Appeal No. 97-2642 Page 11
Application No. 08/094,461
connected to the exhaust port of the engine and that heat
energy is lost to the atmosphere through escaping hot exhaust
gases. McEachern also teaches that it is desirable to recover
and utilize this heat energy that would otherwise be lost to
the atmosphere. To overcome this disadvantage, McEachern
discloses a heat recovery muffler system that efficiently
recovers the heat contained in the hot exhaust gases.
McEachern teaches that hot exhaust is led from the engine
exhaust manifold directly to the exhaust inlet 14 by
appropriate pipe means (not shown), and is introduced to the
interior 28 of the vessel 12. The hot exhaust stream flows up
through the interior 28 according to the sinuous path defined
by the alternating baffle plates 20 and the spaces 24, 25
until it eventually escapes through exhaust outlet 16 to the
atmosphere. Throughout the interior 28 and particularly at
each space 24 and along each baffle plate 20, the hot exhaust
stream encounters water or fluid 34 supplied via pump 40 and
conduit means 43. The fluid 34 absorbs and stores the heat of
the exhaust gases. Thus, the gases escape to the atmosphere
at a reduced temperature having been stripped of their heat
energy by transfer to the fluid 34. The heat energy stored in
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Last modified: November 3, 2007