US2111148A - Drier - Google Patents

Description

J. JUDELSON March 15, 1938.

DRIER Filed Aug. 14, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR JULIUS JUDELSON TTORNEY J. JUDELSON March 15, 1938.

DRIER Filed Aug. 14, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 to. O

INVENTOR JULIUS JUDELSON TTORNEY Patented Mar. 15, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 6 Claims.

This invention relates to driers. More particularly, it relates to a method and means for drying clothes or other material in which there is employed an improved electrically heated drying system.

One object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described, having means for causing a drying medium to flow in a continuous circuit whereby the moist clothes or other material in the drier may be quickly and effectively dried.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the character described in which a portion of the drying medium which has absorbed moisture from the moist clothes or other material in the drier may be quickly exhausted from the drier.

A further object of my invention is to provide a drier of the character described comprising few and simple parts, which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture, economical to operate and highly eflicient for the purposes described.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a highly practical method for quickly and effectively drying clothes or other material which may be easily and economically carried out.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of parts which will be exemplified in the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of application will be indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the various possible embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a drier embodying the features of my invention, the doors being open and certain portions cut away to disclose the interior construction;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view illustrating the construction of the heating means embodying various features of my invention;

Fig. 3 is a plan view, partly sectional, of the portion of my device illustrated in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 4; and

Fig. 6 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 66 of Fig. 5.

Referring in detail to the drawings, my invention is shown as applied to a clothes drier which may consist of one or more units, each comprising a drying chamber or cabinet 10 provided with a blower ll adapted to force a drying medium, such as air, through a series of spirally connected ducts, I2, I3 and I4 and into a clothes drying is compartment 30, said air being first caused to pass over a plurality of spaced electrical heaters l5, suitably positioned within the ducts l2 and I3. Thus it is seen that by the time the air enters the duct H to be deflected into the drying compartment 30 which contains moist clothes to be dried, the said air has been progressively heated by having successively passed over the electrical heater units l5. Said heaters l5 may be of any suitable construction adapted to heat a current of air passing thereover.

The cabinet l0 may be of any suitable construction, the walls thereof being constructed of single or double sheet metal suitably re-enforced, in any well understood manner, and 20 spaced from each other to provide a heat insulating air space 2| between in order to retain the drying medium in heated condition in the clothes drying compartment 30. The drying compartment may be provided with close fitting doors which may be insulated in a manner similar to that of the walls of the cabinet III, as described above.

A drying rack to accommodate moist clothes or other materials, may be provided in the drying compartment 30 and may comprise a plurality of horizontally spaced members 28, suitably supported on cross members 29, said members 29 being attached to the walls of the cabinet l0.

To permit the heated air in the duct M to be deflected into the drying compartment 30 the top wall of said duct I4 is provided with a series of adjustable louvres l6 which allow the heated air from the duct M to be deflected into the drying chamber 30.

It is desired that the heated air entering the drying compartment 30 be in constant motion in order that it may more effectively absorb the moisture from the wet clothes. This is accomplished by providing a ventilating device attached to one of the side walls of the cabinet l0 and communicating with the inside of the drying chamber 30. The ventilating device may comprise a flue 3i as shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, open at the top and bottom to cause a draft of air to pass therethrough in a direction shown by the arrows. It is noted that the top and bottom openings of the flue 3| communicate with the air outside of the cabinet I. Between the inner wall 32 of the flue 3| and the inner wall of the cabinet l0 there is formed an air passageway 33. Said passageway 33 is entirely enclosed with the exception of a plurality of louvres II which may communicate with the drying compartment 30, preferably positioned toward the bottom of said compartment, and another set of louvres 36 communicating from the passageway 33 to the flue Ii preferably positioned toward the top of the passageway a.

A wire screen 40' may be provided to cover the louvres l6;in the top wall of the duct I, so that moist clothes which may fall from the drying rack will not clog the louvres I6 to prevent the entrance of the heated air into the drying compartment 30.

The operation of my device may now be described as follows:

The moist clothes or similar articles which it is desired to dry are placed on the drying rack within the compartment 30 and the doors closed. The blower I I is then set in operation. The drying medium, which in this case is air from the atmosphere within the cabinet, is caused to travel through duct I! in the direction of the arrows (Fig. 2), passing successively over the heaters 5 to become progressively more heated and dried as it passes over said heaters. The air is then guided into the duct i3 and caused to travel in said duct i3 over another set of electrical heaters I5 to be further heated and dried. The air is then guided by a curved connection into the duct H from which it is deflected into the drying compartment 30 through a series of adjustable louvres l6 positioned in the top wall of the duct I.

Since it is seen that the air entering the drying compartment is heated and under pressure it will therefore circulate freely through the drying compartment 30 in the direction as shown by the arrows in Fig. 1 of the drawings to absorb the moisture from the moist clothes therein. It will be noted that the blower II is positioned entirely within the cabinet I0 and therefore the air supply entering the intake of the blower ii will come from within the cabinet Ill. As shown in the drawings, the drying compartment 30 communicates with the intake of the blower ll through an opening 40. Therefore it is seen that a continuous circuit of the drying medium or air is established. The air from the drying compartment 30 is drawn into the blower II and forced through the ducts l2, l3 and I4 and thence into the drying compartment 30 to circulate therein and absorb the moisture from the moist clothes and to ultimately be drawn into the blower intake again' through the passageway 40 to be recirculated.

It is seen that after a short period of opera tion the air entering the blower ll through passageway 40 will have already been heated so that each time it is passed through the ducts l2 and I3 containing the electrical heaters IS, the air will emerge from the ducts it in a slightly more heated condition than previously. This process of re-heating the re-circ'ulated air will continue until the air has reached a predetermined temperature.

At the same time that the air is caused to circulate in a continuous circuit as described above, a portion of the moist air in the drying chamber 30 is exhausted to the outside of the cabinet III by means of the ventilating device hereinbefore described. Due to the action of the draft of air passing through the flue 3| in the direction of the arrows as shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, a portion of the moist air within the drying compartment II will be drawn into the eway II through the louvres I5 and thence into flue ll through a set of louvres 36 to be ultimately exhausted through the top of the flue II.

To replenish the air that is exhausted from the cabinet III by means of the ventilating device described above, the front wall of the cabinet It may be provided with a grilled or perforated portion 45 to allowthe air from the outside to enter the cabinet ll. i

It will thus be seen that there is provided a method and apparatus in which the several objects oi. this invention are achieved, and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

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

1. In a drier of the character described, a hollow cabinet comprising a perforated wall dividing said cabinet into an upper and a lower compartment, a zig-zag passageway in said lower compartment having positioned therein a plurality of spaced electrical heaters, means including a blower in said lower compartment for introducing a drying medium into said passageway at one end thereof, to cause said medium to pass over said heaters to be progressively heated and dried, and means associated with the other end of said passageway for angularly deflecting said drying medium into said upper compartment.

2. In a drier of the character described, a drying compartment comprising side, top and bottom walls, said bottom wall being perforated, means for circulating a heated drying medium in said drying compartment through said bottom wall, and means for exhausting a portion of said circulating drying medium from said drying compartment, said last named means including an independent flue supported by said drier and positioned outside of said drying ompartment, said flue having both ends thereof open to the atmosphere outside of said drier, the said wall of said flue adjacent to drier being spaced from and parallel to the side wall of the drier adjacent said flue, a communicating passageway between said flue and said drying compartment, said flue being so constructed and arranged whereby a current of air will enter the lower open end and flow therethrough and out of the upper open end to cause a suction which will draw a portion of the air from said drying compartment through said communicating passageway.

3. In a drier of the character described, a drying compartment comprising side, top and bottom walls, said bottom wall being perforated, means for circulating a heated drying medium in said drying compartment through said bottom wall, and means for exhausting a portion of said circulating drying medium from said drying compartment, said last named means including an independent flue supported by said drier and p0- sitioned outside of said drying compartment, said flue having both ends thereof open to the atmosphere outside of said drier, the said wall of said flue adjacent to drier being spaced from and parallel to the side wall of the drier adjacent said flue, a communicating passageway between said flue and said drying compartment, said flue being so constructed and arranged whereby a current of air will enter the lower open end and flow therethrough and out of the upper open end to cause a suction which will draw a portion of the air from said drying compartment through said communicating passageway, said communicating passageway comprising an enclosed air space between said flue and said drying compartment, and openings in said flue and in said drying compartment communicating with said air space.

4. In combination with a drier of the character described having a drying compartment, means for circulating a heated drying medium in said drying compartment, means for re-circulating said drying medium in said compartment, means for exhausting a portion of said drying medium from said drying compartment while said drying medium is, circulating, said last named means including an independent flue positioned outside of said drier, said flue having both ends thereof open to the atmosphere outside of said drier and an enclosed air passage between said flue and said drying compartment, a plurality of louvres in said flue communicating with said air passage, and a plurality of louvres in said drying compartment communicating with said air passage.

5. In combination with a drier of the character described having a drying compartment, means for circulating a heated drying medium in said drying compartment, means for re-circulating said drying medium in said compartment and means for exhausting a portion of said drying medium from said drying compartment while said drying medium is circulating, said last named means including an independent flue positioned outside of said drier, said flue having both ends thereof open to the atmosphere outside of said drier, and an enclosed air passage between said flue and said drying compartment, a plurality of louvres in said flue communicating with a portion adjacent the top of said air passage and a plurality of louvres in said drying compartment communicating with a portion adjacent the bottom of said air passage,

6. A drier of the character described comprising, a continuous directional changing duct having parallel longitudinal walls, a compartment for said duct, a blower in said duct compartment connected to one end of said duct for forcing a drying medium therethrough, a drying compartment disposed adjacent said duct compartment, said drying compartment having a perforated wall communicating with said duct compartment and means for angularly deflecting the drying medium from said duct to said drying compartment comprising a plurality of spaced louvres in the topmost longitudinal Wall of said duct, said blower and said duct being so constructed and arranged in said duct compartment whereby the suction created by the operation of the blower will draw some of the drying medium circulating in the drying compartment through said perforated wall into the blower inlet to be forced through the duct and to be recirculated in the drying compartment.

JULIUS JUDELSON.

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