Claims
- 1. A heat exchanger unit for a hot air furnace or the like, having a pair of opposed shell sections each formed from a sheet of metal and having a flange formed along at least one edge complementary to the adjacent edge of the other section,
- said flanges being engaged, at least an outer portion of one of the flanges being folded over the corresponding outer portion of the other flange, said other flange having a portion forming an arch extending generally parallel to the edge of said other flange, said other flange crimped at the arch and edge between said folded over portion of said one flange and the remainder of said one flange, the arch of said other flange elastically deformed by the crimp, the elastic deformation maintaining the edge of said other flange forced against said one of said flanges to form a substantially leakproof metal to metal joint between the edge of the other flange and said one flange.
- 2. The heat exchanger unit set forth in claim 1 wherein:
- an outer edge portion of said other flange is formed to extend at an angle with respect to a longitudinal plane through said heat exchanger unit.
- 3. The heat exchanger set forth in claim 2 wherein:
- said arch is a portion of said other flange displaced out of a plane coincident with said other flange and with said longitudinal plane.
- 4. The heat exchanger unit set forth in claims 1 or 3 wherein:
- said arch is elastically displaced by said folded over portion of said one flange whereby said arch and the edge of said other flange as biased into forcible engagement with opposed portions of said one flange, respectively.
- 5. The heat exchanger unit set forth in claim 4 wherein:
- said other flange is displaced by said folded over portion to substantially fill a recess formed between opposed portions of said one flange.
- 6. The heat exchanger unit set forth in claim 1 wherein:
- said sections each include adjacent intersecting flanges forming a corner edge of said heat exchanger unit, said arch being formed as a continuous portion along the intersecting flanges of one section and the complementary intersecting flanges of the other section being formed with a notch at said corner and outer flange portion of reduced width and formed such that said outer flange portions are folded over and engaged with the entire length of said arch.
- 7. The heat exchanger unit set forth in claim 3 wherein:
- said arch is blended out to said longitudinal plane and toward a transverse end edge of said other flange.
- 8. The heat exchanger unit set forth in claim 1 or 3 wherein:
- said flanges are crimped together at a plurality of locations where they extend in one direction with respect to a longitudinal plane through said heat exchanger, and said flanges are crimped between said locations where they extend in another direction with respect to said longitudinal plane.
- 9. The heat exchanger unit set forth in claim 8 wherein:
- said crimped flanges at said plurality of locations extend substantially parallel to said longitudinal plane through said heat exchanger, and said crimped flanges between said locations extend at an acute angle with respect to said longitudinal plane.
- 10. A heat exchange unit for a hot air furnace or the like, having a pair of opposed shell sections each formed from a sheet of metal and having a flange formed along at least one edge complementary to the adjacent edge of the other section, formed by the process of:
- folding at least an outer portion of one of the flanges over the corresponding outer portion of the other flange, said other flange being curved to form an arch extended generally parallel to the edge of said other portion; and
- crimping the other flange between the outer portion of said one flange and the remainder of said one flange at the arch and edge to drive the edge of said other flange, which is substantially unarched, into said one flange elastically deforming the arch to form a substantially leakproof joint.
- 11. The heat exchange unit of claim 10, further formed by the process of forming an outer edge portion of said other flange to extend at an angle with respect to a longitudinal plane through said heat exchange unit.
- 12. The heat exchange unit of claim 11, further formed by the process of forming said arch of a portion of said other flange displaced out of a plane coincident with said other flange and with said longitudinal plane.
- 13. The heat exchange unit of claims 10 or 12, further formed by the process of elastically displacing said arch by said folded over portion of said one flange whereby said arch and the edge of said other flange are biased into forceable engagement with opposed portions of said one flange, respectively.
- 14. The heat exchange unit of claim 13, further formed by the process of displacing said other flange by said folded over portion to substantially fill a recess formed between opposed portions of said one flange.
- 15. The heat exchange unit of claim 10, further formed by the process of including adjacent intersecting flanges with each section, forming a corner edge of said heat exchange unit, and forming said arch as a continuous portion along the intersecting flanges of one section and the complementary intersecting flanges of the other section being formed with a notch at said corner and an outer flange portion of reduced width and formed such that said outer flange portions are folded over and engaged with the entire length of said arch.
- 16. The heat exchange unit of claim 12, further formed by the process of blending out the arch to said longitudinal plane and toward a transverse end edge of said other flange.
- 17. The heat exchange unit of claims 10 or 12, further formed by the process of crimping together said flanges at a plurality of locations to extend in one direction with respect to a longitudinal plane through said heat exchanger and crimping said flanges between said locations so they extend in another direction with respect to said longitudinal plane.
- 18. The heat exchange unit of claim 17, further formed by the process of extending said crimped flanges at said plurality of locations substantially parallel to said longitudinal plane through said heat exchange unit, and extending said crimped flanges between said locations at an acute angle with respect to said longitudinal plane.
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a division of application Ser. No. 417,672, filed Sept. 13, 1982, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,660, which is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 295,041 filed Aug. 21, 1981 now U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,241 which is a division of application Ser. No. 178,338 filed Aug. 15, 1980, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,298,061.
US Referenced Citations (13)
Foreign Referenced Citations (7)
Number |
Date |
Country |
0013110 |
May 1928 |
AUX |
2403179 |
Aug 1974 |
DEX |
2356898 |
Jan 1978 |
FRX |
4316634 |
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JPX |
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GBX |
Divisions (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
417672 |
Sep 1982 |
|
Parent |
178338 |
Aug 1980 |
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Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
295041 |
Aug 1981 |
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