Ambient Air Dryer with Improvements in Performance, Safety, Ease of Use and Cost of Manufacture

Abstract

The already energy saving ambient air dryer is improved in methods of manufacture, performance, increased safety devices, and storage options which include in part: construction in pieces of different manufacture for assembly to lower cost, added inhibitors to extend life and durability, extrusions on the drum functioning as scoops to cause additional ambient air to be passed through the clothes, light and reflector system so moving drum may be visible at night or in partial light, non-defeating GFCI system, specific designed energy efficient motor, programmed functions such as stopping the drum in “access” or “park” position and sounding alarm for pre-determined operational issues, remote control as well as control box on dryer frame, a system for capturing lint and particulates, motion / heat detectors which eliminate need for safety guard surrounding moving drum, sound emitters to keep animals away, security codes for operation, and collapsible drum and frame for compact storage.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]Not ApplicableSTATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]Not ApplicableREFERENCE TO SEQUENCE LISTING, A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING COMPACT DISC APPENDIX[0003]Not ApplicableBACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0004]Hastings U.S. Pat. No. 4,236,322, discloses an apparatus for drying articles of clothing and the like in the open, ambient air. As shown therein, a drum of a convenient size having screen-like sides is rotatably supported on a frame. A motor mounted on the support frame is coupled to the drum by a belt and rotates the drum so that the objects therein are tumbled.[0005]It has been found that a dryer constructed as shown therein performs well and has numerous advantages over conventional enclosed clothes dryers which use heat produced, usually, by electricity or gas. The most obvious advantage, of course, is the great saving in energy since only a small part of the power consumed by a conventional dryer ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013]Accordingly, the object of the present invention is to improve the already energy saving ambient air dryer with more energy and ecologically friendly savings in operation as well as manufacture coupled with appropriate and additional safety features, not impeding, but increasing, the performance and effectiveness of the ambient air dryer. In addition the present improvements make the dryer less cumbersome and easier to operate.

[0014]The preferred embodiment of the drum in the two prior Pat. Nos. 4,236,322 and 4,702,018, was in a shape of a cylinder and in the most recent patent, of injected molded plastic. By definition, a device formed of injected molded plastic must be formed in a mold in which molten plastic resin is injected under pressure. A steel mold of the size needed for this device would be necessarily large and expensive. Parts made with this procedure are cost effective, but only when made in very large quantities. With advances of recent years and broadened experience in manufacturing allowing for lower cost options in the plastic molding industry, this drum can now also be made in different and multiple ways. For ease in description, the two vertical planes of the drum will be referred to as the “sides” of the drum and the cylindrical portion of the drum joining these two sides will be referred to as the “perimeter” of the drum. The preferred embodiment as shown in this patent utilizes more than one process of manufacturing to form separate pieces to be attached and / or fitted together to form the rotatable drum. The frame for the drum is formed of blow molded plastic, roto molded plastic or other suitable material with shaped forms of injected molded plastic, metal mesh and / or other appropriate material attached to the drum frame. This type of manufacture allows the dryer to be made with much smaller, less energy consuming injectors (injectors which initially also cost far less than the huge injectors needed for injecting a large plastic part) or with a combination of plastic and other suitable materials. If the configuration of the drum is cylindrical, it can be driven by rollers or a belt. However, it is not necessary that the sides of the drum be circular in shape so long as there is provision for a carrier for a drive belt included on one location of the drum so a belt can rotate the drum.

[0015]The resin used for the preferred embodiment of the dryer drum provides for the use of re-cycled or partially re-cycled resin, cutting the cost of the resin needed for the manufacture of the parts and dramatically cutting the energy costs of the initial resin production.

Problems solved by technology

A steel mold of the size needed for this device would be necessarily large and expensive.

Parts made with this procedure are cost effective, but only when made in very large quantities.

Images