US2295475A - Hat drier - Google Patents

Description

vSept 8, 1942- A. o. HURx-l-HAI..` 2,2955475 HAT DRIER Filed Aug. 4, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet ll Sept. 8, 1942.

A. o. HURxTHAl.

HAT DRIER Filed Aug. 4, 193s 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Simi-H l ik Patented Sept. 8, 1942 HAT DRIER Alpheus O. Hurxthal, Wyncote, Pa., assignor to Proctor & Schwartz, Incorporated, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application August 4, 1939, Serial No. 288,418

9 Claims.

This invention relates to an apparatus for drying hats of the felt type, or any of the various types and kinds of woven straws, etc., with the hats in a finished state, or while still in a completely or partly formed blank stage or stages during the course of manufacture thereof.

Prior to the present invention, hats in the various stages of manufacture have been dried in the presence of circulating air while hung on suitable conveyers moving through a drying chamber. In some instances, the air has been circulated around the hats in a more or less indiscriminate manner, with the result that some of the hats have been blown o their supporting pegs and damaged. In most instances, however, the air has been blown downwardly on the hats, with a view to holding the hats on the pegs. This method has certain disadvantages, particularly when the hats are arranged in superposed relation to each other on the conveyer. In such instances, the uppermost hats shield the lower ones and deilect the circulating air therefrom, with the result that the upper hats become overly dried, while those in the lower elevations remain in a non-uniform partially dried state.

The object of the present invention is to produce a hat drier in which the hats may be arranged discreetly in superposed relation in vertical laterally spaced tiers, for the sake of space economy, and carried through a drying chamber by a suitable conveyer.

In some instances, according to the principles of the present invention, the drier may also include a cooling chamber. In other instances a conditioning chamber may follow the cooling chamber. In other cases the drier may include merely a drying chamber and a conditioning chamber without a cooling chamber.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for directing a drying medium against the tiers of hats at vertically spaced intervals, in a generally horizontal but slightly declining direction, whereby the hats from top to bottom of each tier will be dried uniformly and at the same time be retained securely on the pegs by which the hats are individually supported,

An apparatus constructed and operated in accordance with the principles of the present invention will be fully disclosed hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, of which:

Figure 1 is a transverse sectional elevation of the drier taken on the line I-I Fig. 2; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 2-2, Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawings, the drier comprises -a casing I composed of suitably insulated end and side walls 2, 2ar and 3, 3 respectively, and a similarly insulated roof 4. The interior of the casing I is divided longitudinally by a vertical partition 5 extending from the end wall 2 to a point adjacent but spaced from the end wall 2a, producing within the casing a primary compartmentA, extending substantially along the full length of the drier at one side of said partition; a secondary compartment B, extending part way valong the length of the casing at the opposite side of the partition 5; and a final compartment C, extending the remainder of the way along the second side of the partition 5, the final compartment C being divided from the secondary compartment B by a transverse partition 6.

Extending the full vlength of the casing, through and beyond the end wall 2 thereof, is an overhead track 1, which consists of two parallel sections 'Ia and 'Ib with the sections 'la extending through the compartment A and the section 'Ib extending through the compartments B and C. The parallel track sections 'Ia and Ib are joined, within the casing I in a transverse compartment D formed between the end of the partition 5 and the end wall 2a of the casing, by a semi-circular section 1c. The opposite ends of the parallel sections Ia and 'Ib are joined together, outside the opposite end wall 2 of the casing I, by a semi-circular section 1d.

Mounted on the track 1, for movement along the same, is a series of carriages or trolleys 8, 8, which may be conveyed along said track in any suitable manner, or by any suitable means such as a link-belt or chain 9 of the endless type passing around sprockets I0 and Il having their respective axes of rotation arranged in alignment with the centers of the arcs of the curved sections Ic and 'Id respectively of the track 1.

VThe chain 9 may be connected to the series of carriages 8 in any suitable manner to retain the carriages in spaced relation to each other longitudinally of the track 'I.

Depending from each of the carriages 8 is a pole I2; and extending laterally from opposite sides respectively of each pole I2, in opposite directions transverse to the track 1, is a double series of vertically spaced angularly disposed pegs I3, I3 upon which the hats .r are hung in vertical spaced superposed relation to each other and in substantially vertical alignment 'one with the other, whereby the hats are arranged economically in vertical tiers, with the tiers spaced laterally one to another along the full length of the rail "I,

The vertical tiers of hats are conveyed through tunnels I5, I5 formed in the compartments A, B and C, between the central partition 5 and the side walls 3, 3 of the drier casing. Each tunnel includes an inverted V-shaped imperforate roof section I6 and a pair of perforated side Walls II, I'I. The side walls I'I, I1 are disposed, in downward outwardly flaring relation to each other, at opposite sides respectively of and with respect to the vertical median plane of each tunnel I5 in which the p'oles I2, I2 travel through said compartments.

Each side wall II is provided with `a .multiplicity of horizontally and vertically spaced rows of perforations I 8. Preferably the perforations I8 are pressed out of the sheet metal of `which the side walls II are composed, in such a manner that the displaced metal surrounding each perforation I8 forms an inwardly protruding nozzle I9. f

The side walls I"I, I I lying yadjacent to but spaced Vfrom `each of the opposite sides of the central partition .5 are connected to said partition by lhorizontal walls 20a, 20a. The perforated side walls Il, I'I, lying toward the walls 3, 3 of the casing I Vare connected, by horizontal walls 20, 2D, to vertical partitions r2I, 2| spaced from and 'lying intermediate the walls 3 and I'I in each instance.

vThe partitions ZI, 2I terminate above the base plane of the drier casing I and vthereby provide horizontal - transverse air channels 22, 22 which communicate with vertical longitudinal air channels .23, 23 formed between -the vertical partitions 2|, 2I and the side walls 3', 3 of the casing I.

At spaced intervals along each ofthe intermediate partitions 2I are circular openings 24, in which are rotatably mountedair-circulating fans -25. Each fan 25 is Vmounted on a shaft 26 of an individual driving motor 2l. Each motor '2I 'is mountedoutside of and projects into the casing I through the side wall 3 thereof. Adjacent the roof 4, the partition 5 isconnected to Vsaid roof by oppositely curving fillet Vplates 28, 28.

Within the air channels 23, 23, between 4the lower edges of the intermedia-te partitions 2'I, 2I and the 4fan openings 24 therein, suitable conditioning units -29 are disposed, such units constituting either heating, `cooling or humidifying means for `the air moving through the Vpassages 23, A23 the character of the unit depending upon .the compartment A, B, or`C with which the particular air passage 23 vin which the unit is installed communicates.

Power may be-applied from any suitable source to either or both of the sprockets ,I0 and II, `for driving the .chain 9, whereby lthe carriages 8 and the poles vI2 with the hats :v ,thereon are carried in the direction of the arrow a, through-the compartment A; thence through the transitional `compartment D at the one end of the casing I which connects the compartment A with .the

compartmentl B; thence through the compartments B and C in succession; and finally out into the open at the opposite end of the casing I, where the dried hats are removed from the pegs 13, .andwe't, damp .or moist hats to be dried are substituted therefor.

As the hats are conveyed through the tunnels I5, I5 in the compartments A,.B 'and C,;in succession,air is circulated by the -fans 25 upwardly through .the channels V23 .and the condtOning units .29 therein, then laterally inward in opposite directions toward the partition 5, through the openings 24 in the intermediate partitions 2 I, 2| into air compartments 30 formed above the roofs I6, I6 of the tunnels I5, I5. From the upper air compartments 30, 30, the air moves downwardly, in channels 3|, 3I formed between the side Walls I'I, II of the tunnels I5, I5 and the partitions 5 and 2l, 2I. From the channels 3|, the air moves through the nozzles I9 in the side walls I l, I'I, in a substantially horizontal direction toward the central vertical median plane of each tunnel, the air moving at' a slightly declining angle as a result of the angular aring relationship of the walls I 1, I'I of each of the tunnels I5, whereby the air from the nozzles I9 impinges against the hats :r: along the full vertical length of each tier and holds the hats on the lpegs I3, as the impinging air eiects drying of the hats.

In one form of the invention, drying alone takes place in both the compartments A-and B, 4for which purpose a large volume of air, heated by the units 29, 29 in the channels'23, 23 communicating with the compartments A and B, is directed by the nozzles I9, I 9 against the hats traveling successively through the tunnels I5 located in said compartments A and B.

In the compartment C, as shown in Fig. 2, a single fan 25 is provided to circulate a lesser volume of air through the tunnel I5 located in said compartment, the temperature of the air being lower than that circulating in the compartments A and B, and effecting a general conditioning of the hats prior to their exit from the casing I.

In other instances, the whole or a predetermined portion of the length of the compartment B may function as a cooling compartment, in which case the conditioning units 29 in the passage 23 communicating with the compartment B, would produce a. relatively low temperature in the circulating air, and whereby the hats, after leaving the drying compartment A, would be subjected to a precooling prior to entrance into the conditioning compartment C.

I claim:

l. A drier for hats, comprising horizontally movable means including laterally extending upwardly inclined elements supporting said hats in laterally spaced tiers each consisting of a plurality of hats disposed in vertically spaced superposed relation, and means for directing streams of drying medium in a substantially horizontal direction against said tiers from outer hat-supporting ends of said elements toward the opposite ends of said elements solely throughout a predetermined horizontal course traveled by said tiers.

2. A drier for hats, comprising horizontally movable means including laterally extending upwardly inclined elements supporting said hats in laterally spaced tiers each consisting of a plurality of hats disposed in vertically spacedsuperposed relation, `and means for directing streams of drying medium in a substantially horizontal direction against said tiers at vertically spaced intervals respectively from outer hat-supporting ends of said elements toward the opposite ends of said elements solely throughout a predetermined horizontal course traveled by said tiers.

3. A drier for hats, comprising horizontally movable means including laterally extending upwardly inclined elements supporting said hats in laterally spaced tiers each consisting of a plurality of hats disposed in verticallyspaced'superposed relation, and means for directing streams of drying medium in a substantially horizontal slightly declining direction against said tiers at vertically spaced intervals respectively from outer hat-supporting ends of said elements toward the opposite ends of said elements solely throughout a predetermined horizontal course traveled by said tiers.

4. A drier for hats, comprising horizontally movable means in the form of an overhead trolley and depending poles provided with laterally extending upwardly inclined pegs for supporting said hats in laterally spaced tiers each consisting of a plurality of hats disposed in vertically superposed relation on said pegs respectively, and means for directing streams of drying medium in a substantially horizontal slightly declining direction against said tiers at vertically spaced intervals respectively throughout a predetermined horizontal course traveled by said tiers.

5. A drier for hats, comprising horizontally movable means in the form of an overhead trolley and depending poles provided with laterally extending upwardly inclined pegs for supporting said hats in laterally spaced tiers each consisting of a plurality of hats disposed in vertically superposed relation on said pegs respectively, and means in the form of a horizontal tunnel comprising perforated side walls for directing streams of drying medium in a substantially horizontal slightly declining direction against said tiers at vertically spaced intervals respectively throughout a predetermined horizontal course traveled by said tiers through said tunnel between said perforated side walls thereof.

6. A drier for hats, comprising horizontally movable means in the form of an overhead trolley and depending poles provided with opposite laterally extending upwardly inclined pegs for supporting said hats in double laterally spaced tiers each consisting of a plurality of hats disposed in vertically superposed relation on said pegs respectively, and means in the form of a horizontal tunnel comprising perforated side walls for directing streams of drying medium in a substantially horizontal slightly declining direction simultaneously against opposite sides respectively of said tiers at vertically spaced intervals respectively throughout a predetermined horizontal course traveled by said tiers through said tunnel between said perforated side walls thereof.

'7. A drier for hats, comprising horizontally movable means in the form of an overhead trolley and depending poles provided with opposite laterally extending upwardly inclined pegs for supporting said hats in double laterally spaced tiers each consisting of a plurality of hats disposed in vertically superposed relation on said pegs respectively, means in the form of a horizontal tunnel comprising perforated side walls for directing streams of drying medium in a substantially horizontal slightly declining direction simultaneously against opposite sides respectively of said tiers at vertically spaced intervals respectively throughout a predetermined horizontal course traveled by said tiers through said tunnel between said perforated side Walls thereof, means for circulating said drying medium through the perforations of said side Walls into said tunnel and around the outside thereof at diiferent velocities in respectively different succeeding portions of said tunnel, and means for producing different predetermined temperatures in said circulating medium in diiierent predetermined succeeding portions of said tunnel.

8. A drier comprising an open-bottomed tunnel including a pair of oppositely disposed downwardly divergent perforated side walls and an imperforate roof s ection, a casing enclosing said tunnel, and means in the casing for driving air around the outside of said roof and side walls of the tunnel and through said perforations in said side Walls simultaneously in opposite generally horizontal slightly declining directions toward the vertical median plane of the tunnel, said air escaping from the interior of the tunnel through the open bottom thereof for recirculation around the outside of the tunnel.

9. A drier comprising an open-bottomed tunnel including a pair of oppositely disposed downwardly divergent perforated side walls and an imperforated roof section of an inverted V-shaped cross section, a casing enclosing said tunnel, means in the casing for driving air around the outside of said roof and side walls of the tunnel and through said perforations in said side walls simultaneously in opposite generally horizontal slightly declining directions toward the vertical median plane of the tunneLsaid air escaping from the interior of the tunnel through the open bottom thereof for recirculation around the outside of the tunnel, a supporting rail located in the apex of the roof, carriages mounted on said rail for movement longitudinally thereof, poles depending from said carriages in said median plane of said tunnel, and laterally projecting pegs on said poles for supporting hats to be dried by said a1r.

ALPHEUS O. HURXTHAL.

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