Adjustable Chimney Shroud

Abstract

An adjustable chimney shroud and method for installation. The shroud includes a housing with at least one adjustable side. The adjustable side comprises a first panel with an outer telescoping portion that slidably receives an inner telescoping portion of a second panel. This allows the length of the side to be varied to fit a chimney chase of a particular size. The side length can then be fixed using fasteners. The method involves adjusting the shroud to the desired size, fixing the dimensions, and placing it on the chimney. The shroud can be provided in various configurations, including rectangular and cylindrical shapes.

Claims

1. An adjustable chimney shroud, comprising: a housing defining a perimeter, the housing comprising a plurality of sides, wherein at least one of said plurality of sides is adjustable in length said at least one adjustable side comprising: a first panel comprising an outer telescoping portion; and a second panel comprising an inner telescoping portion; wherein the inner telescoping portion of the second panel is slidably received by the outer telescoping portion of the first panel, allowing a length of said at least one adjustable side to be selectively varied.

2. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of sides is an adjustable side, each comprising a first panel with an outer telescoping portion and a second panel with an inner telescoping portion.

3. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 1, further comprising at least one fastener configured to secure the first panel relative to the second panel to fix the length of said at least one adjustable side after it has been selectively varied.

4. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 3, wherein the at least one fastener is selected from the group consisting of a rivet, a screw, and a bolt.

5. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 3, wherein the outer telescoping portion comprises a plurality of apertures configured to receive the at least one fastener.

6. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 1, wherein the housing comprises four sides arranged in a generally rectangular configuration.

7. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 6, further comprising a plurality of corner members, wherein each corner member comprises: 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 wall portion, forming the outer telescoping portion of an adjacent second adjustable side.

8. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 6, further comprising a plurality of stabilizing braces, wherein each brace is configured to be attached across an internal corner of the housing to secure a relative angle between two adjacent sides after the length of said sides has been adjusted.

9. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of legs coupled to a bottom edge of the housing, said legs configured to support the housing above a chimney surface.

10. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 1, further comprising a roof portion coupled to an upper end of the housing.

11. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 10, wherein the roof portion is adjustable and comprises a plurality of overlapping panels slidably engaged with one another to allow for an adjustment of a surface area of the roof portion.

12. The adjustable chimney shroud of claim 1, wherein the housing is generally cylindrical, and said at least one adjustable side allows for adjustment of a circumference of the housing.

13. A method for installing an adjustable chimney shroud on a chimney chase, the method comprising: providing an adjustable chimney shroud comprising a housing having at least one side assembly with an adjustable length, said side assembly comprising a first panel slidably engaged with a second panel; adjusting the adjustable length of the at least one side assembly to correspond to a dimension of the chimney chase; fixing the adjustable length of the at least one side assembly by securing the first panel relative to the second panel; and placing the adjustable chimney shroud onto the chimney chase.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of fixing the adjustable length comprises inserting at least one fastener through an aperture in the first panel and into the second panel.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the at least one fastener is a rivet or a screw.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of fixing the adjustable length is performed prior to the step of placing the adjustable chimney shroud onto the chimney chase.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the housing comprises four adjustable side assemblies, and the step of adjusting comprises adjusting the length of each of the four side assemblies to form a rectangular shroud matching dimensions of the chimney chase.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the step of attaching a stabilizing brace at each corner of the rectangular shroud after the step of fixing the adjustable length of the side assemblies.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0017] FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a four-sided sloped adjustable shroud.

[0018] FIG. 2 shows a perspective view of a corner of an adjustable shroud.

[0019] FIG. 3 shows a perspective view of a side of an adjustable shroud where the side has been expanded.

[0020] FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of a side of an adjustable shroud where the side fits together.

[0021] FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of a box shroud.

[0022] FIG. 6a-6b shows a top-down perspective view of a cylindrical adjustable shroud.

[0023] FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of a three-sided adjustable shroud.

[0024] FIG. 8 shows a perspective view the telescoping rails on the panels.

[0025] FIG. 9 shows a perspective view of an adjustable shroud supported by aa plurality of braces

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0026] 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.

[0027] 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.

[0028] 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.

[0029] 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.

[0030] 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.

[0031] 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.

[0032] 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.

[0033] 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.

[0034] 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.

[0035] 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.

[0036] 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 bracefixing 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.

[0037] 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.

[0038] 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.

[0039] 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

[0040] 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.

[0041] 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).

[0042] It is also worth noting that, in alternate embodiments, expansion and contraction may occur by other means, including, but not limited to, folding.

[0043] 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.

[0044] 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.

[0045] 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.

[0046] 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 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.

[0047] 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.

[0048] 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.

[0049] 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.

[0050] 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.

[0051] 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.

[0052] 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.

[0053] 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.

[0054] 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.

[0055] 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.