US2628432A - Delicate goods drier - Google Patents

Description

Feb 17, 1953 l H. E. MbRRlsoN 2,628,432

DELIcATE Gobns DRIER v Filed May 14, 1951 Patented Feb. 17, 1953 STATES DELICATE GOODS DRIER Harold E. Morrison, St. Joseph, Mich., assignor to Whirlpool Corporation, St. Joseph, Mich., a

corporation of New York Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in clothes driers and has as its principal objects to y provide an improved form of drier construction for rotary'drum types of household driers, for drying delicate clothes that would otherwise be injured by the tumbling action of the clothes in the drying drum.

Another object of my invention is to provide an efficient form of stationary drying means incorporated in a rotary drum type of a drier for drying delicate clothes without tumbling, at the same time other clothes are drying by the tumbling action of the drier drum.

Another and more detailed ob'ect of my invention is to provide a novel and improved form of drier construction for rotary drum types of household dryers including a drying means fitted in the door for the dryer cabinet, to support the delicate clothes for drying.

Still another object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved form of dryer door for the cabinet of a rotary drum type of household clothes dryer having means incorporated therein for drying delicate clothes.

Still another and more detailed object of my invention is to provide a novel and improved form of dryer door for the cabinet of a household type of clothes dryer having a recess therein with shelves contained in the recess to receive the delicate clothes and having one perforate wall and another imperiorate wall, one oi which walls has a door therein to aiford access to the drying shelves.

These and other objects of my invention will appear from time to time as the following specication proceeds and with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a household type of rotary clothes drier having a drying means for delicate clothes constructed in accorda-nce with my invention embodied therein;

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary transverse sectional view taken substantially along line Il-ll of Figure 1; and

Figure 3 is a View somewhat similar to Figure 2 but showing a modified form in which my inf vention may be embodied.

In the embodiments of my invention illustrated in the drawing, a rotary drum type of clothes drier is shown which may be of a type illustrated and described .in application Serial No. 208,707, iled by Peter Eduard Geldrhof and Harold E. Morrison on January 3l, 1951. The drier, herein shown includes a cabinet lo having a front wall H with a door l2 therein for clos- 2 ing a clothes receiving opening i?. in said iront wall and affording access to a drier drum l5 rotatably journaled within said cabinet.

As in the aforementioned application Serial No. 208,707, the drum l5 is rotatably driven during the drying operation and a 'bulkhead (not shown) extends upwardly along the rear wall of the drier drum I5 and has air circulating means associated therewith for circulating the heated air into said drum and withdrawing it therefrom through a perforated rear wall of' the cabinet, from which it may be exhausted to the atmosphere through a rear wall of said cabinet. The bulkhead, heating and air circulating means is clearly shown and described in application Serial No. 208,707 mentioned before, so neela not herein be shown or described.

The clothes receiving opening le in the front wall of the cabinet E@ may be circular and is dened by an inwardly extending annular flange il, herein as shown as extending toward the drier drum l5. The flange il is shown as being bent to extend at right angles toward the center of the drier drum, to form a sealing shoulder i5. The flange is then bent inwardly and curled outwardly to form a smoothly curved lip le. The inside of the shoulder it .is slidably engaged by a flexible sealing member 2! extending from an outwardly curved flange 2 l, defining a clothes receiving opening in a front wall 22 of the drier drum l5, to retain the circulation of air into and out of the drum l5 through its rear perforate wall.

The door I2 may be rectangular and may be hinged to the flange il by suitable concealed hinge means (not shown), as in application Serial No. 208,707, so that upon release of a latch 23 engaging a keeper 2li projecting upwardly from the upper inner margins of said door, the door will be free to open. The latch 23 is shown as being operated by a push-button 25 extending through an opening in the forward inclined upperA face of the cabinet it, and operatively connected with the latch 23 by release levers 25 and 2l.

The door l2 has a iront Wall 30, herein shown as being rectangular and having an inwardly extending annular iange Sii, to which is secured an annular shouldered end 32 of an annular side wall 33 in a suitable manner, such as, welding. The side Wall 33 extends inwardly through the clothes receiving opening i3 within the drier drum l5. A sealing member fifi on the shouldered portion 32 of the door is shown as engaging the inner edge of the inwardly extending flanged portion I 8 of the ange I1, to prevent heated air from escaping through said opening in said cabinet during the drying operation.

The annular side wall 33 of the door is shown as having an inwardly turned inner flanged portion 35, to which is secured a rear wall 36 of the door, herein shown as being perforate. As

herein shown, the rear wall 36 includes `an an nular rim 3?, U-shaped in cross-section with the open po-rtion thereof opening inwardly toward the center of rotation of the drum, and having a screen 39 crimped therein.

A plurality of shelves d8, 60, herein shownV as being three in number, are mounted Within the recessed portion of the door I2 at the outer, edges of the flanged portion 35 thereof, as by Welding, and aiord a means for holding delicate clothes for drying by the heated air circulatedthrough the drier drum i5. While shelves are hereinshownit is of course obvious that shelves need not be provide i, and that hooks or other clothes holding means may be provided instead.

Each shelf 6i! is herein shown as being inclined with respect to the rear wall 39, so moisture from the clothes may drain into the drier drumA I5. Each of said shelves is shown as having an outer upwardly extending lip i terminating into end lips 152, #i2 at opposite edges thereof.

rThe front wall 3i) of the door I2 is shown as having a rectangular opening therein, to Yaiford access to the shelves d, 40. The opening dened by the inner edge of the front wall is herein shown as being closed by a door 43 hingedr to said front wall, as by hinges 4s, di and held in a closed position by suitable latching means, not herein shown or described since it may be of any well known form and is no part of my present invention.

The door 'i3 is shown as having an inwardly spaced inturned rib 35 extending inwardly of the opening in the front wall 39 of the door i2. A

gasket or sealing member 45 is shown as beingA spaced outwardly of the rib i5 to engage the` opening in the front wall i of the door !2,.to prevent the escape of air past the door 43 during op eration of the drier and thus to retain thevcirculation of air into and out of the drier drum I5 through the perforate rear wall thereof.

With the form of my invention illustrated in.

Figure 2, at any time during operation of the drier, delicate clothes such as nylon stockings or the like may be placed on the shelves 40, upon opening of the door mit. Upon closing of the door, the hot air circulating into and out of the drum I5 will pass 'through the screen S9 in communica-- tion with the goods on the shelves 10, 40 and dry the delicate clothes without tumbling, while the. clothes within the drier drum I5 are being dried by rotatable movement of said drum and the circulation of heated air therethrough.

In the form of my invention illustrated in Figure 3, a door E201l for the front Wall II of the cabinet It is shown as having an imperforate inner wall 4l extending within the open clothes.

receiving end of the drier drum i5 and as having shelves dta., 40a, secured thereto and extending thereacross inrvertically spaced relation with respect to each other. The shelves 46a, Mia may be like the shelves dii, A front door 43a. for. a

front wall @to of the door IZa is provided to aiford.

access to saidshelves. Said front door is herein shown as being perforate, having a screen 4S ex,.- tending across the open portion thereof and suit.- ably secured thereto as by crimping.

With this forni of my invention, when the..

nylon stockings or other delicate clothes are placed on the shelves 40a, 40a and the drier drum I5 is rotating to eiect drying of the clothes therein, the clothes on said shelves are dried by the heat radiated from the interior of the drier drum, the moisture in the delicate clothes escaping through the screen 49 in the door 43a.

I-t should. here be noted thaty while I have shovvnadoor 43a. as closingthe opening in the front Wall 30a of the door IZa that a door need not be provided and the recessed portion of the door may be open, if desired.

It should here be noted that the doors 43 or 43a, whilelshown as being on the outsides of the doors I2 and I2a respectively, may be on the insides of said door as well, and may be perforate or imperforate as required.

It may be seen from the foregoing that a simple and novel arrangement has been provided for drying clothes in a household type of clothes drier without tumbling, during operation of the drier while drying the clothes within the drier drum by tumbling, and that this is attained by providing a recess in a standard drier door with shelves therein for holding the clothes to be dried, and by dryingthe clothes either by the heated air circulating through the drum and a perforate rear wall of the door, or by radiation of heat against an imperforate rear wall of the door.

It will be understood that various modiiications and variations of the present invention may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts thereof.

Iclaim as my invention:

l. In a clothes drier, a cabinet, a drier drum rotatably mounted within said cabinet, an opening in a wall of said cabinet confronting an open end of saiddrier drum, a door closing said opening, said 'door having a wall spaced inwardly of the inner margins of the front wall of said cabinet and with the margins of said door defining a recess for receiving clothes for drying, vent means for venting said recess, and shelf means in said recess for holding delicate clothes for drying by the heat generated Within said cabinet.

2. In a clothes drier, a cabinet having a front wall, a drier drum rotatably mounted therein and having a front wall Vhaving a clothes receiving opening therein confronting the front wall of said cabinet, a door in said front wail of said cabinet affording access to the interior of said drum, said door being` hollow and having two spaced walls, one of which is perforate, a delicate access to said clothes holding receptacle.

3. In a clothes drier, a cabinet having a front wall, a drier drum rotatably mounted within said cabinet and havingairont wall having a clothes receiving opening therein confronting the front wall of said cabinet, a door in said front wall of said cabinet affording access to the interior of said drum, said door being hollow and having two spaced walls, one ofV which is perforate and is disposedwithin the margins of said drum, and the other of. which has a door hinged thereon and affording access to the space between said walls, and clothes holdingreceptacle means within the hollowinterior of said first mentioned door.

4. In a clothes drier, a cabinet having a front wall, adrier drumrotatably mounted therein and havingr a front wall having a clothes receiving opening therein confronting the front wall of said cabinet, af door in said front wall of said .cabinet .aordi'ngaccess to the interior of said drum, said door being holioW and having two spaced Walls, a door in the outermost of said Walls affording access to the hollow interior of said iirst mentioned door, a clothes holding receptacie Within the hollow interior of said first mentioned door, and said second mentioned door being perforate, to allow the release of moisture from said second door, during drying.

5. In a clothes drier, a cabinet, a clothes containing drum rotatably mounted Within said cabinet for tumbling and drying ciothes contained therein, said drum having an end wali having a clothes receiving opening therein, and said cabinet having an opening therein confronting said clothes receiving opening, a door 1.

closing said opening in said cabinet and affording access to said drum and having an inner Wall spaced inwardly of the front wall of said cabinet 5 and with the margins of said door defining a clothes receiving recess, and delicate clothes holding members within said recess for supporting delicate clothes for drying without tumbling.

HAROLD E. MORRISON.

REFERENCES @FEED The following references are of record in the rile of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

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