Tumble dryer

A tumble dryer for small articles of clothing having no motor or heater utilizes the output of a hair dryer to both rotate a drum containing the articles of clothing and to dry the articles. Turbine blades mounted on the periphery of the drum slowly rotate the drum to prevent uneven drying of the clothing in the warm air output from the dryer. A tray mounted beneath the drum can be used to catch water dripping from the clothing. Removing the tray allows the hot air to escape from the bottom of the unit for warming the room or drying hands. The tumble dryer and its associated hair dryer are preferably wall-mounted.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates to a tumble dryer for drying small articles of 
clothing. In particular, it relates to a tumble dryer driven by a 
wall-mounted hair dryer which is mounted adjacent to the tumble dryer. 
Persons living in hotels, boarding houses, aboard ships or the like, often 
find it convenient to wash small items of clothing such as underwear, 
stockings and socks in their own room. These items are typically hung up 
within the room to air dry. They are then faced with the problem that the 
clothing may not be dry within a reasonable period of time so that they 
can wear or pack the item. This problem is exacerbated in cold, wet 
climates. 
As an amenity to their quest, proprietors of hotels, boarding houses and 
ships could provide small, electrically-heated dryers for drying such 
small articles of clothing in a short period of time. Small, electrically 
heated dryers are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 3,357,109 to Harvey 
discloses a small portable having a rotating drum basket 30 and an 
extension duct 58 for hair dryer use. The drum basket 30 is rotated by the 
same motor that rotates the fan to provide the air flow for both the 
clothes drying and hairdrying functions. A similar device is shown in U.S. 
Pat. No. 3,157,475 to Stainbrook. 
U.S. Pat. No. 4,199,873 to Hansen et al discloses a foldable pantyhose 
dryer 10 which is used with a portable hair dryer 30 as a heat source. The 
dryer consists of a box-like compartment through which hot air may be 
delivered by a conventional portable hair dryer. The box-like container is 
designed so that it may be folded to a flat configuration when not in use 
and may be constructed of cardboard. U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,047 to 
Muller-Scherak discloses an inflatable bag contoured to the general 
configuration of a to be dried which is inflated by a portable hair dryer. 
The flow of hot air from the portable hair dryer dries the garment in the 
inflated bag. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,406,071 to Buchanan discloses a 
foldable garment dryer which is utilized with a conventional hand-held 
hair dryer and has a flexible bag for holding the garment. Another similar 
device is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,905,125 to Hubner which shows a 
collapsible garment dryer which has a foldable bag containing the clothes 
to be dried and a hot air generator located in the upper section of the 
bag for directing hot air into the bag for drying the garments. 
U.S. Pat. No. 3,577,650 to Brahm discloses a portable and collapsible 
clothes dryer receptacle which is mounted on a foldable frame and adapted 
for attachment to a heater-blower unit. The heater-blower unit may be of 
the type usually associated with portable hair dryer units. U.S. Pat. No. 
2,793,444 to Turner discloses a portable clothes dryer which is designed 
to expand to accommodate a greater load during use. 
These known devices are unsuitable for utilization in hotels, boarding 
houses and aboard ships. All of the devices disclosed in the patents 
discussed above involve portable devices. If utilized in these locations 
they are subject theft, abuse and misuse. The danger of electrical shock 
dictates against the use of such portable devices in the bathroom, which 
is the area most convenient for washing and therefore drying clothing. 
While a proprietor may not able to control devices brought into the room 
by the guest, he must be certain that any device which he supplies meets 
the astringent safety requirements established for such establishment. 
Furthermore, in view of the constant danger of fire in these 
establishments, great care must be taken to see that devices provided by 
the establishment meet the astringent fire safety requirements that apply 
to these establishments. 
In addition, many older establishments may not have adequate electrical 
service at a location convenient for using the garment dryer. These 
establishments tend to be of heavy construction in order to meet fire 
safety laws and provide quite. Adding additional electrical service under 
these conditions can be an expensive and time-consuming task. 
The devices shown in Harvey, Stainbrook and Turner are self contained 
dryers that have their own motor and heating element. Therefore, they 
would have to meet the astringent fire and electrical safety requirements 
for such devices when utilized in hotels and similar establishments. This 
necessarily increases their cost and delays their introduction due to the 
long testing process which may be encountered before safety approval is 
granted. Furthermore, because these devices are portable and are likely to 
be utilized in bathroom where contact with water and plumbing poses 
extreme electrical safety hazards, special safety features need be 
incorporated in these devices. In addition, special safety devices need be 
incorporated to protect the unit against fire should there be a 
malfunction in the device or should the device overheat for some reason. 
Devices such as that shown in Hansen et al, Buchanan, Muller-Scherak, 
Hubner and Brahm dry the garment in a static position. Accordingly, it is 
likely that one portion of the garment will be dry while other portions of 
the garment will remain wet. The Hansen et al, Buchanan and Muller-Scherak 
devices require constant supervision as they are powered by portable 
hand-held hair dryers which cannot or should not be left unattended. The 
bags or cardboard container utilized in these devices pose a fire hazard 
should they become over-heated during use and either be set afire or for 
the bags, melt. In any event, all of these devices do not have the 
durability for utilization in an establishment such as a hotel where they 
will be constantly in use. Again, it is undesirable for the proprietor of 
the establishment to give out devices which encourage the utilization of 
portable hair dryer or the like, which hair dryers are not provided with 
the safety aspects described above. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
It is a general object of the present invention to provide a tumble dryer 
for drying small articles of clothing. 
Another object of the invention is to provide a tumble dryer having no 
motor or heater means therein. 
A further object of the invention is to provide a tumble dryer which can be 
safely left unattended without having safety devices therein. 
Yet another object of the invention is to provide a tumble dryer usable 
with a wall-mounted hair dryer. 
These and other objects, advantages and features are achieved by a tumble 
dryer for small articles of clothing comprising: 
(a) a housing for mounting on a surface adjacent a hair dryer mounted on 
said surface; 
(b) a drum rotatably mounted within said housing, and having air vents on a 
periphery thereof; 
(c) turbine means mounted on said periphery of said drum; 
(d) inlet means in said housing for receiving an outlet from a hair dryer 
mounted adjacent to said housing, said outlet providing a source of warm 
air under pressure, and for directing said pressurized air against said 
turbine means to rotate said drum; 
(e) vent means in said housing for venting said pressurized air to the 
atmosphere after drying clothing in said drum.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIG. 1, a tumble dryer in accordance with the present 
invention is generally shown as 100. The tumble dryer comprises a housing 
102 which can be mounted to a wall or other vertical surface by means of 
screws or other mounting devices 122, 124 and 126. The housing contains a 
drum 104 which is rotatably mounted within the housing by means not shown. 
The drum has air vents along its periphery to permit air to flow 
therethrough. The air vents can be provided by forming the drum of a light 
weight aluminum or stainless steel mesh, for example. Mounted on the 
periphery of the drum are a plurality of turbine blades 106. The housing 
102 has an opening 108 at the open end of the drum which allows clothing 
to be placed in the drum for drying. This opening 108 is covered by a 
sliding door 110 which is shown halfway open and halfway closed in FIG. 1. 
As would be obvious to one skilled in the art, the door 110 could also be 
a hinged door and could be hinged from either side, the top or the bottom 
and be provided with a suitable latch. 
The housing 102 has a cradle 112 for holding an outlet handle of a 
wall-mounted hair dryer which is not shown in FIG. 1. The outlet handle is 
shown attached to the box in FIG. 2 and the cradle is shown in greater 
detail in FIG. 3, both of which are described below. 
The bottom of the housing 102 contains a recess 113 which is adjacent a 
sloping drainage board 118. Water that may drip from wet clothing inserted 
into the drum 104 will be directed by the sloping drainage board 118 into 
the recess 113. The recess 113 may be provided with a tray 114 for 
catching this water. The tray 114 may, as an optional feature, be 
removable to allow warm air to exist from the vent 116 for drying one's 
hands. 
The top of the housing 102 contains a plurality of vents 120 which permits 
warm air which has passed over and helped dry clothing inserted into the 
drum 104 to escape to the atmosphere. 
The housing 102 is preferably molded of a heat resistent plastic. The 
utilization of a molded plastic housing permits the molding of ridges at 
the front and back of the housing to rotatably support the drum 104. 
The tumble dryer as shown is simple and inexpensive to manufacture because 
it contains no complex moving parts, and no motor or heater means of any 
kind. Therefore, it is does not need to meet the stringent electrical 
safety requirements that would be imposed upon a dryer having an electric 
heater and an electric motor for rotating the drum and turning a fan to 
provide a forced warm air flow. Because the heat source is external, no 
thermal safety devices are required for the tumble dryer. 
Referring to FIG. 2, the tumble dryer is illustrated in use with the outlet 
of a wall-mounted hair dryer. Like components of FIG. 1 are denoted by the 
same reference numerals. In FIG. 2 the outlet handle 202 of a wall-mounted 
hair dryer (not shown) is inserted into the cradle 112 of the housing 102. 
The hair dryer is turned on and warm air under pressure is delivered via 
hose 204 to the outlet handle 202. The outlet handle 202 is mounted in the 
cradle 112 so that the air flow from the hair dryer is directed as shown 
by arrows 206 The cradle 112 is below the horizontal axis of the drum so 
that the directed air flow contacts turbine blades 106. The turbine blades 
are angled with respect to the periphery of the drum 104 to cause the drum 
to rotate in the direction indicated by arrow 212. The warm air continues 
to follow the path indicated by arrows 210, some of the air passing 
through the clothing in the drum 104. The air then flows in the direction 
indicated by arrows 214 through vents 120 as indicated by arrows 216 to 
the atmosphere. During operation of the hair dryer, the door 110 is in the 
closed position, as shown in FIG. 2. This not only prevents the clothing 
from falling out of the drum as the drum rotates, but prevents the escape 
of hot air through the unclosed opening. In addition, the tray 114 should 
be inserted into its position to close off the vent 116 and cause the warm 
air to flow in the direction indicated by arrows 208. Otherwise, a portion 
of the warm air provided by the hair dryer will be lost to the hand dryer, 
this slowing the drying process. Furthermore, if the tray 114 is removed, 
water that drips from the clothes inserted into the drum 104, will be 
deflected by the sloped drainage board 118 through the vent 116 and onto 
the floor. 
It should be noted, that the tumble dryer of the present invention is not a 
spin dryer. The turbine blades are designed to slowly rotate the drum in 
order to provide an even distribution of the heat and gently dry the 
clothes inserted into the drum. 
Referring to FIG. 3, the cradle 112 is shown in greater detail. As shown in 
FIG. 3, the cradle 112 has a shape which is complementary to that of the 
outlet handle 202. Although the outlet handle 202 shown in FIG. 2 has a 
right-angle exist, this is not necessary to practice the present 
invention. This is because the hose 204 can bend to accommodate an outlet 
handle in which the air exists along longitudinal direction of the hose. 
The cradle 112 includes two magnets 302, 304 which are attracted to a 
metal portion of the outlet handle 202 The metal portion can either be the 
front grill of the outlet handle or metal plates attached to the outlet 
handle to hold the outlet handle in the cradle in cooperation with magnets 
302, 304. The cradle 112 has slots 306 which permits the air flowing out 
of the outlet handle 202 to enter the inside of the housing 102. 
FIG. 4 illustrates a bottom view of the tumble dryer with the outlet handle 
202 inserted into the cradle 112. This figure illustrates the outlet vents 
116. If it is desired to utilize the tumble dryer without the tray 114, a 
door (not shown) can be utilized to close off the vents 116 when the hand 
dryer is not in use. This door can either be a sliding door which could 
slide in the bottom of the housing from the right side of the housing to 
the left side of the housing (not shown) or a pivoting door (not shown). 
FIG. 5 illustrates a top elevation of the tumble dryer of the present 
invention in which the handle 202 is inserted in the cradle 112. Oblong 
vents 120 are shown at the top of the housing 102. It is not necessary 
that the vents be at the top of the housing, and other locations could be 
utilized provided they allow the air to escape after it has passed over 
the turbine blades and the garments in the drum. 
FIG. 6 illustrates a typical combination of the tumble dryer 100 of the 
present invention with a wall-mounted hair dryer 600. The tumble dryer is 
attached to one side of the wall-mounted hair dryer by means of clips, for 
example. The wall-mounted hair dryer 600 is preferably of the type 
disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,049 which issued on Oct. 13, 1987 to the 
inventor of the present invention and which is incorporated herein by 
reference. This hair dryer is automatically activated when the outlet 
handle 202 is removed from a cradle 712 (see FIG. 7) in the housing 702. 
The dryer remains on as long as the handle is removed from the cradle 
until a predetermined period of time has elapsed, at which it 
automatically shuts off. Therefore, problems associated with the 
unattended operation of the hair dryer, such as fires, are eliminated. 
Thus, if the handle 202 is removed from the hair dryer 600 and inserted 
into the cradle 112 of the tumble dryer 100, warm air would be supplied to 
the tumble dryer for a predetermined period of time, after which the hair 
dryer will shut off. This allows unattended drying of the clothes in the 
tumble dryer without the fire hazard which could be present if the dryer 
ran continuously. All of the electrical and fire safety requirements are 
met by the wall-mounted hair dryer, thus obviating the need to meet these 
requirements in the tumble dryer. The wall-mounted hair dryer is approved 
for use in hotels and similar establishments including use in the 
bathrooms thereof, thus allowing the tumble dryer to be provided in a 
bathroom, which is the location most convenient for the guest. 
As shown in FIG. 7, the handle 202 is retained in the cradle 112 of the 
wall-mounted hair dryer 600 by magnet 704 and 706 which are in a similar 
position to magnets 302 and 304 in cradle 112. In addition, as shown, the 
housings of the wall-mounted hair dryer 600 and the tumble dryer 100 can 
be made similar in appearance and of the same heat-resistant plastic 
material. A micro switch 107 (FIG. 1 is utilized to reduce the amount of 
heat produced by the heating element (not shown) of the hair dryer by 
means not illustrated. The utilization of a switch to provide a hair dryer 
with a plurality of heater settings is well known and need not be 
described in detail here. The reduction in the heat produced by the hair 
dryer has been found to produce the correct temperature for drying of 
clothing. 
While a particular embodiment of the present invention has been disclosed 
herein, certain changes and modifications will readily occur to one 
skilled in the art. All such changes and modifications can be made without 
departing from the invention as defined by the appended claims.