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Chimney safety and control system

  • US 5,555,876 A
  • Filed: 10/17/1994
  • Issued: 09/17/1996
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/17/1994
  • Status: Expired due to Fees
First Claim
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1. A chimney safety control and alarm apparatus comprising:

  • a chimney, including a firebox cavity, a damper, and a flue;

    a ventilation means, mounted to a top portion of the chimney, for ventilating the chimney;

    a damper positioning means for adjusting the position of the damper;

    a damper position detecting means for determining the position of the damper, said damper position detecting means producing a damper position signal indicating the position of the damper;

    a firebox sensing means for sensing a predetermined condition of the firebox, said firebox sensing means producing a firebox signal indicating the presence of the predetermined condition;

    a smoke detector located in proximity to the firebox to detect the presence of smoke, said smoke detector having an internal alarm, said smoke detector providing a single input/output lead, said internal alarm being activated by externally pulling said input/output lead to ground, said input/output lead also pulled to ground internally by said smoke detector when smoke has been detected by said smoke detector; and

    a safety controller for activating the smoke detector internal alarm and the damper positioning means to open the damper and for activating the ventilation means to ventilate the chimney when the firebox signal received from the firebox sensing means indicates the presence of the predetermined condition within the firebox and the damper position signal received from the damper position detector means indicates that the damper is closed, said safety controller further activating said damper positioning means to open the damper and activating said ventilation means to ventilate the chimney when said smoke detector detects the presence of smoke in the proximity of said firebox;

    said safety controller further comprising a transistor electrically coupled to said smoke detector input/output lead, said transistor for pulling said input/output lead to ground during the period in which the firebox signal is received from the firebox sensing means indicating the presence of the predetermined condition and the damper position signal is received from the damper position detector means indicating that said damper is closed, said safety controller transistor thereby activating said smoke detector internal alarm, for the period that said damper is open and said predetermined condition is detected in said firebox.

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