Patent Publication Number: US-3878621-A

Title: Bathroom body, hand, and hair drier

Description:
United States Patent Duerre [451 Apr. 22, 1975 BATHROOM BODY, HAND, AND HAIR DRIER Inventor: Dennis L. Duerre, 1513 Yukon Dr.,  
 Sunnyvale. Calif. 94087 Filed: July 8, 1974 Appl. No.: 486,310  
 U.S. Cl. 34/90; 34/233; 219/371 Int. Cl. F26b 19/00 Field ofSearch ..34/90, 151, 163,218, 34/230-234, 240, 241, 243 R; 219/370, 371; 165/121, 122  
 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 6/1969 Chancellor, Jr. 34/233 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLlCATlONS 257,762 2/1967 Germany 219/371 Prinmry E.\&#39;uminerl(enneth W. Sprague Assistant E.run1iner.lames C. Yeung Anurney, Agent, or F irmJames R. Cypher [57] ABSTRACT A wall mounted drier having separately opening louvers, and nozzles for drying separately or in combination the hands, hair, feet or the entire body and including dual squirrel cage turbines for driving heated air at a sufficient velocity to effect rapid drying.  
 5 Claims, 11 Drawing Figures BATHROOM BODY, HAND. AND HAIR DRIER BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Devices for drying the hands consisting of a fan blower and electric heating coil are in common use in public rest rooms. These devices eliminate the need for towels. waste receptacles and attendants to re-supply the towel dispensers and carry away soiled towels. Other devices such as the portable hair dryer are in common use in many households which also incorporate a small fan which drives ambient air past an electrical heating coil.  
  While most devices are single purpose devices. only one device. US. Pat. No. 3.449.838 has attempted to serve a multiple purpose and even this device has been limited to drying clothes. hands. and hair. None of the devices noted have been able to dry the entire body.  
 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The gist of the present invention is the use of dual vertically mounted squirrel cage turbines which are spaced horizontally so that the entire body of a person can be dried quickly and soothingly by heated air. Further. the drier of the present invention may be used for separately drying the hair. hand. or feet by merely selectively opening louvers and air nozzles.  
  An object of the present invention is to completely eliminate the need for towels in bath rooms. especially in hotels and motels by providing a complete body drying unit.  
  Another object is to provide a body drying unit as described which is mounted flush in the wall of a room thereby eliminating the need for additional floor area for accommodation of the unit. Such a unit eliminates the need for wall area normally used for towel racks and also eliminates the space requirements normally devoted to storing clean towels and a separate storage area for soiled towels. In many instances, use of the drier results in a net gain in space utilization.  
  A further object is to increase profits to motel. hotel. and swimming club owners by eliminating the need for towels. Loss of towels due to stealing is completely eliminated. Costs of laundering. storing clean and soiled towels. and distributing the towels is eliminated.  
  Still another object is to reduce the time necessary to prepare a motel or hotel room for occupancy and to reduce daily housekeeping chores by eliminating the need for picking up soiled towels from the bathrooms. bed rooms. halls. closets. and other places where people cast a wet towel. Elimination of towels can contribute greatly to maintaining an orderly appearance to athletic club and school locker rooms where good housekeeping rules are difficult to enforce. A complete body drying device in rooms adjacent shower rooms in public pools can eliminate the need to take a towel to such a facility. Use of the drier in motels would eliminate the repugnant but common practice of using towels as shoe shine cloths.  
  A still further object of the present invention is to provide a device which can serve as a supplement or even the sole source of heat in bath rooms or in rooms adjacent shower rooms.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the device constructed in accordance with the present invention mounted in a wall of a room.  
 FIG. 2 is a front view of the device shown in FIG. 1.  
 FIG. 3 is a side view of the device shown in FIG. 2.  
  FIG. 4 is a front view of the device shown in FIG. 2 with the front panel removed for purposes of showing the working apparatus.  
  FIG. 5 is a cross section of the device shown in FIG. 4 taken along line S5.  
  FIG. 6 is a top view of the device shown in FIG. 2 with the top panel removed for purposes of clarity.  
  FIG. 7 is an enlarged cross sectional view of one of the louvers such as the one shown in FIG. 6 within the circular indicated line 77.  
  FIG. 8 is a cross section of the hair drier nozzle shown in FIG. 1 taken along line 8-8 with the nozzle in the closed position.  
  FIG. 9 is a cross section of the hair drier nozzle shown in FIG. 1 taken along line 9-9 and showing the nozzle in the open position.  
  FIG. 10 is an enlarged front view of the hair dryer nozzle with portions in cross section and a mid-portion removed for purposes of economy of illustration.  
 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION The body drying apparatus of the present invention consists briefly of an enclosed elongated housing I having an air inlet port 2 adjacent an end and a plurality of air discharge openings 3-11 formed in a side 12 which is in a generally vertical plane and said openings are located in said side a selected vertical distance for effectively blowing heated air over an area about the height of a human being; a squirrel cage turbine 13 mounted on a generally vertical shaft 14 within said housing; a shroud 16 mounted within said housing and forming a passage between said inlet port and said squirrel cage turbine and from said turbine to said discharge openings; an electrical heating element 17 mounted in said passage between said inlet opening and said squirrel cage turbine; and motor means 18 for driving said squirrel cage turbine.  
  Specifically. the housing consists of front and back panels 12 and 19. side panels 21 and 22, and top and bottom panels 23 and 24. These panels may be made of sheet metal or other material which can withstand the heat generated by the heating element. The housing has a width sufficient to house the necessary equipment. A thickness of approximately 4 /2 inches is preferable so that it can be fitted within a standard wall. The height may be about 5 feet so that the openings can be placed so as to dry the entire body merely by rotating the body.  
  The heart of the invention is the use of one or more squirrel cage turbines of standard design having slotted openings 26. A single squirrel cage turbine would be possible. but construction may be facilitated by using a plurality of turbines 13a. 13b. 13c. and 13d as shown in FIG. 4. The vertical shaft 14 may be supported by bearings 27, 28, 29, and 30. Turbines having a diameter of about 4 inches diameter as an illustrative example would be sufficient.  
  The electrical heating element 17 is placed near the inlet opening 2 in the passage formed by the shroud leading to the turbine. A standard electrical resistance heating element having a B.t.u. capacity selected for the particular installation is used. As an example. a I000 watt heater element would be adequate for most installations.  
  A motor 18 is operatively connected to shaft 14 of the turbine by a suitable coupling means. A switch 32 is mounted on the cabinet for turning the motor on and off. As an example, the motor may be a one-tenth horse power high temperature electric motor.  
 Preferably. the discharge openings are vertically aligned so that the entire body is dried at once. To insure even more rapid drying. at second row of discharge outlets 8, 9, 10, and 11 are provided. These openings are spaced about 1 foot apart in a housing which is about 2 feet in width.  
 &#39; The first shroud 16 includes a divider member 42 which separates the turbine from the control members and a second divider member 43 which encloses the other side of the first turbine.  
  The second shroud 44 encloses the second turbine and forms a passage from the inlet opening to the outlet openings. The shroud includes a panel member 46 and a panel member 47.  
  In order to insure an adequate supply of cool air. a second inlet opening 48 may be provided in the upper portion of the housing. This opening supplies cool air which is heated by a second electrical resistance heating element 49 which heats the air and is sucked into the upper opening of either of the squirrel cage turbines.  
  A hair drying means is provided with the drier of the present invention and is one of its important features. An approximately 1 inch opening 51 is formed in the side of shroud panel 47 near the upper end and an elbow fitting 52 inserted therein. An elongated flexible hose 53 is connected to the elbow fitting which has a length sufficient that the nozzle 54 can be manuvered about the head.  
 end 57 and having an elongated slot 58 in its sidewall.  
 An outer elongated tube 59 is open at end 61 and has an elongated slot 62 in its sidewall. The inner tube is rotatable about its elongated axis for movement of the slit in and out of registration with the slit in the outer tube. The inner tube is formed with a manually engageable protrusion 63 for rotation of the inner tube on its rotational axis. a  
  A dual thermostat 64 connected to relay 66 and connected to the heating elements through circuits 67 and 68 permits selection of the temperature of air desired. Safety timers may be connected to automatically turn off the heating elements and motors after a selected period of time.  
  In the present application. all of the openings may be closed except opening 4 which is located at about hand height. As shown in FIG. 11, a plurality of louvers 69 pivot about pins 71 and permit hot air to move through the openings as represented by arrows 72. When all openings are closed except the louvers of opening 4, a greater pressure is exerted and more rapid drying of the hands is effected with less expenditure of energy.  
  Openings 3 and 11 located at the bottom of the housing are formed with louvers similar to the louvers shown in FIG. 11. Openings 3 and 11 may be used for drying the feet. All openings may be closed except openings 3 and 11 to effect more rapid drying of the feet A cross section of one of the standard openings 5-10 is shown in FIG. 7. The closure means includes a tubular member 73 mounted for rotation about a vertical axis 74 between a first open position shown in dotted lines and a second closed position shown in solid lines. The tubular members are fully enclosed except for an inlet slit 76 and an outlet slit opening 77. The tubular member is mounted in a seat member 78 having a slit 79 therein for selective registration with the inlet slit of the tubular member when the tubular member is in the first position. As a further design feature, the tubular member may be formed with an elongated end 81 adjacent the slot so that it is easier to manually engage the tubular member with the hand or fingers to rotateand also to direct the warm air currents.  
  In operation. in order to dry only the hands, all of the openings except opening 4 are closed. The motors are started to rotate the turbines and the heating element is turned on. Cool air enters inlet vents 2 and 48. Cool air is drawn past heating elements 17 and 49 and moves downwardly through the center of squirrel cage turbines 13d and 130 and is propelled outwardly by the blades 26 to the inner chamber 82. At the same time air sucked through vent 2 passes heating element 17 and moves upwardly through squirrel cage turbines 13a and 13b and outwardly through the turbine into chamber 82. The pressure build-up in chamber 82 causes the heated air to be propelled outwardly throught the louvers 69 in openings 4.  
  Operation of the device as a body drier requires the opening of all of the vents 4-11. A person standing midway between the row of openings 37 and the second row 8-11 would be rapidly dried due to the horizontally spaced vertical rows of openings. The second turbine is turned on and off by switch 35.  
  Operation of the hair drier merely requires opening of the nozzles as previously explained, and passing the nozzle near the head. The flexible tubing 53 may be formed with accordion-type pleats so that the length of the tube may be extended. As shown in the drawings, the housing may be formed with an inset 83 to store the flexible tubing and nozzle 54.  
 1 claim:  
 1. A body drying apparatus comprising:  
 a. an enclosed elongated housing having an air inlet port adjacent an end and a plurality of air discharge openings formed in a side which is in a generally vertical plane and said openings are located in said side a selected vertical distance for effectively blowing heated air over an area about the height of a human being;  
 b. a squirrel cage turbine mounted on a generally vertical axis within said housing;  
 c. a shroud mounted within said housing and forming a passage between said inlet port and said squirrel cage turbine and from said turbine to said discharge openings;  
 d. an electrical heating element mounted in said passage between said inlet opening and said squirrel cage turbine;  
 e. motor means for driving said squirrel cage turbine;  
 f. a manually operable closure means mounted in said air discharge openings for selectively closing said discharge openings;  
 g. said discharge openings being located in said housing side in a plurality of generally vertical aligned rows;  
 h. a second squirrel cage turbine mounted in said housing generally parallel to said first squirrel cage turbine; and  
 . a second shroud separating said first turbine from said second turbine throughout the length of said turbines and connecting said inlet and outlet opening with said second squirrel cage turbine.  
 2. A body drying apparatus as described in claim 1 comprising:  
 a. an elongated flexible conduit operatively connected to an outlet opening;  
 b. a nozzle operatively connected to said flexible con duit and having a valve movable between a first open position and a second closed position; and  
 c. said nozzle being adapted for hand held operation to dry the hair.  
 3. A body drying apparatus as described in claim 1 comprising:  
 a. at least one of said openings at about hand height being formed with a plurality of louvers movable between a first closed position and a second open position.  
 4. A body drying apparatus as described in claim 1 comprising:  
 a. a plurality of said manually operable closure means including tubular members mounted for rotation about a vertical axis between a first open position and a second closed position and said tubular members being fully enclosed except for an inlet slit and an outlet slit: and  
 b. said tubular members being mounted in a seat member having a slit therein for selective registration with said inlet slit of said tubular member when said tubular member is in said first position.  
 5. A body drying apparatus as described in claim 2 comprising:  
 a. said nozzle valve consisting of an inner elongated tube open at one end and having an elongated slot in its sidewall;  
 b. an outer elongated tube. open at one end and having an elongated slot in its sidewall;  
 c. said inner tube being rotatable about its elongated axis for movement of said slit in and out of registration with said slit in said outer tube: and  
 d. manually engageable means mounted on said inner tube for movement of said tube about its rotational axis.