Honeycomb grilled conduit

A grilled conduit means for use in drying a paper web or the like comprising:

• a plurality of independent conduits each of which includes
• means providing a channel having a pair of fixed spaced apart sidewall portions having outer edges defining a channel opening extending therebetween, said channel providing an enclosed constant volume interior chamber within said sidewall portions and having a passage through which a vacuum can be applied to the interior chamber, each of said sidewall portions having an inner surface facing the interior chamber,
• and a honeycomb grill fixedly mounted on each channel providing means to extend across said channel opening and being in contact with portions of said inner surfaces adjacent said outer edges of said sidewall portions,
• said honeycomb grill having a plurality of open cells therein through which a drying medium can flow into the interior chamber of said channel,
• said conduits being mounted in side-by-side relation with the sidewalls of adjacent conduits being juxtapositioned to provide a dividing line region therebetween and with said honeycomb grills providing an extended drying surface,
• said honeycomb grill of each conduit being raised outwardly of said outer edges of said sidewall portions from the inner surfaces thereof to provide between adjacent honeycomb grills an open flow area for the flow of drying medium in said dividing line region beyond said edges of juxtapositioned sidewall portions whereby a continuous drying surface is provided.