Clothes dryer with press saver cycle including periodic signals

Claim 1

In a clothes dryer including a rotatable drum for receiving clothes to be dried and an electric motor for rotating said drum, a control system for said clothes dryer; said control system including circuit means for controlling an automatic drying cycle and a no-heat cycle; said circuit means for controlling said cycles being operable to provide continuous tumbling of clothes in said drum in heated air during said automatic cycle and as, a press saver mode of operation, continued continuous tumbling of clothes in said drum in unheated air during said no-heat cycle after said automatic cycle to obviate wrinkling of clothes being dried; said circuit means including an alarm operable during said press saver mode of operation; an electrical power source for said control system; said electric motor being connected to said power source through said circuit means, said circuit means including a slow step escapement sequential timer electrically connected to said power source and having drive motor switch means closeable to supply power to said electric motor during said automatic drying cycle and during said no-heat cycle and operable to interrupt power to said electric motor in an off period normally separating said automatic cycle from said no-heat cycle, said timer having bridging switch means closeable to bridge said drive motor switch means during said off period to provide an extended press saver cycle, and said timer having signal switch means intermittently closeable during said no-heat cycle to supply power to said alarm, said circuit means including a manually operated option selector switch means for selecting said extended press saver cycle and said alarm, said option selector switch means having first contact means closeable in series with said bridging switch means and said electric motor when said press saver cycle is selected, said selector switch means having second contact means closeable in series with said signal switch means and said alarm, said first contact means of said option selector switch means operating when closed in conjunction with said closed bridging switch means of said timer for connecting said electric motor to said power source whereby said off period for said motor is electrically bridged so that the operation of said automatic cycle extends automatically into said no-heat cycle as said extended press saver cycle; said second contact means of said option selector switch means operating when closed in conjunction with the closed signal switch means of said timer for connecting said alarm to said power source so as to generate periodic signals of limited duration during the no-heat cycle portion of said extended press saver cycle, said periodic signals developing a periodic alarm on the occasion of said periodic signals to remind the operator during said press saver cycle that the drying operation is complete and the clothes should be removed from said drum before the continuous tumbling of clothes in unheated air is terminated.