Patent Application
20180248349
The following includes information that may be useful in understanding the present disclosure. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art nor material to the presently described or claimed inventions, nor that any publication or document that is specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The present invention relates generally to the field of de-icers of existing art and more specifically relates to garage door de-icers.
During colder months of the year, people with overhead garage doors must be mindful of icy conditions. The bottom seal on a garage door may freeze to the ground, causing extensive damages to the door. If an individual tries to activate the door system, the seal may ‘stick’ to the ground destroying the seal, and expensive repairs are then required. Damage to the internal railing could also occur, incurring even more repair and maintenance costs. An effective alternative is needed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,462,885 to Chester W. Ellingson Jr. relates to a door bottom weather sealing structure. The described door bottom weather sealing structure includes an automatic door bottom weather sealing structure disposed in a channel formed in the bottom of a door comprising a pair of interfitting channel members being transversely extensible and retractable in which the improvement consists of a flexible accordion gasket forming an air pocket with the bottom of the lower of said channel members to provide a flexible bottom sealing member and the side walls of said gasket member overlying the side walls of said channel members forming a sealed extensible enclosure for the moving parts of said door bottom sealing structure.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known garage door de-icers art, the present disclosure provides a novel garage door de-icer system. The general purpose of the present disclosure, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a garage door de-icer system for use in inclement weather.
A de-icer means for use with a garage (or other) door is disclosed herein. The de-icer includes a sensor, a heating filament, a wire harness, and a power supply. The garage door deicer system may comprise: a sensor which may include a flat front side, a flat rear side opposite the flat front side, and a thickness therebetween; the thickness may be sufficient to support the inner electronics of the sensor mountable to a planar surface of an outside-wall of a garage. The sensor may be a temperature sensor and may be wirelessly connectable to a heating filament. The temperature sensor may be weather resistant, and include a processor, a transceiver, and a memory module useful for controlling function(s). The temperature sensor may include a temperature regulator useful for preventing overheating of the heating filament. The temperature sensor may include a timer useful for timed activation of the de-icer.
A heating filament may include a first-end-a, a length-a and a second-end-a, the first-end-a of the heating filament, the length-a of the heating filament, and the second-end-a of the heating filament are coupled to a bottom edge of a garage-door, wherein the second-end-a terminates at an end of the garage-door. The heating filament may be replaceable and of sufficient thickness to carry power sufficient to thaw ice via produced heat being radiated.
A wire harness may include, a first-end-b, a length-b, and a second-end-b. The first-end-b may be communicatively coupled to (the thickness of) the sensor; wherein the length-b of the wire harness passes through a garage wall and the second-end-b of the wire harness is coupled to the first-end-a of the heating filament.
A power supply, may provide power to the sensor, heating filament, and wire harness. The power supply may be powered by a battery which may be rechargeable or be in electrical communication with an available AC powering source. The de-icer may further include an on/off switch may be useful for deactivation during warmer seasons and activation during frigid temperature seasons. The de-icer may even further include a remote control useful for activating the de-icer remotely. A mounting bracket may be included for mounting to the outside-wall of the garage. The de-icer may provide heat to de-ice a garage-door, with the sensor which may be able to detect frigid weather temperature and may activate the heating filament by sending a signal through the wire harness, which heats the heating filament and melts any surrounding ice to free the garage-door for use.
According to another embodiment, a method of using a de-icer is also disclosed herein. The method of installing/using a de-icer includes installing the de-icer to a garage door, programming functions of the de-icer, opening the garage door of a garage, controlling the de-icer with a remote-control and replacing a heating filament of the de-icer attached to a garage door (as needed).
For purposes of summarizing the invention, certain aspects, advantages, and novel features of the invention have been described herein. It is to be understood that not necessarily all such advantages may be achieved in accordance with any one particular embodiment of the invention. Thus, the invention may be embodied or carried out in a manner that achieves or optimizes one advantage or group of advantages as taught herein without necessarily achieving other advantages as may be taught or suggested herein. The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are particularly pointed out and distinctly claimed in the concluding portion of the specification. These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following drawings and detailed description.
The figures which accompany the written portion of this specification illustrate embodiments and methods of use for the present disclosure, a garage door de-icer system, constructed and operative according to the teachings of the present disclosure.
The various embodiments of the present invention will hereinafter be described in conjunction with the appended drawings, wherein like designations denote like elements.
As discussed above, embodiments of the present disclosure relate to a de-icing means and more particularly to a garage door de-icer system as used to improve the de-icing of a garage door which has been sealed by ice during inclement weather.
Generally, an overhead garage door seal may freeze to the floor/garage pad during winter months. A heating wire is placed inside the seal of the bottom of the garage door with a sensor on the outside. A timer can be used to activate the heating wire along with plugging it in to activate the heating wire. This prevents damage to the seal when ice forms because the ice is melted before opening the overhead garage door occurs.
Referring now more specifically to the drawings by numerals of reference, there is shown in
According to one embodiment, the de-icer 100 may be arranged as a kit 105. In particular, the de-icer 100 may further include a set of instructions 107. The instructions 107 may detail functional relationships in relation to the structure of the de-icer 100 such that the de-icer 100 can be used, maintained, or the like, in a preferred manner.
A heating filament 120 may include a first-end-a 121, a length-a 122, and a second-end-a 123. The first-end-a 121 the length-a 122, and the second-end-a 123 of the heating filament 120 may be coupled to a bottom edge of a garage-door 10, wherein the second-end-a 123 terminates at an end of the garage-door 10. The heating filament 120 may be replaceable and of sufficient thickness to thaw ice. A wire harness 130 may include, a first-end-b 131, a length-b 132, and a second-end-b 133. The first-end-b 131 may be communicatively coupled to the thickness 113 of the sensor 110, wherein the length-b 132 of the wire harness 130 passes through a garage wall 15 and the second-end-b 130 of the wire harness 130 is coupled to the first-end-a 121 of the heating filament 120.
A power supply 140, may provide power to the sensor 110, heating filament 120, and wire harness 130. The de-icer 100 may further include an on/off switch 102 may be useful for deactivation during warmer seasons and activation during frigid temperature seasons. The de-icer 100 may even further include a remote control 104 useful for activating the de-icer 100 remotely. The de-icer 100 may provide heat via electrical power to de-ice a garage-door 10, with the sensor 110 which may be able to detect frigid weather and may activate the heating filament 120 by sending a signal through the wire harness 130, which heats the heating filament 120 and melts any surrounding ice to free the garage-door 10 for use.
Referring now to
Referring now to
It should be noted that steps 504 and 505 are optional steps and may not be implemented in all cases. Optional steps of method of use 500 are illustrated using dotted lines in
The embodiments of the invention described herein are exemplary and numerous modifications, variations and rearrangements can be readily envisioned to achieve substantially equivalent results, all of which are intended to be embraced within the spirit and scope of the invention. Further, the purpose of the foregoing abstract is to enable the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, and especially the scientist, engineers and practitioners in the art who are not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determine quickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of the technical disclosure of the application.
The present application is related to and claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/465,142 filed Feb. 28, 2017, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62465142 | Feb 2017 | US |
