US3236254A

US3236254A - Combination air duct and girder for hot air ventilating system

Info

Publication number: US3236254A
Authority: US
Inventors: Henry E Venuti
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1963-02-21
Filing date: 1963-02-21
Publication date: 1966-02-22
Anticipated expiration: 1983-02-22

Description

Feb. 22, 1966 E. VENUT] 3,236,254

H. COMBINATION AIR DUCT AND GIRDER FOR HOT AIR VENTILATING SYSTEM Flled Feb. 21, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet l I Fig. 60 i Henry E Venuti 1.\'I 'EXTOR B} Mun am Feb. 22, 1966 v u-n 3,236,254

COMBINATION AIR DUCT AND GIRDER FOR HOT AIR VENTILATING SYSTEM Flled Feb. 21, 1963 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Henry 1 Venufl l FE INVENTOR. f ii BY United States Patent 3,236,254 COMBINATION AIR DUCT AND GIRDER FOR HOT AIR VENTILATING SYSTEM Henry E. Venuti, 3 Broolrside Ave., M.D. 15, Newburgh, N.Y. Filed Feb. 21, 1963, Ser. No. 260,184 6 Claims. (Cl. 137357) This invention comprises a novel and useful combination air duct and girder for hot air ventilating systems and more particularly pertains to structural building elements which combine therein the functions of load-bearing girders and an air ventilating duct system.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide in a building construction a combined assembly of loadbearing girders and circulating air duct members having both an improved load-supporting function as well as providing an effective, strong, concealed and conveniently located circulating air duct assembly.

Yet another object of the invention is to provide a circulating air duct assembly comprising a pair of vertically overlying hollow top and bottom girder members which will function as the air feed and air return means of a circulating air duct assembly.

Yet another purpose of the invention is to provide a device in accordance with the preceding objects wherein there is provided a main hollow beam having a plurality of laterals projecting therefrom to effectively distribute the circulating air over substantially the entire area or fioor plan of a construction as may be desired.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a combined girder and air duct assembly in accordance with the foregoing objects consisting of hollow upper and lower members superposed upon each other and having an improved passage connection therebetween for eifecting separate air feed and air return ducts.

These together with other objects and advantages which will become subsequently apparent reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIGURE 1 is an exploded perspective view of the upper and lower girder and duct elements in accordance with a first form of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view partly in side elevation and partly in vertical longitudinal section through an installation in accordance with this invention, parts being broken away and parts shown in dotted lines therein;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged detail view of the left portion of FIGURE 2 and showing the internal construction of the upper and lower girder and duct elements and their associated relationship in section;

FIGURE 4 is a detail view in horizontal section taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 4-4 of FIGURE 2 and showing a preferred means for anchoring lateral girder members to the main girder of the device;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view showing the top surface of the uppermost girder assembly of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 6 is a top perspective view of the lower girder element of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 7 is a detail view taken upon an enlarged scale in vertical transverse section substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line '77 of FIGURE 2 and showing in particular the superposed relationship of the upper and lower girder members and their connection with the furnace or air conditioning ducts of the systems;

FIGURE 8 is a further view in vertical transverse section taken upon an enlarged scale substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 8-8 of FIGURE 2 3,23%,254 Patented Feb. 22, was

and showing lateral hollow girder elements of the air duct system;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view similar to FIGURE 6 but showing a modified construction of the lower girder element of the device; and,

FIGURE 10 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken substantially upon the plane indicated by the section line 1010 of FIGURE 9 and showing the position of the upper girder member applied to the lower girder member of FIGURE 9.

In the accompanying drawings there is disclosed a system whereby upper and lower hollow load-bearing girders forming a part of the essential framework and building structure of a building are likewise utilized as the feed and return ducts of a circulating air duct system for a building.

Referring first to the arrangement of FIGURES l8 and in conjunction with FIGURE 2 and 3 it will be seen that the girder and air duct assembly of this invention comprises a hollow upper longitudinally extending girder 10 which is adapted to overlie and rest upon a lower longitudinal hollow girder 12. As shown best in FIG- URE 2, the lower girder 12 is supported from suitable building walls as at 14 and 16 and may conveniently overlie a furnace 18 or other heating or air conditioning means. The heating or ventilating source 18 is provided with a feed or discharge line 20 together with a return line 22.

As will be best apparent from FIGURE 7, the source of circulating air 18 may be provided with two or more of the feed or delivery ducts 20 and a corresponding pair of the return ducts or conduits 22 may likewise be provided.

At an appropriate corresponding position on the underside of the lower girder 12 there are provided a pair of sleeves 24 which are complementary to and are insertable into the return ducts 22 to establish a passage connection between the interior of the lower girder 12 and the return ducts 22. Thus, the entire hollow interior of the lower girder 12 constitutes a main return conduit for the circulating heating or ventilating air system of the invention.

The hollow upper girder 10 has an inlet baffle 30 therein, see FIGURE 3, which communicates as by a well 32 through the lower girder 12 with the delivery ducts or risers 20 from the source of circulating air.

Extending medially along the hollow interior of the lower girder 12 is a truss member which serves to securely brace the top and

bottom walls

42 and 44 respectively of the lower girder as shown in FIGURE 7 and thus impart increased rigidity to this girder. In addition, the truss construction affords free communication of the air to opposite sides of the medial web or truss member 40.

At longitudinally spaced intervals along the bottom wall 46 of the top girder 10 are a plurality of longitudinally extending openings 48 through which extend vertical risers or wells 50 which later project above the top wall 52 of the top girder 10. These wells establish a communication with the hollow lower girder with the top surface of the top girder 10 so that additional vertical elements such as those indicated in dotted lines at 54 in FIGURES 2 and 7 may be connected thereto to thus establish communication of the duct system with upper stories or floors of the building construction.

As shown at 56 in FIGURE 1, the underside of the bottom wall 46 of the top girder 10 is provided with openings 56 which communicate with the riser members 20 where the latter project upwardly through the corresponding wells 32 in the lower girder 12 and thus communicate with the directive baffle 30 in the top girder 10.

At convenient points along its length, the opposite sides of the top girder 10 are provided with lateral members.

Thus, a series of solid transverse ribs 60 may be detachably secured to the top girder in the manner shown in FIGURE 4. Thus, the sides of the top girder 10 may be provided with channel-shaped brackets 62, open at their tops and into which end plates 64 secured as by fastening screws 66 to the ends of the members 60 may be vertically and slidably received. These members may serve as the usual floor joists and the like of a building construction. In addition, other transverse hollow ribs as at 70 may be welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the main girder 10 and at their outer ends are provided with upturned Ls as at 72, further effecting an upward distribution of the circulating or heating air from the main upper girder 10.

Referring now to FIGURE 8 it will be seen that the lateral duct members 70 may be joined to the integrally extending short lateral offset and anchoring means 74 of the top girder 10 as by means of internal sleeves or bushings 76. This provides a convenient manner for fabricating the main girder 10 and detachably but securely connecting the lateral duct members and girders 70 thereto. Conveniently, dampers of conventional design as indicated at 78 may be disposed in the lateral girders '70 in order to controllably proportion the flow of air between the latter and the main girder 10.

As will be understood, the wells 50 of the top girder 10 are coextensive with the openings 80 which are disposed in longitudinally s aced relation upon the top wall of the lower girder 12. In addition, both the wells 50 and the apertures 80 are of sufficient lateral extent to overlie the web 40 and project upon both sides of the latter. Thus free communication is established between the top girder and these wells.

In the embodiment of FIGURES 9 and 10, a modified construction of lower girder 12 is provided, the modified girder being indicated by the numeral 90. In this form, the top wall is omitted, the side walls 92 of the lower girder being rigidly secured together as by the cross members 94. The same truss arrangement 96 is provided, however, disposed medially of the longitudinal opening in the lower girder and corresponding wells 98 are provided which are similar to the wells 24 of FIGURE 1. As shown in FIGURE 10, the arrangement of this form of the invention is identical to that previously described in that the upper girder indicated diagrammatically at 10 is superposed upon the lower girder 90 and establishes communication therewith in the same manner.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A circulating air duct assembly comprising an elongated composite load bearing unit of sufficient strength and rigidity to support the weight of at least a portion of a building structure thereon, said composite unit including independent upper and lower hollow girders providing separated air delivery and return passages respectively and being disposed in superposed relation one upon the other, air inlet means supplying air into said air delivery passage of said upper girder, air discharge means communicating with said air return passage of said lower girder, each of said girders including a vertically orientated centrally located open truss unit extending longitudinally therein, each truss unit being of substantially the same height as and fixedly mounted within the corresponding girder, the truss unit of the upper girder being substantially vertically aligned with and over the truss unit of the lower girder so as to function in conjunction therewith as a single load supporting member.

2. The combination of claim 1 wherein said upper and lower girders each include top, bottom and side walls defining said delivery and return passages, said air inlet means consisting of wells extending vertically through said lower girder and opening through the top and bot tom walls thereof and sealed from said air return passage, said wells extending through said upper girder bottom wall and opening into said air delivery passage.

3. The combination of claim 2 wherein said air discharge means includes sleeves forming wells passing through and sealed from said air delivery passage and extending vertically entirely through said upper girder and projecting thereabove whereby said sleeves may be communicated with downflow air return ducts above said composite unit.

4. The combination of claim 1 wherein said air discharge means includes sleeves forming Wells passing through and sealed from said air delivery passage and extending vertically entirely through said upper girder and projecting thereabove whereby said sleeves may be communicated with downfiow air return ducts above said composite unit.

5. The combination of claim 1 wherein said upper girder has a plurality of hollow distributing load-bearing girders projecting laterally therefrom and each communicating with said air delivery passage.

6. The combination of claim 5 including laterally extending structural joists disposed in longitudinally spaced relation along and secured to said upper girder.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 409,893 8/ 1889 Wray 20-94 664,469 12/ 1900 Copeland 285397 X 2,567,789 9/1951 Sawyer. 2,569,910 10/1951 Venuti. 2,815,938 12/1957 Impey et a1. 2,868,103 1/ 1959 Molitor. 2,911,898 11/1959 Curran. 2,935,307 5/1960 Goemann.

M. CARY NELSON, Primary Examiner.

Claims

1. A CIRCULATING AIR DUCT ASSEMBLY COMPRISING AN ELONGATED COMPOSITE LOAD BEARING UNIT OF SUFFICIENT STRENGTH AND RIGIDITY TO SUPPORT THE WEIGHT OF AT LEAST A PORTION OF A BUILDING STRUCTURE THEREON, SAID COMPOSITE UNIT INCLUDING INDEPENDENT UPPER AND LOWER HOLLOW GIRDERS PROVIDING SEPARATED AIR DELIVERY AND RETURN PASSAGES RESPECTIVELY AND BEING DISPOSED IN SUPERPOSED RELATION ONE UPON THE OTHER, AIR INLET MEANS SUPPLYING AIR INTO SAID AIR DELIVERY PASSAGE OF SAID UPPE GIRDER, AIR DISCHARGE MEANS COMMUNICATING WITH SAID AIR RETURN PASSAGE OF SAID LOWER GIRDER, EACH OF SAID GIRDERS INCLUDING A VERTICALLY ORIENTATED CENTRALLY LOCATED OPEN TRUSS UNIT EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY THEREIN, EACH TRUSS UNIT BEING OF SUBSTANTIALLY THE SAME HEIGHT AS AND FIXEDLY MOUNTED WITHIN THE CORRESPONDING GIRDER, THE TRUSS UNIT OF THE UPPER GIRDER BEING SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICALLY ALIGNED WITH AND OVER THE TRUSS UNIT OF THE LOWER GIRDER SO AS TO FUNCTION IN CONJUNCTION THEREWITH AS A SINGLE LOAD SUPPORTING MEMBER.