US2498181A - Tumbler cylinder drive and support structure - Google Patents

Description

Feb. 21, 1950 A. L. REITE R 2,498,181

TUIIBIER CYLINDER DRIVE AND SUPPORT STRUCTURE Filed larch as, 1946 2 Shuts-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ALEXANDER L. REITER ATTORNEY Feb. 21, 1950 RE T 2,498,181

TUIBLER CYLINDER DRIVE AND SUPPORT STRUCTURE Filed March 28, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN VEN TOR. ALEXAADERL'. RE/TB? Arrow/Er Patented Feb. 21, 1950 TUMBLERCYLINDER DRIVE AND SUPPORT STRUCTURE Alexander L. Reiter, South Bend, Ind., assignor to Bendix Home Appliances, Inc., South Bend, Ind., a corporation of Delaware Application March 28, 1946, Serial No. 657,717

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to driving and support structure for tumbler type clothes dryer or other device using a cylinder mounted for rotation on a substantially horizontal axis.

It is a primary object of the present invention to provide means for supporting and for driving a dryer cylinder from the front thereof through a belt drive around the tubular extension of the cylinder which also forms the access opening into the cylinder and to so arrange such drive that the cylinder is supported on rollers through the belt the belt running over the supporting rollers under the tubular extension member between said member and the rollers.

The above and other objects of the invention will be apparent on consideration of the following more detailed description and by reference to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof and wherein.

Figure 1 is a front view of the assembled dryer showing the drive mechanism and the opening for receiving the clothes, the front panel of the machine being removed.

Figure 2 is a side view partly in section showing the several parts of the dryer including the driving and support mechanism.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1 and shows the section through the support roller, the belt and tubular extension member of the cylinder.

Referring to the drawings, a base supports a sheet metal rear supporting panel II and a front supporting and dividing panel l2 spaced as shown in Figure 2. The front panel [2 has a circular opening 13 provided therein and the rear panel H supports a bearing l4. The cylindrical shaped casing I5 is formed in the shape of a flanged tube and its flanges are secured to the inside faces of the rear panel I I and the front panel l2 respectively. A rotatable clothes containing cylinder H has a diameter slightly less than the cylindrical shaped casing l5 and is of a length slightly less than the distance between the front panel l2 and the rear panel H. A short shaft I8 is secured to the back wall of the rotatable cylinder l1 and this shaft is supported in a bearing I4. The clothes cylinder H, as more completely described in co-pending application Serial Number 649,011, filed February 20, 1946, has an annular front wall l9 made 'up of relatively large mesh screen, the screen being supported on a plurality of radially extending spokes. These spokes have their outer ends secured to the circumference of the cylinder and have their inner ends secured to a tubular ex- I tension member 2| which is of such length belt 28.

and shape, as shown in Figure 2 as to extend through the opening l3 in the panel l2. The panel l2, as shown in Figure 1, has roller members 22 and 23 secured thereto in such position that the tubular member 2| and the cylinder I! are supported for rotation in a manner described later in more detail, this front support being in addition to the rear support bearing l4 on the rear panel H.

The general arrangement of the dryer as regards the position of the clothes cylinder and air circulating duct is similar to that shown in the aforementioned co-pending application, Serial No. 649,011. For the purpose of circulating air a blower housing 32 which carries a blower impeller 3| is supported on the front panel l2 and exhausts into an air circulating duct 33 also carried on the front panel which circulates air over a heating element 34. An inlet into the duct from the front of the annular shaped wall 19 through the panel 12 is provided which inlet opens into the center of the impeller 3|, the inlet being shown at 35 in Figure 2. The outlet from the duct into the machine is back of the heating element 34 shown in Figure 1. The machine is enclosed by panels 42, 43 and 46 and a clothes door opening 41 is provided in the front of the machine in which a glass section 49 is included so that the tumbling of the clothes may be ob served. The clothes door is mounted in a tubular portion 48 so that a means is provided to remove the clothes from the dryer through the tubular portion 48 and the tubular member 21 which is attached to the drum.

The tubular member 2| serves as a pulleyfor driving the cylinder l1 and serves as well for a central access opening for loading wet clothes into the dryer and to remove the clothes therefrom after drying. A motor 24 provides power for rotation of the cylinder I! through a belt 25 which drives a large pulley 26 which rotates a smaller pulley 21. The pulley 21 carries a belt 28 which extends around the tubular member 2| and also extends between each of the roller members 22 and 23 and the tubular member 2|. The weight of the cylinder is supported on the rollers 22 and 23 through the belt 28.

As shown in Figure 3 the shape of the rollers 22 and 23 is such that the belt 28 will contact a flat surface thereon and assure a supporting of the load of the tubular member 21 through the It is apparent that the provision of a. belt between the supporting rollers and the tubular member assures a relatively large arc of frictional contact on the tubular member and also eliminates the necessity for providing separate contact areas on the tubular member for both the rollers and the belt. Furthermore, the depth of cabinet required to assemble a complete unit is reduced by this arrangement since the supporting rollers and the belt can be in the same plane.

Although the invention has been described by reference to a specific structure found practical in actual operation it is intended that various modifications may be made within the scope of the following claim.

I claim:

In a machine of the character described having a. rotatable clothes containing cylinder mounted for rotation on a substantially horizontal axis, a tubular member forming a central front opening concentric with the axis of rotation of said cylinder and extending outwardly from said cylinder, a driving motor, a belt driving from said motor extending around said tubular member for rotating said cylinder by contact with the outer surface of said tubular member, a pair of rollers contacting said belt and positioned below said tubular member in position to effect a support of said tubular member and said cylinder through said belt.

' ALEXANDER L. REII'ER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,289,162 Amonsen July '7, 1942 2,354,567 Adt July 25, 1944 2,414,154 Leer Jan. 14, 1947

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