Dryer apparatus
AssigneeCharles D. Johnson
InventorAlfred B. Mayfield
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A clothes dryer including a control circuit for controlling the operation of the dryer and for preventing the dryer from operating unless the dryer lint screen is cleaned periodically. The control circuit disables the dryer either after every drying cycle, after a predetermined amount of time, or after the lint filter becomes clogged. The control circuit re-enables the dryer after the lint screen has been removed from the lint screen compartment and cleaned.
Claims19
A clothes dryer comprising:
- a laundry compartment for receiving laundry to be dried;
- an air passageway coupled to said laundry compartment for circulating heated air generated by the clothes dryer in and out of said laundry compartment;
- a lint screen compartment interposed in said air passageway;
- a lint screen adapted to be received in said lint screen compartment for filtering the circulated heated air;
- a control circuit configured for controlling the operation of the dryer, said control circuit including means for preventing the dryer from operating unless said lint screen is removed from said lint screen compartment and re-inserted after a drying cycle.
A control circuit for use in a clothes dryer having a lint screen, a lint screen compartment for receiving the lint screen, a start button and a timer for allowing the dryer to operate for a drying cycle, said control circuit configured for controlling the operation of the dryer, said control circuit comprising:
- switch means for determining the presence of the lint screen in the lint screen compartment;
- enabling circuit means coupled to and responsive to said switch means for enabling the operation of the clothes dryer when said switch means determines that the lint screen has been removed from said lint screen compartment and re-inserted after a drying cycle;
- and
- disabling circuit means coupled to the timer and said enabling circuit means for disabling the dryer after the completion of a drying cycle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.