US PATENT CLASS 237
Class Notes
Current as of: June, 1999
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DEFINITION
Classification: 237/
Apparatus and processes for heating rooms, chambers, houses, and other enclosing structures, including combinations of two or more heat generators and combinations of a heat generator with means for distributing a fluid heated thereby.
(1) Note. This class does not include the distributing means alone unless it is peculiarly adapted for heating, nor the
heat generator alone.
(2) Note. The term "water" is used in the generic sense of "liquid".
LINES WITH OTHER CLASSES
For steam traps adapted for heating systems see Class 137, Fluid Handling, subclasses 171+, and Class 236, Automatic Temperature and Humidity Regulation.
For methods and apparatus for heating rooms, chambers, houses and other enclosing structures where the source of heat is claimed to be a solar collector, classification in the appropriate subclass in Class 126, Stoves and Furnaces.
REFERENCES TO OTHER CLASSES
SEE OR SEARCH CLASS 34, Drying and Gas or Vapor Contact With Solids, and see the Note to the class definition of Class 34 for the line with Class 237.
60, Power Plants, for power plants combined with heating apparatus which does not constitute a heating system.
62, Refrigeration, particularly
90, 159+, 238.1+, 260, and 324.1+ for a refrigeration system, per se, which may utilize the heat rejecting portion.
122, Liquid Heaters and Vaporizers, for steam boilers, which sometimes disclose a heating system.
126, Stoves and Furnaces, for air heaters in which the air is heated by products of combustion when the combination is included with the furnace or burner, also for combined boiler and air heaters.
137, Fluid Handling, appropriate subclasses, for fluid handling and distributing systems not otherwise classifiable; see particularly
334+, for combinations of such systems with means to heat the system or its contents (see (3) Note above).
148, Metal Treatment, appropriate subclasses for processes of treating solid or semi-solid metal to modify or maintain the internal physical structure (i.e., microstructure) or chemical property of the metal.
165, Heat Exchange,
58+, ; 201+ for combined heating and cooling processes; subclasses 201+ for automatic control of a heating and cooling system; subclasses 48.1+ for an installed heating and
cooling system; subclasses 58+ for a heating and cooling system; and appropriate subclasses for structure for exchanging heat between two noncommunicating fluids not having features specializing it for use in a heating system. 219, Electric Heating, for heating by electric current.
236, Automatic Temperature and Humidity Regulation, for automatic heat regulation for heating systems when the heating system is not specifically defined, the modifications relating wholly to the control (see (3) Note above).
248, Supports, for stands, etc., adapted to support heating apparatus.
252, Compositions, particularly
67+, and 71+. Patents are placed in Class 252 (1) claiming admixtures of ingredients, or claims to an old compound, limited to use in a heat transfer agent, (2) processes of transferring heat comprising known heating system steps broadly recited, distinguished solely by the composition or compound used, and (3) apparatus with the composition or compound therein, where characteristics of apparatus structure are not claimed. The preceding are placed in Class 252, Compositions, even though freezing or boiling points or temperatures of use are specified.
376, Induced Nuclear Reactions: Processes, Systems, and Elements, appropriate subclasses, particularly
402+, for reactor structures which may be adaptable for general heating systems purposes.
405, Hydraulic and Earth Engineering,
56, for a method or apparatus for heating or cooling the earth surrounding a fluid storage cavity; and subclasses 130+ for heating or cooling of an earthen formation in general
417, Pumps, for pumps, per se.
418, Rotary Expansible Chamber Devices, for rotary expansible chamber pumps, per se.
432, Heating, 121+, for a residual work chamber having both heating and work handling means; subclasses 159+ for a residual work heating chamber in which work is heated by contact with combustion products; and appropriate subclass for a residual work chamber heated without the use of a distribution system between the generator and chamber space.
454, Ventilation, for means specialized for distributing air to rooms or buildings, even with a conventional heating apparatus, and for rooms, buildings, cars, etc., with hollow
walls for the passage of air.