Evaporative cooler

Claim 1

An evaporative cooler comprising in combination: an outer housing comprising (a) a one-piece, frameless shell having open top and bottom ends and first and second pairs of opposed side walls having openings for admitting air into said housing, adjacent ones of said side walls defining corners of said shell, (b) a bottom pan closing the open bottom end of said shell, and (c) a top cover adapted to close the open top end of said shell; means comprising a plurality of vertical rails generally T-shaped in cross section, each of said rails being secured in said shell at a corresponding one of said corners and angled with respect to the side walls adjacent said corner to define a V-shaped track for each of the adjacent side walls at said corner, the rails at adjacent ones of said corners cooperating to define opposed V-shaped tracks between adjacent corners of said shell, said opposed tracks being spaced inwardly from said side walls; a plurality of evaporative media means adapted to be received through the open top end of said shell in slidable engagement between corresponding ones of said opposed V-shaped tracks and held thereby in spaced relation to the corresponding side walls, each of said evaporative media means having a pair of peripheral track engaging sides having V-shaped outer surfaces complementary to said V-shaped tracks; means for supplying water to said evaporative media means to wet said evaporative media means; and air moving means mounted in said housing and having a discharge outlet opening through said housing, said air moving means drawing ambient air into said housing through said side wall openings and said wetted evaporative media means to cool said air by evaporation of water from said wetted evaporative media means, said air moving means discharging the cooled air through said discharge outlet.