US3496647A

US3496647A - Dryer for fabrics and the like

Info

Publication number: US3496647A
Application number: US709567A
Authority: US
Inventors: Robert Frezza
Original assignee: Samcoe Holding Corp
Current assignee: Samcoe Holding Corp
Priority date: 1968-03-01
Filing date: 1968-03-01
Publication date: 1970-02-24
Anticipated expiration: 1987-02-24

Description

Feb. 24, 1970 R. FREzzA 3595647 DRYER Fon FBRIGS m THE LIKE Filed Ilarch 1. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 66 /g /4 lNvEN on 1 @awr fea THE M'Z/ ATTOR YS Feb. 24, 1970 R. 'FREzzA nnrm'pon FABRICS AND THE LIKE NVENTOR @bef-r Fre) a ATTORN S United States Patent O 3,496,647 DRYER FOR FABRICS AND THE LIKE Robert Frezza, Carle Place, N.Y., assignor to Sameoe Holding Corporation, Woodside, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 1, 1968, Ser. No. 709,567 Int. Cl. F26h 3/04, .I3/08 U.S. Cl. 34-115 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to the processing of fabrics, and is directed more particularly to the provision of an improved facility for drying fabrics, in single or multiple webs, in a fully relaxed and tension free manner, and in a manner that will assure not only uniform drying but also a uniform rate of drying across all portions of the width of the fabric as it progresses through the drying operation. The invention is particularly applicable to the treatment of knitted fabrics, but is not limited thereto. It is also useful in heat setting and curing processes, as well as drying, and drying shall be used herein in a broader context, to include the additional processes.

RELATED INVENTIONS The apparatus of the present invention incorporates principles described and claimed in the S. Cohn et al. U.S. Patents No. 3,065,551 and 3,102,006, but represents a specic improvement thereover, particularly with reference to the more expeditious and effective handling and treating of multiple webs of material.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In general, the dryers of the beforementioned S. Cohn et al. patents are so-called reel dryers, in which one or more large diameter reels are supported within a dryer housing and are arranged to support and convey one r more fabric webs during the drying process. The reels are closely embraced by air chambers, containing air under pressure, and this air is discharged radially toward and through the perforate walls of the dryer reels, through narrow nozzles which extend across the width of the dryer reels. Air is thus discharged toward the reels in discrete, high velocity streams, which are relatively closely spaced. The high velocity air passes through the surface of the dryer reels, and of course through any fabric supported thereon, and is withdrawn axially from both ends of the reels. Desirably, the dryer housing includes greatly enlarged end chambers communicating with the opposite ends of the dryer reels so that, in conjunction with the rather large diameter of the reels themselves, a free and uniform How of air from the ends of the dryer reels is accommodated, permitting optimum uniformity of air flow through the fabric webs.

Inasmuch as the dryer system of the invention involves directing discrete, high velocity streams of drying air under pressure toward the dryer reels, as critically distinguished from dryer systems in which air is literally sucked into the interior of the dryer reel by the maintenance of low pressure conditions therein, there is some tendency for the pressurized air within the narrow annular space between the dryer reels and the surrounding air chambers to flow in an axial direction, directly into the large end chambers of the dryer housing. This arial ow is a relatively small percentage of the overall flow of drying air, and thus is of no particular concern when the dryer equipment is utilized for the processing of a single web of material, which is guided along the mid-line of the dryer reels. However, it is frequently the case that a 3,496,647 Patented Feb. 24, 1970 ICC processor may be handling webs of fabric which are substantially narrower in width than the maximum capacity of the machine, in which case a pair of webs may be processed simultaneously in side-by-side arrangement, and in such cases, certain difficulties may arise.

Where fabric webs are handled in side-by-side arrangement, in a dryer apparatus of the general type described above, the axial components of air flow along the outer surfaces of the dryer reels do not act symmetrically upon the side-by-side webs, but act in one direction on the webs, tending to urge them axially toward the adjacent end chambers. This can create certain fabric handling problcms, particularly where, as is contemplated by the S. Cohn et al., Patent No. 3,102,006, the fabric is not stretched tightly on the dryer reel, but is applied loosely thereon and caused and permitted to be worked and repositioned continually as it travels with the dryer reels.

It is accordingly one of the objectives of the invention to provide a dryer apparatus, generally of the type disclosed in the S. Cohn et al., U.S. Patents No. 3,065,551 and No. 3,102,006, which includes specifically improved arrangements for the guiding and directing of air flows, to the end that the otherwise tendencies for air under pressure to flow axially into the enlarged end chambers of the dryer housing are substantially counteracted, enabling the system to be utilized with increased effectiveness for the processing of multiple webs of material.

A further specific improvement provided by the invention, which is most particularly effective inconjunction with, although not necessarily limited to, the abovementioned provisions for counteracting axial air Hows, is the provision of improved arrangements of the dryer reels themselves, to accommodate working and rearranging of the fabric being processed to a significantly greater degree than herebefore. In this respect, in order to accommodate ideal repositioning of the fabric during the drying process, it has been proposed to coat the outer surfaces of the dryer reel with one of the well known fluorocarbon polymers, such as Du Pont Teflon TFE, for example. However, accomplishing this has proven to be difficult and expensive, and not altogether satisfactory. In accordance with the present invention, however, a novel and highly effective low friction surface is provided by initially constructing the dryer reel of a relatively large-size, rigid mesh material and applying over the outside of such rigid mesh a somewhat smaller mesh of woven fiber glass coated with a suitable flouorcarbon polymer material. The coated liber glass mesh is wrapped tightly about the surface of the otherwise relatively conventional dryer reel and forms an economical, yet highly effective, low friction surface, which provides optimum conditions for the continual working and rearranging of the fabric during drying.

As will be appreciated, the provision of a low friction fluorocarbon polymer outer surface on the dryer reels, in a dryer utilizing pressurized high velocity streams of drying air, may tend to aggravate any tendencies for side-by-side webs to be urged toward the ends of the dryer reels. Accordingly, the low friction reel surface is utilized to particular advantage with the air flow counteracting arrangements heretofore described.

For a better understanding of the invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description and to the accompanying drawing` DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a preferred form of dryer, for knitted fabrics and the like, constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention.

FIGS. 2 and 3 are cross-sectional views taken generally along lines 2 2 and 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is an enlarged plan view illustrating a typical construction detail of a dryer reel incorporated in the apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged cross-sectional View taken generally along line 5 5 of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating an overfeed reel element incorporated in the apparatus of the invention.

FIG. 7 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view showing a construction detail of the air discharge nozzle arrangements incorporated in the dryer apparatus of the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawing, the reference numeral 10 designates generally an insulated dryer housing, including front and back walls 11, 12,

side walls

13, 14 and top wall l5. Mounted within the housing, suitably journalled for rotation, are large diameter dryer reels 16, 17, which are desirably positioned one above the other and are arranged to be driven at controllably related speeds, typically so that the dryer reel 17 may be caused to have a surface speed slightly less than that of the dryer reel 16.

As reflected in FIG. 2, the inside width of the housing, as defined by the

side walls

13, 14, is substantially greater than the axial length of the dryer reels. The dryer reels are symmetrically positioned within the housing, so as to provide enlarged

end chambers

18, 19 in the housing, directly opposite the ends of the dryer reels. Most advantageously, the width of each of the

end chambers

18, 19, measured in a direction axially of the dryer reels, is about 50% or more of the diameter of the reels. These

end chambers

18, 19 desirably extend substantially the full height of the housing and have a dimenJ sion in the front to back direction of the housing whicln is considerably larger than the dryer reels.

The described arrangement of the dryer reels and the! end chambers is such that drying air, caused to ow ra-; dially into the dryer reels, in the manner to be described, is permitted to ow axially out of both ends of the dryer reels, which are fully open at the ends, and to ow out into the

end chambers

18, 19 without causing significant distortions of the pattern of air ow into the reels, which would result in uneven drying action. This is generally in accordance with the beforementioned S. Cohn et al. U.S. Patent No. 3,065,551.

The dryer reels 16, 17, have their cylindrical outer walls formed of a highly foraminous material, to accommodate the easy flow of drying air radially into the interior of the reels. Typically, an open metal mesh material may be utilized for the dryer reel wall construction, such as indicated at 20 in FIGS. 4 and 5. The mesh 20 may be formed of a material such as stainless steel, and may typically havey a mesh opening of around 1/2 inch. In addition, and as will be described further, there advantageously may be provided about the exterior of the mesh 20 a smaller but still highly open mesh 21 of a material having extremely low friction characteristics relative to the materials to be processed in the dryer, to accommodate free adjustment and relaxation of the drying fabric, as will be discussed further.

As indicated particularly in FIGS. l and 2, the interior of the dryer housing 10 is provided with hot air duct means, designated generally by the reference numeral 22, defined in part by

side walls

23, 24 which are substantially even with the axial ends of the dryer reels 16, 17 and serve to define part of the

end chambers

18, 19. The hot air duct means are arranged to closely embrace the dryer reels 16, 17 about most (e.g., about 270) of their circumferential extent. The

circular walls

25, 26 of the hot air ducts, which embrace the dryer reels, are spaced very close to the surface of the dryer reels, in relation to the principal dimensions of the dryer reels themselves. For example, in a typical dryer apparatus having dryer reels on the order of four to six feet in diameter, the

circular Walls

25, 26 may be spaced around two to three inches from the surface of the reels, so as to provide a very narrow space for the passage of the fabric.

The

circular walls

25, 26 of the hot air duct means 22 are provided with a large plurality of air nozzles 27, which are disposed transversely with respect to the travel of a fabric web through the dryer apparatus and extend continuously for the full width of the dryer reel. As indicated in FIG. 7, the air nozzles advantageously may be formed by cutting through the sheet metal material of the hot air duct means and bending outward marginal portions 28, 29 of the sheet material, adjacent the cut. This forms a narrow nozzle structure for discharging sheet-like streams of air extending across the full width of the fabric to be dried.

Most advantageously, the nozzles 27 are spaced closely (e.g., every few inches) about the entire active area of the hot air duct, substantially as reflected in FIG. l.

Air under pressure is supplied to the hot air ducts through blowers 30, 31, which supply the air in sufficient quantity to enable the heated air to be discharged at high velocity (e.g., as high as 4,000 feet per second) through the large multiplicity of nozzles 27. The arrangement is such that the dryer reels 16, 17, and any materials supported thereby, are acted upon by a series of closely spaced, discrete high velocity streams of air, to achieve a particularly advantageous drying action, as set forth in the S. Cohn et al. U.S. Patent No. 3,102,006. The intakes to the blowers 30, 31 are supplied with air flowing from the enlarged

end chambers

18, 19 through

air heaters

32, 33, through which the air must flow in exiting from the end chambers.

In the processing of materials such as knitted fabric and tubular fabric, where the incoming, wet material is readily distortable and may have tensions induced therein from the manufacturing process and from previous processing operations, it is especially desirable to provide for overfeeding of the fabric onto the dryer reels. This assures that the fabric will remain free and fully relaxed at all times while on the dryer reels, so that advantageously uniform drying and flexing of the fabric may be realized, and also that lengthwise shrinkage of the fabric, which is more or less inherent in the process, is accommodated while the fabric is maintained in a relaxed and overfcd condition. To this end, the illustrated apparatus includes a feed roll 34 journalled and suitably driven at the entry end of the apparatus, immediately adjacent an inlet opening 3 in the front Wall 11. A cooperating roller 36 is arranged to rest upon the top of the feed roll 34, in part to provide for more positive engagement of the incoming web 37 of fabric by the feed roll and in part to provide an air seal to minimize outflow of air within the housing.

Typically, the incoming web 37 passes over and about the feed roll 34, being advanced at a predetermined speed by that rall. The material, which may be a tubular knitted fabric, for example, is directed to enter through the inlet opening and is caused to travel through an entry passage 38 toward the lower dryer reel 16. The entry passage 38, which is slightly divergent in the direction of fabric travel, includes a plurality of air nozzles 39, similar in construction to the air nozzles 27. These nozzles are positioned above and below the fabric web and advantageously are directed to discharge air streams tilted slightly in the direction of forward movement of the fabric. By this means, the air nozzles 37, which act upon the top and bottom surfaces of the fabric in a manner to keep the fabric generally centered within the entry passage, tend also to impart a slight forward motion component to the fabric, to assist its movement through the entry passage.

At the discharge end of the entry passage, there is advantagesouly provided a slatted overfeed reel 40 (see FIG. 6). The overfeed reel typically may comprise a pair of plates 41 to each end supporting a plurality of widely spaced, transversely extending fabric supports or slats 42, `which may be in the form of round bars. The overfeed rcel 40 and the feed roll 34 are driven to have surface speeds which are greater than the surface speed of the first dryer reel 16. Thus, the incoming fabric web 37 is advanced by the air nozzles 39, at a predetermined speed regulated by the feed roll 34, and is applied to the overfeed reel 40 at a lineal rate which greater than the effective surface speed of the dryer reel 16.

Typically, the feed roll 34 and overfeed reel 40 may be driven at the same surface speed. However, where desired, the feed roll may be driven at a somewhat higher speed such that, in effect, the fabric is first overfed onto the overfeed reel, and then overfed onto the dryer reel.

As shown in FIG. l, in the area of the entry passage 38 which is immediately opposite the upper portion of the overfeed reel 40, there are provided one or more air nozzles 39 which are directed more or less radially at the upper portion of the overfeed reel. As a result, as the fabric is fed to the reel 40, the fabric is urged by the downwardly projected air streams to dispose itself in shallow loops, between the slats 42. The thus disposed fabric is then advanced around by the overfeed reel and deposited on the surface of the first dryer reel 16. The overfeed reel is located immediately adjacent the dyer reel 16, so that the incoming fabric can be transferred directly from the overfeed reel to the dryer reel.

One or more air nozzles 27 may be positioned at the end of the passage 38, arranged to direct air ows somewhat tangentially into the entry end of the space between the dryer reel and the embracing surface 25, This facilitates initial entry of the fabric into the zone of higher airl pressure.

The described arrangements assure a substantially positive overfeed advancement of the fabric onto the surface of the dryer reel 16 with a uniformly distributed condition. With the fabric thus distributed, it is acted upon intermittently by the succession of high velocity air streams, as the dryer reels convey the fabric. This enables the fabric to be repeatedly fluttered" and rearranged on the dryer reel surface material 21, while simultaneously being progressively and uniformly dried.

After traveling with the first dryer reel 16, over an arc of approximately 279, the fabric travels through a transfer passage 43, which includes a plurality of air nozzles 44, constructed as previously described, which act from opposite sides upon both surfaces of the fabric and irnpart thereto a slight forward motion component, to cause the fabric to advance onto the surface of the second dryer reel 17, for further drying by a large plurality of air nozzles 27 disposed about a cicular wall 26 of the hot air duct. Desirably, while the dryer reel 16 may have a surface speed which is somewhat less than the effective surface speed of the overfeed reel 40, the second dryer reel 17 is driven through a P.I.V. drive or the like, to have a surface speed slightly lower than that of the dryer reel 16. The speed reduction of the second dryer reel 17 should be such as to accommodate shrinkage in the fabric occurring in its travel on the first dryer reel 16, and to provide for overfeeding of the fabric onto the surface of the second reel 17. In this manner, the fabric may continue to be tiuttered and rearranged while traveling with the reel 17, and further shrinkage of the fabric in a lengthwise direction may be accommodated while continuing to maintain the fabric in a fully relaxed condition.

After being conveyed by the second dryer reel 17 through an arc of around 270, the fabric passes over a guide roller 4S and is advanced through an outlet or discharge passage 46 by means of air streams directed at opposite sides of the fabric and imparting a slight forward motion component thereto. Typically, the fabric then is directed between a pair of sealing rolls 47, passed through a cooling passage 48 and then removed from the machine for further handling and processing,

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, an advantageous provision is made for minimizing friction on the surfaces of the dryer reels, so that, among other things, the fabric is permitted to adjust and reposition itself during the treatment, as a result of the relaxation shrinkage which normally tends to occur, and also as a result of the action of the discrete, high velocity air jets on the moving fabric. Whereas it has been proposed, heretofore, to provide Teflon or similar coatings on the surfaces of the dryer reels themselves, such proposals have not met with significant success, partly because of the substantial difficulty and expense of forming the desired surface coating. In accordance with the present invention, however, the principal structural surface of the dryer reel is formed of a rigid metal mesh, and a resin-coated fabric-like mesh material is wrapped about the outside of this structural surface and is secured thereto to provide a wholly effective, low cost surface having the desired friction-free characteristics. In the illustrated apparatus, the structural Wall of the dryer reel is formed of a stainless steel wire mesh material, having a. mesh opening of about 1/2 inch, and the resin-coated mesh material 21, which is wrapped around the outer surface of the reel, desirably has openings of about 1A inch.

In accordance with the invention, the woven mesh material 21 is an open weave ber glass fabric, which is coated with a uorocarbon resin having the desired low friction characteristics and resistance to service temperatures. A particularly advantageous fluorocarbon resin is a polytetrafluoroethylene polymer resin, as made available by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Inc., Wilmington, Del., under their trade designation Teon, PTFE. Fiber glass is an especially advantageous base material for the low friction surface, because of its immunity to the service conditions and its relatively high strength. The coated fiber glass material is obtainable at low cost and is easily installed by attachment to the principal structural mesh 20 of the dryer reel.

When handling single fabric webs, it is conventional to dispose the fabric centrally with respect to the ends of the dryer reels 16, 17, to assure optimum balance of the air tiow conditions. In many instances, however, it is desirable and advantageous to process more than one fabric web at a time, as where the width of the fabric is small in relation to the ,overall width of the dryer reel. As indicated in FIG. 2, for example, a pair of fabric Webs may be processed simultaneously, in a side-by-side manner by running the separate webs near the ends of the dryer reels.

Because of the high pressure (as distinguished from suction) conditions, created in the space between the

duct walls

25, 26 and the dryer reels 16, 17 through the utiliza tion of high velocity, discrete air jets directed radially a't the dryer reel surfaces, there is an inherent tendency for some air to ow axially out of the annular spaces surrounding the dryer reels, in the regions thereof immediately adjacent the

end chambers

18, 19. In other words, while the air flow ideally would be limited to radial flow through the fabric and the mesh material 20, 21, the close adjacency of high and low pressure conditions in the immediate vicinity of the

end chambers

18, 19 tends to result in some of the air flowing axially directly into the end chambers. Where this is permitted to occur, there is a tendency to urge asymmetrically positioned fabric webs axially toward the ends of the dryer reels, and this tendency is increased with narrower webs, which are processed close to the end of the reel, and with the use of a low friction covering material 21.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, small air-deliecting caps 49 are provided at the end extremities of the air nozzles 27 (see FIG. 7) to overcome the tendency of the air fiows to shift the webs axially, when processing more than one web at a time, The caps 49 may extend inward for two or three inches from the end extremities of the nozzles 27 and serve to close off the ends of the nozzle 27, by means of end walls 50. In addition, the caps 49 have outer walls 51, which close off the outer two or three inches of the air nozzles 27, except for a plurality of smaller control air openings formed by bending out a plurality of detlecting tabs 52. The deecting tabs 52 may be bent out at an angle of, say 45, causing a small percentage of the air to be deflected axially inward from the end extremities of the air nozzles. This axially inward flow serves to counteract the otherwise tendency for the air to flow axially outward at the end extremities of the dryer reels, so that a suitably balanced condition of the air flows is maintained for eflicient processing of multiple webs on a side-by-side basis, As will be understood, the aindcecting caps cover only a small portion of the overall nozzle width, e.g., two or three inches at each end of a nozzle having an overall width of six feet or more.

As will be undestood, in connection with the various nozzles 27 disposed about the circumference of the dryer reels 16, 17, the high velocity air jets are directed at the fabric and at the reel surfaces, which are generally of a porous nature to accommodate the throughow of the air, into the interior of the dryer reels. From there, the air is withdrawn axially from the interiors of the reels. Accordingly, the tendency for the air to escape axially, prior to passing through the fabric and through the surface of the dryer reel is modest, and is easily controlled by the air deliecting end caps 49 provided by the invention. In contrast, the

air nozzles

39, 44, provided in the inlet passage 38, transfer passage 43, and discharge passage 46, are so directed and arranged that air issuing from these nozzles cannot as readily pass through the fabric and be disposed of, In this respect, within the inlet, transfer and discharge

passages

38, 43, 46, air is directed at the fabric from both sides thereof, so that the air jets from one side are generally opposed by air jets from the other side. In these passages, there is a much stronger tendency for the air to escape sideways, directly into

enlarged end chambers

18, 19.

In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the sideways flow of air from the

passages

38, 43, 46 is effectively eliminated by securing

plates

63, 64, 65 over the side openings of these passages. The plates 63-65 are of a size and shape suitably to substantially fully close off the side openings of the respective passages, s that the air directed into the passages is required to escape from the ends thereof, Desirably, in this respect, the passages are somewhat divergent in the direction of fabric travel, so that air tends to flow toward the fabric discharge end of the passage.

As a specific but important aspect of the invention, the side plates 63-65 are formed of a transparent material, such as glass or transparent plastic material resistant to the service temperature conditions. In conjunction with this, the side walls of the dryer housing are provided with suitable observation windows 66 from which an operator may view across the enlarged end chamber. The construction is such that, from the observation windows 66, the progress of the fabric may be observed, from the moment it enters the dryer housing substantially until it enters the cooling chamber 48. While the fabric is traveling through the

several passages

38, 43, 46, it is visible through the transparent side plates 63-66, and while it is passing around the dryer reels 16, 17 it is visible in the narrow circumferential space between the reels and the closely embracing hot air chambers.

In typical operation of the equipment, it is desirable to continually exhaust a fractional portion of the circulated air and to draw in a corresponding amount of fresh air. Typically, of the air circulated `may be exhausted and replaced by fresh air. In the apparatus of the invention, the principal fresh air intake advantageously is provided adjacent the intakes to the blowers 30, 31. Additional make-np air may enter through a pair of ducts 53,

S4, which extend vertically land have their intake openings located above the upper wall 15 of the housing. Some fresh air is drawn downwardly, through the

ducts

53, 54, and is discharged therefrom through

openings

55, 56, from which the fresh air flows transversely inward into the fabric discharge passage 46. This generally inward flow at this point assists in balancing pressures in the passage 46, and assists in maintaining stabilized conditions for the processing of multiple webs of fabric.

For the discharge of exhaust air, there are advantageously provided ducts S7, 58, which extend vertically in the

end chambers

18, 19 and are provided with

upper inlet openings

59, 60 and

lower inlet openings

61, 62.

The respective sets of openings S9, 60 and 61, 62 are arranged to cause relatively balanced flow of exhaust air into the

ducts

57, 58 from the upper and lower portions of the

end chambers

18, 19, the air ultimately being discharged to the atmosphere.

The several features of the invention provide advantageous improvements for incorporation with the more basic principles of the dryers disclosed in the S. Cohn et al., Patents No. 3,065,551 and No. 3,102,006. In one aspect, the invention provides a simple and economical arrangement which permits the practical, economical utilization of low friction surfacing materials on the exterior of the dryer reels. This is accomplished by, instead of seeking to coat the surface of the reel itself, providing a fiber glass mesh material which is independently coated with the low friction material and subsequently wrapped around and secured to the dryer reel structure. In conjunction, a number of improvements are provided for the control of air flows within the dryer such that, particularly when handling multiple webs of material on the low friction surfacing, the otherwise tendencies for the vwebs to be urged laterally, toward the enlarged end chambers of the dryer housing, are effectively counteracted. One specific provision for this purpose resides in the use of small end caps, provided over the end extremities only of the transversely elongated air nozzles, so that a small percentage of the air ow, at the end extremities, is deflected laterally inward. In addition, transparent cover plates are provided over the side openings of a plurality of fabric passages within the dryer housing, to prevent sideways ow of air from these passages while, at the same time, enabling the fabric to be viewed at all times within the dryer housing through observation windows located on the outside walls of the end chambers.

It will be understood, of course, that the specific form of the invention herein illustrated and described is intended to be representative only, as certain changes may be made therein Without departing from the clear teaching of the disclosure. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following appended claims in determining the full scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for drying a fabric web, which comprises (a) a dryer housing having a fabric inlet and outlet passageway,

(b) a dryer reel having a mesh-like outer wall mounted within said housing and arranged to be driven in rotary movement,

(c) said dryer reel being of a width to receive a plurality of continuous lengths of fabric in side-by-side arrangement,

(d) air duct means closely embracing said dryer reel about most of its circumference,

(e) said air duct means including a plurality of closely spaced, transversely disposed nozzles for the discharge of closely spaced discrete streams of air at high velocity radially inward toward and through the mesh-like outer wall of the dryer reel,

(f) at least certain ones of said transversely disposed nozzles having deector means at the outer ends thereof closing the ends of said nozzles and operative to deflect a portion of the air streams from the end areas of the dryer reel toward the center area thereof, and

(g) supply means for feeding a fabric web into said housing.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein (a) said housing includes greatly enlarged end cham bers opposite both axial ends of the dryer reel and having an area exceeding the end area of the dryer reel for accommodating the free and uniform axial ow of air out of the open ends of the dryer reel, and further including (b) blower means connected between said end chambers and said air duct means.

3. The apparatus of claim l, further characterized by (a) said nozzles initially being open at the ends, and

(b) said deflector means comprising end caps received over the end extremities of said nozzles,

(c) said end caps closing off the open end areas of said nozzles and having a plurality of inwardly directed deflector tabs.

fl. An apparatus for drying fabric webs, which compr1ses (a) a dryer housing,

(b) cylindrical means in said housing forming a travelling perforate surface for the support of a plurality of fabric webs in side by side relation,

(c) air duct means closely embracing the outer surface of said cylindrical means about most of its circumference,

(d) said air duct means having a plurality of transversely disposed openings therein for the discharge of discrete streams of air under pressure, radially inward toward and through the perforate surface of said cylindrical means,

(e) deflector means associated with said openings adjacent opposite edges of said cylindrical means for directing portions of said discrete streams inwardly from said edges, and

(f) means for supplying a plurality of fabric webs to said dryer and onto said cylindrical means in side by side relation.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, further characterized by (a) said housing forming enlarged end chambers beyond the edges of said cylindrical means,

(b) a narrow space being formed between said cylindrical means and said air duct, accommodating a tendency for an edgewise outward flow of air into said end chambers, and

(c) said dellector means being operative to substantially counteract said edgewise How tendency.

6. An apparatus for drying a fabric web, which comprises (a) a dryer housing,

(b) a fabric supporting element having a metallic mesh-like outer wall mounted within said housing and arranged to be driven to advance fabric through the dryer housing,

(c) air duct means closely embracing said supporting element,

(d) said air duct means including a plurality of closely spaced, transversely disposed nozzles for the discharge of closely spaced discrete streams of air at high velocity toward and through the mesh-like outer wall of the supporting element, and operative to fiutter and rearrange the fabric on said supporting element,

(e) supply means for feeding a fabric web into said housing, and

(f) a mesh-like covering material secured in over-lying relation to said metallic Outer wall,

(g) said mesh-like covering comprising a fiber glass mesh coated with a fluorocarbon polymer resin.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, further characterized by (a) said supporting element being of cylindrical configuration,

(b) the mesh-like outer wall having openings of relatively larger size compared to the openings of the mesh-like covering material.

8. An apparatus for drying one or more fabric webs,

which comprises (a) a dryer housing having fabric inlet and outlet openings,

(b) a pair of driven dryer reels, for supporting and advancing fabric webs during drying thereof, disposed within said dryer housing,

(c) means within said housing forming a first opensided internal passage extending between said dryer reels for the transfer of fabric webs from one reel to the other,

(d) said internal passage having opposed sets of air nozzles for directing air flows towards opposite sides of the fabric in the passage,

(e) said opposed sets of air nozzles being inclined relative to the principal plane of the fabric webs in a direction to urge the fabric webs along in the direction of transfer,

(f) air ow confining plates substantially closing olf the open sides of said first internal passage and spaced inward from the side walls of said housing,

(g) said confining plates being formed of transparent material to accommodate observation of the condition of the fabric in said first passage,

(h) a second internal passage in said housing, similar in function to the first passage, provided to accommodate and urge the fabric from the fabric inlet to the first dryer reel, and

(i) air flow confining plates, formed of transparent material, substantially closing olf the open sides of said second internal passage and spaced inward from the side walls of the housing.

9. An apparatus for drying one or more fabric webs,

which comprises (a) a dryer housing having fabric inlet and outlet openings,

(b) a pair of driven dryer reels for supporting and advancing fabric webs during drying thereof disposed within said dryer housing,

(c) means within said housing forming an open-sided internal passage extending between said dryer reels for the transfer of fabric webs from one reel to the other,

(f) air flow confining plates substantially closing off the open sides of said internal passage and spaced inward from the side walls of said housing,

(g) said confining plates being formed of transparent material to accommodate observation of the condition of fabric in said internal passage,

(h) said housing having its side walls spaced substantially outward from the ends of said reels and from said air flow confining plates to provide enlarged end chambers, and

(i) said side walls having means therein providing visual access across said end chambers to said ow confining plates and to the fabric webs travelling over said reels and through said internal passage.

l0. An apparatus for drying a fabrie web, comprising (a) a dryer housing having fabric inlet and outlet openings,

(c) means within said housing forming an open-sided internal passage extending between said fabric inlet and said dryer reel,

(d) both of said dryer reel and internal passage being of a width to receive a plurality of continuous lengths of fabric in side by side arrangement,

(e) said internal passage having opposed sets of air nozzles for directing air ows toward opposite sides of a fabric web in the passage,

(f) said opposed sets of air nozzles being inclined relative to the principal plane of the fabric web in a direction to urge the fabric web along from the fabric inlet to the dryer reel, and

(g) air low confining plates substantially closing off the open sides of said internal passage and spaced inward from the side walls of said housing,

(h) said confining plates being formed of transparent material to accommodate observation of the condition of fabric in said passage.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, further characterized by (a) said housing having its side walls spaced substantially outward from the ends of said reel and from said air ow confining plates to provide enlarged end chambers, and

(b) said side walls having means therein providing visual access across said end chambers to said air ow confining plates and to the fabric web travelling over said reel and through said internal passage References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 849,141 4/1907 Ladd 34-115 3,081,556 3/1963 Fleissner etal 34-115 3,196,555 7/1965 Friedel etal 34-115 3,290,795 12/1966 Jarreby 34-115 LLOYD L. KING, Primary Examiner