Electrical heating film

Claim 2

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer wherein said meandering films disposed on opposite sides of said insulating layer have identical meander patterns.

Claim 3

The article of claim 1 wherein each of said meandering films has structure thereon reflecting heat from the other film away therefrom.

Claim 4

The article of claim 1 wherein said meandering films comprise a plurality of substantially parallel meander arms with bridges joining at least the ends of two adjacent arms.

Claim 5

The article of claim 1 having bonded thereto on one side a conventional wall covering fabric.

Claim 6

The article of claim 1 having in thermal contact therewith a material which undergoes chemical reaction when heated by said meandering film.

Claim 7

The article of claim 1 including means for moving said meandering film, means disposing electrical terminals for said meandering film accessibly on said film, means contacting at least one of said meandering films at said electrical terminals as the film is moved and means supplying electrical energy thereto.

Claim 8

The article of claim 6 including a resistive pattern disposed on said meandering film to comprise said electrical terminals such that as the film is moved past the terminals, current is maximized and decreases on either side of said terminals.

Claim 9

The article of claim 6 wherein said pattern is disposed in strip form and said terminals are disposed on opposite sides of the strip, including two electrodes disposed to contact the meander pattern along the strip at two positions remotely located from said terminals, and transformer means energizing said electrodes and said terminals with two equal and opposite potentials.

Claim 10

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in coMbination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films being disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and wherein the sheet material comprises a long strip with the regions disposed in sequence along the length of the sheet material, and wherein there are widened conductive arms disposed on opposite sides of the sheet material strip extending along its length to provide terminals with the meander paths therebetween to provide a pattern for cutting from the length tongue-like terminals without waste of material, where the cuts divide the width of the wide arms at opposite sides of the sheet with at least one meander path of the resistance film therebetween.

Claim 11

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in coMbination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films being disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and wherein the sheet material comprises a long strip with the regions disposed in sequence along the length of the sheet material, and wherein there are widened conductive arms disposed on opposite sides of the sheet material strip extending along its length to provide terminals with the meander paths therebetween to provide a pattern for cutting from the length tongue-like terminals without waste of material, where the cuts divide the width of the wide arms at opposite sides of the sheet with at least one meander path of the resistance film therebetween.

Claim 12

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering resistance patterns are so disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and wherein the resistance patterns comprise a plurality of substantially parallel meander arms with bridges joining at least the ends of two adjacent arms, and at least the arms of the meander pattern are crimped with crimp lines running across the arms with a noncrimped linear narrow zone between crimped sections to facilitate folding or severing along the linear zone.

Claim 13

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering resistance patterns are so disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and wherein the resistance patterns comprise a plurality of substantially parallel meander arms with bridges joining at least the ends of two adjacent arms, and at least the arms of the meander pattern are crimped with crimp lines running across the arms with a noncrimped linear narrow zone between crimped sections to facilitate folding or severing along the linear zone.

Claim 14

The article of claim 10 wherein the crimps are respectively 180* out of phase on opposite sides of the narrow linear zone and directed to opposite hands in relation to the narrow linear zone.

Claim 15

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films on each side of said insulating layer disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, meandering films comprising a plurality of substantially parallel meander arms with bridges joining at least the ends of two adjacent arms, a cross gap extending across a plurality of the adjacent arms, and a conductive connection placed adjacent the cross gap to join the arms severed by the cross gap.

Claim 16

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films on each side of said insulating layer disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, meandering films comprising a plurality of substantially parallel meander arms with bridges joining at least the ends of two adjacent arms, a cross gap extending across a plurality of the adjacent arms, and a conductive connection placed adjacent the cross gap to join the arms severed by the cross gap.

Claim 17

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combinatIon, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said covering being disposed on both sides leaving terminals at the two ends of said meandering films bare on opposite sides, and two metallic layers sandwiching said meandering films and coverings on both sides contacting respectively said bare ends, said two metallic layers being electrically insulated from each other.

Claim 18

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combinatIon, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said covering being disposed on both sides leaving terminals at the two ends of said meandering films bare on opposite sides, and two metallic layers sandwiching said meandering films and coverings on both sides contacting respectively said bare ends, said two metallic layers being electrically insulated from each other.

Claim 19

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films being disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and having bonded thereto on one side a conventional wall covering fabric, conductive foil strips interconnecting said meandering films, and supply source terminals connected to said conductive foil strips.

Claim 20

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films being disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and having bonded thereto on one side a conventional wall covering fabric, conductive foil strips interconnecting said meandering films, and supply source terminals connected to said conductive foil strips.

Claim 21

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films are so disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and said meandering films comprise a plurality of substantially parallel meander arms with bridges joining at least the ends of two adjacent arms, and wherein a strip of said meandering film has at least two longitudinally adjacent meander patterns and at least some of the meander arms are continuous over the two longitudinally adjacent patterns alternating with meander arms extending over only one of the two longitudinally adjacent patterns, with two terminals comprising a conductive pattern of substantially lower resistance than said meandering films, but of substantially the same thickness, and including at least in part some of said meandering films, said terminals providing at least one meander path therebetween and producing a conductive pattern having a resistance substantially lower than that of the meander path.

Claim 22

An article of manufacture adapted to form a boundary between two distinct heating zones and comprising in combination, a prefabricated sheet material heating element comprising a thermally insulating layer and at least one meandering electric resistance circuit pattern film disposed on each side of said thermally insulating layer to sandwich it therebetween, each film adapted to dispense heat primarily from said thermally insulating layer outwardly on opposite sides thereof, and a covering over the film disposed on one side of said thermally insulating layer, said covering of substantially less thermal insulating power than said thermally insulating layer, said meandering films are so disposed to provide at least two different regions each of which will form an individual electric heater if the regions are cut from the sheet material, and said meandering films comprise a plurality of substantially parallel meander arms with bridges joining at least the ends of two adjacent arms, and wherein a strip of said meandering film has at least two longitudinally adjacent meander patterns and at least some of the meander arms are continuous over the two longitudinally adjacent patterns alternating with meander arms extending over only one of the two longitudinally adjacent patterns, with two terminals comprising a conductive pattern of substantially lower resistance than said meandering films, but of substantially the same thickness, and including at least in part some of said meandering films, said terminals providing at least one meander path therebetween and producing a conductive pattern having a resistance substantially lower than that of the meander path.

Claim 23

The article of claim 15 wherein the meander patterns are disposed so that single heating films each containing any desirable number of meander patterns may be severed therefrom by a single straight line cut.

Claim 24

The article of claim 15 wherein at least a part of the width of one terminal is folded over to contact conductively a further portion of the meander pattern on said strip.

Claim 25

The article of claim 15 wherein onE said terminal is partly severed and the severed portion is folded over to form a lead away from said strip.

Claim 26

The article of claim 15 wherein the terminals consist of parts of the said meandering films wider than the parts of the meander path arms to thereby produce said lower resistance.

Claim 27

A heater of sheet-like form adapted to form a boundary between two distinct zones to be heated and comprising in combination, a primary heater-support of electrically and thermally insulating material, at least two flexible, meandering, electric resistance patterns affixed to opposite faces respectively of said primary support, each of said resistance patterns being comprised of flexible metallic foil material and acting as a reflector of radiant heat from the other pattern, and a covering over the resistance pattern on one face of said primary support, said covering being of electrically insulating material which is thin and of low thermal insulation compared with said primary support.

Claim 28

A heater of sheet-like form adapted to form a boundary between two distinct zones to be heated and comprising in combination, a primary heater-support of electrically and thermally insulating material, at least two flexible, meandering, electric resistance patterns affixed to opposite faces respectively of said primary support, each of said resistance patterns being comprised of flexible metallic foil material and acting as a reflector of radiant heat from the other pattern, and a covering over the resistance pattern on one face of said primary support, said covering being of electrically insulating material which is thin and of low thermal insulation compared with said primary support.

Claim 29

A heater according to claim 20, and including means for securing the pattern not covered by said covering to a wall and in good thermal contact therewith, whereby space heating means are provided in which heat from the last pattern is stored in said wall and heat from the other pattern is radiated in the space away from said wall.

Claim 30

A heater according to claim 20, in combination with means for energizing the two said patterns independently.

Claim 31

A heater according to claim 20, and wherein the pattern not covered by said covering has a coating thereon of a material which undergoes a substantial change in physical state when heated by the last said pattern.

Claim 32

A heater as defined in claim 20, wherein the heater covering is of flexible material.