Tutco, Inc.

Ike Walker

Jimmy Lee Sherrill

Keith Howard

James Lee Sherrill

Michael Danko

A heater having a frame rail and clips, attached to the rail, for securing insulators for supporting a heater coil. Each clip has a main body having a structural member for securing to the rail, and having a pair of flanges symmetrical about a central axis. Each flange has a cut-out for supporting an insulator, the cut-out having an open end, a back abutment edge and a pair of side abutment edges. A bendable tab is located at either side of the open end, each having a first and a second position. In the first position an insulator is insertable into the cut-out, and the insulator is secured by bending the tabs to their second position. Optionally the main body has a cross-section that accommodates the cross section of the rail and the rail is welded to the channel. Alternatively, a plurality of clinching flaps extend from the main body, the flaps shaped and dimensioned for bending around and clinching the rail.

Methods of assembling open coil electrical resistance heaters involving butt welding of rails and using welded insulator support clips with bendable tabs

A heater assembly includes a mounting structure, a securement structure, an insulator support structure, a conducting structure having a first portion and a second portion, a terminal structure, and a thermostat structure. The securement structure cooperates with the insulator support structure and the mounting structure to releasably and fixedly secure the insulator support structure to the mounting structure. The terminal structure is coupled to the first portion of the conducting structure, and is used to deliver power to the conducting structure. The thermostat structure is coupled to the second portion of the conducting structure. The insulator support structure is configured to cooperate with both the terminal structure and the thermostat structure to fixedly support the terminal structure or the thermostat structure in position.

Insulator support structure for a heater assembly

A heater assembly includes a mounting assembly, a conducting structure, a thermostat structure, a first terminal structure and a second terminal structure, and an insulator support structure including a terminal receiving opening formed therethrough. The conducting structure and the insulator support structure are releasably and fixedly secured to the mounting assembly. The terminal receiving opening of the insulator support structure cooperates with the first terminal structure to secure the first terminal structure to the mounting assembly. The second terminal structure is releasably and fixedly secured to the mounting assembly. The thermostat structure is connected to the first terminal structure and to the second terminal structure. The first terminal structure is then connected to a power delivering structure to receive power to be used by the heater assembly, and to deliver power, through the thermostat structure, to the conducting structure. The second terminal structure is also coupled to the conducting structure.

Thermostat assembly for a heater

Support apparatus for resistive coils and insulators in electric heaters

A clip for connecting one or two insulators to a rail (preferably a T-bar member) of an electric heater including at least one bendable metal clinching member, where the clip is securable to the rail by bending the clinching member around the rail. Preferably, the clinching member is one or two T-shaped end members disposed on transverse ends of the clip. Opposite end sections of the ridge of the T-shaped end member constitute clinching flaps which, in use, are clinched around a stem of a T-bar of an electric heater.

Growing community of inventors

Monterey, TN, United States of America

Ike Walker