Patent ID: 8819956

Claim:
An apparatus for drying clothes, comprising: a body including an inner space; a first dryer rotatably arranged in the inner space to dry a first load of laundry, the first load of laundry being tumbled while being dried in the first dryer; a main heater to heat external air flowing into the first dryer; a second dryer to dry a second load of laundry without tumbling; a heated air discharge path coupled to the first dryer, through which heated air discharged from the first dryer flows; an inlet, through which the heated air is introduced from the heated air discharge path into the second dryer; an outlet, through which the heated air used for drying the second load of laundry is discharged to the heated air discharge path; and a first auxiliary heater provided in the heated air discharge path to reheat the heated air flowing into the inlet, wherein the inlet protrudes upwardly from a top surface of the second dryer, and the outlet protrudes upwardly from a top surface of the second dryer; wherein the heated air discharge path has a first docking hole to allow for connection with the inlet and a second docking hole to allow for connection with the outlet; and wherein the apparatus for drying clothes further comprising: a first shielding plate provided adjacent to the first docking hole; and a second shielding plate provided adjacent to the second docking hole, wherein the first shielding plate closes the first docking hole when the inlet does not dock with the heated air discharge path, and the first shielding plate closes the heated air discharge path between the first and second docking holes when the inlet docks with the heated air discharge path, wherein the second shielding plate closes the second docking hole when the outlet does not dock with the heated air discharge path, the second shielding plate closes the heated air discharge path between the first and second docking holes when the outlet docks with the heated air discharge path, and wherein the inlet and outlet face in substantially opposite directions.