Patent Application
20250198546
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The disclosure relates to vent hoses and more particularly pertains to a new vent hose for inhibiting kinking, constriction and clogging of the hose.
The prior art relates to vent hoses. More specifically, the prior art relates to vent hoses for connecting an electric dryer vent with an exhaust vent. Typically, at least a portion of the length of such vent hoses, or duct connectors, will sag between the electric dryer and the exhaust vent. Sagging can lead to lint blockage, which can result in fires. Thus, there is a need in the art for a duct connector system that eliminates sag in the duct connector to reduce the chances of lint blockage and fires.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a tube having a first end, a second end, and a peripheral wall that is attached to and extends between the first end and the second end. A wire is coupled to the peripheral wall. The wire extends from the first end to the second end. The wire comprises a helix shape forming a plurality of loops along a length of the peripheral wall. The wire may further comprise a first side having a first polarity and a second side having a second polarity. The first polarity and the second polarity are magnetically attracted to each other whereby the plurality of loops are magnetically attracted to each other thereby retracting the plurality of loops inwardly toward each other.
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.
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:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A wire 22 is coupled to the peripheral wall 18. The wire 22 extends from the first end 14 to the second end 16. The wire 22 is generally positioned in the interior space 20, on an interior surface of the peripheral wall 18. The wire 22 generally comprises a helix shape forming a plurality of loops 24 along a length of the peripheral wall 18. The plurality of loops 24 are generally aligned with each other from the first end 14 to the second end 16 of the tube 12.
The wire 22 further comprises a first side 26 having a first polarity and a second side 28 having a second polarity. The first polarity and the second polarity are magnetically attracted to each other whereby the plurality of loops 24 are magnetically attracted to each other thereby retracting the plurality of loops 24 inwardly toward each other along the length of the peripheral wall.
The first side 26 of a first loop 32 of the plurality of loops 24 faces the second side 28 of a second loop 34 of the plurality of loops 24 whereby the first polarity pulls the first side 26 of the first loop 32 toward the second side 28 of the second loop 34 and draws the first loop 32 and the second loop 34 together thereby retracting the peripheral wall 18 such that the tube 12 remains taut between the first loop 32 and the second loop 34.
This pattern is repeated along a full length of the tube 30, so that the peripheral wall 18 of the tube 12 remains taught between the first end 14 and the second end 16. The first side 26 of each of the plurality of loops 24 faces the first end 14 of the tube 12 along the full length of the tube 30. The second side 28 of each of the plurality of loops 24 faces the second end 16 of the tube 12 along the full length of the tube 30. The full length of the tube 30 is from the first end 14 to the second end 16 of the tube 12. With this repeated pattern of opposing polarities along the full length of the tube 30, the tube 12 remains taut between the first end 14 and the second end 16.
In use, the dryer vent hose device 10 may be coupled between a dryer vent 40 and a wall vent 46 for an electric dryer 36, or another appliance. For example, the electric dryer 36, or other appliance, may include a back side 38 and a dryer vent 40 that is attached to and extends outwardly from the back side 38. The electric dryer 36 may be positioned proximate to a wall 42 having an exterior surface 44 and a wall vent 46 that is attached to and extends outwardly from the exterior surface 44.
The tube 12 may be coupled to and extend between the dryer vent 40 and the wall vent 46. A first worm clamp 48 may couple the first end 14 of the tube 12 to the dryer vent 40. A second worm clamp 50 may couple the second end 16 of the tube 12 to the wall vent 46. The first polarity and the second polarity of the wire 22 retains the tube 12 in a taut position between the dryer vent 40 and the wall vent 46.
The magnetic attraction between the first side 26 and the second side 28 of each of the plurality of loops 24 may compact the tube 12 when moving the electric dryer 36, or other appliance, closer to the wall 42. Thus, the wire 22 may inhibit kinking or unwanted constriction of the tube 12. The magnetic attraction between the first side 26 and the second side 28 of each of the plurality of loops 24 also facilitates the preservation of a straight-line conduit through the interior space 20 of the tube 12 to inhibit clogging.
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.
