US2927379A - Drying drum with absorbent wall - Google Patents

Description

March 8, 1960 D. TANN DRYING DRUM WITH ABSORBENT WALL Original Filed Aug. 25, 1952 INVENTOR. Jan 2'4 727277.

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United States Patent F I 2,927,379 DRYING DRUM WITH ABSORBENT WALL David Tann, Detroit, Mich.

Application October 19, 1954, Serial No. 463,172, which is a division of application Serial No. 306,118, August 25, 1952. Divided and this application July 26, 1957,

' Serial No. 674,391

4 Claims. (Cl. 34-95) This invention relates to fabric drying machines and particularly to a fabric drying machine which has a liquid-carrying wall for conveying liquid away from the fabrics to be dried. This application is a division of my copending application Serial No. 463,172, filed October 19, 1954. That application in turn is a division of my application Serial No. 306,118, filed August 25, 1952, which was a continuation-in-part, now abandoned, of application Serial No. 155,682, filed April 13, 1950, also abandoned but a continuation-in-part of which is now Patent No. 2,758,461.

In the above mentioned application Serial No. 155,682, a fabric laundering machine is illustrated, described and claimed, embodying the concept of utilizing a container for the fabrics and encompassing all or a substantial part of the peripheral wall by an absorbent covering. Tumbling of the fabrics within the container and against the absorbent covering causes water in the fabrics to be transferred to the absorbent covering of the wall, so that after a washing operation, the water in the fabrics can be transported by said covering to a point exterior of the container. When heated air is circulated about the fabrics, added fluid is extracted therefrom so that the extraction of moisture from the fabrics will not only be carried to a wet-dry stage, but also to a bone-dry stage, that is to say to a stage at which the fabrics are substantially dry. Such a drying operation also dries the fabric in the peripheral wall and/ or the transporting member so that no deleterious effect will occur thereto after the laundering operation.

The present invention pertains to a modification of and improvement upon the device illustrated in the parent application and has for its main object the provision of a driven container having a fabric peripheral wall.

Other objects and features of novelty of the invention will be specifically pointed out or will become apparent when referring, for a better understanding of the invention, to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a view in perspective of a laundering machine with parts broken away illustrating features of the present invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged broken sectional view of the structure illustrated in Figure 1, and taken along the line 2--2 thereof; and

Figure 3 is a 'broken sectional view of structure, similar to that illustrated in Figure 1, showing a modified form thereof.

In Figure 1 a cylindrical container 11 is illustrated having an impervious front wall 12 and rear wall 13 joined by a plurality of rods 14 at the peripheral edge. A peripheral wall 15 of fluid absorbing material such as linen, cotton, synthetic materials and the like may be secured to the rods by pleats through which the rods extend, as illustrated more specifically in Figure 2. Raising and tumbling vanes 16 are also secured to the front and rear walls 12 and 13; and the container is suspended on a shaft 17, driven by a pulley 18 from a speed 2,927,379 Patented Mar. 8, 1960 "ice reducing unit 19 by a motor 21. A heating plate 22 is disposed across the peripheral wall, adjacent thereto, and is provided with heat through conduits 23, either electrically, by steam, or other means.

When the machine is operated for drying wet clothes, the motor 21 rotates the container 11 in clockwise direction as seen in Figure 1. The surface of the heating plate is disposed adjacent to the point of drop of the clothes, as they are tumbled, and at such a close distance from the fabric wall 15 that when the clothes are dropped upon said wall, the fabric of the wall is carried into contact with the surface of the plate, so that moisture is driven therefrom as by an ironing operation.

It is to be understood that the structure illustrated may be employed solely for drying clothes, or, as indicated in my said patent, the structure may also be employed for other and more inclusive laundering opera tions. The passage of water from the clothes into the fabric wall 15, while the heating element 22 dries this wall, has a drying effect on the clothes, either in the presence or absence of hot air which may be circulated within the container 11 in conventional manner to dry the clothes, such air assisting also in drying the fabric which forms the peripheral wall 15.

In Figure 3 a modified form of the invention is illustrated wherein a suction shoe is substituted for the heating shoe 20 of Figure 1 for drawing liquid from the peripheral Wall 15. As a further modification the shoe 90 may be moved to a point which may be displaced for instance about 90 from that illustrated, so as to draw liquid from the wall 15 before the wall is heated by the shoe 20. The shoe 90 has an arcuate face plate, closely following the curvature of the container and provided with a plurality of apertures 92. The face plate is sealed to a housing 93 having a suction conduit 94 connected thereto to which a pipe or hose 95 is secured; this conduit being connected to a source of vacuum so as to extract water from the fabric material.

It is also within the purview of the present invention to provide heated air under pressure to the conduit 94 for heating and driving moisture from the material 15. In this latter arrangement the shoe 90 is preferably lo cated on the upper right-hand side of the container, as seen in Figure 1, at a point where the fabric material 15 is out of contact with the clothes.

What is claimed is:

1. A laundering machine comprising a support, framing means movable on said support, moisture-previous liquidcarrying wall means supported on and movable with said framing means and so shaped and disposed as to provide a receptacle adapted to confine material therein, said receptacle consisting substantially of said wall means and the wall means being disposed for direct contact over extended portions of its area with the material confined within the receptacle, means for causing movement of the material within the receptacle and in contact with said portions of the wall means, and means for removing liquid from said wall means, said wall means substantially consisting of a flexible material having pleats extending thereacross, and said framing means comprising rods inserted in said pleats.

2. A laundering machine having a support, a cylinder mounted for rotation on said support, said cylinder having a pair of spaced end walls, spaced rod like supporting means on said end walls located adjacent to the peripheral edges thereof, a woven fabric material secured by said supporting means at spaced points on the periphery of the cylinder, driving means for rotating said cylinder, one of said end walls having a loading opening therein, and means located externally of said cylinder and adjacent to the periphery thereof for removing moisture from said fabric material.

cylinder, driving means for rotating said cylinder, and heating means spaced from the Wovenfabric material in a position" for driving moisture therefrom.

' 4. A laundering machine having a support, a cylinder 10 mounted for rotation on said support, said cylinder having a pair of spaced end walls interconnected by spaced rodlike members disposed adjacent to the peripheral edges thereof, one of said end walls having aloading opening therein, a peripheral' wall of liquid-carrying fabric mate-v V rial secured between the end walls by said spaced mem-- bers, and means located externally of said cylinder and adjacent to the periphery thereof for removing moisture 5 from said fabric material.

References-Cited the fi leof this patent, UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,361,894 Williams Oct. 31, 1944 1 2,385,223 Moore -i Sept. 18, 1945 2,643,463 Grantham June 30, 1953 2,758,461 Tann ...i. Aug. 14, 11956 dm-Vvamk

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