Pipe manifold for central heating systems

Claim 1

A welded dual-chamber pipe manifold comprising: an elongated manifold housing composed of two housing halves of channel-like shape which are welded together along a proximate weld joint on one side of the housing and a distal weld joint on the opposite sides of the housing; a generally flat partition wall longitudinally dividing the interior of the manifold housing into an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber, the partition wall extending from the proximate weld joint to the distal weld joint, being attached to both housing halves by said weld joints; a row of pipe connectors arranged on the outside of the manifold housing in alignment with its proximate weld joints and with the plane of the partition wall, so as to straddle the latter, successive pipe connectors being connectable alternatingly to an inlet pipe and an outlet pipe; and a succession of alternatingly convex and concave lateral deformations in the form of substantially semicircular bulges and recesses in the proximate edge portion of the partition wall, in axial alignment with the pipe connectors and with matching semicircular cutouts in the associated wall portions of the two housing halves, the pipe connectors being welded to the housing halves at said cutouts and to the partition wall at said bulges and recesses, respectively, so that every even-numbered pipe connector leads to one manifold chamber and every odd-numbered pipe connector leads to the other manifold chamber; and wherein the depth of the lateral deformations in the proximate edge portion of the partition wall tapers off to zero in the direction away from the pipe connectors.