Apparatus to prevent wadding of sheets in clothes dryer
OwnerJohn S. Bairdinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An apparatus to prevent a wet sheet or blanket from wadding when drying in a clothes-drying machine is provided having two opposing porous objects that are connected by a plurality of outwardly-bowed flexible tubes and a pair of securing straps extending between each object. The porous objects comprise reversibly engaging outside and inside portions that include a plurality of ventilation holes. The outside portions include a plurality of knobs for agitating and softening other articles of clothing during a drying cycle.
Claims16
An apparatus to prevent wet textile items from wadding during a drying cycle in a clothes-drying machine, comprising:
- a) two objects each having a hollow interior space and a plurality of holes through the walls thereof;
- and
- b) a plurality of flexible tubes that interpose between the two objects to maintain them in spaced relation to each other;
- c) wherein the objects have a shape selected from sphere, spheroid, ellipsoid, cube or cuboid;
- d) wherein the objects comprise reversibly coupling outside and inside portions, and wherein each flexible tube has opposing ends, each end being inserted into the hollow interior space of one of the two objects;
- e) wherein the objects are spheres comprising reversibly coupling outside hemisphere and inside hemisphere portions, and wherein the ends of the flexible tubes are inserted through the inside hemisphere portion and cinched together, such that the flexible tubes spanning between each sphere are bowed outwardly, thereby imparting a spherical or elliptical structure to the apparatus.
An apparatus to prevent wet textile items from wadding during drying in a clothes-drying machine, comprising:
- a) two spheres each comprising reversibly engaging outside and inside hemisphere portions that define a hollow interior space within each sphere, wherein the outside and inside hemisphere portions include a plurality of holes penetrating the walls thereof, the inside hemisphere portions further including a hole at the apex thereof, and the outside hemisphere portions including a plurality of knobs extending outward from the surface thereof;
- b) a plurality of flexible tubes having opposing ends that are inserted through the inside hemisphere portions of the spheres into the hollow interior space thereof, wherein the tube ends are cinched proximal to each other forming a cluster, such that the region of the flexible tubes spanning between each sphere is bowed outwardly;
- c) two sphere securing straps having ends that pass through the hole at the apex of each inside hemisphere into the hollow interior space, wherein the securing strap ends in each sphere are engaged over the tube end clusters;
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- d) a textile securing cord attached to each outside hemisphere portion.
A method for drying a textile item in a clothes-drying machine to prevent clumping, comprising the steps of:
- (1) placing a de-wadding device at the central region of the textile item wherein the de-wadding device comprises two porous hollow spheres and a plurality of flexible tubes that interpose between the spheres to maintain the spheres in spaced relation to each other;
- (2) securing the textile item around the de-wadding device;
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- (3) placing the textile item secured to the de-wadding device of step 2 into a clothes-drying machine;
- (4) wherein the textile item is secured around the de-wadding device in step 2 with a pair of textile securing cords.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.