US1489531A - Radiator protector - Google Patents

Description

April 8 1924.

H. F. HUDSON RADIATOR PROTECTOR Filed April 5, 1923 Patented Apr. 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RADIATOR PROTECTOR.

Application filed April 5, 1928. Serial No. 830,012.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HAVARD F ARMER HUD- soN, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vichita, count of Sedgwick, and State of Kansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Radiator Protectors; and I do declare the following to be a full, cleai fa nd exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the characters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

This invention relates to radiator protectors and has special reference to a protector that shall be automatic in its operation.

In order to obtain the best results from an internal combustion engin it is necessary that the temperature 0 the cooling water shall be maintained as near as possible to the optimum.

It has become customary, of late, to secure to the front of the radiator a sheet-metal protector provided with a number of louvers that can he opened and closed for the purpose of controlling the amount of air that can pass through the radiator. In some instances the louvers are controlled by a thermostat that adjusts the louvers in accordance with the temperature of'the water in the radiator.

It is the object of this invention to produce an improved protector that shall be so designed that the louvers cannot be opened until the water has attained a certain temperature and in which the louvers will be automatically. closed when the gear-shift lever is thrown into neutral position.

In order to more clearly describe my invention, I shall have reference to the accompanying drawing in which I have shown the preferred embodiment thereof, and in which:

Fig. 1 shows a side elevation of a portion of an automobile, to the radiator of which my improved protector has been applied, portions beingbroken away to better show the relationship of the parts.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of my protector;

Fig. 3 is a detail showing the manner in which the gear-shift lever functions to control the louvers.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the control box, parts thereof being broken away so as to show the interior.

Fig. 5 shows a perspective of a modified form of control box; and

Fig. 6 is a section taken on line 66,

Fig. 5.

he same reference characters will be used to designate the same parts throughout the several views.

Numeral 1 designates the radiator of an automobile to which my improved protector 2 has been secured, while 3 designates the gear-shift lever.

My protector consists of a frame 4 of sheet-metal, the inner edge of which is bent outwardl to form a flan e 5 which fits against t e front of the radiator. Pivotally connected to the vertical sides of the frame 4 are a number of louvers 6. These louvers are pivoted near the front edge of the frame and will, unless restrained, assume a substantially vertical position. Near the top of my protector there is a shelf 7 to the upper surface of which is secured a. box 8 which is shown in detail in F ig. 4 and which is constructed as follows: A shaft 9 is rotatably mounted in the ends of the box and is provided with a number of diametrical pins 10 which make various angles with eachother. Pins 10 may have their ends flattened and made in the shape of a propeller so that when the wax in the box is in what maybe called the mushy state, the pins will tend to move the wax endwise in the box so that one pin will tend to close the cut made by the adjacent in. Rods 11 extend transversely through t e box at points intermediate the pins 10. A ratchet wheel 12 is non-rotatably secured to the end of shaft 9. A lever 13 is pivotally mounted on the shaft 9 and has attached thereto a pawl 14 which cooperates with the teeth on the ratchet wheel. A spring detent 15 may be secured to the box so as to prevent rotation of the ratchet wheel in one direction. were omitted, the friction between the lever 13 and the ratchet wheel 12 would at times cause the shaft 9 to be rotated in the reverse direction, which would interfere with the proper operation of the device. The box 8 105 is filled or partly filled with hydro-carbon, a wax composition or .a readily fusible alloy. It is evident that with the shaft 9 and pins 10 embedded in wax, the shaft cannot be turned unless the wax is sufficiently heated 110 If the detent 15 so as to be'fluid. A red 16 is pivotally connected .to the end of the lever 13 and extends downwardly past all the louvers, the rear ed es of which are pivotally attached to the r0 at points indicated by numeral 17. It will now be evident that the louvers can only move in unison and that they can be opened only when the shaft 9 can be rotated, whereas they can 'alwaysbe moved from open to closed osition.

Secured to t 0 lower louver is a lever 18 to the end of which is fastened a coil spring 19. A piano wire or other flexible connector 20 extends from the upper end of spring 19 to the ear-shift lever 3 and serves to open and c ose the louvers in a manner that will hereinafter be described. A bracket 21 is secured to the floor of the car, braced is. adjusted so operative position.

from the instrument board, and serves to support the end of a tubular member 22, through which the flexible member 20 extends. At the to of the rotector a curved pipe or tube 23 nt at right angles, serves as the ide which permits the flexible memher 20 to make the change of direction F astened to the engine is a bracket 24 which serves as an anchor for one end of the spring the flexible member 20. F'astened to the gear-shift lever 3 is a short bracket 26 which terminates directly over theopen end of the a 'tube 22. ,The end of the flexible member is fastened to the bracket 26 and itsv length neutral position the louvers will be closed. The function of spring is topull the flexible member 20 forward whenever the lever 3 ismoved from any operative to its neutral position.

In Fig. 3 I have shown how the lever 3 whenever itis moved from neutral to any Let us now consider that the parts occupythe position shown in Fig. 1 in which lever 3 is in. neutral position-and the louvers are closed. Let us further imagine that the radiator is cold and that thewax in box 8 is hard. When the engine has been started and the lever 3 moved to the roper position, the flexible member 20 wi put spring 19 under tension-and the latter will tend to .open the louvers. Since the shaft 9 cannot rotatefthe-louvers will. remain closed until such time as when the radiator becomes sufiiciently hot to melt the wax in box 8,

. when the action of spring 19 will cause them to open.

From the above descri tion, it Wlll be exident that I have p need a radiator protector that is adapted to. ,be applied to the'radiator of an ordinary car and which is so designed an constructed that it Wlll not open until the temperature of the radiator water has reached such a point that the other end of which is secured to that when lever 3' is .in its the wax in the control box will melt. This assures that the protector will remain closed for some time after the car has first been started, and also assures that it will open before the water gets too hot. By reason of the fact that the protector is controlled from the gear-shift lever, it will always be closed whenever the car is. standing still. This prevents any unnecessary coollng of the water.

The control box 8 with its pawl and ratchet connection between the louvers and the shaft 9 and with its detent 15 serves a very important function in the temperature control, as well as in the mechanical control. As explained above, when we start the car on a very cold da the louvers 6 will remain closed until the engine gets hot and the temperature of the radiator becomes high enough to melt the wax sufliciently to permit the s rin 19 to open the louvers by rotating t e s aft 9. As we drive along with the louvers wide open, the radiator and the engine will begin to cool and the wax in the control box will soon harden. A condition is now reached in which the engine is too cold and the louvers are in fully opened position. This might be remedied by the driver by moving the gear-shift lever to neutral position for an mstant which would permit the .the case in which the louvers are open and the wax hard, due to a too low temperature. Atthe first bump in the road the louvers will be moved to artly closed position and will be held in t is position by the action of the pawl 14 and the ratchet wheel 12, until the wax softens and permits them to open wider which will only, happen if the louvers were closed too much, in which case the wax will soften slowly and permit them.

to slowl open until the wax hardens a little and ho (is them from further movement which will then bethe proper adjustments for the conditions under which the car operates. If the day is' very cold and the louvers did not close sufficiently at the first. bump, they will close more when a harder bump is passed. In this manner the opera ing of the louvers is automatically adjusted to suit the actual conditions of operation -with.the accuracy of a thermostatic control and with the added advantage that the louvers are closed instantly the moment the lever 3 is moved to neutral position, whereas in a thermostatically controlled protector the louvers will not close until the water has been greatly cooled.

I have shown and described the control box which is located on a shelf 8 near the top of the protector. It is essential, however that the chamber containing the central box shall be lined with a heat-insulating material so that the temerature of the control box will not be un uly affected by the outside temperature, but will maintain a temperature corresponding closely to that of the radiator. It is not absolutely essential that the control box 8 shall be located exactly where it is shown, as it is evident that it may be differently located and still perform its function. I therefore do not desire to be limited to the specific location shown. Although I have shown my device connected to the gear-shift lever of an automobile, I desire to have it understood that it may be connected to any lever which is moved to neutral position when the car is idling. In automobiles having planetary gears there is no gear-shift'lever of the type shown, but merely a lever that is moved to neutral position and'this lever will perform the same function as lever 3. I therefore desire to have the term gearshift lever to be construed broadly enough to cover both kinds of levers.

It is evident that the function performed by the control box, which hasbeen described above, can be erformed by other similar devices of speci cally different construction. It is of course im ossible to illustrate and describe all the V ifl'erent specific embodiments of this idea and the claims will be relied upon to afford protection for equivalent means. I have, however, shown one modification of the control means and in Fig. 5 I have shown the modified control boxin perspective. The box 8', in this instance, is cylindrical and has a shaft 9 eccentrically mounted for rotation therein. A cylinder 27 (Fig. 6) is non-rotatably mounted on the shaft. This cylinder extends between both ends of the box and is of such a diameter that a small space 28 is left 0 en between theoutside of the cylinder 27 an the inside of the box. Flexible blades 29 are secured along one side to the cylinder 27 and have their outer edges in contact with the inner surface of the box. The blades 29 extend the entire length of the c lindrical rotor 27. It is evident that if t e space between the rotor 27 and box 8 is filled, or partly filled, with a fusible wax or alloy 30, this will keep the cylinder 27 from being rotated while it is in a solid state.- Asthe wax 3O softens, the cylinder may be rotated if suflicient force is a lied thereto, but only very slowly, as the g ades hinged to the sides 29 will have to force the mush wax through the restricted opening 28. W hen the wax becomes sufficiently heated to become a freely flowing fluid, the cylinder 27.1nay be rotated quite reely as the wax inthis state will readily flow. through the restricted opening. The mechanism for rotating the shaft 9 and the cylinder 27 is the same as that described in connection with the box 8 and is indi cated by .the same numerals. A

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new is: v

1. In combination an automobile radiator; a protector adapted to be secured thereto, said protector having a plurality of louvers hingedly connected thereto; a gear-shift le'veflandm'eans comprising a spring connectin said louvers to the gear-shift lever, where y a force will be producedtending to open said louvers whenever said lever is moved from neutral position.

2. In combination an automobile radiator; a protector adapted to be secured thereto, said protector having a plurality of louvers hinged to the sidesthereof and adapted to be opened and closed; means for preventing the louvers from opening when the temperature is below a predetermined amount; a gear-shift lever; means comprising a spring connecting said louvers with said lever whereby a force is produced that will tend to open the louvers whenever the lever is moved from neutral position.

3. In combination, an automobile radiator; v

a protector adapted to be secured thereto, said protector having a plurality of louvers hinged to the sides thereof and adapted to "be opened and'closed; means for preventing the louvers from opening when the temperature is below a predetermined amount, said means comprising a receptacle containing a material that will be hardwhen below a certain temperatureya shaft rotatable in said' receptacle; a number of pins passing through the shaft; means whereby the openthe louvers tends to rotate said shaft mg 0 and pins; a gear-shift lever; a flexible member' comprislng a spring for joining the louvers to the lever; and means whereby when the lever. is moved from neutral position, a force will be produced in the flexible member which will tend to cause said louvers to open.

4. In combination an automobile radiator; aprotector adapted to be secured thereto, said protector havingha plurality of louvers t ereof and adapted to be openedand closed; means for preventing the louvers from opening when the temperature is below a predetermined amount, said means comprising a receptacle containing a material that will be hard when below a certain temperature; a shaft rotatable in said box; a number of pins passing through the shaft; means whereby the opening of a and lever, whereby when the the louvers tends to rotate said shaft and pins; a gear-shift lever; a flexible member comprising a spring for joining the louvers to the lever; and means whereby when the lever is moved from neutral osition, a force will be produced in the exible member which will tend to cause the said louvers to open; and a spring secured to said flexible member and a stationary part, said spring being so connected that it will be tensioned whenever the lever is moved from neutral position.

5. A radiator protector comprising a casing; a lurality of louvers pivotally connected t ereto; means comprising a rod for causing said louvers to move in unison; a receptacle; receptacle; a ratchet-wheel secured to the end of the shaft; a spring detent engaging said wheel; a lever pivotally connected to the shaft; a pawl on said lever, said pawl being adapted to cooperate with said ratchetwheel to rotate the shaft as the lever moves in one direction; means connecting said rod louvers move from closed to open position, the shaft will be rotated; a plurality of pins, having flattened angularly placed blades, throughsaid shaft; and a normally solid, but readily softenable material in said receptable.

6. In combinaion, an automobile radiator; a protector adapted to be secured thereto, said protector having a plurality of movable members adaptedto be opened and closed; means connected to .the' movable members for preventing the same from opening when the temperature of the radiator is below a predetermined value, said means comprising a receptacle containing a readily fusible material that will be hard when the temperature thereof is below a certain value and will gradually soften as the temperature rises; a movable member within said receptacle, said member being in contact with the fusible material and connected to the first mentionedmovable members in such a manner that it will be moved when the first mentioned movable members move to open position, but will remain stationary when the movable members close; and means comprising a resilient member connected to the movab e members for imparting to the latter a tendency to open.

7. In combination, an automobile radiator; a protector adapted to be secured thereto, said protector having a plurality of louvers hinged to the sides thereof, said louvers being adapted to be opened and closed; means connected to the louvers for preventing them from being opened while the temperatureof the radiator is below a a shaft rotatably mounted in said 8 predetermined point, said means comprising a rece tacle containing a fusible materia that will be hard when below a certain temperature and change graduall from the hard to a liquid form when t e temperature increases; a movable member connected to said receptacle and having parts thereof embedded in said fusible material, whereby it will be held from movement while the fus ble material is hard; means connecting said louvers to the said movable member, wherey are moved to open position; and means comprising a resilient member attached to the louvers for imparting to them a tendency to open.

8. In combination, a plurality of members adapted to cooperate to open and close an opening; resilient means tending to move said members to o n position; means for holding said mem rs in closed position, said means comprisi a receptacle containing a material t at w1 l be hard when below a predetermined temperature and which will gradually change from hard to fluid state as the temperature increases; a member secured to said rece tacle and movable with respect thereto, sai member having portions thereof embedded in said fusib e material and means connecting the movable member with said first named members, said means causing the first named members to move the member in the receptacle when the former move from closed to open position.

9. A radiator protector comprising a plurality of louvers, means for mounting saidlouvers so that they can be moved from open to closed position and vice versa, means comprising a spring for imparting to said louvers a tendency to move to open position and means for holdin said louvers against the opening force until the temperature has reached a predetermined value, said means comprisin a material that will become soft at the re etermined temperature.

10. radiator protector comprising in combination, a frame, a plurality of louvers pivoted thereto so as to be relatively movable with respect to each other, means comprising a spring for applying to the louvers a force tending to move them to open position, means for resisting the opening force while the temperature is below a 'ven :value and for permitting movement 0 the louvers to open position after the temperature has risen above the value, said means comprising a normally hard material that becomes plastic above the given temperature.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

HAVABD FARMER HUDSQN.

the latter will be moved when the louvers

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