US3302305A

US3302305A - Clothes drier

Info

Publication number: US3302305A
Application number: US400042A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert E Little
Original assignee: Arvin Industries Inc
Current assignee: Meritor Inc
Priority date: 1964-09-29
Filing date: 1964-09-29
Publication date: 1967-02-07
Anticipated expiration: 1984-02-07

Description

Feb. E967 E. LITTLE 3,302,305

CLOTHES DRIER Filed Sept. 29, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR.

Feb. 7, 1967 R. E. LITTLE 3,302,305

CLOTHES DRIER Filed Sept. 29, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR.

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Feb. 7, 1%? R. E. LITTLE 3,302,305

CLOTHES DRIER Filed Sept. 29, 1964 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 id w INVENTOIL AWwwgm United States Patent Qfiice 3,302,395 Patented Feb. 7, 1967 3,302,305 CLOTHES DRIER Robert E. Little, Columbus, Ind, assignor to Arvin Industries, Inc. Columbus, Ind, a corporation of Indiana Filed Sept. 29, 1964, Ser. No. 400,042 3 Claims. (Cl. 34-163) This invention relates to a clothes drier, and has for its objects the provision of a compact, portable clothes drier which can be easily carried from one location to another, which can be mounted on a door, wall, or the like, which will be eflicient in its drying operation, which can dry large amounts of clothes relative to its size, and which will dry said clothes to the desired degree of dryness.

' According to the preferred form of the invention, there is provided a housing having a door forming the housing bot-tom wall. Said door can be releasably locked in a closed position and can be swung into an open position in which the bottom of the housing is in open communition with a large flexible bag hanging downwardly from the housing. Said bag, which is folded up into the housing when the door is closed, is provided with a plurality of vent openingsfiadjacent its lower end and with a closable access opening along one of its sides. The clothes to be dried are placed in the bag through the access opening and are supported in the bag on a rod mounted within the housing. Conveniently, a hanger is provided on a housing for sup-porting it in an elevated position on a door, wall, or the like so that the bag can hang downwardly therefrom.

A bracket is mounted within the housing and supports a shroud within which a fan is carried. Said fan pulls air into the housing through an opening on one of the housing walls and forces it outwardly through the housing and bag over the clothes to be dried. The fan is driven by a motor having means for mounting it on the bracket and for interconnecting a spider plate to said bracket. A plurality of insulators are mounted on said spider plate to support a heating element in the housing intermediate the fan and bag so that the air forced into said bag will be heated as it passes over the heating element. Conveniently, the motor and heating element are electrically connected to a thermostat and timer mounted in the housing for controlling the heating cycle of the drier.

Other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows and from the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a clothes drier embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the drier shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 3 is a rear elevation of the drier shown in FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is an enlarged vertical section taken on the line 4-4'of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a front elevation of the drier shown in FIG. 1, but showing said drier in operative position;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical section taken on the line 66 of FIG. 5;

FIG, 7 i an enlarged fragmentary section taken on the line 7-7 of FIG. 6;-

FIG. 8 is a horizontal section taken on the line 88 of FIG.6; and

FIG. 9 is a vertical section taken on the line 99 of FIG. 6.-

As shown, the clothes drier comprises a housing formed from a U-shaped wrap defining a front wall 10 interconnected to a rear wall 12 by a top wall 13. The lateral edges of the wrap have outwardly directed flanges 14 which are connected to the marginal edges of a pair of end plates 15 forming the housing side walls. Conveniently, a U-shaped molding 16 is received over the marginal edges of each of the end plates 15 around its periphery and over the adjacent wrap flanges 14 within the extent of said wrap. An enlarged opening 18 is formed in the housing top wall 13, and a carrying handle 20 is mounted on said top wall to extend over the opening.

As shown in FIG. 6, the lower end of the front wall 10 is bent inwardly, as at 21, and then upwardly to provide an inner vertically extending flange 22 spaced slightly rearwardly from the front wall 10 and terminating at its upper end in an inwardly projecting finger 23. Similarly, the lower end of the rear wall 12 is bent forwardly, as at 24, and then upwardly to provide a vertically extending flange 26 spaced slightly forwardly from the rear wall 12 and terminating at its upper end in an inwardly directed finger 28. A pair of hinges 30 are mounted on the I stretch 26 and on a door 32 to swingably interconnect said door to the housing. Said door, which forms the bottom wall of the housing, is adapted to be releasably locked in a closed position by a latch 34 carried in openings formed in the housing front wall 10 and flange 22 to engage a catch 36 on the door 32 adjacent its edge remote from the hinges 30. With the door 32 in its closed position, the portions of the moldings 16 extending along the lower edges of the end plates 15 project below said door so that said moldings serve as ground-engaging feet for the housing. When the latch 34 is released from the catch 36, the door 32 swings downwardly into its open position shown in FIG. 6 wherein it is generally parallel with the housing rear wall 12.

In order to support the housing in an elevated operative position, a hook-shaped hanger 37 is removably mounted on the housing rear wall 12. Said hanger comprises a leg 38 terminating at one of its ends in a hook 3-9. The leg 38 is provided with a plurality of keyhole-shaped openings 40 toward its end remote from the hook receivable over pins 41 projecting rearwardly from the housing wall 12. In its retracted position, the openings 40 are received over the pins 41, and the hook 39 is received in a slot 42 in the door 32. As shown in FIG. 2, in such retracted position, the hook 39 is disposed above the bottom of the lower stretches of the moldings 16 so that the housing will rest in a level position on a supporting surface on said moldings. The hanger 37 can be removed from the pins 41 and be remounted on said pins so that its hook.39 projects upwardly and rearwardly from the housing *(as shown in phantom lines A in FIG. 2) for reception over the top of a door for thus hanging the housing in an elevated operative position on said door. Alternatively, the hanger can be remounted on the pins 41 in a position such that its hook 39 projects upwardly and forwardly with respect to the housing rear wall 12 (as shown in phantom lines B in FIG. 2) so that a fastener can be inserted through the leg opening 43 for supporting the housing in an elevated position on a wall or other similar surface.

A generally U-shaped bracket 45 comprising a bight 46 interconnecting a pair of upstanding legs 48 is mounted within the housing. Each of the legs 48 has an out-turned finger 49 at its upper end secured to the lower face of the housing top wall 13 for mounting the bracket 45 in alignment with the opening 18 with its bight 46 extending diametrically across and lbelow said opening. An annular shroud 50 is mounted on the bracket legs 48, and because of the orientation of the bracket 45, it is disposed in coaxial relationship with the housing opening 18. A meshed grid 52 having a [lateral extent greater than the lateral extent of the opening 18 is carried on the upper edges of the shroud 50. Interposed between the grid 52 and the housing top wall 13- adjacent the opening 18 is a porous filter 54 extending under said opening for filtering the air entering the housing.

Air for the drier is brought inwardly through the opening 18 by a fan 56 carried within the shroud 50. Said fan is supported with-in said shroud on the drive shaft 58 of a motor 59 for rotating said fan in the shroud. The motor 59 is mounted below the bracket 45 by a pair of upwardly projecting mounting bolts 60 connected to the bight 46 of said bracket, and the drive shaft 58 projects upwardly through an opening formed in said bight for connection to the fan. A pair of mounting bolts 64 project downwardly from the motor 59 and are connected to a spider plate 66 for supporting said spider plate within the housing in alignment with the opening 18 and fan 56. As shown in FIG. 8, the spider plate 66 comprises an outer ring 68 connected by a plurality of downwardly angled spokes 69 to a center hub 70 to which the motor mounting bolts 64 are connected. A plurality of circumferentially spaced, L-shaped fingers 72 are struck upwardly from the ring 68. The free ends of the fingers project radially outwardly, and each is receivable in a slot 74 formed in an electric insulator 75' supported on the upper face of the ring 68 and projecting upwardly therefrom. A keyhole-shaped slot 76 extends inwardly from the outer :face of each of the insulators 75 for supporting a generally circular shaped heating element 78 on said insulators in alignment with the ring 68. With the insulators 75 being circumferentially spaced around the ring 68, the heating element 78 will be supported above said ring in generally concentric relationship with the shroud 50 in the path of the air flowing downwardly through the housing for heating said air as it moves through the housing.

A plurality of L-shaped feet 80' are circumferentially spaced around the ring 68 and project downwardly therefrom. The feet are connected, as by bolts '82, to a lower meshed grid 84 supported on the in-turned

fingers

23 and 28 of the

flanges

22 and 26, said grid serving to compartment the housing into upper and lower sections. The motor mounting bolts 64- project through the hub 70 and are also connected to the grid 84 to provide a further support for the central portion of said grid. The forward edge of the grid 84 is connected to the finger 23 by a plurality of bolts 86 extending through a mounting strip 87 resting on the upper face of said grid in vertical alignment with the finger 23. The rearward edge of said grid is connected to the finger 28 by a plurality of bolts 89 extending through a strip 90 resting on the upper face of the grid in vertical alignment with the finger 28. Conveniently, the grid 84 and strip 90 are provided with aligned openings 91 through which the cord 92 for the motor 59 can extend for plugging the cord into a standard convenience outlet.

As shown in FIG. 4, a generally U-shaped bracket 9'4 is mounted on the inner face of the housing front wall and supports a timer 95 and thermostat 96 electrically connected to the motor 59 and heating element 78 for controlling the heating cycle of the drier. Conveniently, the timer 05 and thermostat 96 are provided with control knobs 97 and 9 8, respectively, which project outwardly through openings in the front housing wall 10.

The clothes to be dried are carried in a flexible bag 100 formed from a material such as vinyl plastic or the like. The open upper end of said bag is connected along its front and rear edges to the

flanges

22 and 26 by a plurality of removable pins 102 received in openings formed in said flanges and bag. Desirably, the pinreceiving openings in the flange 26 are disposed above the plane of the pin-receiving opening of the flange 22 so that as air is blown into the bag 100, said bag will tend to billow rearwardly against the door, wall, or other supporting surface upon which the housing is supported.

As shown in FIG. 6, the bag 100 comprises front and

rear walls

103 and 104 interconnected by

side walls

105 and 106. The side wall 105 is provided with a vertically extending zippered opening 107 which serves as an access opening for placing the clothes in and removing them from the bag. A plurality of vent openings 108 are provided in the

bag walls

105 and 106 adjacent their lower ends to permit the air forced into said bag by the fan 56 to exit said bag. Conveniently, the lower end of the bag is closed by a downwardly converging bottom wall 110 provided at its center with a closable drain 112 so that any moisture collecting in the bottom of said bag can be drained therefrom.

In order to support the clot-hes to be dried in the bag, a rod 114 is carried in vertically extending slots 115 formed in the

flanges

22 and 26 at the upper ends thereof. Thus, the clothes to be dried may be placed on hangers and inserted into the bag through the opening 107 so that said hangers can be supported on the rod 114.

In the operation of the clothes drier, the hanger 37 is removed from its retracted position on the housing and placed in operative position for supporting the drier housing in an elevated operative position. The latch 34 is then released from the catch 36 to permit the door 3 2 to swing downwardly so that the bag 100' will project downwardly from the housing into an operative position. The clothes to "be dried are then inserted into the bag 100 through the opening 107 and are supported on suitable hangers on the rod 114. When the opening 107 is closed, the fan motor 59 and heating element 78 are energized to cause the fan 56 to pull air inwardly through the housing opening 18 past the heating element 78. The heated air is blown from the housing into the bag 100 over the clothes to be dried and is discharged through vent openings 108. The ring 68, which is interposed between the heating element 78 and bag 100, serves as a protective heat shield to prevent any heat damage to the bag by the heating element. Any moisture that happens to collect in the bag can be removed by merely opening the drain 112.

When the heating cycle is completed, the clothes are removed from the bag 100, and said bag is folded upwardly into the housing to permit the door 32 to be swung upwardly into its closed position. As the bag 100 is folded upwardly into its storage position within the housing as shown in FIG. 4, the rod 114 will ride upwardly in the slots 115 to accommodate said bag in the housing, with the grid 84 limiting the upward movement of both the bag and the rod. The ring 68, will protect said folded bag from heat damage caused by any residual heat in the heating element.

I claim:

1. A clothes drier, comprising a housing having interconnected front, rear, end, and top walls, a door swinga-bly mounted on said housing for closing the bottom thereof, a hook-shaped hanger having first and second portions removably received on pins on said rear walls and in a slot in said door, respectively, for mounting said hanger on the housing in a retracted position and movable into an operative position in which said first portion is received on said pins and said second portion projects above the housing for mounting the housing in a supporting structure, a peripheral molding extending around each end wall and projecting outwardly beyond the extent of said door in its closed position and hanger in its retracted position, a flexible bag having an open upper end mounted in said housing and movable between a folded retracted position in said housing and an extended operative position projecting downwardly from said housing, said bag being provided with a closable access opening, means in said housing for supporting the clothes to be dried in said bag, a fan mounted in said housing, means for rotating said fan whereby said fan will move air into said housing through an opening therein and blow it into said bag for discharge therefrom through vent openings formed therein, and a heating element mounted in said housing in the path of air movement from said fan to said bag.

2. A clothes drier, comprising aho-using having interconnected front, rear, end, and top walls, a door swingably mounted on said housing and for closing the bottom thereof, flange means spaced inwardly from each of said front and rear walls adjacent the lower ends thereof, a flexible bag having an open upper end connected to said flange means and movable between a folded retracted position in said housing and an extended operative position projecting downwardly from said housing, said bag being provided with a olosaib le access opening, a rod carried in vertically extending slots formed in said flange means for supporting the clothes to be dried in said bag, means for rotating said fian whereby said fan will move air into said housing through an opening therein and blow it into said bag for discharge therefrom through vent openings formed therein, and a heating element mounted in said housing in the path of air movement from said fan to said bag.

3. A cloflhes drier :as set forth in claim 2 in which said door is swingably connected to said housing on an axis adjacent said rear wall, and said bag is connected to the flange means spaced inwardly from the rear wall at a higher point than its connection to the flange means spaced inwardly from the front wall.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,833,631 11/1931 Wilsey. 2,411,365 11/1946 Card 3420-2 X 2,705,377 4/1955 Konstandt 34-163 2,850,810 9/1958 Lyons et a l 34-163 FOREIGN PATENTS 136,972 4/ 1950 Australia.

FREDERICK L. MATTESON, JR., Primary Examiner.

C. R. REMKE, Assistant Examiner.

Claims

1. A CLOTHES DRIER, COMPRISING A HOUSING HAVING INTERCONNECTED FRONT, REAR, END, AND TOP WALLS, A DOOR SWINGABLY MOUNTED ON SAID HOUSING FOR CLOSING THE BOTTOM THEREOF, A HOOK-SHAPED HANGER HAVING FIRST AND SECOND PORTIONS REMOVABLY RECEIVED ON PINS ON SAID REAR WALLS AND IN A SLOT IN SAID DOOR, RESPECTIVELY, FOR MOUNTING SAID HANGER ON THE HOUSING IN A RETRACTED POSITION AND MOVABLE INTO AN OPERATIVE POSITION IN WHICH SAID FIRST PORTION IS RECEIVED ON SAID PINS AND SAID SECOND PORTION PROJECTS ABOVE THE HOUSING FOR MOUNTING THE HOUSING IN A SUPPORTING STRUCTURE, A PERIPHERAL MOLDING EXTENDING AROUND EACH END WALL AND PROJECTING OUTWARDLY BEYOND THE EXTENT OF SAID DOOR IN ITS CLOSED POSITION AND HANGER IN ITS RETRACTED POSITION, A FLEXIBLE BAG HAVING AN OPEN UPPER END MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING AND MOVABLE BETWEEN A FOLDED RETRACTED POSITION IN SAID HOUSING AND AN EXTENDED OPERATIVE POSITION PROJECTING DOWNWARDLY FROM SAID HOUSING, SAID BAG BEING PROVIDED WITH A CLOSABLE ACCESS OPENING, MEANS IN SAID HOUSING FOR SUPPORTING THE CLOTHES TO BE DRIED IN SAID BAG, A FAN MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID FAN WHEREBY SAID FAN WILL MOVE AIR INTO SAID HOUSING THROUGH AN OPENING THEREIN AND BLOW IT INTO SAID BAG FOR DISCHARGE THEREFROM THROUGH VENT OPENINGS FORMED THEREIN, AND A HEATING ELEMENT MOUNTED IN SAID HOUSING IN THE PATH OF AIR MOVEMENT FROM SAID FAN TO SAID BAG.