AU610086B2 - Arrangement for drying shoes, skiboots or the like - Google Patents

Description

1_.25 1. .kM ns~OW~rH~~:g 'Ld Ot *12 1 I I I II I I I-I II 1 1 1 1 MMC~NWFD.Ti'T-T C~F ATTRTRATTA FORM rommr)MWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PATENTS ACT 1952 C~ M P T. F 'P F S PE R r T F T A'.T T ON Q 0 M P L E T E FOR OFFICE-USE: Class Int. Class Application Number: Lodged: Complete Specification Lodged: Accepted: Published: Priority: 00 00 000a0 R~elated Art: 77.' **I*ft La" 00 00 0 0 Name of Applicant:- Address of Applicant: 9 Actual Inventor: HELMUJT JANNACH AND HERMANN OBRIST Prokoppigasse 2, A-8010 GRAZ, Austria and HochtennstraBe 19, A-5700 ZELL AM SEE, Austria, respectively HELMUT JANNACH AND HERMANN OBRIST 00 1 ddress for Service: SHELSTON WATERS, 55 Clarence Street, Sydney 0tC'3mplete Specification for the Invention entitled: 00 "ARRANGEMENT FOR DRYING SHOES, SKIBOOTS OR THE LIKE" The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us:- 1- W- WVv~v

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STATE OF THE ART In a known footwear drying device, the holding elements are formed by pipe sockets which at their free end display a discharge port for warm air onto which holding element the shoes are slipped so that the warm air discharging ports come to be situated within the zone of the tips of the shoes. Such a design has the disadvantage that, particularly in the case of shoes with a soft inner lining, the discharge port may become obstructed with the result that the air escapes at the other discharge ports of the adjacent holding parts, and the shoes, where the discharge ports are completely or partially blocked by the lining, 0000 are not dried. In addition, because of the rather sharp- 0o 0 edged design of the end of the holding parts, the inside of o oo o 0o the shoes may become damaged, especially when the shoes are o o o °o carelessly slipped onto the holding parts. A further dis- 0oo a° advantage of the known construction can also be seen in o oo that the sharp-edges of the free ends of the holding 0o elements can lead to severe injuries of individuals, since 0 000 0 00 0 experience has shown that ski-boot rooms often have set or o0OO slipper floors, so that a person slipping of the floor and seeking to grasp a hold in the area of the shoe-drier can suffer an injury from the free ends of the holding elements.

0, 0 0 oo 0 0 OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION oo0 0 It is an object of the invention to provide a footwear drying device free of the above disadvantages and which can be simply and economically manufactured.

This and other objects and advantages of the invention 2 To THE COMMISSIONER OF PATENTS.

SHELSTON WATERS PATENT ATTORNEYS CLARENCE STREET. SYDNEY

AUSTRALIA

i i' will become obvious from the following detailed description.

THE INVENTION In accordance with a broad aspect of the invention there is provided a device for drying footwear, skiboots and the like, comprising a holding element on which the footwear to be dried is slipped, whereby warm air is conducted into the footwear via a discharge port within said holding element, said holding element projecting from a carrier element feeding the warm air to the holding element, and said discharge port is arranged in the area o of the downward pointing outer end of the holding element, oo00 characterized in that the holding element is formed by the 00 tube bend of a serpentine pipe, which leads to a second oo000 o oo carrier element discharging the air fed through the .0 serpentine pipe.

By such a design of the holding element, damage to o o o. the inside of the shoe is fully prevented, with a reliable oo ooo firm seating of the shoes being achieved by the parallel ledges of the tube bends. This is of great importance for shoe-renting establishments, for example, in which the shoes are arranged by size and type, and where, besides 0 0 the purely visual impression, order must prevail inasmuch 00 0 as the shoes must be arranged in an appropriate order by oo both size and inventory number so as to provide the necessary overview.

o In addition, in the claimed construction, the shoe o0'o can be slipped onto the holding element by its shank so o that the warm air is blown into the tips of the shoe 0 00 3 1.

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without the holding elements reaching into the tips.

Moreover, shoes are not so vulnerable in the shank area as in the area of the tips where they tend to pinch more in the event of 0000 0 0000 000 o 00 00 000 oooo0 oo o 0 0 o ooo ooo0

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deformation. Thus, low shoes, cross-country shoes, can also be dried on the device since they can be hung in the same manner with the heel over the tube bend, whereat, by virtue of the position of the discharge port, the warm air is reliably blown into the tip resulting in the desired drying.

A further advantage also lies in that at shoe-renting or similar establishments, the shoes may remain on the drying device, serving as a stor&ge device since because of the design of the holding elements, the shoe will suffer no damage on the inside, even when they stay on these holding elements for a long period of time.

Referring now to the drawings: 0 Fig. 1 i, a side view of an embodiment of the 00.0 invention and SFigs. 2 and 3 are a front view and a plan view, 000oooo o respective of the said embodiment.

000 0 Fig. 4 is a vertical cross-section of a second I 0000 0 o embodiment of the invention and 0 20 Fig. 5 is a plan view of the latter embodiment.

0 In the embodiment of Figs. 1 to 3, the drying device can be mounted on a wall and is comprised of holding elements, formed by the tube bend of a serpentine pipe 1 o,0o0 attached to carrier elements 2 and 3. The serpentine 0o °0o pipes are open with one end in carrier element 2 and the 00 0 o other end in carrier element 3 and the two carrier o0 elements are connected by connecting pipe 4. A fan 5 is arranged in connecting pipe 4 whereby drying air can )e o blown into carrier element 3. The drying air is heated to 000 -30 the desired temperature by a heating device 6 and 00 0 0 00 0 00 4 the heated drying air then exits from the tube bends by way of the discharge ports 18. The outwardly extending tube bends are indicated by The drying devices can be subdivided into individual panels that can then be connected by means of connecting sleeves 7 or the like to form larger units whereby it is possible to obtain a drying device in a size appropriate to the requirements.

In the embodiment of Figs. 4 and 5, a hollow cylinder is provided on the outside jacket of which the serpentine pipes 11 are arranged along the cylinder's generatrix. The serpentine pipes 11 start out from a distributing chamber 15 arranged at the lower end of 00 cylinder 10 and with their upper ends open into the zone of oooo o00 cylinder 10. Above the distributing chamber 15 a radiator o 0000 oo 12 is provided through which air is blown into the 000 0 0° 0° distributing chamber 15 by a fan 13 driven by a motor 14.

o o 0°o The warm air then flows from the distributing chamber o0 oo through the serpentine pipes 11. Discharge ports 16 for the warm air are provided at the outwardly pointing tube bends 11' and the discharge ports are arranged in the zone OOO of the outside limit of the protruding tube bends 11', to 0900 wit, in the zone of one of the ends of the curves of the ooo0 o 1 tube bends 11'. Thereby, the air escapes laterally from o 0 0 the serpentine pipes 11 so that through appropriate slipping on of the shoe it is obtained that the air jet exiting through the discharge ports 16 reaches directly into the tips of the shoes whereby a continuous exchange of the air in the shoes is achieved and a congestion of humid, 5 i c. il i- ;rn~Llcr warm air within the shoes is prevented. By having the serpentine pipes 11 open into the upper range of cylinder it is obtained that the fan 13 also draws in already preheated air whereby energy is saved.

In the preferred embodiments, the temperature of the heat carrying medium can be controlled automatically and temperature sensors can be installed in the system in the customary manner, with the temperature of the heat carrying medium maintained between 30 0 C and 50 0 C. Such a temperature sensor is indicated at 17 in Fig. 2 and Fig.

0 .000 4. In both instances, the temperature sensor is connected 00oo to the heating device at the outlet side.

oooo 0 OOo Naturally, the most varied spatial arrangements of 0o 00 0 the heating tubes on carrier elements are possible. Thus, 0 0 0 00 a panel wall can be provided corresponding to Figs. 1 to 3 0 0 000 with serpentine pipes arranged on both sides which could be arranged in a room as a divider or as a suspended wall o.oo accessible from both sides. In place of an embodiment of 0 0 Figs. 4 and 5, it is also possible to arrange the oo ,20 serpentine pipes, on a support shaped as a" square pipe, so that four rows of hanging elements would then be o available for the items to be dried.

Various modfications of the device of the invention may be made without departing from the spirit or scope thereof and it should be understood that the invention is intended to be limited only as defined in the appended claims.

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Claims (1)

1. A device for drying footwear, skiboots and the like, comprising a holding element on which the footwear to be dried is slipped, whereby warm air is conducted into the footwear via a discharge port within said holding element, said holding element pse4e from a carrier element feeding the warm air to the holding element, and said discharge port is arranged in the area of the downward pointing outer end of the holding element, characterized in that the holding element is formed by the tube bend of ooo 10 a serpentine pipe, which leads to a second carrier element oo discharging the air fed through the serpentine pipe. O- o S2. The device of claim 1, wherein the legs adjacent to o the tube bends of the serpentine pipe are parallel. on 3. The device of claim 1 or 2, wherein there are a plurality of holding elements and a plurality of serpentine pipes. oo°° 4. A device for drying footwear substantially as herein oo 0 described with reference to Figures 1 to 3 or Figures 4 oo and 5 of the accompanying drawings. DATED this 20th day of February, 1991. HELMUT JANNACH AND HERMANN ODRIST. Attorney: WILLIAM S. LLOYD Fellow Institute of Patent Attorneys of Australia of SHELSTON WATERS 7 'V<tT C