US1942828A - Drying machine - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 9, 1934. B, A PARKES 1,942,828

DRYING MACHINE FiledJan. 28, 1932` zsheets-sheet 1 A M27 MZAMZ/ v BY ATTORNEY.

Jan. 9, 1934. v B. A. PARKES 1,942,828v

DRYING MACHINE Filed Jan. 28, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTURNEY.

Patented Jan. 9, 1934 DRYING MACHNE Bertrand A. Parkes, Philadelphia, Pa.

Application January 28, 1932. Serial No. 589,324

1 Claim.

My invention relates to a new and useful drying machine which is particularly adapted for the drying of sheet material, such as yard goods and the like, wherein the flow of the hot air used for drying such material is accurately regulated to produce uniform drying.

In drying machines of this general character it is customary to provide a chamber in which the material to be dried is placed, with blowers forcing the heated air'into said chamber, there being means foriirst heating said air to dehydrate it and render'it absorbent. ln machines o'f this general character known and used heretofore, the iiow of the heated air is only partially regulated and cannot be so controlled as to increase the dow at one point where it would be necessary and to decrease it at another if that be necessary. Furthermore, machines of this general character are not adapted to retard the iow of air to prolong its contact with the material being dried, nor are they adapted for the control of the heated air to force it into uniform contact with all ofthe parts of the material being dried.

It is, therefore, the object 'oi my invention to produce a drying machine wherein the heated air can be directed and controlled and retarded as may be desired in accordance with the requirements of the material being dried, thereby increasing the eiciency and assuring complete uniformity.

To the above ends, my invention consists of a drying machine having a drying compartment adapted to receive the material to be dried, means for heating air, means for propellingthe heated air into said drying chamber, and means for controlling the direction of the air. for varying its volume at various points, and for controlling the rate of the air through the drying chamber, as well as means for forcing the air to pass completely through the material being dried.

My invention further consists of various other novel features of construction and advantage, all as hereinafter described and claimed in con-A nection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l represents a. vertical sectional view of a drying machine embodying my invention.

Figure 2 represents a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale showing details of construction of the air controlling mechanism. A

Figure 3 represents a foreshortened sectional view on'line 3-3, of Fig. l.

Figure 4 represents a fragmentary foreshortcned, sectional view on line 4 4 of Figure 1, illustrating the manner of propelling the material to be dried through the machine.`

Referring to the drawings in which like reference characters indicate like parts, and more particularly to Figure 1 of the drawings, my novel 6o drying machine consists of the outer casing which may be of any suitable construction and which is generally divided into the heating compartment 1l which contains the heating coil 12 or other heating media and the hot air propelling 65 means, such as the fan i3 on the shaft 14 which has the outer pulley and which may be driven by any suitable source of power, which need not be shown. The compartment l1 communicates with the upper chamber 16 through the port 18 7o to deliver the air in the direction of the arrows 19. The compartment 22 serves as the drying chamber for the material to be dried which is formed in loops 20 depending from the rolls 2l which travel through the machine in endless Z5 fashion in a manner which forms no part of the present invention and which hence need not be shown or described in detail. The upper chamber 16 communicates with the drying chamber proper 22 through the ports 23 which are provided with Se' the pendant, xed or stationary deectors 24.- to guide or direct the air downwardly and cause it to flow in the direction oi the arrow through and between the adjacent sides of the loop of cloth 20, as will be best understood from Figure 4. 85 Under certain conditions, the ports 23 and the battles or guides 24 are sumcient, but due to the propulsion of the fan i3 a stronger current of air may pass through the far loops of fabric generally designated A than through Athe near loops of 9o fabric generally designated B. Similarly, the material being dried in the near section B may be more moist or less moist than the material being dried in the section A, and hence it might be necessary to regulate the flow of the air through 9g these two sections of the drying compartment 22 according to the prevailing conditions. I have, therefore, divided the compartment 22 for the purposes of air control and delivery into two sections and provided each section with movable 10c shutters which can be opened or closed in sets and independently of each other by the operation of two levers. The construction of the shutters will be more clearly seen from Figure 2 wherein each movable shutter 27 is rigidly secured to the 105 shaft 28 which has the link 29 keyed thereto, said link being pivotally connected at 30 to one or the other of the levers 3l or 32, depending on which set of shutters is considered. The levers 31 and 32 terminate'in suitable handles 33 and 34 which are 110 pivoted at 35 to the casing 10 and which are provided with pins to engage the holes 36 in the segment 3'7 to retain said levers in any adjusted position. If it is desired to shut on" or reduce the iioW of air over the section A o the material being dried, the lever 3a is operated completely or partly to close the movable shutters 2'! directly above the section A. 'Ifne same is true of the manipulation or the shutters over the section B except that the lever 33 is operated. In order t0 force the air blown by the fan 13 to pass completely through the material being dried, I provide the chamber 22 with solid non-perforated vertical walls and with bottom outlets or ports 40 which have the stationary baiiies or deflectors al and which are controlled by the movable shutters 42 which are pivoted at 43 to the bar 44,said links being also connected to the rods d5 and a6 which are pivotally connected to the levers ll'l'and e8, so that the bottom movable shutters i2 can also be operated in sections corresponding to the sections A and El above referred to. By manipulating the lower movable shutters 42, I am enabled not only partly or completely to close or open one or the other of the sections, but I also can retard or expedite the iiov of air through the chamber 22 according to requirements. The air passing through the ports 40 then travels in the direction of the arrows 50 and passes through the port 5l into the heating chamber ll. The loops of cloth 20 are thus exposed to an accurately regulated or adjusted draft of heated air which is forced through the material and which opens up the loops of material as shown in Figure 4. The adjustment or control of the air flowing into the material results in more emcient, expeditious and uniform drying, as will be apparent.

While I have shown in the accompanying drawings the idea of dividing the shutters into two inreleases dependently operable sections .A and B, it is within the scope of my invention to divide the shutters into any desired number of independently operable units, depending upon the width of the machine or the width or different kind of the material to be dried, the principle of my invention being to direct the heated air vertically down through the material to be dried and to regulate the ow of the heated air in accordance with requirements to produce uniform drying.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

In a drying machine, a drying chamber adapted to receive a plurality of pieces of Work to be dried, an air receiving chamber above said drying work in said drying chamber, means for actuating said sets o shutters independently, a bottom air receiving chamber communicating with said air heating chamber, there being ports leading from said drying chamber into said bottom cham ber, fixed baiiles coacting with said ports for directing the iiow of air therethrough, a plurality of sets of movable, adjustable shutters for'said ports corresponding to the plurality of pieces of work in said drying chamber and said rst mentioned plurality of sets of shutters, and means for actuating said last mentioned sets of shutters independently of each other and of the first mentioned plurality 01' sets of shutters.

BERTRAND A. PARKES.

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