Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids – Apparatus – Sheet – web – or strand
Patent
1998-09-22
1999-12-07
Bennett, Henry
Drying and gas or vapor contact with solids
Apparatus
Sheet, web, or strand
34622, 34202, F26B 900
Patent
active
059962496
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains to a garment drying device and, more particularly, pertains to a portable garment drying device that uses a portable hair dryer unit to provide the hot drying air to the garment.
It is known to use a hair drying unit with a clothes drying bag to dry articles of clothing. U.S. Pat. No. 3,264,755 issued on Aug. 9, 1966 to A. S. Moore discloses the use of clothes drying bag with a hair drying unit. The bag is provided with a top opening through which the neck of a hanger may be inserted to hang the bag on a rod. Clothes to be dried then may be placed on the bow of the hanger in the interior of the bag. A bottom opening is adapted to receive a hose fitting for the hair dryer unit. Hot air is circulated upward and exits through openings 21 provided in the bag. It is noted that the bag set forth in the patent may be folded when not in use, but has no attached carrying case or covering. Moreover, it would appear that the dryer must be continuously attended during operation due to the bottom entry of the hair dryer unit into the bag.
Still another garment drying bag is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,572,364, issuing on Feb. 25, 1986 to W. T. Jordan, in which the garment bag, doubling as both a carrying bag and drying bag, is provided with an elasticized circular opening at the top for insertion of the barrel of a hair dryer unit. It is noteworthy that the hair dryer unit must be held by hand continuously when drying the clothes. Moreover the bag cannot be conveniently stored when not in use such as in another suitcase and is clearly not portable in the sense of this application.
It is a paramount object of the present invention to provide for a portable garment dryer in which the dryer has a self contained carrying case capable of being carried or placed in luggage or a purse.
It is another important object of the present invention to provide a portable garment dryer which is adaptable to various models of hair dryers and can support and stabilize the hair dryer unit in operation without continuous attendance of the user.
It is still another object of the present invention to minimize direct contact of the hair dryer unit with the garment bag and to provide for adaptive use of the portable garment dryer under varied conditions, including use with both shower curtain rods and available doors.
Other advantages of the present invention will become clear following a reading of the detailed description in connection with the various figures.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The portable garment dryer of the present invention has a substantially rigid support base that has a centrally located opening though which a barrel of a hair dryer may inserted. The opening is elasticized so that it can accept barrels of hair dryers of different dimensions. In one variation the opening is provided with a grommet-like member with inwardly directed, radial and segmented fingers, that are flexible, and abut the circumference of and provide support to the hair dryer unit. A pair of straps attached to the support base are used to hang the unit from a shower curtain rod or top edge of a door. A garment enclosing bag is mounted to the underneath surface of the base and communicates with the opening. When the support base is suspended from a support structure, the garment bag hangs free beneath the support base. A garment to be dried is placed into the bag when suspended and hung on a hanger inside of the bag. The barrel of the hair dryer unit is inserted into the opening and the unit is largely supported in that position by the grommet-like member. However, the straps also provided an abutting stabilizing relationship with the body of the dryer unit so that the reactive force generated by the jet of hot air from the dryer cannot substantially move the dryer unit from its position. The base support is also provided with flaps on all sides that enclose the bottom surface thereof when the dryer is not in use. The garment bag being constructed of a light but highly flexible material folds
REFERENCES:
patent: 3264755 (1966-08-01), Moore
patent: 3487557 (1970-01-01), Linstead
patent: 4406071 (1983-09-01), Buchman
patent: 4572364 (1986-02-01), Jordan
patent: 4815219 (1989-03-01), Binger
patent: 5323897 (1994-06-01), Sperber
patent: 5388344 (1995-02-01), Wallach
patent: 5528840 (1996-06-01), Pajak et al.
patent: 5642572 (1997-07-01), Manning
Bennett Henry
Nagle, Jr. David W.
Smith Vance A.
Synergist LLC
Wilson Pamela A.
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