US3438136A - Ozone producing laundry freshening units - Google Patents

Description

J. E. RAYMOND OZONE PRODUCING LAUNDRY FRESHENING UNITS A ril 15, 1969 Sheet of 3 Filed Nov. 1, 1965 INVEN TOR J K E. R "0 Qtn" FIG. 2

ATTORNEY April 15, 1969 J. E. RAYMOND 3,438,136

OZONE PRODUCING LAUNDRY FRESHENING UNITS Fild Nov. 1, 1965 Sheet .2 01's 29 9O 83 30 g p HHHHHTHHIHHIHIH I -r r ML...-

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INVENTOR J E. RAY ND 36 1 BY & \L M A TTORNE Y April 15, 1969 J. E. RAYMOND 3,438,136

OZONE PRODUCING LAUNDRY FRESHENING UNITS Filed Nov. 1, 1965 Sheet 3 of 3 IN VE N TOR JA K E. RAY no A TTORNE Y United States Patent 3,438,136 OZONE PRODUCING LAUNDRY FRESHENING UNITS Jack E. Raymond, 8121 Madison St., St. Louis County, Mo. Filed Nov. 1, 1965, Ser. No. 505,915 Int. Cl. F26b 21/14 US. CI. 34-72 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A laundry freshening unit for attachment to a laundry dryer includes a pair of tubular electrodes mounted in a housing with a tubular dielectric member coaxial and interposed between them. A transformer impresses a high voltage across terminals connected to the electrodes. Ozone produced by the unit is fed into the heated air stream of the dryer and the heated and ozone-containing air dries and freshens laundry within the dryer.

This invention relates in general to laundry freshening units and, more particularly, to freshening units for operative attachment to laundry dryers.

Generally speaking, commercial as well as household laundry dryers include a rotatable drum through which a volume of heated air is drawn by a fan, the air being heated by a conventional heating unit located upstream from the drum. Damp laundry is placed in the drum which, when rotated, causes the laundry to tumble within the stream of heated air, whereby to remove the moisture therefrom. Such dryers dry laundry consider-ably faster than could otherwise be accomplished by hanging the laundry on clothes lines, clothes racks, or other devices located in ambient air, but, nevertheless, do not leave the laundry with a so-called freshened odor. Consequently, many housewives prefer to dry their laundry outdoors and thereby take advantage of the natural freshening properties of sunlight and fresh air.

More particularly, conventional laundry dryers, as a result of the high temperature of the air stream, leave clothes and other laundry with a burned odor. Additionally, those dryers which utilize gas to generate heat impart an undesirable gaseous odor to the laundry. Furthermore, such dryers do not remove body odors which often linger in clothes and the obnoxious odors often associated with other types of laundry such as diapers, towels, and bedding.

It is, therefore, the primary object of the present invention to provide a freshening unit for clothes dryers which imparts a freshened odor to laundry.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a freshening unit of the type stated which removes obnoxious and offensive odors from the laundry.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a freshening unit of the type stated which is simple in construction and economical to manufacture.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a freshening unit of the type stated which can readily and easily be attached to commercial laundry and dry cleaning machines.

Other objects and features will be in part apparent and in part pointed out hereinafter.

3,438,136 Patented Apr. 15, 1969 ice The invention accordingly comprises the constructions hereinafter described, the scope of the invention being indicated in the following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which one of various possible embodiments of the invention is illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a laundry freshening unit constructed in accordance with and embodying the present invention, the unit being mounted on a conventional laundry dryer;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the laundry freshening unit;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line 44 of FIG. 3;

FIGS. 5 and 6 are sectional views taken along lines 55 and 6-6, respectively, of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is an exploded perspective view of an ozone generator forming part of the present invention; and

FIG. 8 is a schematic View showing the electrical circuitry of the present invention.

Corresponding reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

Referring now to the drawings, which illustrate a preferred embodiment of the present invention, A designates a laundry freshening unit which preferably is mounted on top of, or in close proximity to, a conventional laundry dryer D, which is suitably enclosed within a dryer housing 1. Rigidly mounted in the upper portion of the housing 1 is a gas fired or electric heating unit 2 having a plenum or mixing chamber 3 into which ambient air is drawn through an aperture 4 by an exhaust fan 5 located near the base of the housing 1. In its rearwardly presented wall, that is to say the left wall as seen in FIG. 2, the heating unit 2 is provided with an aperture 6 for purposes presently more fully appearing. The air which enters the chamber 3 is heated and subsequently drawn out through an aperture 7 located in the base thereof. Operatively mounted in the housing 1 and interposed in the heated air stream between the fan 5 and mixing chamber 3 is a rotatable drum 8 having an open end 9 which provides access to the inside thereof. The drum 6 is turned by an electric motor 10, a gear box 11 Operatively interconnecting the two. Hingedly mounted in the housing 1 in registration with the forward open end 9 of the drum 8 is a door 12 through which damp laundry may be inserted. The drum 8 is conventionally provided with a plurality of apertures which allow the heated air stream to pass therethrough and come in contact with the damp laundry tumbling therein, whereby to remove moisture from the same. Removably mounted in close proximity to the base of the housing 1 and interposed in the air stream between the fan 5 and drum 8 is a filter 13 for removing lint from the air stream before it passes through the fan 5 and is discharged into the surrounding atmosphere.

Provided for cooperation with dryer D is the laundry freshening unit A which is disposed on the upper wall of the former or in some other suitable nearby location. The freshening unit A includes a housing 20 having spaced parallel side walls 21, 22, transversely connected by spaced parallel end walls 23, 24. interconnecting the walls 21, 22, 23, 24, is a bottom wall 25 having upstruck flanges 26 which are spot Welded or otherwise rigidly secured to the inner faces of the walls 21, 22, 23, 24, in close proximity to the bottom margins thereof. Bolted to the under face of the bottom wall 25 and projecting downwardly therefrom in close proximity to the corners thereof are legs 27. Removably fitted over the upper margins of the walls 21, 22, 23, 24, in the formation of an enclosure 28 is a top wall 29 integrally including depending flanges 30 which engage the outer surfaces of the walls 21, 22, 23, 24, and prevent the top wall 29 from sliding off. Bolted to the side walls 21, 22, are handles 31 for convenient handling of the freshening unit A.

Centrally bolted to the end wall 23 is a conventional centrifugal fan 35 provided with a motor 36, an inlet port 37, and an outlet port 38 which discharges into the enclosure 28 for purposes presently more fully appearing. Similarly bolted to the end wall 24 is a flanged collar fitting 40 which is attached to one end of a flexible hose 41 of suitable length, the hose 41 being provided at its opposite end with a flanged collar fitting 42 which is bolted to the mixing chamber 2 in surrounding relation to the aperture 6.

Bolted to the bottom wall 25 of the housing 20 and disposed within the enclosure 28 is an ozone generator 50 including a base plate 51 which is centrally stamped in the provision of a longitudinally extending V-shaped groove 52 for purposes of lending rigidity thereto. Along its side margins, the plate 51 is integrally provided with downwardly and outwardly presented flanges 53, 54, respectively, the latter of which are bolted to the upper surface of the bottom wall 25 of the housing 20 in facewise abutment therewith.

Bolted to the upper surface of the plate 51 on each side of the V-shaped groove 52 are pairs of dielectric spacers 56, 57, which support longitudinally extending channels 58, 59, in spaced parallel relation to one another and to the plate 51.

Bolted or otherwise rigidly fastened to the upper surfaces of the channels 58, 59, and transversely interconnecting the same are cylindrical ozone generating tubes 61, 62. Since the tubes 61, 62, are identical in design and construction, only the tube 61 will be described herein in greater detail. Referring now to FIGS. through 7, the tube 61 includes an outer electrode 63 comprising a sheet of perforated aluminum or other suitable metal which is wrapped around a cylindrical glass tube 64 and held securely in embracing relation therewith by a strap 65. Internally, the glass tube 64 is fitted with an inner electrode 66 comprising a sheet of perforated aluminum or some other suitable metal which is rolled or otherwise contoured to fit against the inner cylindrical face of the glass tube 64.

Bolted to the upper face of the plate 51 beyond the ends of the channels 58, 59, is transformer 68 having input terminals 69, 70, and output terminals 71, 72, the output terminal 71 being connected to the inner electrodes 66 by a conductor 73 and the output terminal 72 being connected by a conductor 74 to the channel 58 which is, of course, in electrical contact with the outer electrodes 63.

Bolted to the outer face of the side wall 23 is a switch box 80 which is wired to the motor 36 and transformer 68 as schematically shown in FIG. 8. Extending from the switch box 80 are pairs of conductors 81, 82, which are provided at their ends with a conventional plug p adapted for insertion in a 110 volt electrical outlet receptacle. Interposed in the conductor 82 is a switch 83. The conductors 81, 82, are connected beyond the switch 83 respectively to conductors 84, 85, which lead to motor 36 and to conductors 86, 87, which lead to the input terminals 69, 70, of the transformer 68. Interposed in the conductors 84, 86, are fuses 88, 89, respectively. Connected across the conductors 86, 87, beyond the fuse 89 is a lamp 90 which indicates whether or not the ozone generator 50 is consuming electrical energy.

Laundry freshening unit A is adapted to introduce ozone into the dryer D whereby to freshen the laundry tumbling within the drum 8. More particularly, when the switch 83 is closed, volts A.C. will be impressed across the input terminals 69, 70, of the transformer 68. The transformer 68 will raise the voltage considerably so that a high potential of several thousand volts is presented across the output terminals 71, 72, and, of course, the inner and outer electrodes 66, 67, respectively. In this regard, it has been found that a transformer which produces 10,000 volts across its output terminal when 110 volts is impressed across its input terminals is ideally suited for producing ozone in the present device. This high voltage causes a discharge between the electrodes 66, 63, and through the glass tubes 64, the discharge, in turn, producing ozone. The ozone produced by the ozone generating tubes 61, 62, is carried in an air stream generated by the fan 35 which is also energized when the switch 83 is closed. The fan 35, in effect, draws in atmospheric air and forces it past the ozone generator tubes 61, 62, where it picks up the ozone generated thereby. The ozone carrying air is thereafter forced through the flexible hose 41 and into the mixing chamber 3 where it is mixed with the heated air from the heating unit 2. The heated ozone carrying air is drawn through the rotating drum 8 and into contact with the laundry therein by the exhaust fan 5.

The ozone imparts a freshened smell to the laundry and removes body and other odors which often linger in clothing, even after washing. Moreover, the ozone sanitizes and sweetens laundry which is an important consideration when washing diapers, bath towels, be'd clothes, dish towels, bedding, and the like. Additionally, the gaseous or burned odors often associated with conventional dryers are eliminated by the ozone produced in the present device. In actual tests, it has been found that the freshness imparted to laundry by the instant invention remains with the fabrics longer than the freshness achieved by drying laundry outdoors in sunlight.

In view of the above, it will be seen that the several objects of the invention are achieved and other advantageous results attained.

As various changes could be made in the above constructions without departing from the scope of the invention, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry freshening unit adapted for operative association with a laundry dryer having a heating unit for producing heated air and provided with a heating chamber, a laundry supporting means, and a fan means for introducing the heated air through the laundry supporting means, said freshening unit producing ozone and comprising a housing having first and second end walls transversely connected by side, bottom and top walls in the formation of an enclosure, a flexible conduit attached at one end to the first end wall and at its other end to the dryer in such a manner so as to provide communication between the enclosure and introduce ozone into the heated air stream of the dryer upstream from the laundry supporting means, a blower mounted on the second end wall for creating an air stream through the enclosure, the air stream being directed at the first end wall, first and second coaxially mounted tubular electrodes carried by the housing in the enclosure, a tubular dielectric member coaxially mounted with the electrodes and interposed therebetween, and a transformer adapted to produce a substantial voltage and carried by the housing, the transformer having first and second high voltage terminals which are connected to the first and second electrodes respectively.

5 6 2. An air freshening unit according to claim 1 in which References Cited gheeitggnirniltt 1s connected to the heating chamber of the UNITED STATES PATENTS 3. An air freshening unit according to claim 2 in which 1,791,038 2/1931 Opavsky 3472 the axes of the tubular electrodes and dielectric member 2,537,530 1/ 1951 Hofman 204317 are parallel to the air stream generated by the blower. 5 3,226,842 1/1966 Morey 3472 4. An air freshening unit according to claim 3 in which the transformer produces a potential greater than 8,000 R BE T K- M HA EK, Primary Examiner. volts across its output terminals when 110 volts are impressed across the input terminals thereof. 10 C X- 5. An air freshening unit according to claim 4 in which 2043 14, 320 the dielectric member is made from glass.

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