GB1211916A - Sheet drying apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

1,211,916. Drying webs. ILFORD Ltd. 16 July, 1969 [12 July, 1968], No. 33385/68. Heading F4G. A drier for sheet material has in a casing 1 an air permeable endless conveyer belt 4, driving means and supporting means for the belt and a space enclosed by the belt from which air is extracted, then passed to the inlet side of a fan 14 and heater 18 which causes it to be blown over the belt 4. The casing 1 has a material inlet port 2 bonded on one side by a fixed guide 16 and on the other by part of the belt and an exit port comprising a roller 9 pressing against the belt 4 which at that point is supported by a further roller 5. Photographic prints enter the drier through a narrow slot 2 and are held on the perforated neoprene, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate, or woven metal belt 4 by the pressure difference caused by the air being sucked from the space 10 via a duct 12-13 to the inlet side of the fan 14. The fan passes the air through a curved duct 15 over electric heaters 18 and the hot air is then blown over the belt 4. Curled prints are directed on to the belt 4 by a wire guide 16. The belt 4, driven by a roller 5 and supported by further rollers 6, 7 and a metal guide 8 carries the prints as they are dried by the hot air and radiant heaters 19. The prints leave the drier between a pair of rollers 5, 9 which effectively prevent air leakage through exit port 3. In a second embodiment, Fig. II, the endless belt 33 consists of a plurality of parallel spaced belts (50), Fig. III (not shown). Air from the sectioned space 40 is driven by a fan 41 over heaters 43 and then passes over the belt 33. Some of the air passes over the belt 33 and returns to the central compartment of the space 40 and some passes through the belt to return to the end compartments (40A, 40C). As the prints pass over metal bars 36 they are held on the band 33 by suction, but when the belt passes over the metal guide 37, dancer rollers 46 retain the prints.