DRYING DEVICE

• US 3,711,958 A
• Filed: 03/25/1970
• Issued: 01/23/1973
• Est. Priority Date: 03/25/1970
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Marc D. Lepage
• Original Assignee: Marc D. Lepage
• Inventors: Lepage, Marc D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sprague, Kenneth W.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Yeung, James C.
• Application Number:
  US05/022,540
• Time in Patent Office: 1,035 Days
• Field of Search: 34/9,17,71,95,243,88,239,DIG.1 4/158 15/308,100,3.1,3.16,3.17
• US Class Current: 34/88
• CPC Class Codes: A47K 10/48 Drying by means of hot air hair-drying devices A45D20/00; curative hot-air baths A61H33/06; electric heating elements H05B

Abstract

A dryer, particularly for drying the body of a person, includes a toweling in the form of an absorbent material which is preferably porous and is arranged around or adjacent fan or blower in a position such that the fan may direct a drying fluid which is advantageously heated air against one side of the toweling while an article or a person is arranged at the opposite side in contact with the towelling so as to be dried thereby. The toweling advantageously includes one or more layers or a single layer having pores preferably such that there is some degree of flow-through of the air but there is sufficient resistance to the air flow so that the toweling bellows out and the drying surface is enlarged. In one arrangement the dryer includes a platform or stand with fan-supporting brackets on each side of the stand, each of which support a generally hemispherical-shaped toweling around the discharge of the fan and a heater associated therewith. The size of the toweling is such that when the fans are operated the two towelings balloon outwardly from opposite sides of the platform and intersect centrally over the platform at a position in which a person would normally stand to be dried. The platform advantageously includes means for turning on and off the fan or heater and for illuminating the toweling with an ordinary white or a multi-colored light as desired.

Claims

1. A dryer comprising platform means, including a stand portion on each side of a central platform, a balloon-like toweling mounted on each of said stand portions, having a ballooning portion extending outwardly toward said platform, a fan mounted on said platform within each of said balloon-like portions for blowing drying air into said balloon-like portions to cause inflation thereof and outward movement toward the center of said platform.

2. A dryer according to claim 1, including heating means associated with said fan for heating a fluid directed into said balloon-like portions.

3. A dryer according to claim 1, wherein said balloon-like portions are made of a material having pores permitting the flow of the drying fluid therethrough.

4. A dryer according to claim 1, wherein said platform means includes a central platform plate for accommodating a person between said balloon-like portions of said toweling, means resiliently supporting said plate for movement of said plate by the weight of the person standing thereon, and switch means operated by movement of said plate and connected to said fan means for actuating said fan when a person steps on said plate.

5. A dryer as claimed in claim 4, including light means located within at least one of said balloon-like portions, said balloon-like portions intersecting substantially centrally over said plate, when said fan is operating in a location to contact the body of the perSon standing on said platform.

6. An ornamental light fixture comprising a support frame, a foldable porous bag secured peripherally to said frame in an unencased location, light means mounted within said bag on said frame for illuminating said bag, and fan means associated with said frame and arranged to discharge into said bag to cause the inflation and erection thereof.

7. An appliance according to claim 6, wherein said light means comprises a lamp located within said frame and illuminating said bag from the interior.

8. An ornamental light fixture comprising a support frame, a foldable porous bag secured peripherally to said support frame in an unencased location, a colored light mounted within said bag on said frame and directed toward said bag and illuminating said bag with a colored light which extends through the material of said bag, and fan means associated with said frame and arranged to discharge into said bag to cause the inflation and erection thereof.

9. A heating appliance comprising a support frame, a porous foldable bag secured peripherally to said support frame in an unencased location, said bag being exposed in the atmosphere and being fully erectable outwardly from said frame, a heater within said frame and fan means associated with said frame and arranged to discharge through said heater and into said bag to cause the inflation and erection thereof and the discharge of heated air therethrough.

10. An ornamental light fixture comprising a support frame, a foldable porous bag secured peripherally in said frame in an unencased location, said frame being tubular and said bag being a tubular bag and having an open end which is secured to the top of said frame and which when deflated collapses, an electric light in said bag and fan means associated with said frame and arranged to discharge into said bag to cause the inflation and erection thereof to form said bag upright as a continuation of said frame.

11. An appliance according to claim 10, including a light carried on the interior of said frame illuminating said bag.

12. A dryer for persons, comprising a porous toweling material forming a bag having an opened end, a frame, said toweling material being mounted on said frame with its open end sealed around said frame and located in an unencased open position for exposure of an outer surface thereof in the atmosphere for contact by a person to be dried, said bag of toweling material being fully extendible in front of said frame, an electric heater mounted with said frame and fan means for directing air through said heater and against the inner surface of said toweling material to cause the toweling material to bellow outwardly to erect said bag and to present the opposite outer surface thereof for drying contact with the person to be dried.

13. A dryer according to claim 12, wherein said toweling material comprises a balloon-like form of a toweling having pores permitting flow of the drying fluid therethrough.

14. A dryer according to claim 12, including a stand, said toweling material having a portion draped around said stand and extending outwardly therefrom, said fan means being mounted on said stand and arranged to direct the drying fluid into the interior of said toweling to cause it to move outwardly from said stand.

15. A dryer according to claim 12, wherein said fan means includes a rotatable propeller fan, a heater mounted at the discharge of the fan in a position to heat the fluid discharged by said fan.

16. A dryer according to claim 12, wherein said toweling comprises first and second substantially hemispherical toweling parts arranged in opposition, said fan means including a separate fan arranged to direct a drying air through said hemispherical toweling portions from opposite directions toward the center, said toweling material portions being capable of billowing outwardly from opposite directions toward each other.