An Improved Electrical Drying Apparatus for Treating Textile Fabrics.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Mar., 1899-Accepted, 29th Apr., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Electrical Drying Apparatus for Treating Textile
Fabrics.
I, JEAN MARIE JOSEPH EUGÈNE VIGNON-DANTO, of 25, Chemin Des Culattes,
Lyon, in the Republic of France, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, and accompanying
drawing, that is to say:-
In the drying apparatus which forms the subject of the present invention, the
heat necessary for heating and maintaining at the requisite temperature the air
used for drying the textile fabrics treated for the purpose of "conditioning" them,
is obtained by means of electric energy transferred to caloric, and the arrangement
for so utilizing electric energy is entirely contained in the drying apparatus itself.
By this means all the foundation and work necessitated by the ordinary kind of
heating apparatus is avoided, as well as the fires, which are so troublesome and
difficult to regulate.
In the accompanying drawing, which is in illustration of my invention, the
improved drying apparatus is shown, partly in vertical section.
Upon a foundation or base (1) is arranged a box or chamber (2) the top and
bottom of which are formed of two cones, the upper ends of which are pointed in
the same direction; the circumference of the box thus formed is pierced with
holes against which fit tubes (3) which connect the box (2) with the upper part
of the drying chamber (4) which rests directly upon the box (2); these tubes are
composed of a material presenting a determined resistance to the passage of an
electric current, they may be made, for example, of a mixture of carbon and clay,
in proportions varying according to the degree of temperature to which it is
required that the tubes should be raised by the passage of an electric current of
given tension and intensity.
The bottom of the chamber (2) is connected by a tube (5) with the delivery
opening of a fan (6), whilst the bottom of the chamber (4) is connected by pas-
sages (7) traversing the box (2), with a box (8) enclosed in the base (1), and from
which a pipe (9) communicates with the inlet of the fan (6).
The drying chamber (4) as well as the tubes (3) are enclosed in a casing of non-
conducting material (10) to prevent the radiation of heat from their exterior.
The chamber is provided with a perforated bottom (12) upon which the textile
materials to be treated are placed, being introduced through an opening at the top
of the apparatus upon which a cover (11) can be fitted.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-
After having introduced the textile materials which are to be treated into the
chamber (4) and closed the latter, the fan (6) is set in action, and at the same
time a current of electricity, generated in any suitable way, is passed through the
tubes (3). By the passage of the current, the temperature of these tubes is raised,
as well as that of the air which circulates through them. The heated air enters

page_text: the upper part of the chamber (4) and becomes charged with the vapour of the
water contained in the textile materials, as it passes down through the chamber.
It will be seen that in the form of the apparatus shown in the drawing, the air
which is used for the dessication passes through a cycle of operations. In the
tubes (3) it is raised to a temperature (say t¹), it then takes up the moisture in the
chamber (4) where its temperature becomes lowered from (t¹) to (12); the air is then
sent back to the tubes (3) where its temperature is again raised from (2) to (¹).
The vapour of water which it may contain is then reduced in tension and escapes
through the cover.
It is, therefore, always the same volume of air which is used during the pro-
cess, whilst in ordinary drying apparatus the hot air which has passed over the
textile material is discharged into the atmosphere at a temperature (12), and fresh
air at a temperature of (10) is constantly being introduced into the apparatus.
At each operation, therefore, the caloric necessary to bring the temperature of
the total volume of air which would pass through the tubes (3) during an operation
from a temperature (10) to that (t¹) is saved.
The work done by the apparatus is independent of the degree of moisture in
the exterior atmosphere.
The expenditure of "calories necessary for each operation, is that necessary-
1. To furnish the latent heat of vaporization whilst the drying is going on;
2. To raise the fresh supply of cold air which is admitted through the cover
at the end of the operation, or which leaks through imperfect joints, from a tem-
perature of (10) to (t¹);
3. To compensate for the loss of caloric due to radiation from the walls of the
apparatus.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. Electric drying apparatus for treating textile materials, characterized by
an arrangement for transferring electric energy into heat, arranged inside the
apparatus, so as to avoid the necessity for exterior fires and foundations and
appliances for furnishing the necessary calories to the apparatus, substantially
as described.
+6
"
2. The electric drying apparatus of the kind described in Claim 1, in which the
transformation of electric energy into heat is composed of tubes formed of a
mixture of carbon and clay, through which passes the air to be used for the dry-
ing, substantially as described and illustrated.
3. Electric drying apparatus of the kind described in Claim 1, in which, for
causing the changes in the condition of the air employed in the drying process to
take place in a closed cycle, and for realizing the thermic advantages of such a
cycle, a receiver for receiving the textile materials to be treated is in communication,
on the one hand with heating tubes the sides of which serve as conductors for
an electric current in order to provide the necessary "calories,"" and on the other
hand with a passage leading to a fan connected with the heating tubes, the whole
forming a closed circuit for the air used for the drying process, substantially as
described and illustrated.
EDWARDS & Co.,
Chartered Patent Agents,
65 and 66, Chancery Lane, London,
Agents for the Applicant.