Emerson Electric Company

Charles T Whitfield

Ronald R Barnes

Herbert G Ray

T Randall Markum

The present invention provides a heating coil assembly having metal bracket, a support rail, a heating coil, and a plurality of insulating supports. The metal bracket is attached to a terminal block and the support rail. The heating coil is electrically connected to the terminal block. Each insulating support has a hole to receive the support rail. Each insulating support further has a rigid body and a plurality of slots. Each slot is capable of receiving a portion of a coil turn of the heating coil. Each slot has a generally flat bottom and two inwardly projecting sidewalls. Each inwardly projecting sidewall is defined by a hook edge and ramp edge. The present invention further includes a method of assembling such heating coil assembly.

Heating coil assembly and methods for assembling the same

An electrical resistance heater (12) has an elongate electrical heating coil (C) with a plurality of convolutions (C1, C2). An electrical insulator (10) supports the convolutions and includes an insulator body (18) mountable to a support frame (19). A generally circular projection (20) extends from one side of the body and is integrally formed therewith. A generally arcuate section (26, 28) of the projection, on opposite sides of the projection, is spaced from an adjacent surface (30, 32) of the body. A notch (34, 36) is formed by the respective surfaces of the body and the projection for respective coil convolutions (C1, C2) to be received in the respective notches. The upper end (42, 44) of the faces (38, 40) of the projection are tapered outwardly from the top of the projection to facilitate coil installation. A shoulder (30s, 32s) formed on the insulator body adjacent each notch helps retain the coil convolutions in the notches. An insulator (110) having a pair of projections (120a, 120b) integrally formed with an insulator body (118) is used to support coil convolutions on both sides of the insulator.

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Columbus, MS, United States of America

Charles T Whitfield