Secondary dryer for free water detector pads

Claim 1

A drying oven for subjecting open containers of water detector pads to a secondary drying operation, comprising in combination: (a) an elongate enclosure providing a pair of elongate channels disposed side by side and having open outer-most ends and blind inner-most ends, (b) said channels extending from one end of the enclosure where they are open, to a point located adjacent the other end of the enclosure where they are blind, (c) means providing heat to raise the temperature within the enclosure and to expel moisture therefrom, (d) said channels having tracks with which the containers are engageable and along which they can travel, (e) one of said channels being adapted to hold a plurality of said containers in single file whereby the containers can be moved, starting from an at-rest position, along said channel from the open end thereof to the blind end thereof by a pushing force, (f) means including a powered pushing device for providing said pushing force to the end one of said containers of said single file at the open outer-most end of said one channel, thereby to advance all of the containers of the single file toward the blind end of the channel, and (g) a 180° stationary transfer guide structure comprising spaced-apart opposed walls interconnecting the blind ends of the channels, providing for transfer of said containers from the said one channel to the other channel at the said blind ends in response to the pushing of the said powered pushing device.