Radiant heater

Claim 1

A radiant heater for burning firewood and the like to heat a living space, said radiant heater comprising an enclosure having a closed firewood combustion compartment with a fuel opening and an air inlet port through which air may pass to provide oxygen for supporting combustion of the firewood in the combustion compartment, a fuel door positioned to cover the fuel opening when the fuel door is closed, a torsion bar mounted on said enclosure with one end of the torsion bar positioned to engage the fuel door and the other end of the torsion bar positioned to engage the enclosure for forcing the door into a closed position when the door is not manually held open, said fuel door pivotally mounted on said torsion bar, a high temperature gasket surrounding the fuel opening and positioned between the fuel door and the combustion enclosure to seal the combustion compartment from the living space, an outer case surrounding the combustion enclosure for preventing contact thereof by any combustible material or persons, a baffle plate mounted on the case and spaced apart therefrom between the case and the wall of the living space to prevent the radiation of an excessive amount of heat to said wall, a flue pipe positioned outside the living space, an exhaust pipe extending through a wall of the living space, and connecting the combustion compartment with the flue pipe, an outside air inlet compartment having an opening to the outside and surrounding the portion of the exhaust pipe extending through said wall to permit air flowing through the outside air inlet compartment to cool the exhaust pipe, an air passageway duct connecting the air inlet compartment and the air inlet portion of the combustion chamber, a thermostatically controlled damper means in the passageway for controlling the rate of flow of air through the air passageway to achieve a desired heat output from the combustion enclosure thereby providing a thermostatically controlled radiant heater which utilizes only outside air for combustion and provides automatic cooling of the exhaust pipe extending through the wall to prevent overheating of the wall.