Air inlet system

Claim 1

In a ventilating system for controlling the humidity and temperature of air within a building having at least one air mover operable as an exhauster of air from the building to the atmosphere, the improvement of which comprises structure for automatically permitting air to flow from the atmosphere into the building when the air pressure therein drops below atmospheric upon actuation of said air mover, said structure including: means including an elongated, inclined upwardly facing surface, presenting an airway above said surface having an upper air inlet communicating with the atmosphere and a lower air outlet discharging into the building; an elongated, inclined air valve above said surface having a lowermost, longitudinal terminus normally resting on said surface under the influence of gravity in closed relationship to said airway; and means at the uppermost extremity of the valve supporting the same for swinging movement about an essentially horizontal axis away from said surface to a position opening the airway in response to operation of said air mover, said surface and the bottom face of the valve proximal to said surface having streamlined contours across which the air flows along the airway for reducing resistance to said flow, decreasing turbulence of the air within the airway and funneling the air along a well-defined continuous path from said inlet through said outlet, at least a portion of the contour of said surface being transversely concave and at least a portion of the contour of said face of the valve being transversely convex, said concave and convex portions extending downwardly and inwardly from the air inlet toward the air outlet.