Chimney Cover

Description

(B) CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

(C) STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

(D) THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

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(E) INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM

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(F) STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

(G) BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(1) Field of the Invention

The disclosure relates to chimney covers and more particularly pertains to a new chimney cover for preventing debris from entering a chimney.

(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98

The prior art discloses various chimney covers which prevent debris from entering a chimney. Such chimney covers may include rigid or semi-rigid components such as made from sheet metal or the like and may be adjustable to adapt to chimneys of different sizes. Also disclosed are chimney covers which are resiliently bendable such that they clip into the chimney. However, the prior art fails to describe such an apparatus which comprises a fabric material that forms a sleeve and a drawstring which may be used to secure the sleeve around the chimney.

(H) BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a sleeve with a top wall and a perimeter wall, wherein the perimeter wall is coupled to and extends away from the top wall. The sleeve defines an interior space which is surrounded by the top wall and the perimeter wall. The perimeter wall has a rim opposite the top wall which defines an opening to the interior space. The top wall and the perimeter wall comprise a fabric material. The perimeter wall has an interior dimension such that the perimeter wall is configured to surround a top portion of a chimney. A rim mounting member is coupled to the sleeve and is positioned adjacent to the rim of the perimeter wall. The rim mounting member is configured to mount the sleeve to the chimney.

Another embodiment of the disclosure is a system which includes a structure that comprises a roof and a chimney. The chimney extends through the roof, and a top portion of the chimney extends from the roof to a top end of the chimney. The chimney has an aperture at the top end. A cover apparatus is shaped to cover the aperture of the chimney. The cover apparatus comprises a sleeve with a top wall and a perimeter wall, wherein the perimeter wall is coupled to and extends away from the top wall. The sleeve defines an interior space surrounded by the top wall and the perimeter wall. The perimeter wall has a rim opposite the top wall which defines an opening to the interior space. The top wall and the perimeter wall comprise a fabric material, and the top wall is integrally formed with the perimeter wall. The perimeter wall has a cylindrical shape, and the perimeter wall has an interior dimension sized to accommodate the top portion of the chimney. A rim mounting member is coupled to the sleeve and is positioned adjacent to the rim of the perimeter wall. The rim mounting member comprises a drawstring and a cord lock. The drawstring extends through the perimeter wall of the sleeve around the interior space. A pair of end portions of the drawstring extends outwardly from the perimeter wall of the sleeve adjacent to each other. A cord lock is slidably mounted on the pair of end portions of the drawstring and is operable to secure the drawstring in a selected length around the interior space of the sleeve.

Yet another embodiment of the disclosure is a method of covering a chimney. The method comprises receiving a top portion of the chimney into a sleeve. The sleeve comprises a top wall and a perimeter wall, wherein the perimeter wall is coupled to and extends away from the top wall. The sleeve defines an interior space surrounded by the top wall and the perimeter wall, and the perimeter wall has a rim opposite the top wall which defines an opening to the interior space. The method further comprises securing the sleeve to the chimney by cinching a drawstring of a mounting member against the chimney and securing the drawstring at a cinched length around the chimney.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

(I) BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a top front perspective view of a chimney cover according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a bottom rear perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a bottom view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of the disclosure taken from Line 4-4 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an exploded in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a top front perspective view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

(J) DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 8 thereof, a new chimney cover embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 8, the chimney cover 10 generally comprises a sleeve 12 with a top wall 14 and a perimeter wall 16, wherein the perimeter wall 16 is coupled to and extends away from the top wall 14. The sleeve 12 defines an interior space 18 that is surrounded by the top wall 14 and the perimeter wall 16. The perimeter wall 16 has a rim 20 opposite the top wall 14 which defines an opening 22 to the interior space 18. The top wall 14 and the perimeter wall 16 comprise a fabric material and are integrally formed with each other, although they may be formed separately. The fabric material may be any suitable fabric such as polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, or the like. The perimeter wall 16 has a cylindrical shape which fits around a top portion 42 of the chimney 40 that extends upwardly from a roof surface 48. The perimeter wall 16 may have other suitable shapes, such as a rectangular prism or the like and may be shaped and sized to fit around chimneys of other shapes than the one shown. While the roof surface 48 seen in the Figures is depicted as part of an actual roof, the roof surface 48 may be taken to mean the top surface of a façade formed around the chimney 40, a flange, or other structure through which the chimney 40 extends.

With reference to FIGS. 1 through 6, a pair of mounting members 24 are coupled to the sleeve 12 and operable to mount the sleeve 12 to the chimney 40. The pair of mounting members 24 includes a rim mounting member 26 which is positioned adjacent to the rim 20 of the perimeter wall 16 and an upper mounting member 28 which is positioned adjacent to the top wall 14 of the sleeve 12. Other mounting members 24 may also be used, and the upper mounting member 28 may be spaced from the top wall 14 and the rim 20 in other embodiments. FIGS. 7 and 8 depict an embodiment with only the rim mounting member 26.

Each mounting member 24 comprises a drawstring 30 and a cord lock 34. The drawstring 30 of each mounting member 24 extends through the perimeter wall 16 of the sleeve 12 around the interior space 18. A pair of end portions 32 of the drawstring 30 extends outwardly from the perimeter wall 16 of the sleeve 12 and adjacent to each other. The cord lock 34 for each mounting member 24 is slidably mounted on the pair of end portions 32 of the drawstring 30 of the respective mounting member 24. The drawstring 30 of each mounting member 24 may be cinched around the chimney 40, and the cord lock 34 may engage the end portions 32 of the respective drawstring 30 to secure the respective drawstring 30 at the cinched length selected by a user. The cord lock 34 may comprise conventional components, including a piston 38 which is slidable within a body 36 and which is biased to pinch the drawstrings 30 of a respective one of the mounting members 24 when the drawstrings 30 are threaded through holes in the piston 38 and the body 36.

With reference to FIGS. 1 through 6, the sleeve 12 of the embodiment shown has a height between the top wall 14 and the rim 20 such that the sleeve 12 is configured to extend from a top end 44 of the chimney 40 to the roof surface 48 through which the chimney 40 protrudes. The embodiment depicted in FIGS. 7 and 8 shows the sleeve 12 having a height between the top wall 14 and the rim 20 such that the rim 20 of the perimeter wall 16 of the sleeve 12 is configured to be spaced from the roof surface 48 when the top wall 14 rests on the top end 44 of the chimney 40.

In use, the sleeve 12 is mounted to the top portion 42 of the chimney 40 as described above. So positioned, the chimney cover 10 prevents precipitation or other foreign objects from entering through an aperture 46 of the chimney 40. Gases may be released from the chimney 40 through the fabric material of the sleeve 12 or through gaps between the perimeter wall 16 of the sleeve 12 and the chimney 40 when the sleeve 12 is mounted to the chimney 40. Ash may be blocked from exiting the chimney 40 by the sleeve 12, which may be formed of a material which is heat resistant such that it does not catch fire or degrade when exposed to the ash or may have a heat resistant coating applied in some embodiments.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure 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 disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.