Heating vent for electric clothes dryer

Claim 1

A heating vent for a clothes dryer comprising a housing adapted to be interposed in the dryer vent hose; said housing having a passage for outdoor venting of the dryer exhaust through said vent hose, and having a lateral outlet passage for indoor venting of the dryer exhaust; a valve member pivotally connected in said housing for selective positioning to close said outlet passage for outdoor venting through said vent hose and housing passage or to close the downstream end of said housing passage for indoor venting of the dryer exhaust from the upstream end of said passage through said outlet passage; said valve member having operating means therefor located exteriorly of said housing and extending radially from the pivot axis of said valve member alongside one side of said housing; said operating means and housing having cooperating detent means to releasably lock said valve member in the aforesaid positions while resiliently biasing said valve member to the respective positions; said housing comprising a main housing part of lightweight sheet material sheared and bent to provide tubular nipples at its opposite ends with circumferentially overlapping ends secured together for clamping of the end portions of the vent hose thereto and to provide an intermediate semi-cylindrical wall coaxial with and of the same diameter as said nipples and parallel side walls tangent to said semi-cylindrical wall; a laterally extending housing part of lightweight sheet material sheared and bent to provide axially spaced apart end walls and a radially outer wall having flanges overlying the axial end portions of said side walls and the radially outer end portions of said side walls; said end walls having semi-cylindrical flanges extending within the respective nipples; said radially outer wall having an opening in which a laterally extending tubular nipple of lightweight strip material is secured to constitute said lateral outlet passage over which the open end of a sock-like filter is adapted to be stretched; said operating means comprising a rod pivotally engaged in openings in opposite sides of said housing adjacent the junction of said radially outer wall with one end wall and having an intermediate offset portion secured to said valve member for swinging of the latter in response to pivoting of said rod; said rod being bent to extend alongside one side of said housing and terminating in an end portion yieldably engaging said one side of said housing; said detent means comprising angularly spaced-apart recesses in said one side of said housing into which said end portion of said rod resiliently snaps to lock said valve member in the respective housing passage and outlet passage closing positions; the angular spacing of said recesses being greater than the angle of swinging of said valve member from one position to the other whereby a torque load on said row resiliently biases said valve member to the respective positions.