Willinger Bros., Inc.

Willinger Brothers, Inc.

Robert Ellis

Allan H Willinger

Gene S Fleischer

Mark Agresta

Jonas A Ivasauskas

A water pump assembly for an aquarium aeration system includes a housing surrounding an electric pump. Within the housing, a water conduit passes an impeller of the pump for the generation of a stream of moving water. An air-breather conduit conducts air from a location above the housing to an air-induction port in a sidewall of the water conduit. The aquarium power head is provided with a clamp for attaching the power head to the aquarium tank. The clamp has a ring which mates a tubular inlet portion of the housing and engages that inlet portion. A flow diverter to adjust the water flow exiting the power head in a desired direction is adjustably connected to the outlet portion of the housing of the power head.

Clamp for attaching an aquarium power head

Aquarium power head with integral muffler

A floating impeller assembly for use with an electromagnetic stator unit includes a stationary shaft with a magnetic rotor rotationally mounted on the shaft. An impeller unit is rotationally mounted on the shaft and a unitary retaining and clutch mechanism between the magnetic rotor and the impeller unit drives the impeller unit by means of rotation of the magnetic rotor. The magnetic rotor and the impeller float on the shaft facilitating reducing the noise, friction and wear, heretofore, present in prior art units. The floating impeller assembly is used within an aquarium filter for drawing water from the aquarium into the aquarium filter for filtration and discharge back into the aquarium tank.

Floating impeller assembly

A water pump including a rotating impeller is located between the two filter chambers, and pumps water from the aquarium tank, via the inlet conduit, into a corridor which communicates with the two filter chambers. The impeller is constructed with relatively closely spaced radially extending blades, each of which is formed of a circular disk. A base edge, or chord, of each blade is inclined upon a frustoconical surface of a central hub of the impeller.

Impeller assembly for aquarium power filter

An aquarium filtration system is formed as a filter assembly for mounting on the wall of an aquarium tank, and includes a pair of filter chambers, each having a filter element, mounted side by side along the aquarium wall. An inlet conduit is located in a transverse medial plane of the assembly. A water pump including a rotating impeller is located between the two filter chambers, and pumps water from the aquarium tank, via the inlet conduit, into a corridor which communicates with the two filter chambers. The impeller is constructed with relatively closely spaced radially extending blades, each of which is formed of a circular disk. A base edge, or chord, of each blade is inclined upon a frustoconical surface of a central hub of the impeller. A discharge end of the inlet conduit directs water upon the impeller blades, the latter urging the water outward along a horizontal plane into the corridor. A lower end of the inlet conduit terminates in a housing structured as a cage with plural ports for unrestricted delivery of water from the impeller into the corridor. A stream diverter is located adjacent the impeller for directing water from the impeller in equal quantities to both of the filter chambers. In smaller single filter chamber systems a single fin diverter can be used. This construction reduces noise and turbulence in the filtration system.

Aquarium power filter

A water pump assembly for an aquarium aeration system includes a housing surrounding an electric pump. Within the housing, a water conduit passes an impeller of the pump for the generation of a stream of moving water. An air-breather conduit conducts air from a location above the housing to an air-induction port in a sidewall of the water conduit wherein the moving water produces a venturi action for drawing in air and entraining the air as a series of bubbles in the stream of water. The process of mixing air with the water produces sound. A muffler disposed on top of the housing is connected serial with the air-breather conduit for attenuating the sound to permit a viewing of the aquarium without the distraction of the sound. A valve may be located on an air inlet port above the muffler for adjusting a rate of flow of the air. The muffler incorporates a serpentine corridor for conduction of the air, the corridor comprising a set of baffles or a set of arcuate passages of sufficiently small cross-sectional dimensions for attenuating the sound. The muffler is constructed in different embodiments, each of which may be opened manually for cleaning.

An external aquarium filter having a housing which is mountable onto a wall of an aquarium tank. The housing includes an intake compartment and a filter compartment which in turn includes a contaminated water chamber receiving contaminated water drawn into the intake compartment from the aquarium tank and a filter chamber for filtering the water. A motor unit supported at the filter housing has an impeller which sits into it depending from a collar which fits into the intake compartment of the filter. The impeller draws water from the aquarium tank into the intake compartment of the filter. The impeller is encased in a tubular collar. The tubular collar has two opposing windows. The window, which faces the front wall of the intake compartment, is offset in a clockwise direction, as viewed from above, relative to the window which faces the rear wall of the intake compartment, to effectively close off the right edge thereof, to thereby reduce turbulence in the water flowing in the filter.

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Wyckoff, NJ, United States of America

Robert Ellis