Abstract: A self-guided racking assist system for charging a handgun includes a racking assist device that is adapted for self-guided sliding assembly with a barrel of the handgun via a guide rod member and a cylindrical member defining a cavity therebetween. When the racking assist device is seated on a support surface, the handgun may easily be pushed against the racking assist device to charge the handgun.

Abstract: A method of joining two tubular sections including applying adhesive to a male end of a first tubular section and fitting the male end to a female end of a second tubular section. A clamp is positioned over the female end of the second tubular section and tightened to apply a circumferential inward force to the female end to reinforce the adhesive in securing the first tubular section to the second tubular section.

Abstract: Air conditioning units packaged with condensing gas heat exchangers include a drain line connected to a collector attached to the heat exchanger. In different embodiments, the drain line, or a conduit for the drain line, may extend to the return duct opening for routing of the drain line through the return duct for disposal of the condensate, for instance, within the building, or the drain line may extend through a hole in the floor of the unit. The conduit may protect the drain line from direct heat from the heat exchanger, from freezing where the drain line passes through an outdoor section, or both. In some embodiments, air may be circulated through the conduit to prevent freezing. The conduit may guide the drain line through the unit, roof curb assembly, or roof, or the drain line may be routed through the unit by the manufacturer to the return duct opening.

Abstract: Mixing devices for mixing fuel and air for a premix burner or furnace and furnaces (e.g., premix) with mixing devices. Furnaces may be for heating an occupied space, and may produce lower NOx emissions. A mixing device may be located within an inlet tube, may have a surface that is perpendicular to the direction of fuel flow or that forms a circle, or may have two surfaces held at substantially opposite angles to induce swirl. A portion of the mixing device may extend over an orifice of the fuel injector. A mixing device may be attached to the fuel injector, may be made from a piece of sheet metal, and may have a hole for attachment to the fuel injector. Mixing devices may have a center, two arms, and two ends, which may be separated by bends. A burner plate may be sandwiched between surfaces to allow for expansion.

Abstract: Premix furnace for heating an occupied space while producing lower NOx emissions and methods of mixing air and fuel delivered to a premix burner and of improving combustion stability. A mixing device may be located within an inlet tube, may have a flat surface that is perpendicular to the direction of fuel flow, or may have two surfaces held at substantially opposite angles to induce swirl. A mixing device may be attached to the fuel injector, may be made from a piece of sheet metal, and may have bends and a hole for attachment to the fuel injector. A fluidic diode in the inlet tube may improve combustion stability and may include a hollow frustum or a frustoconical portion, a cylinder concentric with the inlet tube, or a combination thereof. Some embodiments include refractory insulation lining the combustion chamber or may adjust for elevation or fuel characteristics.

Abstract: Air conditioning units packaged with condensing gas heat exchangers where condensate from the heat exchanger passes through the inducer fan, into an exhaust conduit, and out of the unit enclosure, and methods that reduce consumption of fossil fuels using air conditioning units with condensing gas heat exchangers by advertising that the units can be installed on the roof of a building or at ground level. Some embodiments include a drain hole extending through a collector attached to the heat exchanger to the inlet of the inducer fan. In some embodiments, a bifurcation in the exhaust conduit separates condensate from most combustion gasses. Some embodiments discharge condensate into a vertical standpipe in the ground that may extend below the frost line. Various methods include instructing an installer of the units regarding how to install the units and dispose of condensate into the ground or through a drain line into the building.

Abstract: Air conditioning units packaged with condensing gas heat exchangers include a drain line connected to a collector attached to the heat exchanger. In different embodiments, the drain line, or a conduit for the drain line, may extend to the return duct opening for routing of the drain line through the return duct for disposal of the condensate, for instance, within the building, or the drain line may extend through a hole in the floor of the unit. The conduit may protect the drain line from direct heat from the heat exchanger, from freezing where the drain line passes through an outdoor section, or both. In some embodiments, air may be circulated through the conduit to prevent freezing. The conduit may guide the drain line through the unit, roof curb assembly, or roof, or the drain line may be routed through the unit by the manufacturer to the return duct opening.

Abstract: Air conditioning units packaged with condensing heat exchangers, collectors for such units, and apparatuses for passing a tube through a duct wall and making a loop and trap in the tube. In different embodiments, a drain line may connect to a collector attached to the heat exchanger or condensate may discharge through an inducer fan and out with combustion gasses. A drain line opening in the collector may be lower than a drain hole to the inlet of the inducer fan, which may be lower than an exhaust hole for the fan. A plug in the drain line opening in the collector may be used to discharge condensate through the inducer fan and a bifurcation in the exhaust conduit may separate condensate from most combustion gasses. Embodiments having a drain line connected to the collector may route the drain line through the roof, a conduit, or in the return duct.

Abstract: Premix furnace for heating an occupied space while producing lower NOx emissions and methods of mixing air and fuel delivered to a premix burner and of improving combustion stability. A mixing device may be located within an inlet tube, may have a flat surface that is perpendicular to the direction of fuel flow, or may have two surfaces held at substantially opposite angles to induce swirl. A mixing device may be attached to the fuel injector, may be made from a piece of sheet metal, and may have bends and a hole for attachment to the fuel injector. A fluidic diode in the inlet tube may improve combustion stability and may include a hollow frustum or a frustoconical portion, a cylinder concentric with the inlet tube, or a combination thereof. Some embodiments include refractory insulation lining the combustion chamber or may adjust for elevation or fuel characteristics.

Abstract: NOx reduction apparatuses for use in heat exchangers or furnaces, HVAC units and buildings having such devices, and methods of making such devices. Wire embodiments may have a body, helix, or modified helix, and support members that extend outside the body to hold the body away from the heat exchanger or tube. The support members may be made of the wire, and may include bights, twisted bights, or larger (e.g., helical) turns, for instance, between groups of smaller helical turns. In some embodiments, a modified helix is formed by alternating bends and straight sections of wire. Some embodiments include an attachment mechanism that may be made from the wire and may include a hook. Wire may be Nichrome. Particular embodiments may allow burning of natural gas or LP without changing or removing the wire.

Abstract: Blower housings and methods of manufacture include protrusions and openings in edges thereof providing an interlocking assembly. Reduced manufacturing steps and greater versatility to join different materials and materials of different thickness are provided, without requiring welds and fasteners common to conventional blower housing assemblies.

Abstract: HVAC units and systems, air conditioning units, and heat pumps that have micro-channel heat exchangers wherein fins are slanted, multi-tubes are oriented non-horizontally (e.g., vertically), or both, for example. Fins may be slanted downward in the direction of air flow to facilitate drainage of condensation, or may be slanted either downward or upward as appropriate to reduce air-flow restriction. Other embodiments include the heat exchangers themselves and buildings having such heat exchangers, units, or systems, as well as methods concerning such devices, such as methods of manufacture. In some embodiments, heat exchangers are used as evaporators in air conditioning units, as condensers in heat pumps, or both, as examples.

Abstract: A blower housing and method of manufacture includes a wrapper wall sheet conjoined with a first side wall and a second side wall and held together with a seam interlocked with mating protrusions and apertures. The housing design may utilize different types and thicknesses of conjoined materials, allows reuse of the components when separated, and a substantially smooth positive locking seam without the use of welds or fasteners.

Abstract: Tubing having internal fins projecting inward from the tube wall, each fin having an external surface that includes multiple acute interior angles or crevices that may form nucleation boiling sites, heat exchangers comprising such tubing, and methods of making same. Acute angles, crevices, or elongated slits may be formed in the sides, center, or both, of the fins or between the fins and the tube wall, and convex rounded surfaces may be provided therebetween. Fins may be parallel to the tube centerline or helically wound. Tubing may be expanded with a bullet which may form an interference fit with external fins, may modify the fins to create more effective nucleate boiling cavities, or both.

Abstract: Air conditioning units, methods of manufacturing, inventories, and buildings wherein certain heat exchanger modules are combined to make air conditioning units. In some embodiments, different combinations of different size modules are used to produce air conditioning units having different capacities wherein some identical modules are used in different size units. Various heat exchanger assemblies include spacers between modules, bends formed after modules are assembled into heat exchanger assemblies, attachment rails at the ends of the modules, inactive multi-tubes at the top and bottom of the modules, copper tubing between aluminum modules to facilitate field replacement of individual modules, name plates that attach between modules, attachment clips or spacers that snap attach to the modules, or a combination thereof, as examples.

Abstract: An improved blower housing and method of manufacture comprising a wrapper wall sheet conjoined with a first side wall and a second side wall and held together with a seam interlocked with mating protrusions and apertures. The housing design may utilize different types and thicknesses of conjoined materials and reuse the components when separated. Unlike prior art blower housing seams, the present art provides a substantially smooth positive locking seam without the use of welds or fasteners.

Abstract: An air filter has a generally rectangular frame having surfaces defining generally a plane, and a pair of parallel side rails and a pair of parallel end rails along outer edges of the plane-defining surfaces, the rails flaring outboardly at an obtuse angle from the plane when the frame is unconfined, one of the rails at each corner of the rectangular frame being provided with tabs, and the other, contiguous of the rails at the corner having an open end into which the tab extends. The tabs have an angled outer surface and are of a length compared with the height of the open end to be held against movement clear of the open end in every position of the rails when the frame is assembled, to limit the outward flare of the rails and to ensure that the corners of the rails are substantially closed in every position of the rails.

Abstract: A heat exchanger assembly comprises a partition or mounting plate with an aperture therethrough and a heat exchanger wall with an opening therethrough where the plate and wall are assembled together with the plate aperture and wall opening adjoined and sealed by a sponge pad in accordance with the method of the invention.

Abstract: A warm air furnace and method for securing a thermostat to a wall of a warm air furnace utilizes a thermostat mounting flange which has its ends forced inwardly into openings formed in a wall of the furnace, and the thermostat may be secured to the wall of the furnace without the use of screws.

Abstract: A warm air furnace and method for securing a thermostat to a wall of a warm air furnace utilizes a thermostat mounting flange which has its ends forced inwardly into openings formed in a wall of the furnace, and the thermostat may be secured to the wall of the furnace without the use of screws.