WO2008090584A1

WO2008090584A1 - Equipment for drying items of sports clothing in particular driver's overalls

Info

Publication number: WO2008090584A1
Application number: PCT/IT2008/000033
Authority: WO
Inventors: Renzo Grigoli
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2007-01-23
Filing date: 2008-01-22
Publication date: 2008-07-31
Anticipated expiration: 2009-07-23
Also published as: EP2118361A1; ITVR20070015A1

Abstract

Equipment for drying items of sports clothing and in particular overalls for racing motorcyclists, racing drivers and similar characterised in that the equipment comprises one or more electrical hot air generators (10, 11) mounted on a support (12), where the generators are designed for drying the overalls on one part and the helmet on the other and where the generators are fitted with a blower fan (16, powered by a motor (17), an electrical resistance (15) and thermostats (21) and timers set to match user needs.

Description

"EQUIPMENT FOR DRYING ITEMS OF SPORTS CLOTHING IN

PARTICULAR DRIVER'S OVERALLS"

**********

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to equipment for drying items of sports clothing and in particular overalls for racing motorcyclists, racing drivers and similar.

In particular, the present invention comprises a device for drying sports clothing which will dry driver's overalls when they become soaked with the wearer's perspiration caused by heat and competition stress during races .

The device according to the present invention comprises one or more elements for blowing air at a controlled temperature into the overalls starting from the top at the collar opening.

The present invention relates to the field of accessories for sports and spare time pursuits and in particular accessory equipment for sports clothing such as overalls for motorcyclists or drivers of any type.

BACKGROUND ART

It is widely known that in many sporting environments, especially in the world of motorcycle and automobile racing, that drivers use safety overalls to guarantee the maximum protection against impacts and other factors that could cause injury or pose a risk for the driver . These types of overall are designed to ensure the maximum protection for the driver and for this reason incorporate special protections and are reinforced around those parts of the body most exposed to risk such as the back, the shoulders, the arms and the legs.

It is the safety features of this type of sports overalls that^* make them very heavy. Driver's wearing safety overalls can become very hot and body heat is further increased by the stress produced when participating in sports competitions.

Inevitably the driver perspires and the perspiration remains trapped inside the overalls. At the end of a competition the overalls are nearly completely soaked on the inside. The current methods do not provide any solution for quickly and effectively drying perspiration soaked overalls without damage. The current methods are the result of trial and error and consist mainly of turning the overalls inside out and laying them out to dry.

Clearly drying times are often too long and unacceptable for a sports team. The current drying method in some cases will not completely dry the overalls but will leave them damp. In the long term, the damp will cause the formation of bacteria, mould and a series of negative consequences .

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The object of the present invention is that of providing equipment which automates and speeds up drying operations so that drivers and team technicians do not have to wait a long time for their overalls to dry; the equipment according to the present invention eliminates or at least reduces the shortcomings described above.

A further advantage of the present invention is that it provides a drying device which is very simple to manufacture, relatively inexpensive to make and will as a consequence appeal to a wide market .

This is achieved by means of equipment for drying items of sports clothing, in particular driver's overalls, with the features described in the main claim. 5 The dependent claims describe preferred embodiments of the invention.

The main advantages of this solution, in addition to those which derive from the simplicity of its construction, principally concern the fact that the

10 equipment dries overalls without having to turn them inside out and dries them in a very short time thus eliminating the overlong waiting time associated with current methods .

The equipment according to the present invention

15 substantially comprises two, electrical hot-air generators mounted on a support where the two generators are suitable for drying the inside of the overalls on one section and the inside of the driver' s helmet on the other.

20. An embodiment of the present invention could dry both the overalls and the helmet with a single hot air generator where the air is channelled in two directions, to the inside of the overalls and to the inside of the helmet .

25 The hot air generators are of a compact size and have a metal structure painted with epoxy powder paint designed to provide a hard-wearing, durable surface finish.

Heating is provided by armoured heating resistances

30 which are very strong and have stainless steel protections which are particularly resistant to oxidation.

The current of air is created by a strong, high- efficiency, blower fan made from aluminium.

The machine has a three-way control switch for selecting the two different heating powers thereby enabling more ' efficient use and control of the system. The switch has three-positions which include one where the equipment operates with the fan only.

The air outlet is fitted with a safety thermostat to ensure that the flow of hot air remains within the safe temperature range and does not exceed the maximum temperature of approx. 40⁰C. The thermostat controls the resistances only and when tripped will not interrupt the air flow.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Further features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description of an embodiment which follows with reference to the annexed drawings, given purely by way of a non-limiting example, in which: - Figure 1 is a diagram of the complete equipment according to the present invention showing the equipment with the overalls and helmet to be dried. Figure 2 is a diagram of the blower fan driven by a single motor with two combined channels for drying the overalls and the helmet.

Figure 3 shows a diagram of the blower fan with the two combined channels and showing the helmet being dried.

Figure 4 is a diagram of the equipment according to the present invention showing two motors fitted to a height-adjustable support.

DESCRIPTION OF ONE EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The following description refers to the annexed figures where the drying equipment in its first embodiment substantially comprises equipment with two electrical hot air generators 10 and 11 mounted on a support 12 whose height can be adjusted by means of a knob 12 ' and where the two generators are designed for drying the overalls on one part and the helmet on the other.

In one embodiment (Figures 2 and 3) the overalls and the helmet can be dried by a single item of equipment designed to channel the air in two directions, one into the overalls and the other into the helmet.

Figure 1 shows the two electrical hot air generators 10 and 11 of the equipment according to the invention which are of compact dimensions and where the machine bodies 13 and 14 are made from a metallic structure painted with epoxy powder paint to guarantee a durable, protective surface finish.

Heating is provided by armoured electrical heating resistances 15 which are very strong and have stainless steel protections with a high resistance to oxidation.

The current of air is created by a strong, high- efficiency blower fan 16 made from aluminium and driven by an electric motor 17. The upper part of the motor has a grille 18 through which the air passes from the top part to the bottom part of the motor and then fed onwards to the outlet 19.

The machine has a three-way control switch 20 for selecting the two different heating powers thus enabling more efficient use and control of the equipment. The switch has three-positions which include one where the equipment operates with the fan only.

The air outlet 19 is fitted with a safety thermostat 21 to ensure that the current of hot air remains within the safe temperature range and does not exceed the maximum temperature of approx. 40⁰C. The thermostat controls the resistances only and when tripped will not interrupt the air current.

The equipment is also fitted with a safety thermostat which stops the power supply to the resistances in the event of any operating faults which could cause overheating of the equipment. The equipment can be fitted with a timer to set the operating time of the two motors .

The lower part of the machine 10 is attached to the horizontal part of the support 22 whose height can be adjusted by means of the knob 22' and where the lower part of the support terminates with a horizontal section 23 designed to support the overalls at the crutch of the trouser legs as shown in Figure 1.

The upper horizontal section of the support 22 holds a coat hanger type support 24 which can be fitted with a woven collar 25 to enable the blower fan to be inserted into the overalls thus facilitating the flow of hot air into the overalls.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the hot air generator outlet section can have an additional side opening 26 for leading off some of the blown air so that it blows into the helmet hung from a special hook 27 on the side of the equipment.

In this case the air flows through the opening 26 which could be fitted with an air flow control flap 28. On the rear section on the air inlet side, in other words, above the grille 18, it would be possible to apply a dispenser 29 for sanitising and deodorant products.

In addition to the main motor 10 the equipment has an auxiliary motor 11 also fitted with a blower fan, an electrical resistance and a thermostat all housed inside the casing; the casing has a supporting grille 30 which acts a hot-air outlet and a support for the helmet. The machines 10 and 11 are very strong but at the same time light enough to be carried easily using the convenient handle 31 located on the upper section.

The equipment described is designed to be hung from an upright support 12 by means of hanger 32 which is hooked to a notched bar 33.

To operate the equipment described it is sufficient to fit the equipment to the support 12, or to another support suited to the purpose, and hang the overalls to be dried from the special coat hanger ensuring that the woven collar 25 is inserted inside the overall collar.

In order to ensure that the hot air remains inside the overalls and to prevent it from escaping too rapidly, special sponges or sponge elements can be inserted inside the sleeves at the wrists and inside the legs at the ankles.

These sponge elements are particularly useful if the overalls do not have gloves or boots.

The helmet is dried in the same way. The helmet is rested on the grille 30 or, if the auxiliary opening 26 of the main motor is being used, hung from the bracket 27 so that the air flowing through the opening is channelled by the flap 28 into the helmet so that it dries the inside of the helmet.

The drying cycle is controlled by a thermostat-timer set to dry the overalls to requirements.

A further embodiment employs an additional hanger 34 located below the coat hanger 24, designed to support overall trousers in those cases where the overalls consist of a separate jacket and trousers.

The invention as described above refers to a preferred embodiment. Naturally, while the principle of the invention remains the same, the details of construction and the embodiments may widely vary with respect to what has been described and illustrated purely by way of the example, without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Claims

- S -CLAIMS

1. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing and in particular overalls for racing motorcyclists, racing drivers and similar, characterised in that the equipment comprises one or more electrical hot air generators (10, 11) mounted on a support (12) , where the generators are designed for drying the overalls on one part and the helmet on the other and where the generators are fitted with a blower fan (16) powered by a motor (17) and an electrical resistance (15) , thermostats (21) and timers set to match user needs.

2. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing and in particular driver's overalls according to the previous claim characterised in that the two electrical hot air generators (10, 11) are of compact dimensions with machine bodies (13, 14) made from a metallic structure painted with epoxy powder paint or similar.

3. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing and in particular driver's overalls according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the heating is provided by armoured heating resistances (15) fitted with stainless steel protections which are particularly resistant to oxidation.

4. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the current of air is created by a high- efficiency, high-resistance fan (16) driven by an electric motor (17) .

5. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that upper part of the motor has a grille (18) through which the air passes from the top part to the bottom part of the motor and then fed onwards to the outlet (19) .

6. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the machine has a control switch (20) for selecting the two different heating powers thus enabling more efficient use and control of the equipment; the switch has three-positions which include one where the equipment operates with the fan only.

7. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that a safety overload or thermostat (21) is fitted on the air outlet (19) to ensure that the current of hot air remains within the safe temperature range and does not exceed the maximum temperature of approx. 40⁰C; the thermostat controls the resistances only and when tripped will not interrupt the air current .

8. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the equipment is also fitted with a safety thermostat which stops the power supply to the resistances in the event of operating faults which could cause overheating of the equipment.

9. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the equipment can be fitted with a timer to set the operating time.

10. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the lower part of the machine (10) is attached to the horizontal part of the support (22) where the lower part of the support terminates with a horizontal section (23) designed to support the overalls at the crutch of the trouser legs.

11. Equipment ^• for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that upper horizontal section of the support (22) holds a coat hanger type support (24) which can be fitted with a woven collar (25) to enable the blower fan to be inserted into the overalls thus facilitating the flow of hot air into the overalls.

12. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the hot air generator outlet can have an additional side opening (26) for leading off some of the blown air so that it blows into the helmet hung from a special hook (27) on the side of the equipment .

13. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the air flows through the opening (26) which could be fitted with an air flow control flap (28) .

14. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the rear section on the air inlet side, in other words, above the grille (18) has a location for fitting a dispenser (29) for sanitising and deodorant products .

15. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that in addition to the main motor (10) the equipment has an auxiliary motor (11) also fitted with a blower fan, an electrical resistance and a thermostat all housed inside the casing which has a supporting grille (30) acting as a hot air outlet and a support for the helmet.

16. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the equipment is designed to be hung from an upright support (12) by means of a hanger (32) which is hooked to a notched bar (33) .

17. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that there is an additional hanger (34) located below the coat hanger (24) , designed to support overall trousers in those cases where the overalls consist of a separate jacket and trousers.

18. Equipment for drying items of sports clothing according to one of the previous claims characterised in that the support rods (12, 22) are fitted with adjustment means (12', 22') consisting of screw knobs or similar.