US2936527A - Clothes drier - Google Patents

Description

May 17, 1960 Filed Feb. 27, 1957 P. H. HUTT CLOTHES DRIER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENT'OR PERCY H. HUTT P. H. HUTT CLOTHES DRIER May 17, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 27, 1957 I I!) I O! INVENTUR PERCY HUTT 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 P. H. HUTT CLOTHES DRIER H M 1 n J May 11, 1960 Filed Feb. 27, 1957 INVENTOR P. H. HUTT CLOTHES DRIER May 17, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 27, 1957 INVENTUR Unite States Pate CLOTHES DRIER Percy H. Hutt, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, assignor to The Easy Washing Machine Company, Limited, Toronto, Ontario, Canada Application February 27, 1957, Serial No. 642,774

.11 Claims. (CI. 34-48) This invention relates to improvements in automatic clothese driers of the type wherein clothes to be dried are placed in a perforated drum which is rotated while hot air is directed through the drum and over the clothes, and it is the object of the invention to provide a simpler, more eflicient and more economical drier from the standpoint of both manufacture and operation than those presently manufactured.

Another important object is to provide a drier as aforesaid which can be constructed as an extremely compact unit and, despite its compactness, will operate with a low casing temperature and with the operating parts protected from excessive ambient temperatures which would detrimentally affect their life of operation. In this connection it is another object to provide a relatively low exhaust temperature and to provide a simple means of selectively directing the exhaust to the front, back or downwardly from the bottom of the machine.

Again it is an object to provide a drier which will operate extremely quietly and will aflord long life operation.

Another important object is to provide a drier including safety means which will be very sensitive to abnormal temperature increases and positive in action to shut off the machine.

A still further important object is to provide for an eflicient collection of the lint removed from the clothes during drying and to provide a simple and convenient means for effecting clean-out of the lint.

One of the main features of the invention resides in directing a flow of hot air downwardly on the clothes being tumbled in the drum while at the same time subjecting the clothes to radiant heat, directed onto the clothes from above, and in conjunction with the application of such hot air and radiant heat directing air, preheated but at a lower temperature than the downwardly directed hot air, into the drum from one side to impinge on and assist in opening out the downwardly cascading clothing and to maintain the clothing against excessive temperature rise under the application of the radiant heat, and further to add turbulence to the air flow through the drum thus ensuring optimum air and clothing surface contact, the combination of the air flow and application of radiant heat providing an extremely efiicient heat and moisture exchange between the air and clothing.

Another important feature of the invention resides in directing the air which is to be introduced at the top of the drum over the drum casing to efiect drum cooling while at the same time enabling the air to acquire heat from the drum so that on entering the heater the air, prior to discharge into the drum, will be preheated. With this arrangement the cooling of the drum automatically reduces the amount of heat which must be transferred to the air by the heater prior to its discharge into the drum.

Again in this connection according to the invention, the preheated air which is directed into the drum from one side-is preheated by passing over the drum casing, thus further assisting in the cooling of the drum, and also is is preheated by passing through the perforated drum wall, thereby absorbing from the drum heat acquired from the heat radiation source.

In the utilization of heated air and radiant heat to effect drying, another important feature resides in providing a novel air flow passage formation and reflector assembly which includes a reflector element to reflect and direct the radiation heat emitted from the heater into the clothes drum and which directs the air to be heated first as an insulating stream over the upper surface of the reflector to further isolate the top of the drier from the heat source and to cool the reflector element, and then meters the flow of air over the heater so that the entire heater is maintained at a substantially constant temperature for uniformly optimum heat radiation.

Another important feature of the invention resides in utilizing a blower at the discharge or exhaust end of the air circulating system to draw the air through the heater and drum and directing the air and lint being sucked from the drum through a cylindrical lint trapping screen arrangement in a substantially cylindrical discharge housing in communication with the drum, 'the housing having an arrangement of air by-pass openings therein causing relatively cool air to be drawn over the discharge housing and into the chamber to both cool the lint collected on the screen and the exhaust and to form air curtains assisting in the settling out of the finer lint particles on the screen.

Still in this connection the cylindrical screen is formed as a removable element and incorporates an air flow seal connection between the discharge housing and blower casing which also serves as a wiper element for automatically cleaning out the discharge housing on removal of the lint trapping screen.

Also in connection with the exhaust system another feature resides in providing a reversible elbow connection at the discharge of the blower allowing convenient front, rear or bottom exhaust.

As the ability of the drier to shut off on excessive abnormal temperatures, another important feature resides in utilizing the joint of the drum casing as a heat insulating means to isolate the high temperature thermostat from conduction heat transfer from the heater, yet allow: ing the thermostat to be located adjacent to the heater at the top of the drum where abnormal temperatures are first experienced.

In the drying of clothes, it has been found that it is es sential to tumble the clothing, and to this end the clothes drums are provided with spaced peripheral baffles and normally baffles of triangular cross-section are employed.

According to the present invention, it has been found that effective clothes capacity of the drum can be increased, or rather a given clothes capacity can be achieved with a smaller drum by the employment of a baffle having a smaller ratio of baffle depth to drum diameter than previous machines resulting in a more compact machine for a given clothes capacity. In this connection, as triangular bafies are employed the reduction of the baflle depth also results in decreasing the base of the triangle leaving a larger portion of the drum periphery open for the passage of air therethrough.

To facilitate the drive to the drum another feature of the invention resides in providing a tensioning device control is isolated from the heater element and reflector by the air being drawn in through the reflector cover whereby upon stoppage of air flow for any reason it will experience an immediate temperature rise and shut ofi the machine before scorching due to radiation heat can occur.

These and other objects and features will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the, accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is an exploded perspective view of a clothes drier constructed in accordance with the invention with certain parts broken away, and other parts omitted for sake of clarity;

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the drier of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an elevational view taken from one side of the drier with a portion of the casing broken away to illustrate the exhaust system;

Figure 4 is a rear elevational view of the drier with the rear wall of the casing removed;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3, but taken from the opposite side of the drier;

Figure 6 is a transverse mid-vertical sectional view taken through the drier;

- Figure 7 is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view illustrating the door hinge and safety switch operated thereby, showing the door and switch in the closed position in solid line and the door in the open position in dotted line;

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 but showing the door in a position about to close the safety door switch; Figure 9 is a schematic wiring diagram of the drier.

With reference particularly to Figure l, the drier comprises a rectangular base frame 1 from which extends an upright or post 2 carrying a journal 3, Figures 3 and 5, in which is journalled a shaft 4. The shaft 4 supports the clothes receiving drum 5, preferably of the type disclosedin United States Patent No. 2,855,698.

As illustrated particularly in Figures 3 and 5, the drum 5 comprises a circular rear wall formed by a pair of opposing discs 6 whichare dished or of shallow conical form to receive therebetween at the centers thereof a spider or spacer block 7, the spider and discs being assembled by bolts 8, Figure 5, and the discs having flats 9 therein as shown in Figures 2 to 6 to provide abutting disc surfaces which may be conveniently welded together. The spider 7 has a central bore to receive the shaft 4, and is secured to the shaft by means of a set screw 10 accessible through a suitable access opening 10'.

The front wall 11 of the drum comprises an annular plate having a flanged central opening 12 comprising a clothes receiving opening. The periphery of the drum 5 is formed by a cylindrical perforate Wall 13 which preferably comprises a punched sheet, but may comprise a heavy screen or other foraminous surface.

Surrounding the drum 5 is a cylindrical housing 14 which preferably comprises a wrap-around sheet terminating, at the top of the drier substantially in line with its mid-vertical plane including the drum axis of rotation, in a pair of flanges 15 which are secured together by suitable bolts 16, the flanges being spaced to provide a small air gap 17 therebetween. The rear wall of the housing 14 is formed by a circular disc 18 secured to the upright 2, while the front wall of the housing 14 comprises an annular plate 19 supported from the base 1 by a suitable bracket 20, Figures 1 and 2, and this plate 19has an opening 21 therethrough registering with the drum opening 12 and defined by an annular flange 22, as illustrated particularly in Figures 5 and 7.

The housing 14 is provided with a relatively large area inlet opening 23 therethrough adjacent to the top of the housing on one side of said housing gap 17. The inlet opening 23 is preferably covered by a screen 24. Substantially diametrically opposite to the inlet 23, the housing 14 is formed with an exhaust or discharge passage formation illustrated as a plurality of elongated openings 25. The housing is further provided with a second inlet passage formation therethrough, illustrated, as best seen in Figures 1 and 6, as a pair of rows of aligned openings 26. The second inlet constituted by the openings 26 is located at the same side of the longitudinal midvertical plane of the housing as the first inlet 23, but in the preferred position adjacent to but below the horizontal plane including the drum axis for a purpose as will hereinafter appear.

Mounted over and exposed through the inlet 23 is a heater element 27 carried by a reflector unit 28. The heater element 27 is of folded form extending substantially parallel to the periphery of the housing 14 and the reflector unit 28 encloses the heater and has its upper surface 29 disposed and arranged to direct and reflect radiant heat energy emanating from the heater downwardly through the housing inlet 23 and through the perforate wall of the drum 5 into the interior thereof.

Enclosing the heater and reflector unit is a cover 30, and this cover is formed at one side thereof adjacent to the top with a plurality of inlet openings 31 to admit air into the cover. As best seen in Figure 6, the upper surface 29 of the reflector unit is formed with rows of holes 32, 33 and 34 therethrough with the holes 32 being located adjacent to the cover inlet openings 31 and the holes 33 and 34 being spaced from the cover openings 31 corresponding to the separation between these rows. Preferably the holes are of progressively increasing diameter in moving from row 32 to row 34.

The drum 5 and its housing 14 are enclosed in a casing 35 which is open at the bottom to admit air into the machine from the bottom to flow upwardly against and around the housing 14 to reach the housing inlets 23 and 26. As shown in Figures 5 and 7, the casing 35 is provided with an opening 36 in the front thereof registering with the opening 21 in the front plate 19 of the housing 14 and with the clothes receiving opening 12 of the drum 5. An area indicated at 37 of the front wall of the casing 35 around the casing opening 36 is offset inwardly to provide for the flush mounting of a door or closure 38 hinged to the front of the casing by means of hinges 39 which, as best seen in Figures 7 and 8, embody part-circular cam portions 40, the upper hinge 39 having-its cam 40 arranged to operate a door switch 41 which controls the operation of the drier, as hereinafter explained, to shut olf the machine when the door is opened.

As shown in Figures 7 and 8, the door switch 41 includes a threaded neck 42 extending through a bracket 43 mounted on the inner face of the front wall of the casing 35. The switch 41 is operated by a plunger 44 engaged by the cam portion 40 of the hinge and the position of the plunger relative to the hinge cam 40 is adjusted by means of positioning lock nuts 45 on the threaded neck 42 of the switch. Figure 8 illustrates the position of the door 38 as it approaches the closed position to first engage the switch plunger 44, and Figure 7 shows in solid line the displacement of the plunger with the door moved to the closed position. As illustrated in Figure 7 in dotted line, the hinge cam 40 clears the switch plunger 44 with the door in the open position. A door catch, indicated at 46 in Figure 2, of any suitable construction, allowing release of the door from the inside is provided to hold the door in the closed position, as illustrated particularly in Figures 5 and 7.

An annular molded gasket 47 of rubber or similar material is arranged in the clothes receiving opening defined by the casing opening 36, housing opening 21 and drum opening 12, the gasket interlocking with the flange 22 of the housing. The drum 5 is driven in rotation by means of a motor 48 mounted on a bracket 49 which is pivotally supported on a shaft 50 pivoted on the base frame 1 and extending parallel to the drum shaft 4. The motor 48 also drives a blower 51 which preferably is of the construction illustrated and claimed in co-pending application Serial Number 642,776, now US. Patent No. 2,926,839 the blower being adapted to draw air into the casing 35 and through the drum and out the exhaust.

As illustrated particularly in Figures 1, '3, 4, and 6, the blower 51 is disposed below and at the rear of the drum 5 with its axis parallel to the drum axis or shaft 4 and comprises a housing 52 of somewhat scroll-like formation having a circular entrance 53 generally concentrio with the blower axis and a discharge outlet 54 at the bottom of the housing. The housing 52 carries a flanged mounting plate 55, Figures 3 and 4, at the rear thereof, and this plate forms the journal bearing for the shaft 56 of the blower blades 57.

Extending axially of the drum housing 14 and enclosing the discharge openings 25 therein is a part-circular duct 58, one end of which terminates in a circular portion 59, Figure 3, engaging the blower housing entrance 53. The opposite end of the duct 58 has a circular opening 60 therein registering with a corresponding opening 61 in the casing 35. The duct 58 preferably has a row of openings 62 therein on opposite sides thereof as shown particularly in Figures 1 and 6.

Arranged within the duct 58 is a removable lint trap 63 in the form of a cylindrical screen which defines with the duct 58 a generally annular airflow passage 64 surrounding the screen. At each end of the screen 63, there is provided a compressible ring 65 of felt or similar material which are adapted to seal the blower housing entrance 53 and the casing opening 61, whereby air entering the blower housing must enter through the lint-trap screen 63.

Secured to the blower outlet 54 is an elbow 66 which, as best shown in Figure 3, is reversible, so that the bioweer discharge may be directed either to the rear or to the front of the casing 35, Figure 3 showing in solid line a. rear discharge through an outlet 67 in the rear wall of the casing while showing in dotted line a front discharge through duct 68 and front discharge opening 69.

The drive between the motor 48, drum 5 and blower 51 is accomplished as follows: Pivotally supported from the upright post 2 to swing on an axis parallel to the drum shaft 4 is an arm 70 rotatably supporting a large pulley 71 and a small pulley 72 keyed to a common shaft 73. A belt 74 engaging motor pulley 75, large pulley 71 and blower pulley 76, provides the motor to blower drive and also drives small pulley 72. A second belt 76', engaging small pulley 72 and a pulley 77 keyed on the drum shaft 4, provides the drive from the motor to the drum.

A spring 78, acting on arm 70, urges the arm downwardly in a direction to tension belt 76'. At the same time, spring 79 acts on the motor bracket 49 in a direction inclined generally transversely of the direction in which spring 78 acts to tension belt 74 to provide positive drive to the blower and pulley assembly constituted by pulleys 71 and 72. With this arrangement, positive drive'to the drum can be effected through the action of spring 78 without placing undue stress on the blower bearings.

In the operation of the drum, it is the object to tumble clothing placed therein and in this connection, it has been found that the effective capacity of the drum can be increased by the provision of baffles or ribs 30 which have a depth or radial dimension which bears a specific relation to drum radius or diameter. The bafile depth should be just sufficient to cause tumbling of the clothes placed in the drum with the drum rotating at normal drying speed. If larger battles are employed than just required to effect tumbling, as is presently the case, the capacity of the drum is reduced by an amount proportional to the square of the excess radial extent, since it has been found that the effective drum capacity is the volume defined between the innermost surfaces of the bafiies. In practice, it has been found that a drum rotating at approximately 50 revolutions per minute and having a diameter of 24 /1 provides maximum effective capacity with baffles having a depth of 2 A" to provide a baffle depth to drum diameter ratio of 1/l().88.

The baffies 80 are conventionally of triangular crosssection and it will be understood that by reducing the height or radial extent of these battles, the base area of the bafiie triangles will be reduced to provide increased uncovered areas in the cylindrical perforate or foraminous wall 13 of the drum. To facilitate installation of the bafiies 80, the end discs 6 of the drum are formed with triangular flats 81 to which flanges 82 formed on the ends of the baffles are welded.

The controls for the drier, as illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 9, comprise a timer 83 mounted on the top of the casing 35 which provides a time control for operation of the heater 27 and the motor 48, conrolling the flow of power thereto from terminal block 84. Connected in series with the heater 27 and the timer 83 is a temperature control 85 mounted at the top of casing 35, the control being a variable thermostat selector type and including a temperature-responsive bulb element 86, mounted on the drum housing 14 at the top thereof adjacent to the heater element 27, but disposed on the opposite side of the housing air gap 17. Also arranged in series with the heater 27 is a high temperature thermostat 87 which, again, is mounted at the top of the drum housing 14 adjacent to, but on the side of the housing gap 14 opposite the heater 27. A second high temperature thermostat 87 is mounted directly on the heater cover 30 for a purpose as will hereinafter appear.

The circuit connections to the heater, timer and motor are made through a relay 88, whose contacts are closed by door switch 41 when the door 38 is closed, so that the door switch does not handle the full heater and motor current. Preferably the circuit includes a circuit breaker 89 to protect against motor overload arranged at the top of the casing, and the circuit is also shown as including a lamp 9% arranged to operate when the door 38 is opened to close one set of contacts of the door switch 41 which draw a small current from the center tap of the terminal block 84 through lead 91 and the relatively small resistance motor windings )2, back through lead 93 to the timer 83, through the switch via leads 94 and 95 and the closed switch contacts to the lamp and back via the timer and lead 96 to the upper terminal of the terminal block. As the current and motor winding re: sistances are small the voltage drop across the motor is negligible so that the motor may be used as the circuit connection for the lamp. Upon door closure, of course, the lamp circuit is broken and the relay circuit completed by the door switch.

Operation In operation, clothing is placed in the drum and the door 38 is closed. The drying temperature is then selected by setting the temperature control 85 and the drying cycle initiated by setting the timer 83 to the desired drying time. The motor 43 is energized by the setting of the timer with the door 33 closed, and operates blower 51 and rotates the drum 5 in an anti-clockwise direction, as seen from Figures 2 and 6.

The blower 51 applies a suction to the drum housing 14, and consequently the drum, and air is drawn upwardly from the bottom of the casing 35 to flow into contact with and around the drum housing with a portion of the air being drawn into the inlet 23 after having first been drawn into the heater cover 30 through the inlet openings 31 and through the holes 32, 33 and 34 in the reflector surface 29 backing the heater element 27, and then past the heater. The air following this path is led for an extended length of its path over the surface of the housing 14 with the result that this air is preheated by the housing surface while at the same time it effects a cooling of the housing. This air is led beneath the top of the casing 35, as best seen in Figure 6, to provide an insulating air stream between the top of the drum housing 14 and the casing to maintain the upper surface of the casing relatively cool. This air further contacts the heater cover, effecting a cooling of the cover.

Following the entrance of this preheated air into the cover 30 through the openings 31, it is conducted between the upper surface 29 of the reflector unit and the undersurface of the cover to provide an insulating air stream therebetween, and to effect a cooling of the reflector surface 29 and to isolate the thermostat 87' from the heater element and reflector. By the arrangement of the holes 32, 33 and 34 in the reflector surface 29, the air is metered so that a substantially equal proportion of air flows downwardly past the heater portions lying beneath these holes, whereby the heater is maintained at a substantially uniform temperature throughout its extent.

The airflow through the heater cover 30 and reflector openings 32, 33 and 34, is selected so that in operation this previously preheated air will be raised to the desired high temperature, preferably within the range of approximately 150 to 200 degrees without cooling the heater below its colour temperature at which it effectively radiates radiant heat energy. The result is that a hot air stream is directed or drawn downwardly into the drum through the inlet 23 to impinge on clothes being tumbled in the drum from above as they cascade downwardly off the baflies 3%. At the same time, the reflector surface 29 reflects and directs radiant heat energy from the heater 27 downwardly onto the clothing.

At the same time that the hot air is being directed downwardly on the clothing, additional air is being drawn upwardly against the drum housing to further assist in cooling same, and this preheated air, to which the drum housing gives up some of its heat, is drawn in through the inlet openings 26 and directed through the cylindrical perforate drum wall 13 into the drum. As the air entering the inlets 26 will be contacting the drum wall immediately after it has passed and been exposed to heat from the heater element 27, this air will assist in cooling the drum wall and further acquire heat prior to its entrance into the interior of the drum. This air is then heated, but at a lower temperature than the air being directed into the drum past the heater, and it contacts the clothing from the side to penetrate into the clohing from underneath as it is cascading downwardly.

This airflow from the side through the inlet openings 26 appears to balance the radiant heat energy directed on the clothing, maintaining the clothing against excessive temperature rise, which would cause scorching, and at the same time this lateral or transverse airflow adds turbulence to the air movement in the drum to augment air and clothing surface contact for maximum moisture absorption. Further, the lateral airflow assists in clearing moisture vapour from the drum.

The exhaust from the drum is sucked out through the openings 25 at the bottom of the drum housing into the duct 58 and through the lint trap or screen 63 into the blower entrance 53 through the blower to be discharged through the blower outlet 54 to the front or rear of the machine as selected.

By providing the rows of openings 62 in the wall of the duct, the airflow through the drum may be controlled to provide the desired flow rate past the heaterelement 27 and through the inlet openings 26. Additionally, the provision of the duct openings 62 effects the movement of the air from the bottom of the casing upwardly and around the duct 58 and into the duct openings to provide a cooling both externally and internally of the duct to cool the exhaust. As the exhaust from the drum reaches the lint trap screen 63, the lint contained in the drum discharge settles out on the screen. In this connection, the inwardly flowing air flowing through the duct openings 62 on opposite sides thereof forms an air curtain at each side of the drum exhaust discharge to assist in settling out the lint at the upper side of the screen 63, leaving the underside of the screen relatively free of lint to maintain the exhaust'system from clogging over an' extended period of time.

In this connection, it will be observed that, as seen particularly from Figure 3, on withdrawal of the lint trap 63 the inner compressible ring 65 will form a wiper element to catch lint clinging to the'wall of the duct 58 and wipe this wall.

It has been found that optimum drying is efiected'by employing the above-described airflow through the drum in conjunction with the utilization of the radiant heat energy directed downwardly onto the clothing. It has been found that by regulating the airflow through the drum housing inlets 23 and 26, so that substantially at least as much air, and preferably somewhat more air, is directed through the inlets 26 as is directed through the inlet 23, a minimum of energy is required for the operation of the heater element while providing an extremely effective and rapid drying.

In the event that the temperature of the air flowing through the drum should rise above the limit set by .the variable thermostat and this thermostat fails to open the heater circuit, the hot air will concentrate beneath the upper surface of the drum housing 14 to raise the temperature of the high level thermostat 87, which will act as a safety control and open the heater circuit. Thus, the high temperature thermostat 87 is located where it will quickly respond as a safety control to abnormal temperatures occurring within the drum and drum housing. At the same time, by the provision of the housing gap 17, this thermostat is shielded against direct heat conduction from the heater so that it will not be inadvertently actuated during normal operation;

In the event that airflow through the drum should stop for any reason, for instance, upon failure of one of the belt drives or upon clogging of the lint trap, it is highly desirable that the machine be cut off operation immediately. This quick shut-off is effected in the present machine by the provision of the supplemental high temperature thermostat 87 mounted on the heater cover 30. As will be understood, the thermostat 87' is located extremely close to the heat source and is maintained below contact opening temperature essentially solely by the airflow between the cover and reflector element 29.

Almost immediately upon cessation of this airflow, the temperature of the cover, and hence of the thermostat 87, will rise above the operating point of the thermostat to cut off the heater. Thus, the possibility of scorching of the clothes by heat radiation before the thermostat 87 operates, is eliminated.

It will be understood that various modifications in details of the arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the invention or scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a clothes drier, a clothes tumbling drum mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis and having a perforate cylindrical wall, a cylindrical housing surrounding said drum, an exhaust opening in said' housing at a point below the horizontal diameter of said housing, blower means in communication with said housing through said exhaust opening to place said housing and drum under suction on operation of said blower, said housing having a first air inlet passage formation therethrough at a point above the horizontal diameter of said housing whereby air entering said housing inlet is adapted to be drawn downwardly through said drum to said exhaust to impinge from above on cascading clothes being tumbled in said drum, heater means exposed through said inlet to the interior of said drum and adapted to radiate heat downwardly on clothes being tumbled in the drum, means for guiding air entering said inlet in close proximity to said heater means, to be heated thereby, said housing having a second air inlet passage formation therethrough disposed substantially adjacent to the horizontal diameter of said casing whereby air entering said second housing inlet is adapted to be drawn to said exhaust in a direction generally transversely of the downwardly directed air flow to impinge on cascading clothes from the side.

2. A device as claimed in claim 1 in which said first housing inlet formation and said exhaust are disposed in substantially diametrically opposite relation on opposite sides of a vertical plane through the center of said housing, and said second housing inlet formation is disposed on the same side of said vertical plane as said first inlet formation and adjacent to but below said horizontal drum diameter. 7

3. A device as claimed in claim 2 having reflector means disposed above said heater means to reflect and direct radiant heat energy into said drum, and said means for guiding air entering said first-mentioned inlet is arranged to direct such air over said reflector.

4. A device as claimed in claim 3 in which said reflector is formed with air metering orifices therethrough to proportion and direct air onto said heater means to maintain said heater means at a substantially uniform radiation temperature.

5. In a clothes drier a casing, open at the bottom, a clothes tumbling drum mounted within said casing to rotate about a horizontal axis and having a perforate cylindrical Wall, means for rotating said drum, a cylindrical housing surrounding said drum, said housing having an upper air inlet passage formation therethrough adjacent to the top of the casing and a lower air inlet passage formation therethrough adjacent to one side of the casing and an air exhaust passage formation therethrough adjacent to the bottom of said casing, blower means in communication with said exhaust to place said drum housing and drum under suction to draw air up from the bottom of said casing around said drum housing and into said drum through said upper and lower inlet.

passage formations with the air entering said upper inlet being drawn downwardly through the drum and the air entering said lower inlet formation being drawn generally transversely of the downwardly drawn air, heater means disposed above and exposed through said upper inlet, a reflector disposed above said heater for reflecting and directing radiant heat energy from said heater means into said drum, and means for directing air over said reflector and adjacent to said heater prior to entering said upper inlet.

6. A device as claimed in claim 5 in which said means for directing air over said reflector comprises a housing enclosing said reflector and heater from above, said latter housing having openings therein at one side thereof above said reflector, and said reflector having a series of aligned rows of openings therein with the size of the openings increasing with distance from said latter housing openmgs.

7. In a clothes drier a casing open at the bottom, a cylindrical clothes tumbling drum mounted within said casing to rotate about a horizontal axis, means for rotating said drum, said drum having a perforate cylindrical wall carrying internal radially inwardly projecting baflles whereby on drum rotation said baflles are adapted to carry clothes received in the drum upwardly to adjacent the top of said casing from which position they cascade downwardly through the drum, a cylindrical housing surrounding said drum, said housing having an upper air inlet passage formation therethrough adjacent to the top of said casing and on one side of a vertical plane containing the drum axis, and a lower air inlet passage formation therethrough adjacent to but below a horizontal plane containing the drum axis and having an exhaust passage formation therethrough substantially diametrically o-pposite to said upper inlet, means in communication with said exhaust passage formation for app-lying suction to said housing and drum, a heater mounted adjacent to the top of said casing and exposed through said upper inlet, a reflector disposed over said heater and adapted to reflect and direct radiant heat energy downwardly through said perforate drum wall onto downwardly cascading clothes being tumbled in the drum, a cover covering said heater and reflector and having an air inlet formation therethrough for admitting air to said reflector and heater, said suction applying means being adapted on application of suction to draw in cool air at the bottom of said casing 7 against said drum housing to cool said housing and preheat said air and to draw a portion of said air across said heater and reflector cover beneath the top of said casing and over said reflector and heater and downwardly into said housing and drum to impinge from above as a high temperature air stream on clothing being tumbled in the drum and to draw a further portion of said preheated air through said lower housing inlet against the perforate drum wall to cool same and absorb heat therefrom and into the drum to impinge on and penetrate downwardly cascading clothes from the side and to add turbulence to the air flow through the drum.

8. A device as claimed in claim 7 in which said reflector and heater cover is spaced from said reflector to form an air passage extending above said reflector, said cover air inlet formation being disposed at one side of the reflector whereby air drawn into said cover is drawn transversely across between said cover and reflector, said reflector having air metering openings therein with said latter openings increasing in area with distance from said cover inlet formation to meter air flowing therethrough onto said heater therebeneath to maintain said heater throughout its extent at a substantially uniform heat radiation temperature.

9. A device as claimed in claim 7 in which said means for applying suction to said housing comprises a blower arranged adjacent to the bottom of said housing and having a cylindrical intake with its axis parallel to the drum axis and a discharge, a longitudinal duct extending axially of said drum and leading to said blower intake, said drum housing exhaust passage formation opening laterally into said duct, and a cylindrical lint trapping screen removably mounted in said duct and extending axially of said drum from front to back thereof and terminating at said intake to screen air passing from said exhaust to said intake, said duct having by-pass air openings therethrough whereby on blower operation cool air is drawn over said duct and into the interior thereof to cool drum exhaust and to provide an air curtain to settle out lint carried in drum exhaust on said screen adjacent to said duct openings.

10. A device as claimed in claim 9 in which said duct is of part circular cross-section and said duct openings are disposed in a pair of aligned rows on opposite sides of said drum housing exhaust formation which opens laterally into said duct, and said screen is provided with a compressible sealing ring at the end thereof terminating at said blower intake to seal against lint by-pass to said intake, said compressible sealing ring comprising a wiper element to wipe said duct upon withdrawal of said screen.

11. In a clothes drier, a clothes tumbling drum mounted to rotate about a horizontal axis and having a perforate peripheral wall, a housing surrounding said drum, said housing comprisinga wrap-around sheet having the ends thereof disposed in adjacent but spaced relation at the top of said drum to form an air gap therebetween, and having an inlet opening therein adjacent to the top thereof on one side of said air gap and an outlet leading therefrom at the bottom, a heater element mounted above and exposed through said inlet, a reflector disposed over said heater, a cover enclosing said heater and reflector and defining a passageway between said cover and reflector, said cover having an opening therein leading to said passageway and said reflector being formed to provide communication between said passageway and said housing inlet, means for drawing air into said cover through said passageway and housing inlet and into said drum and out said outlet, and a thermostat element mounted on References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,054,853 Lofquist Mar. 4, 1913 2,398,880 Broglie Apr. 23, 1946 2,434,886 Pugh Jan. 20, 1948 12 Amonsen Aug. 2,. Clark Mar. 7, Gorsuch Apr. 25, Wagner Mar. 25, Kaufiman Oct. 7, Bourner Jan. 5, Erickson et a1. Feb. 8, Bourner Sept. 5, Engel Mar. 6, Wallis et a1 July 24, Huebsch June 11, Sofier Jan. 21,

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