Patent ID: 7726040

Claim:
An apparatus for the uniform drying of one or more boards comprising: a conveyor serving to transport one or more boards, the boards having exposed side edges that are susceptible to over heating; a return plenum for collecting air to be used in drying the boards; a delivery plenum having an entrance and an exit and a series of internal vanes defining interior and exterior channels; a primary duct and a heater in fluid communication with the return plenum and functioning to deliver heated air to the interior and exterior channels of the delivery plenum; a bypass duct in fluid communication with the return plenum but that is physically separate from the primary duct for delivering cooler air into the exterior channels of the delivery plenum, the cooler air delivered to the exterior channels displacing heated air from the primary duct at the entrance to the delivery plenum; a nozzle box positioned adjacent to the conveyor for delivering air from the interior and exterior channels of the delivery plenum to the boards, the air flowing from the nozzle box in channels whereby cooler air from the external channels impinges upon the exposed edges of the boards.