Apparatus for washing and drying discrete parts

An apparatus for washing and drying discrete parts which comprises:

• a vessel with a vertical axis, a closed bottom and a side wall extending upwardly from the circumference of said bottom, said vessel having an inlet for introducing the discrete parts on the bottom of said vessel, an outlet for removing said parts out of said vessel, said outlet being formed in an upper end of said side wall;
• a spiral track formed on the interior surface of said side wall and ascending therealong in a spiral manner about said vertical axis from said bottom and reaching said outlets;
• a liquid supply line for supplying a cleaning liquid into said vessel;
• level control means for keeping a level of said supplied cleaning liquid well below said outlet in such a manner as to divide the length of said spiral track into a washing zone immersed in said cleaning liquid and drying zone disposed above said level;
• said spiral track further including a dripping zone for dropping the cleaning liquids off said parts, said dripping zone being disposed above the level of said cleaning liquid within said vessel and leading to said drying zone, said spiral track in said dripping zone comprising a perforated bed on which said parts are fed upwardly to said drying zone;
• a vibrator operatively connected to said vessel for applying thereto vertical and circumferential vibrations which supply a driving force for feeding said discrete parts upwardly along said spiral track to said outlet through said cleaning zone and continuously through said drying zone, said discrete parts being washed by said cleaning liquid while being fed through said cleaning zone;
• and
• dryer means for directing a forced hot air flow along said drying zone to remove the cleaning liquid from said discrete parts.