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Fluid heating attachment for automobile engine cooling systems

  • US 4,575,003 A
  • Filed: 05/10/1984
  • Issued: 03/11/1986
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/10/1984
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. The combination, with an internal combustion engine having a cooling system and including a block of the type through which a liquid coolant is circulated during operation of said system, said block having upper and lower ends, a radiator mounted adjacent the block and also having upper and lower ends, a radiator inlet hose extending from the upper end of the block to the upper end of the radiator, a pump for circulating coolant through the block, a radiator outlet hose extending from the lower end of the radiator to the coolant pump, a passenger space heater, a space heater supply hose extending from the block to the space heater, a return hose extending from the space heater to the pump, and a windshield washer system including a washer fluid reservoir, washer fluid nozzle means, and a washer fluid supply line having inlet and outlet end portions connected to the reservoir and nozzle means respectively, of a device for warming the engine and pre-warming the washer fluid when the engine is not running, and for also warming said washer fluid when the engine is running, comprising:

  • (a) a housing having a heating chamber and having an inlet and an outlet connected in communication with said chamber, the housing inlet and outlet being connected in communication with the radiator outlet hose and space heater supply hose, respectively, thus to connect the chamber in the cooling system as part of the flow path of coolant circulated through the system and thereby fill the chamber with the circulated coolant;

    (b) a tubular conduit means for windshield washer fluid, supported within the chamber in position to be substantially wholly immersed in the coolant filling the chamber, whereby to heat the washer fluid by the transfer of heat from the circulated coolant to the washer fluid through the wall of the conduit, said conduit means including inflow and outflow ends projecting exteriorly of the chamber and respectively connected to the inlet and outlet end portions of the windshield washer fluid supply line to provide a heated supply of washer fluid for the spray head; and

    (c) heating means within the chamber for elevating the temperature of the coolant and the washer fluid therein, said heating means comprising an electrical heating element wholly immersed in the coolant within the chamber in laterally spaced relation to the conduit means and adapted for connection to a supply of house current, whereby the heater means when energized will be in heat-exchange relation to and will warm the coolant to initiate flow thereof by thermal circulation when the engine is not running, from the housing to the space heater supply hose and into the upper end of the block, and thereafter downwardly through the block to the lower end thereof to displace and force upwardly coolant that is of a lower temperature, whereby to cause the same to exit the block through the radiator outlet hose and thereafter return to the housing through the connection between the radiator outlet hose and the housing inlet.

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