Appeal No. 2001-1302
Application 08/811,230
Appellants’ invention relates to an apparatus and method for
heating an enclosure, and more particularly to a method and
apparatus for ensuring that a proper level of combustion air is
provided to the furnace depending on the type of installation
that is involved. As noted on pages 2-3 of the specification,
prior to the time that a furnace is installed, it is not known
whether the furnace will be vented horizontally or vertically.
Thus, in the prior art, in order to provide an adequately strong
inducer motor, the motor would have to be sized for the more
onerous conditions associated with horizontal venting. If the
furnace were installed with vertical venting, the inducer motor
would be oversized, with the oversized motor resulting in a
decrease in efficiency and increased noise. Appellants’ solution
to this problem is to provide a two speed inducer motor that can
be used as a single speed inducer motor with either a vertically
or horizontally vented furnace. More specifically, appellants
note on pages 3 and 4 of the specification that
[t]he inducer has a common terminal, a low speed
terminal and a high speed terminal. In conventional two-
speed Furnace inducer systems, one lead is attached to each
of the three terminals and the control automatically selects
a speed. However, in the present invention, one lead is
attached to the common terminal and, depending on whether
the furnace is vented horizontally or vertically, either the
high speed or low speed terminal is used. If the furnace is
vented vertically, one lead is connected to the common
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