Grille interchanging method and apparatus
According to some embodiments of the invention, an appliance having a removable grille includes: a lip located on the appliance having a hook shape; and a hook shaped end on the grille, the lip and hook shaped end dimensioned to allow the grille to substantially pivot with respect to the appliance when the hook shaped end on the grille and the hook shaped lip are engaged with each other. Other embodiments of the invention include a method of mounting a grille on an appliance including: engaging a hook shaped end of the grille with a lip located on the appliance; moving the grille in a substantially pivoting movement with respect to the appliance; and securing the grille to the appliance.
The present invention relates generally to a grille for a blower. More particularly, the present invention relates to a fastening method for fastening a grille to a blower.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONBlowers and other appliances that move air often have grilles that protect an interior portion of the appliance from objects outside the appliance. Often the grille will include holes or slots which enable air to flow between inside the appliance and outside the appliance. In many instances, the grille may be integrated with the housing of the appliance or may be attached to the appliance by mechanical fasteners such as screws or bolts. While screws and bolts can do a good job attaching a grille to an appliance, they can be time and labor intensive to manipulate when removing or installing the grille to the appliance.
Further, appliances are often mounted to a wall in an overhead location. When it is desired to clean the appliance or perform other maintenance, the maintenance worker will often climb a ladder to reach a level to where the worker can reach the appliance. The worker will remove the grille, descend down from the ladder to put the grille down and then climb up the ladder the second time in order to perform the maintenance. Once the maintenance is performed, the worker then will climb down the ladder, get the grille, and then climb back up the ladder a third time in order to reinstall the grille onto the appliance.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an appliance with a grille system where the grille can be quickly and easily attached to and removed from the appliance. Further, it is desirable to provide a method an apparatus where a grille can be moved from its normal position on the appliance to another position where it can be out of the way, yet still be attached to the appliance so that when a worker on a ladder or in another position can perform maintenance operations on the appliance and then replace the grille without having to completely remove the grille from the appliance during the maintenance operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONThe foregoing needs are met, to a great extent, by the present invention, wherein in one aspect an apparatus is provided that in some embodiments a grille can be quickly and easily removed and attached to an appliance. In some embodiments, a grille can be removed from a first position to a second position to permit maintenance such as cleaning or other operations on the appliance without the grille being completely removed from the appliance.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, an appliance having a removable grille is provided. In some embodiments of the invention, the appliance includes: a lip located on the appliance having a hook shape; and a hook shaped end on the grille, the lip and hook shaped end dimensioned to allow the grille to substantially pivot with respect to the appliance when the hook shaped end on the grille and the hook shaped lip are engaged with each other.
In accordance with another embodiment of the present invention, a method of mounting a grille on an appliance is accomplished. In some embodiments of the invention, the method includes: engaging a hook shaped end of the grille with a lip located on the appliance; moving the grille in a substantially pivoting movement with respect to the appliance; and securing the grille to the appliance.
In accordance with yet another embodiment of the present invention, an appliance having a removable grille is provided. In some embodiments of invention the appliance includes a first hooking means for engaging a grille located on a housing of the appliance; and a second hooking means engaging the first hooking means for allowing the grille substantially pivot with respect to the appliance; and fasting means to secure the grille to the appliance in a removable manner.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, certain embodiments of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof herein may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are, of course, additional embodiments of the invention that will be described below and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
In this respect, before explaining at least one embodiment of the invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and to the arrangements of the components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of embodiments in addition to those described and of being practiced and carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology employed herein, as well as the abstract, are for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based may readily be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important, therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
The invention will now be described with reference to the drawing figures, in which like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout. An embodiment in accordance with the present invention provides an appliance such as a blower, capable of creating an air curtain. The appliance includes a grille having a slot mounted on the appliance. In some of the embodiments of the invention, the grille is mounted on the appliance by a pivoting connection. The pivoting connection allows the grille to substantially pivot with the respect to the appliance. In some embodiments of the invention, the grille is also mounted to the appliance by a releasable connection that secures the grille to the appliance.
An embodiment of the present inventive apparatus is illustrated in
As shown in
The grille 20 includes vanes 22 and slits 24 (slits 24 are better shown in
The embodiment illustrated in
As shown in
In other embodiments of the invention, fastening system 25 may include screw or bolt fasteners 36 as shown in
As shown in
While the movement of the grille 20 with respect to the blower 18 is not a purely pivotal (in the illustrated embodiment there is some sliding occurring in the junction of the hooked shape end 30 and hooked shaped lip 32) it can be generally considered to be generally a pivotal movement.
The hooked shaped end 30 on the grille 20 and the hooked shaped lip 32 on the housing 18 interact with each other so that a tip portion of the hooked shaped end 30 is located in the hollow of U-shaped portion of the lip 32. A tip portion of the lip 32 is located in the hollow formed by the U-shaped portion of the hooked 30.
As shown in
This features allows the grille 20 be moved to the pendant position to permit access to an interior portion of the appliance 20 without requiring that the grille 20 be completely removed from the appliance 10. However, in some embodiments of the invention the grille 20 can be completely removed after being swung towards the pendant position and then being lifted so that the tip portion of the hooked shaped end 30 is removed from the hollow formed by the U-shaped portion of the hooked shaped lip 32.
In some embodiments of the invention, the grille 20, once in a pendant position, maybe disengaged from the lip 32. The grille 20 may be lifted slightly up and to the left (as shown in
Appliances such as the blower 10, are often mounted to a wall and may be mounted at a high location such as over a door. As such, in order to access the blower 10, a worker generally needs to climb a ladder in order to reach a location where the blower 10 is located. Some appliances, when mounted high or on a wall are serviced by, a worker that climbs a ladder to remove grille in order to perform maintenance on the appliance. The worker then descends back down the ladder to put the grille down. Then the worker goes back up the ladder to perform maintenance on the appliance. Once the maintenance is completed, the worker again descends down the ladder to get the grille, and goes back up the ladder to replace the grille.
Some embodiments of the invention can reduce all of the bother of going up and down the ladder multiple times by allowing the grille 20 to hang pendant from the blower 10. A worker can loosen the grille 20 from the fastener system 25. Then the worker can pivot the grille 20 to a pendant position. The worker then performs maintenance on an interior portion of the appliance. Once the maintenance is completed the grille 20 is pivoted back to the second position and fastened in placed with a fastener system 25. Thus, some appliances, in accordance with the invention, can reduce the time and trips up and down a latter to perform maintenance tasks on an appliance.
The blower 10 will be oriented so that the switch 34 would be facing down when the blower 10 is mounted against a vertical wall. Thus, the slits 24 and the grille 20 would be facing out, away from the wall. Thus, in some embodiments of the invention, the grille 20 when in the pendant position will hang as the grille 20 is shown in
As shown by comparing
The many features and advantages of the invention are apparent from the detailed specification, and thus, it is intended by the appended claims to cover all such features and advantages of the invention which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and variations will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation illustrated and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.
Claims
1. An appliance having a removable grille comprising:
- a lip located on the appliance having a hook shape; and
- a hook shaped end on the grille, the lip and hook shaped end dimensioned to allow the grille to substantially pivot with respect to the appliance when the hook shaped end on the grille and the hook shaped lip are engaged with each other.
2. The appliance of claim 1, further comprising a snap fastener system located on the grille and appliance for removablely securing the grille in place on the appliance.
3. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the lip and the hook shaped end are dimensioned and oriented so that when the appliance is installed and the grille is pivoted away from a secured position the grille will hang from the lip and be supported by the lip.
4. The appliance of claim 1, further comprising a fastener for fastening the grille to the appliance.
5. The appliance of claim 5, wherein the fastener has a head made of at least one of the following: stainless steel and chrome.
6. The appliance of claim 4, wherein the fastener has structure mounted on the head to permit the fastener to be loosened and tightened by hand.
7. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the grille is made of at least one of the following: plastic, sheet metal and aluminum.
8. The appliance of claim 1, the lip and the hook shaped end are dimensioned so that the lip and hook shaped end can be disengaged and the grille removed from the appliance.
9. The appliance of claim 8, further comprising a second grille different in appearance from the grille and having a hooked end dimensioned and oriented to permit the second grille engage the lip to pivot, and to be installed on the appliance in a removable manner as the grille.
10. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the lip runs substantially the length of appliance.
11. The appliance of claim 1, wherein the grille is dimensioned to cover at least a portion of the housing and fasteners.
12. A method of mounting a grille on an appliance comprising:
- engaging a hook shaped end of the grille with a lip located on the appliance;
- moving the grille in a substantially pivoting movement with respect to the appliance; and
- securing the grille to the appliance.
13. The method of claim 12, further including engaging the hook shaped end of the grille to a hook shaped portion of the lip.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein securing the grille to the appliance includes snapping the grille in place via a snapping system.
15. The method of claim 12, wherein securing the grille to the appliance includes using a mechanical faster to attach the grille to a housing portion of the appliance.
16. The method of claim 12, further comprising
- releasing the grille from a secured position; and
- swinging the grille to a predetermined position.
17. The method of claim 16, further comprising letting go of the grille and having the grille hang from the appliance by the hook shaped end of the grille and the lip.
18. The method of claim 16, further comprising removing the grille from the appliance and replacing it with a second grille.
19. An appliance having a removable grille comprising:
- a first hooking means for engaging a grille located on a housing of the appliance; and
- a second hooking means engaging the first hooking means for allowing the grille substantially pivot with respect to the appliance;
- fasting means to secure the grille to the appliance in a removable manner.
20. The appliance of claim 19, wherein the first and second hooking means are dimensioned and oriented to permit the grille to hang pendant below the appliance when the appliance in installed and the grille can be removed from the appliance by lifting grille while in a pendant position to disengage the first and second hooking means.
21. The appliance of claim 19, wherein the fastening means includes one or more of the following: a screw, a bolt, a snap fastener.
Type: Application
Filed: Jun 28, 2007
Publication Date: Jan 1, 2009
Inventors: Dennis Neibrook (Florence, SC), Lee Joyner (Florence, SC)
Application Number: 11/819,695
International Classification: F04D 29/70 (20060101); F04D 29/60 (20060101);