Date of Patent: August 26, 1980
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4185658
    Abstract: A novel rotating blade fire, smoke and air control damper is disclosed wherein integral hook-shaped hinge portions of the damper blades cooperate with integral hook-shaped hinge elements on opposing inwardly depending flanges of the damper frame. The flanges are additionally notched so that hook-shaped ends on the damper blades are capable of creating seals with their adjacent blades across their entire lengths, while top and bottom inwardly depending flanges are offset with respect to the plane of the blades to create seals with the offset tips of the end most blades of the damper when those blades are in the closed position. Finally, at one end of the blades a rectangular notch is formed which, upon rotation of the blade, interfers with a linkage rod disposed adjacent to the frame side wall to define a "full open" position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1978
    Date of Patent: January 29, 1980
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4185657
    Abstract: A novel damper kit is described wherein blade stock having a hook-shaped hinge portion formed therein, and notched angle bracket stock having periodically spaced hook-shaped hinge elements formed therealong can easily be cut and assembled at the job site to custom fit and install a damper in a duct, opening, or plenum.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 29, 1978
    Date of Patent: January 29, 1980
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: 4183129
    Abstract: A novel smoke, fire or air control damper is disclosed wherein a frame with an inwardly depending flange is articulated to at least one rotating blade by integrally formed hook-shaped hinge elements and hinge portions which are stamped in the blade and flange respectively. This novel hinging relationship simplifies the material and construction required to form the damper, and more particularly, the blade of the damper, while providing a blade configuration which overlaps appropriate portions of the flange to form a seal between the overlapping portions of parallel offset blade portions and the appropriate opposite services of the frame flange, when the blade is in the closed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 12, 1978
    Date of Patent: January 15, 1980
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe
  • Patent number: RE32362
    Abstract: A butterfly damper with a plurality of blades which can be locked in the open position, and which, when released, rotate about a hinge to the closed position. A pawl member, attached to one blade, extends away from the blade and through an opening in a second blade when the blades are in the open position. A mounting member attached to the second blade restrains the pawl member thereby holding the blades in the open position. A bimetallic link attached to the mounting member causes the pawl member to be released when the temperature of the air passing through the duct increases beyond a preselected level. A closure spring attached to the blades acts on the blades tending to force them apart against the action of the mounting member and the pawl member when the blades are restrained in the open position. The damper blades can be insulated to prevent the heat from a fire on one side of the damper from being conducted by the damper to the other side when the blades are in the closed position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 1981
    Date of Patent: February 24, 1987
    Assignee: Prefco Products, Inc.
    Inventor: Francis J. McCabe