Steam and hot air operated drying device and method for textile articles of clothing

Claim 1

A steam and hot air operated drying device for articles of fabric, comprising, a housing having a working tunnel, a drivable conveying member extending through the tunnel for carrying the articles in spaced relationship with each other, drive means connected to said conveying member for conveying the articles through the tunnel, a hot air feeder having a pressure side and a return side for supplying hot air, said housing defining an air distributing chamber connected to the pressure side of the hot air feeder and positioned over the tunnel and communicating with the tunnel through a plurality of vertically downwardly directed nozzles, a steam supply member in at least some of the nozzles for supplying steam with the hot air directed through the nozzles into the tunnel whereby the articles which are conveyed through the tunnel are dried with steam containing hot air directed from above and downwardly past the articles, the housing defining a collecting chamber below the tunnel and communicating with the tunnel to receive the hot air therefrom, the collecting chamber connected to the return side of the feeder, the tunnel having a top wall which has a plurality of openings therethrough, a nozzle box extending from each of the openings disposed on either side of the conveying member each nozzle box defining a pair of spaced apart flat nozzles extending transversely to the conveying member.