Adjustable Chimney Shroud

Description

BACKGROUND

There are millions of chimney pipes in the United States alone. Chimneys are also ubiquitous around the world. Often, when a chimney pipe exits a building, it is through a chimney chase. To protect the chase and provide an aesthetically pleasing termination point, the chimney will often have a shroud placed at the end of the chase, hiding the chimney pipe from view.

Given the high number of chimneys around the world, it should come as no surprise that chimney termination caps and chases come in many varieties. To fit a shroud to a chase, shrouds are made to order. However, this can create cost, require resources, and increase the time it takes to set-up a chimney. It also increases the likelihood of improperly fitting shrouds.

A shroud may be ordered for a job site before the chimney chase is complete. When the shroud arrives, the dimensions of the chase and the shroud mismatch. This mismatch can significantly reduce the performance of the shroud, move it out of regulatory compliance, and reduce the aesthetic performance of the shroud. A misfitting shroud can also reduce the lifespan of the shroud itself.

These factors increase the maintenance of the shroud. Further, since the shroud affects the chimney draft, a poorly fitted shroud can reduce the efficiency of the chimney itself. This affects the risk of fire and increases the need for chimney maintenance in general.

Given the large number of chimneys and the high variability among chimneys around the world. It is hard to manufacture a one-size-fits-all chimney shroud, because there is not just one size of chimney. This creates a manufacturing bottleneck that is only somewhat smoothed out by regulations on the chimney size.

However, chimneys for different purposes have different requirements and sizes. A gas-burning chimney will differ from a wood-burning chimney, and both will generally differ from a factor chimney. Further, even in regulated areas, older chimneys or chimneys that somehow got through may make it hard to fit a chimney shroud properly.

The variety of potential chimney shrouds, as well as their aesthetic appeal, does not present an ideal field for efficient manufacturing. A shroud manufacturer wishing to capture the market must make a variety of-sized shrouds, meet a variety of requirements relating to the purpose of the shroud, be willing to customize these shrouds, and figure out how to scale the business.

To that end, a one-size shroud solution would be ideal because it would allow manufacturers to make a shroud that could fit many chimneys, allowing them to fully take advantage of economies of scale.

It will also be appreciated if the chimney builder could order such a shroud more easily, ensuring a proper fit.

Thus, it can be seen that there is a strong benefit to a shroud type that can be manufactured to fit almost any chimney.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

The field of the present invention relates to chimney shrouds, including their manufacture and performance. Without limiting the indication thereof, the present invention provides mechanisms and methods for a chimney shroud archetype, which can be adjusted with relative ease to fit a variety of chimney chases. The apparatus is an elegant, simple-to-install shroud that is adjustable to many different chimney caps, both old and new.

In one aspect, the present invention is directed to an adjustable chimney shroud. The shroud comprises a housing that defines a perimeter and is made up of a plurality of sides, wherein at least one of the sides is configured to be adjustable in length. This adjustable side comprises a first panel that includes an outer telescoping portion and a second panel that includes an inner telescoping portion. The inner telescoping portion of the second panel is slidably received by the outer telescoping portion of the first panel, which allows an operator to selectively vary the overall length of the side. In some embodiments, each of the plurality of sides of the housing is an adjustable side.

In further embodiments, the shroud includes at least one fastener, such as a rivet, screw, or bolt, configured to secure the first panel relative to the second panel, thereby fixing the length of the adjustable side after it has been varied. The outer telescoping portion may include a plurality of apertures configured to receive at least one fastener. The shroud may also comprise a plurality of legs coupled to a bottom edge of the housing, which are configured to support the housing above a chimney surface.

In a particular embodiment, the housing comprises four sides arranged in a generally rectangular configuration. This embodiment may further comprise a plurality of corner members, wherein each corner member includes a first wall portion forming the inner telescoping portion of a first adjustable side, and a second wall portion, oriented at a substantially right angle to the first, forming the outer telescoping portion of an adjacent second adjustable side. To provide additional rigidity after adjustment, this embodiment may also include a plurality of stabilizing braces configured to be attached across the internal corners of the housing. In yet other embodiments, the housing may be generally cylindrical, wherein the adjustable side allows for the adjustment of the housing's circumference. For closed-top shrouds, the apparatus may further comprise a roof portion coupled to an upper end of the housing, wherein the roof portion itself is adjustable, comprising a plurality of overlapping panels that are slidably engaged with one another to allow for an adjustment of its surface area.

In another aspect, the invention provides a method for installing an adjustable chimney shroud on a chimney chase. The method comprises the steps of providing an adjustable chimney shroud having a housing with at least one adjustable side assembly; adjusting the adjustable length of the side assembly to correspond to a dimension of the chimney chase; fixing the adjustable length of the side assembly by securing its constituent panels relative to one another; and placing the adjusted and fixed shroud onto the chimney chase.

In various embodiments of the method, the step of fixing the adjustable length comprises inserting at least one fastener through an aperture in one panel and into the other. This step of fixing the length is typically performed prior to the step of placing the shroud onto the chimney. Where the housing comprises four adjustable side assemblies, the method may include the step of attaching a stabilizing brace at each corner of the shroud after the lengths of the sides have been fixed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a four-sided sloped adjustable shroud.

FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a corner of an adjustable shroud.

FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a side of an adjustable shroud where the side has been expanded.

FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a side of an adjustable shroud where the side fits together.

FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a box shroud.

FIG. 6a-6b shows a top-down perspective view of a cylindrical adjustable shroud.

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a three-sided adjustable shroud.

FIG. 8 shows a perspective view the telescoping rails on the panels.

FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of an adjustable shroud supported by aa plurality of braces

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards the improvement and ease of installation of chimney shrouds. The present invention provides a chimney shroud that is adjustable in size. This allows the chimney shroud to fit a multitude of chimney cap sizes properly. As such, it reduces the burdens on the manufacturer, designer, and builder for manufacturing, designing, and installing the chimney shroud, respectively.

When manufacturing a chimney shroud, it goes without saying that building a shroud that will fit a chimney is necessary, and this chimney needs to be the one a customer wants to be fitted. These two simple principles force shroud manufacturers to either manufacture a wide variety of shroud sizes to match the variety of chimneys or limit their market to a subset of them. This limits the ability of the manufacturer to scale and thus drives up costs of chimney shrouds.

Further, when a building is being designed with a chimney and shroud, the contractor must find a manufacturer that provides pre-designed shrouds in his needed sizes or find a custom chimney shroud manufacturer. This requires time and effort on behalf of the contractor, increasing the cost of the build. In some cases, this may even limit the options for chimney shrouds available for the particular build.

When the worker goes to install the shroud, he might find that the ordered shroud does not properly fit the chimney's top. In that case, he must provide a new shroud, which again is a time-consuming process that costs money and slows the installation.

It will be appreciated that a one-size-fits-all adjustable shroud will solve these problems. If a worker finds the shroud does not fit the chimney cap, he merely adjusts it until it does. As for the contractor, he can order a shroud in a single size without having to shop around. As noted above, the manufacturer can now scale up the production of a single shroud design without the worry of creating separate shrouds at each potential chimney size.

The telescoping shroud of the present invention is able to adjust in size easily and thus fit a variety of chimney sizes. The telescoping shroud can come in a variety of styles as well. The shroud can include open or closed top designs as well as those that incorporate mesh or louvered sides.

FIG. 1 shows a semi-blown-out view of an exemplary embodiment of a box tyle chimney shroud 100. Here, we can see four sides 101, 102, 103, and 104. As shown, these sides are created by merging corner pieces 200 which are shown in more detail in FIG. 2.

FIG. 2 shows a corner piece 200. This corner piece contains the inner telescoping portion, a first side 211, and the outer telescoping portion, a second side 212. Together, four corner pieces can make the adjustable shroud, as shown in FIG. 1. Note that legs 110 are shown but are not a necessary part of a corner piece.

It will also be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art that the corner pieces, as shown here, are an illustrative tool. The side pieces need not be shipped as corner pieces. In fact, the inner and outer telescoping portions of each side can be assembled together, and then each side can be connected to form the corners. This will be discussed in more detail below. Regardless, it can be useful to ship the pieces as assembled corner pieces, which eases the installation.

The corner pieces slide together as demonstrated by FIG. 3 and FIG. 4. In FIG. 3, the inner telescoping portion 211 of a side and the outer telescoping portion, second panel 213, of two different corner pieces 200 sit apart. These side portions come from two different corner pieces. For example, corner piece 201 has the inner telescoping portion 211 for a side, while corner piece 202 has the outer telescoping portion 213 for a side. In FIG. 4, corner pieces 201 and 202 have come together to form a side 101. When shipped, these sides may be placed together as shown in FIG. 4, and all the installer needs to do is extend and fix them in place, for example, by riveting them in place. As shown in the transition from FIG. 3 to FIG. 4, the inner telescoping portion (211) of the second panel is slidably received by the outer telescoping portion (213) of the first panel, allowing the total length of the side (101) to be adjusted.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the outer telescoping portion may include a plurality of holes or apertures 301. These apertures serve as guides for the step of fixing the shroud's length, as they are configured to receive fasteners. An exemplary method of fixing the length comprises inserting at least one fastener, such as a rivet or a screw, through an aperture in the outer panel and into the inner panel. These rivets can secure the outer side and inner side together, as well as an optional stiff back brace—fixing the sides in place relative to each other. It will be appreciated that depending on the fastening method, the telescoping motion may be permanently fixed, but that is not always the case. Even with the extreme case of rivets, for example, the rivets can be removed, and the telescoping motion returned to the sides.

This example of a telescoping shroud can be manufactured as pieces, assembled, and then shipped to the job site or it can be assembled at the job site. But the greatest ease of installation is created when all the installer has to do is to take the shroud, pull the sides apart to the desired length, and fasten it.

FIG. 1 shows a diagonally sloped shroud; however, many forms of shrouds may be made in a telescoping manner, including mailbox and “roofed/house” style shrouds. For example, FIG. 5 shows a vertical no-slope shroud 500. (The rivets may be hidden in other embodiments.) Whereas FIG. 6a and FIG. 6b show a top-down view of a telescoping pot-style shroud, and FIG. 7 shows a three-sided shroud that is still possible to form in a telescoping manner (shown as corner pieces, 701, 702, and 703 on shroud 700). A wide variety of shroud shapes can be created using the telescoping principles described herein, and therefore, telescoping shrouds are not necessarily limited to any great degree by style. However, it is likely that each shape of the shroud will telescope in a different way. For example, the cylinder-style shroud of FIG. 6 will effectively roll up itself. Line 602 in FIG. 6b, is a continuation of the main body rolled in rail 601 this causes the diameter of the cylinder to reduce.

FIG. 8 shows a telescoping rail system of the present invention, wherein a rails 812 on side panel 801, for example, fits into rails 811 on side panel 802

Shrouds may also have corners built in and use braces to help support them. FIG. 9 shows an open shroud with a series of braces 901 in the corners for support. This is important when dealing with shrouds that have ninety-degree vertical sides. These braces can be installed after telescoping the sides. The braces themselves may be telescoping.

It is possible to secure the corner pieces by attaching them to an object. This object can be the top of a chimney chase, brace, chimney cap, legs, or a variety of other objects that may provide the necessary strength to secure the brace. These braces may also be telescoping (for example, a series of telescoping rods).

It is also worth noting that, in alternate embodiments, expansion and contraction may occur by other means, including, but not limited to, folding.

It will be appreciated that although we have been talking in terms of a one-size-fits-all all-shroud, telescoping shrouds need not be a one-size-fits-all solution. Their telescopic range may be limited. This may allow cheaper shrouds to be made for small, medium, or large chimneys, for example. This is useful for a contractor because if they know that a chimney is a smaller size, they can order a shroud that doesn't have all the material that a shroud that would fit the larger sizes would likely have.

It is worth covering a possible part list and assembly instructions for a telescoping shroud with four sides, as this is the expected most common form of the shroud. These instructions can also be easily adapted to other forms of shrouds without undue experimentation, only really changing the fastening or telescoping means.

For an open type of shroud, a potential part list for either a vertical, 4-sided, no slope, open top shroud or a sloped, 4-sided, ‘pyramid’ open top shroud may comprise 20 rivets to hold side together; 16 screws to pin sides together at the top and bottom; 4 legs; 4 top triangle braces, 16 attachment screws for chimney chase top; 2 small side inner telescoping portions; 2 small side outer telescoping portions; 2 long side inner telescoping portion pieces; 2 long side outer telescoping portion pieces, and four legs.

This parts list can be used for both sloped and no-slope shrouds, demonstrating that similar parts lists can be used for different styles of shrouds. One thing to note about the part list for the embodiment described above, though, is that here each of the sides comes in two pieces, and each side may be attached to the corners. If the inner and outer telescoping portions are pre-connected: the install procedure may look like this after determining the correct size: pull two sides apart at the same time; place a metal spacer under the bottom of the ‘inside side’ to keep both parts perfectly level; start by drilling thru bottom ⅛″ hole inside of pan and then pop a rivet; use a c-clamp or other clamp grip or fixing means, to hold parts in place; work your way from bottom to top, drilling one hole at a time and filling the hole with a rivet; move up to the next hole; once all 5 rivets are in, screw two self-tapping screws down from top thru pre-drilled hole near center edge of panel; flip the panel and put two screws in the bottom pre-drilled apertures near the center of the shroud side; and repeat for all four sides; form the corners; and attach the legs with the attachment screws.

This is much more complex than the procedure if the shroud comes completely assembled, In this case, all that needs to be done is to determine the correct size; pull the shroud apart to the correct size, check the shroud for square; flip the shroud upside down; screw or rivet 4 legs to the bottom of the shroud; flip shroud right-side up; and if being precise; check the shroud for square again, then add 4 triangle stabilizer brackets in each top corner. The shroud is now ready to be installed. The shroud will now be ready to be installed on top of the chimney chase.

The method may further comprise the step of attaching a stabilizing brace at each corner of the rectangular shroud. This step is performed after the step of fixing the adjustable length of the sides is complete. For example, the “4 triangle stabilizer brackets” described above serve this exact purpose. These braces, which may be similar in function to the corner braces 801 shown in FIG. 8, are added to the corners to enhance the structural rigidity of the assembled shroud. This ensures the shroud maintains its desired square shape during the final stages of installation and after it is placed upon the chimney chase.

As the procedure above demonstrates, the step of fixing the adjustable length by securing the sides and attaching components like legs and stabilizer brackets may be performed prior to the step of placing the completed shroud onto the chimney. The shroud can then be fixed to the chimney cap.

In some cases, the assembly can be performed by the manufacturer or the shroud installer. The installation is generally the same across shroud stylers as well: telescope the shroud to fit the chimney cap, fix the size, and install it. However, the shroud size may also be fixed by connecting it to the chimney cap, for example, by connecting to the top/side edges.

It may generally be the case that, for installation, a method for installing the adjustable chimney shroud begins with the step of providing the adjustable chimney shroud at the installation site, which may be a rooftop chimney chase. After providing the shroud, the next step may be adjusting the adjustable length of the side assemblies. As shown in FIG. 3, this is accomplished by pulling the sides apart, or telescoping them, to correspond to a dimension of the chimney chase. Once the proper length is achieved, the method includes the step of fixing the adjustable length. This step secures the first panel relative to the second panel and is typically performed by inserting fasteners, such as rivets or screws, as described elsewhere herein. It may be that the final step of the method is placing the now-sized and fixed adjustable chimney shroud onto the chimney chase for final installation.

The adjustable shroud of the present invention allows the installer to quickly fit and install a shroud. The ease of use is not limited to the installer, as the manufacturer no longer has the burden of producing and having on inventory a number of shrouds that can only be used on one size of chimney. Shrouds are not limited to box-style shrouds, but may also include mailbox shrouds and roofed shrouds, and other shroud types, even those not yet created because almost any shape can be produced by a telescoping build.

It is worth noting, as hinted at above, that the shrouds need not truly be one-size-fits-all but come in size ranges. These size ranges are more material-efficient than a one-size-fits-all all variety. As an example of possible side ranges, one adjustable shroud could have a side that starts at 20 inches but expands to 38 inches. While another size of adjustable shroud may have a side that starts at 32 inches but expands to 60 inches. It is worth noting that these are examples, and the shrouds'length and ranges are in theory, virtually unlimited.

The drawings and figures show multiple embodiments and are intended to be descriptive of particular embodiments but not limited with regard to the scope, number, or style of the embodiments of the invention.

All figures are prototypes and rough drawings: the final products may be refined by one of the ordinary skill in the art. Nothing should be construed as critical or essential unless explicitly described as such. Also, the articles “a” and “an” may be understood as “one or more.” Where only one item is intended, the term “one” or other similar language is used. The terms “has,” “have,” “having,” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. When a range is included, a subsequent range utilizing any numbers within the original range is possible, exists as a concept, and is intended to be disclosed. When the specification defines a term differently than what is incorporated by reference, the specification controls in relation to the present invention.