US2375920A - Electric drier - Google Patents

Description

May 1.5, 1945.

Original Filed Jan. 14, 1939 E s. HEwIT-r ELECTRIC DRIER 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 el* (ib/WIW- Q6 WWZ? y Patented May y15, 1945 ELECTRIC DRIER Elmer S. Hewitt, Wilmette, Ill.

Original application January 14, 1939,`Serial No. 250,863. Divided and this application August 11. 1943, Serial No. 498,226

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a small, compact, inexpensive and highly efficient apparatus adapted to discharge, in a desired direction, a stream of heated air for drying or heating purposes. An apparatus of this kind may be used with advantage in many places-in commercialk establishments, in homes, etc. It will serve equally well as a heating medium for a small room, or for drying of hair, clothes, etc.

The present apparatus, which is designed for wall mounting, combines with great advantage a base with which is associated a cradle whereon is carried a motor-blower unit. The mounting of the 'base frame upon the supporting wall in relation to the mounting of the cradle upon the base, is such as to reduce vibration to a minimum, this being accomplished through the novel means which will be hereinafter explained. In addition I secure over the motor and blower a removable cover/ which is adapted to be locked in place by a device which is simple. inexpensive and eiectivc for the purpose. The discharge of heated air is through a nozzle having a swiveled mounting engaging with both the cover and a housing for the blower, but insulated therefrom in such a manner as to dampen out vibrations which are transmitted thereto. tures of construction the present apparatus embodies numerous points -of advantage and utility all as will hereinafter be explained at length. A first disclosure 'of this invention was made in my application filed January 14, 1939, Serial No.

250,863 (of which this case is a division), now Patent No. 2,294,904, dated September 8, 1942.

A suggestive embodiment of my invention is set l forth in the accompanying drawingswhereinthe connecting bars which is shown in perspec-y tive; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view in. assembly position of the parts forming the Wedge mechanism by which the cover is secured to the base.

The present machine comprises a base A in the form of a frame which is generally rectangular In shape with walls 9 terminating in a common plane for fitting against a fixed support B such as a vertical partition or post. The base frame includes also a web I0 extending inwardly from each of its walls, and provided with holes to'receive therethrough fastening elements such as bolts II each of which 4may be Y,threaded into a wall anchor I2 or other securing di/ice. Beyond the web the base walls are extended at, I4 to deflnea shallow enclosure.

The base frame is adapted to, support upon its web a cradle C whereon is mounted an electric In respect of these several fea opening 23 inthe boss.

`the head motor D whose shaft carries a direct connected blower E. As shown, this cradle is in'the general form of a triangular frame having (its apex at one end connected to the base by a\bo1t I5, two other bolts I6 and I'I furnishing connections at points about midway of the length of the base on opposite sides thereof. The details of the cradle mounting will be explained at at later point. Carried by the cradle is one section of a two-part housing F' which surrounds the blower, there being large draft openings at opposite ends of the housing each tted with a frustro-conical guide I8 by which to direct incoming air into the blower as well as to eliminate much of the noise incident to its operation..

The mounting of the cradle within the base is such as to provide an elective barrier against the transmission of vibration. F01- this purpose there is tted over each connecting bolt adjacent its head I9 a cup washer 20 adapted to receive the body of a resilient grommet 2I which bears against the under side of a boss 22 formed on the web of the'base, the upper grommet end being reduced in'diameter for entry within an this boss is asecond grommet 25 having its opposite ends of reduced diameter, one entering within the boss opening 23 and the other within an opening 26 in a boss 21 which is provided on the cradle, the body of this grommet being fitted between the ends of the bosses 22 and 21 to maintain them in spaced relation. A third grommet 28 which rests upon the boss 21 is formed with a reduced end adapted to enter the upper end of the opening 26. this last grommet being identical with the one rst described. The body of this grommet is confined in part within an inverted cup washer 29 against which a nut 3G. manually operable by wings 3| if desired. is adapted to abut. The connecting bolt traverses this entire assembly of grommets and washers so that the nut, when tightened, will cooperate with I9 in exertng a clamping pressure. While each of the grommets is desirably of resilient material, it is preferred that the one in the center be somewhat harder lthan the two On the opposite side of others. Such an assembly of grommets when used in the mounting for the cradle will provide an excellent barrier against the vtransmission of also included in the circuit, if desired. .Since the details of the electrical connections form no part of this invention, further explanation thereof is deemed unnecessary. Sumce `to say, by manipulation of the handle the circuit may be closed or broken so that the motor will operate or stop. The speed of the motor operation is controlled by the position of the .rheostat handle in the usual way. The motor is shown as bolted at it and f-l to the cradle so as to be iiiredly secured thereto. When operated, the blower which may comprise a plurality or" parallei vanes arranged peripherally with its airis will draw in air :from its opposite ends for discharge ironi the housing through a nozzle in a manner which will presently be explained.

.l provide tor the' operating mechanism which is carried by cradle a cover G1 which coinprises end and side walls titi and El, respectively. To secure the' cover in place in a Vmanner which will eliminate the transmission of any vibration, l utilize at each end oi the base a connecting bar oi which one end portion is shown in perspective in Fig. 5. Each bar is of general T-iorm with a horizontal .wall 52 formed :midway of its length with an :inwardly extending hollow boss il@ trom opposite sides or which extends a web l proceeding inwardly in a vertical plane. Each f end ci. the bar is laterally turned to extend beyond the web to provide a channel defined in part by a tongue By this construction I provide at each end ci" the bar a hook. Upon each ci the opposite sides of the web 5d is arranged a flatv strip 5l oi" rubber or other resilient material and when the bar is set in place the lower strip will rest upon the upper edge of the base wall itl and the vupper strip will underlie the lower edge of the cover wall 50 (see Fig. 4). Except at the mid-point of each bar where the 1 hollow boss 53 is formed, these strips are extended continuously irom end to end thereof.

To secure the cover flxedly in place, I have provided a wedge lock the components of which are best shown in Fig. 6. This comprises an upper fitting :c secured to the inside of the cover wall 50 in line with a second tting y therebelow secured to the inside of the base wall I 4, there being a Cil aardse@ tended in substantially parallel relation with facing inclined edges 68 corresponding to the slant of the two shelves B2. 'I'he spacing of the wings may be such that they lie closely to the outside of the wings on the complementary f1ttings a: andy. The width of the slanting shelves is such that they will receive engagement from the slanting edges of the upper and lower wings on the iitting e, the remaining wings acting mainly as guides to maintain this relationship.

Through the plate 65 of the tting z is a hole lll for receiving a bolt 'il which is adapted to traverse the hollow boss 53 of the connecting bar H, the head 'l2 of this bolt being slotted, by pref erence, for manipulation from the exterior of the machine. When theconnecting bar is fitted in place between the base and cover, this bolt will serve to advance the fitting e against the fittings a: and il thereby drawing the cover tightly toward the base where it ls securely held. Between the ends of the base and cover` their respective side walls are largely cut away so as to provide an lelongated opening into each of which may be fitted a foraminous plate 'i5 (formed with holes, slots, louvres, etc.) backed by a` screen it, the edges of the plate and screen being rested against seats 'il where they are held as by the heads 'i8 ofscrews which are screw-threaded into the base and cover walls.

The .hooked ends of the bar, as shown, are adapted to engage certain vertical abutments 80 which are formed adjacent these seats. In this way the cover is effectively centered and held against lateral displacement with respect to the base with double resilient strips extending substantially continuously between every portion of their contacting surfaces. The cover walls are flush with those of the base, thereby giving substantially the effect of a one-piece casing for the entire structure.

it a point in the outer wall of the cover` which is opposite the blower l have provided an opening surrounded by an inset flange 8i against which is seated a gasket t2 of sponge rubber or other appropriate resilient material which engages with the neel.: portion 83 of a discharge nozzle I having a swiveled mounting on the cover. As shown, this nozzle is in the general form of an elbow so as to present its open discharge end laterally. The nozzle at its end adjacent the neck carries a metallic washer 84 secured as with screws 85 the heads of which are countersunk (see ing. 1). A spacer washer as rests upon the washer 84 so as to confine the gasket 82 in place.

third complementary iitting z adapted to cooperate with each ofsthe others. The tting a: is in the form of a plate from which extends `a pair of wings 8| in substantial parallelism with a shelf B2 slantingly arranged therebelow and supe ported outwardly from `the plate as by means of lower wings 83.1 'I'he lower tting 'y may be identical with that just described, its parts bearing corresponding reference characters, and its position being inverted with respect to the upper tting x. The fitting z comprises a plate having two pairs of wings and 81 occupying v upper and lower positions, respectively, all ex- The blower housing comprises fixed and removable sections a and b, respectively, interconnected as by bolts 81, the latter section being provided with a discharge opening over which isA tted a. screen 88 held in place, if desired, by a flanged washer 89 which is iltted over the housing mouth adjacent its discharge opening. The

washer 84 carried by the nozzle is adapted to rest` upon the flanged washer 89. By this assembly of parts I provide for the nozzle a swiveled mount-i ing which will eliminate rattles and maintain by friction the nozzle in position.

By reference to Figs. 2 and 3 it will be noted that the axis of the motor and blower is slightly off-centerl with respect to that of the housing. thereby providing'a space within the housing to the outside oi' the blower for the accommoda tion of certain heating elements be mounted lupon a. base 9| of mica or other suit-5f able material. These elements are interconnected;

any adjusted ,rotative 90 which may electrically with the motor circuit so as to be energized when the motor is in operation, the heat delivered therefrom being drawn into the stream of air which is discharged from the blower so that there will issue from the nozzle a constant blast of air at relatively high temperature.

The apparatus of my invention is designed to operate efliciently at relatively high speeds, the motor R. P. M. varying from perhaps 1,800 to 4,000. Because o'f the environment in which the apparatus is to be used, it is essential that noise nection it Iwill be noted that the base is connected to its supporting wall at three points forming a triangle, and, that the cradle is mounted on the base at three opposite points. It will be noted also that there is complete separation of the cradle from the base through the use of resilient gaskets so that metal-to-metal contact ls wholly Lvoided It is found that with an assembly of three grommets, one relatively hard and the others relatively soft, a substantially immovable mountingis obtained without-the transmission si' vibrations therethrough. Also the wedge mechanism by which the cover is iirmly secured to the base has specialI advantage because oi.' the utilization of three complementary elements, two of them alike and the other reversible, all being formable by. a stamping operation from sheet'I ^metal. The lock thus allorded is one which is wholly concealed, which is operable from the exterior oi' the cover, and which secures the cover and base tightly upon each other with all possibility of lateral movement avoided. By locking the two wedge mechanisms at opposite ends of the cover it is possible pto provide along each side large, continuously extending openings for ventilation to the interioran important point in order that the blowervmay have an adequate supply oi air for heating and discharge from the nozzle without an excess of temperature interiorly or the casing.

I claim:

1'. In apparatus as described, the combination of a base, a cradle having 'a three-point connection with the base, a motor mounted on the cradle substantially within the contines of the trianglel defined by the three-point connection, the motor axis being disposed substantially transversely of one of the triangle sides beyond which the motor shaft is extended, a blower mounted on the shaft 'extension substantially to the outside oi' the triangle, a blower housing carried by the cradle and i provided in one of its walls with a discharge opening, a cover rior the cradle and blower housing having a mounting on the base, a. nozzle mounted on the cover opposite the discharge opening in the blower housing, means connecting the blower housing and nozzle, and resilient elements inter# posed in the three connections between the cradle and base and in the connection between the housing and nozzle.-

2. In apparatus as described, the combination of a base, acradle having a multipoint connection with the base, a motor mounted on the cradle substantially within the coniines of the figure delined by the multi-point connection. the motor axis being disposed` substantially transversely of one of the figure sides beyond which the motor shaft is extended, a blower mounted on the ,shaft extension substantially to the outside of the figure, a blower housing carried by the cradle and provided in one oi' its walls with a discharge opening, a cover for the cradle and blower housing having a mounting on the base, a nozzle mounted on the cover opposite the discharge opening in the blower housing, means connecting the blower housing and nozzle, and resilient elements interposed in the several connections between the cradle and base and in the connection between the housing and nozzle.

3. In apparatus as described, the combination of a base, a cradle having a multipoint connection with the base, a motor mounted on the cradle substantially within the connues of the s'llre deiined by the multi-point connection, the motor axis being disposed substantially transversely of one of the ilgure sides beyond which the motor shaft is extended, a blower mounted on the shaft extension substantially to the outside of the iigure, a blower housing carried by the cradle, and provided in one of its walls with a discharge opening, a cover forthe cradle and blower housing having a, mounting on the base, a nozzle mounted on the cover opposite the discharge opening in the blower housing, means connecting the blower housing and nozzle, the distance between the said ligure side and the point of connection between the blower housing and nozzle being less than that on the opposite side of said side to the remote end of said iigure, and resilient elements interposed in the several connections between the cradle and base and in the connection between the housing and nozzle.

4. In apparatus as described, the combination of a'base, a cradle and a cover both mounted on the base,- a nozzle mounted on the cover opposite an opening through a wall thereof, a housing within the cover mounted on the cradle and having a releasable connection with the cover opposite the nozzle thereon, a motor-blower unit mounted on thecradle with the blower disposed within the housing, and means releasably securing the cover to the base whereby the cover, to gether with the nozzle thereon, may be removed without disturbing the motor-blower unit remaining within the housing and on the cradle.

ELMER S. HEWI'I'I.

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