US2426614A - Stretching and drying device - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 2, 1947.

s. w. JOHNSON STRETCHING AND DRYING DEVICE Filed Jan. 11, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ozone: w. JOHNSON BY ATTORNEYS Sept. '2, 1947. 5, w, JOHNSON STRETCHING AND DRYING DEVICE Filed Jan. 11,' 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 OM OM hN N INVENTOR GEORGE W. JOHNSON BY M law/ ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 2, 1947 UNITED ES OF STRETCHING] AND DRYING DEVICE George Johnson, Cincinnati, Ohio, assignor to The American: Laundry. Machinery Gum'- pany-,,Gincinnati,- Ohio, a corporationzofiOhio: Application J anuary 11, 1946, vSerialNo. 640,475

7 Claims. 1;

This invention relates to stretching and drying devices, such as are used for" sleeveless undershirts or like articles.-

Olneobject of the invention is'to' provide a simple andinexpensive device ofthis kind which without adjustment or change will' satisfactorily accept and take care of a full range of sizes of garment; which applies the same tension or stretch to each garment; regardless of its size;

which has no tendency to distort the garment; and

which exposes both surfaces of the entire garmer t to'the effect of the stream of drying air.

Another object is to provide an improved device of this kind which is easy to load and unload, in which the act of introducing the garment into the drying chamber applies the stretching tension, and which is quite compact and highly efficient in operation.

Further objects of'theinvention'in part are obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter.

In the drawings, which represent one suitable embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a sectional elevation of the complete device on the-line l-|, Fig. 2, and showing the form or garment carrier loadedan'd inoperating position;

Fig. 2' is a sectional plan view on the line 2-2, Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional elevation on the line 3-3, Fig. 1;

Fig: 4 is a detail elevation, corresponding to Fig. 1, of the garment carrier, showing the. parts in retracted position;

Fig. 5 is a similar View, showing the parts of the stretching form expanded, just prior to being advanced into the drying chamber Fig. 6 shows the same parts moved intov the,

drying chamber, as in Fig. 1';

Fig. '7 is a plan view of the garment supporting parts, in retracted position; and

Fig. 8'Sh0Ws the same parts, in expanded. position.

Referring to Fig, 1, the device shown in the drawings is in the form of an upright cabinet, designed to rest' upon the floor, and including a frame housing or casing l0, which may be round, square, or of any other shape, in planview, but is shown in Fig. 2 as somewhat wedge shape,.provided with a lower heating chamber. H and an upper drying chamber I2 separated by a horizontal' wall l3 having a central round opening I4. The bottom of the heating chamber is open at I5- to permit the flow ofair totheinlet of a fan-or blower l6; usually operatedby an electric 2 motor (not shown), which blower movesan air stream across suitable heating means, suchas the steam-coils l-l'commuificating'with supply and discharge pipes I8; I9. Theheated-j air stream thus provided'i's blown; through" opening l 4', int'o' chamber l2, inwhichit travels-through and along the garment to-be dried, being discharged at the top'outlet opening 2 0. v

The drying chamber-housing is provided with a hingedfront door 21 and within its chamber" supports a curved deflector plate 22 for deflecting 'a" portion of the air-stream down over the thicker upper strap or shoulder portions of thegarment to; assist in dryingthem;

Directly below the door opening is located a vertical plate 23, of the same width as th'e'do'or; and which serves as aclosure for the lower-part of the opening through which the garment supporting" and stretching mechanism is advancedinto the" dryingchamber or retracted therefrom.

This plate 23 supports a pair of grooved rollers 24"which travel on suitable tracks or guides 25; Also mounted on-the door withinchamber i2, is arod; 26* carrying a traveler or support 21 which is sleeved and slides on a stationary guide'bar 28 Fittedto'slid'e-on bar is a carriage '29; pro"- vided with atr'avel'er- 3Q, somewhat like traveler 213 and which also-slides on guide bar 28;

Secured to the front" end of' carriage 29 is apull' rod' 31 extending through an opening in door 23 and provided on'its outer end witha handle or knob 32. is't'o enable thestretchi'ng'mechanism tobe ex par'ide'd andi contracted andalso advanced into the drying chamber or be retracted therefrom;

The garment stretching and supporting mechanism includes two or more parts, movable rel'a'-- tivel'y to each other for stretchingpurposes, and

so ar-ranged as-to -enable the garment, in stretchedcondition; to be supported in the drying chamber, subject'tothe drying effect of the air stream thereir'n. This is accomplished, in the arrangement shown, by the use of one relatively stationary part, mounted on the door 23', and two other: movable par-ts, mountedon carriage 2-9;

The stationary part includes two spaced, parallel, upright tubes, post's, rods or bars 3-3 supported'at theirlowe'r ends on brackets '34 mounted on' door2-3 and at their'ends having arms'35 extending rearwardly and downwardly and connected by a horizontal cross bar 36; which is adapted toreceive; support and'hold' the shoulder strapportions 3'! of the garmentta shown, as in Figs; 1 and 4'00 8;.

The movable part includes two generally similar The purpose of this rod and knob stream of drying air enters the drying chamber 1 and flows up along the garment, both inside and The cross bars 4|, at the bends of arms 43 of said members are inclined, to ease dressing of the shirt on the form,

The operation is as follows: In the operation of unloading the device, the door is opened, and the knob 32 is grasped and the stretching mechanism is withdrawn from the drying chamber. When thestretching mechanism is thus retracted, as shown in Fig. 4, it is entirely outside of the drying chamber wall, and

the rear arm 42 of stretching member 39 is slight:

ly in advance ofa plane through the vertical rods 33, giving sufficient room to permit the front portion of an undershirt to be inserted at the top and drawn down between the stationary and movable stretching members. Therear arm 42 of stretching member 49 is slightly in advance of and directly beneath the cross arm 36, so that the back portion of the undershirt, as it is drawn over the form, will lie to the rear of member 40.

, An undershirt to be dried thus is drawn down over the stretching members until it assumes the position indicated by the dot-dash lines in Fig. 4, with the stationary member supporting the undershirt by the draping of the shoulder straps over the cross bar 36.

The operator now pushes in on the knob 32 androd 3|, which first moves the carriage 29 rearwardly along rod 26, carrying the stretching arms 39, 40 with it. Members-39, 49 are maintained'in their vertical positions by' the eccentricity of rod 3| with respect to the center of rod outside thereof, with most of the stream deflected downwardly and returned to the thicker shoulder strap portions, the moisture-laden stream emerging through opening 20. Thu the garment is quickly and thoroughly dried while held in properly stretched position. When the garment is dry, door 2| is opened and the rod 3| is pulled out, which not only withdraws the carriage and the several stretching members 33, 39, from the drying chamber,,.but also releases the-tensionor stretch on the garment, enabling it to be readily pulled off from the upper ends of the stretching supports.

It will be readily observed that the amount of V movement of the stretching mechanism isdetermined entirely by the size of the garment placed thereon. At the same time either very small or very large undershirts, or any intermediate size, can be placed upon and stretched by the same stretching mechanism, and by the performance 7 of like operations, without any variations. 7 When the mechanism is within the cabinet, plate 23 closes the lower portion of the opening,

' so that the full effect of the hot air stream is 26. 'The weight of the stretching mechanism is l sufficient to hold the carriage in its withdrawn position, but as it, is pushed in, resistance to stretching increases until the shirt is fully stretched as'in Fig. 8, by the relative motion between the carriage, with its arms 39, 49, and the stationary rods 33. Thereupon further pressure on knob 32 causes the carriage 29 and the stretching and other parts carried thereby, and including also guide bar 26, door 23, and rods 33, to advance as a unit, the garment sliding into the cabinet with no further stretching, until the parts reach the positions shown in Figs. 1 and 6, door 23 abutting'the casing to stop further movement of said door.

The stretching of the undershirt is accomplished by the engagement of the vertical arm 42 of member 39 with the mid portion of the front of,

40 against the resistance of the cross bar 36.

Thus theentiregarment is stretched uniformly throughout. 7

With the garment introduced into the drying chamber in the manner described, the door 2| is closed. Assuming the fan in operation, or that itis started, and with heat in.the-coils a secured. r

The mechanism described is of simple form, is

capable of convenient operation, is highly eilicient, and produces a properly dried shirt without distortion of any part, all at minimum cost.

Further objects of the invention in part are obvious and in part will appear more in detail hereinafter. What I claim is: I r i l. A shirt stretching device, comprising two supporting members mounted for relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair of vertical posts spaced apart later.-

ally and connected together at their upper ends, the other carrying two upright members lyingin a plane between said posts and spaced apart fore and aft, and means forrelatively moving said supporting members along said plane.

2. A shirt stretching device, comprising two supporting members mounted for'relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair of vertical posts spaced apart laterally and connected together at their upper ends, the other carrying two upright members lying in a plane. between said posts and spaced apart fore and aft, and means for relatively moving said supporting member along said plane, each' of said upright members being of inverted loop form. 1

3. A shift stretching device, comprising two supporting members mounted for relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair of vertical posts spaced apart laterally and connected together at their upper ends, the other carrying two upright members lying in a plane between said posts and spaced apart fore and aft, and means for relatively moving said supporting members along said plane, each of said upright members being of inverted loop form and terminating at its upper end below the upper ends of said posts 4. Stretching apparatus of the character described, comprising two supportsmounted for relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair of posts spaced laterally and the other with a pair of posts spaced apart fore and aft, all of said posts being parallel to each other and extending upwardlyfrom the supports in a directionnormal to the direction of. their relative horizontal movement, and means whereby said supports may be relatively moved in the fore and aft direction to horizontally stretch an article supported upon said posts.

5. Stretching apparatus of the character described, comprising two supports mounted for relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair of posts spaced laterally and the other with a pair of posts spaced apart fore and aft, a bridge member cross-connecting the upper end portions of the posts of one pair, and means whereby said supports may be relatively moved in the fore and aft direction to stretch an article supported upon said posts and bridge member.

6. Stretching apparatus of the character described, comprising two supports mounted for relative horizontal movement, one thereof being provided with a pair of posts spaced laterally and the other with a pair of posts spaced apart fore and aft, a bridge member cross-connecting the upper end portions of the ,posts of one pair and lying at a level above the upper ends of the posts of the other pair, and means whereby said supports may be relatively moved in the fore and aft direction to stretch an article supported upon said posts and bridge member.

7. Stretching apparatus of the character described, comprising two supports mounted for posts of the first named pair, and means whereby said supports may be relatively moved in the fore and aft direction to stretch an article supported upon said posts and bridge member.

GEORGE W. JOHNSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Re. 11,460 Proctor Dec. 25, 1894 1,791,601 Ramsdell Feb. 10, 1931 1,047,039 Gee Dec. 10, 1912 1,627,529 Wigglesworth May 3, 1927 2,321,452 Berger et al June 8, 1943 2,316,001 Kitzmiller Apr. 6, 1943 2,299,040 Schwartz Oct. 13, 1942 2,299,041 Schwartz Oct. 13, 1942 2,309,659 Prosser et al Feb. 2, 1943 2,241,373 Rawlinson et al May 6, 1941 960,937 Imbrie June 7, 1910

Images