Patent ID: 6923942

Claim:
A pollution control device comprising: (a) a housing; (b) a pollution control element positioned within the housing; (c) an inlet and an outlet end cone assembly for attaching exhaust pipes to the housing, each end cone assembly comprising an inner end cone housing and an outer end cone housing; and (d) a preform insulating end cone disposed between the inner and outer end cone housings, said preform insulating end cone comprising: (i) a cone shaped intumescent or non-intumescent sheet material having a plurality of slits enabling said sheet material to be cone shaped; and (ii) a shape retaining element that is an adhesive tape in intimate contact with said sheet material, said shape retaining element enabling said sheet material to maintain a self-supporting cone shape when said preform insulating end cone is placed on a level surface prior to disposition of said preform insulating end cone between the inner and outer end cone housings.