Patent Grant
11103111
The present invention relates to a hand drying apparatus, and more particularly to a hand drying apparatus comprising a squeezing and dispensing arrangement which is capable of exerting pressure to a user's hand for drying thereof by a fabric sheet, such as a towel.
Conventionally, there exist several kinds of hand drying apparatuses which are used for drying a user's hand. For example, some conventional drying apparatuses utilizes heated air for drying a user's hand. The disadvantages of this kind of hand drying apparatuses are that they need a considerable amount of power to operate. The electrical and mechanical components which are used to rapidly heat ambient air and blow the heated air to the user's hand consume a substantial amount of energy. Despite this, users' hands are not often dry enough to allow satisfactory users' experience.
Another kind of hand drying apparatus is disposable paper towel dispensers. An obvious disadvantage of this type of hand drying apparatuses is that they are not environmentally friendly. Paper towel dispensers consume a large amount of paper towels. A lot of paper towels are dispensed unnecessarily because users tend to require a new paper towel before the an existing one are thoroughly utilized. This produce a substantial amount of waste.
Another kind of hand drying apparatus is fabric towel dispensers. This type of hand drying apparatuses is different from the disposable paper towel dispensers mentioned above because it dispenses reusable fabric towels for users to dry their hands. A major disadvantage is that a user has to manually squeeze the fabric towel to allow effective absorption of water from the user's hand. When the fabric towels are used for an extended period of time, the fabric towels may deform and become hard to fit in the fabric towel dispensers for reuse. Used fabric towels may also be easily stuck in other components of the apparatus. Moreover, conventional hand drying apparatuses are not truly automatic because the users have to manually squeeze the dispensed fabric towel.
Certain variations of the present invention provide a hand drying apparatus comprising a fabric sheet squeezing arrangement which is capable of automatically exerting pressure to a user's hand for drying thereof by a fabric sheet, such as a towel.
Certain variations of the present invention provide a hand drying apparatus comprising a squeezing and dispensing arrangement which may allow paper towel or fabric towel to press against a user's hand for absorbing moisture thereof. As such, it is not necessary for a user to manually squeeze the paper towel or fabric towel for drying his or her hands.
In one aspect of the present invention, it provides a hand drying apparatus for a fabric sheet used for absorbing moisture from a user's hand, the hand drying apparatus comprising:
an outer case; and
a squeezing and dispensing arrangement, which comprises:
at least a first supporting panel and a second supporting panel provided in the outer case, the second supporting panel being provided in the outer case at a position spaced apart from the first supporting panel to form at least one drying cavity as a space formed between the first supporting panel and the second supporting panel for accommodating the user's hand; and
at least one driving rotor rotatably supported in the outer case for driving the fabric sheet to move in a predetermined direction; and
a plurality of supporting members provided in the outer casing and positioned to support the fabric sheet between the first supporting panel and the second supporting panel in a slidably movable manner;
the hand drying apparatus being operated between an idle mode and a drying mode, wherein in the idle mode, the first supporting panel and the second supporting panel are positioned and retained to space apart from each other, wherein in the drying mode, at least one of the first supporting panel and the second supporting panel is driven to move toward the other supporting panel for allowing the fabric sheet supported on the first supporting panel and the second supporting panel to contact with the user's hand in the drying cavity so as to absorb moisture from the user's hand.
This summary presented above is provided merely to introduce certain concepts and not to identify any key or essential features of the claimed subject matter.
The following detailed description of the preferred embodiment is the preferred mode of carrying out the invention. The description is not to be taken in any limiting sense. It is presented for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the present invention.
It should be appreciated that the terms “install”, “connect”, “couple”, and “mount” in the following description refer to the connecting relationship in the accompanying drawings for easy understanding of the present invention. For example, the connection can refer to permanent connection or detachable connection. Furthermore, “connected” may also mean direct connection or indirect connection, or connection through other auxiliary components. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual connection limitation of the elements of the present invention.
It should be appreciated that the terms “length”, “width”, “top”, “bottom”, “front”, “rear”, “left”, “right”, vertical”, “horizontal”, “upper”, “lower”, “exterior”, and “interior” in the following description refer to the orientation or positioning relationship in the accompanying drawings for easy understanding of the present invention without limiting the actual location or orientation of the present invention. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual location limitation of the elements of the present invention.
It should be appreciated that the terms “first”, “second”, “one”, “a”, and “an” in the following description refer to “at least one” or “one or more” in the embodiment. In particular, the term “a” in one embodiment may refer to “one” while in another embodiment may refer to “more than one”. Therefore, the above terms should not be an actual numerical limitation of the elements of the present invention.
Referring to
The squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may comprise at least a first supporting panel 21 provided in the outer case 10 and a second supporting panel 22 provided in the outer case 10, at least one driving rotor 23, and a plurality of supporting members 250. The second supporting panel 22 may be provided in the outer case 10 at a position spaced apart from the first supporting panel 21 to form at least one drying cavity 24 as a space formed between the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 for accommodating the user's hand.
The driving rotor 23 may be rotatably supported in the outer case 10 for driving the fabric sheet 100 to move in a predetermined direction in the outer case 10.
The squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may further comprise a plurality of supporting members 250 provided in the outer casing 10 and positioned to support the fabric sheet 100 between the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 in a slidably movable manner.
The hand drying apparatus may be operated between an idle mode and a drying mode, wherein in the idle mode, the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 are positioned and retained to space apart from each other, wherein in the drying mode, at least one of the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 is driven to move toward the other supporting panel 21(22) for allowing the fabric sheet 100 supported on the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 to contact with the user's hand in the drying cavity 24 so as to absorb moisture from the user's hand.
According to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the hand drying apparatus of the present invention may utilize the fabric sheet 100 as a medium for absorbing moisture from the user's hands. Preferably, the fabric sheet 100 may be configured as fabric towel. Alternatively, paper towel may also be used. The fabric sheet 100 may therefore need to possess a predetermined amount of water absorbing ability so that when the fabric sheet 100 is in contact with the users' hands, water on the users' hands may be absorbed by the fabric sheet 100. The fabric sheet 100 may be folded or rolled to be continuously supplied to the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20.
The outer case 10 may have a storage compartment 11 for storing cleaned, unused fabric sheet 100, and a collecting compartment 12 for storing used fabric sheet 100. The fabric sheet 100 may be guided to controllably move from the storage compartment 11 to the collecting compartment 12 through the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20. In this preferred embodiment, the storage compartment 11 may be provided on an upper portion 13 of the outer case 10, while the collecting compartment 12 may be provided on a lower portion 14 of the outer case 10. The squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may be provided between the storage compartment 11 and the collecting compartment 12 at a mid portion 15 of the outer case 10.
The hand drying apparatus may further comprise a towel guider 30 provided in the storage compartment 11 for unused fabric sheet 100 to be supported thereon. In this preferred embodiment, the fabric sheet 100 may be configured as a roll which is to be supported on the towel guider 30 in the storage compartment 11. A certain amount of the fabric sheet 100 may be pulled out from the roll and fed to the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20. As such, the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may have a continuous supply of fabric sheet 100. The towel guider 30 may be configured as a roller (which may also be driven to move by the driving motor 261) or a stationary bar affixed in the storage compartment 11 of the outer case 10.
The outer case 10 may further have an access opening 161 provided on the outer case 10 for allowing a user to access the drying cavity 24 through the access opening 161. Thus, the access opening 161 may be formed at a position corresponding to that of the drying cavity 24 so that a user may be able to put his or her hand in the drying cavity through penetrating the access opening 161. Note that the number of drying cavities 24 and the access openings 161 may be varied according to an actual configuration of the present invention. Some of these configurations will be described below.
The driving rotor 23 may be distributed in the outer case 10 in a rotatably movable manner for driving the fabric sheet 100 to move in a predetermined path dictated by the spatial distribution of the driving rotor 23 and the supporting members 250. The objective is to guide the fabric sheet 100 to move from the storage compartment 11 and pass through the drying cavity 24 and to be finally in the collecting compartment 12. Referring to
Specifically, at least two of the supporting members 250 may be provided in outer case 10 in such a manner that a portion of unused fabric sheet 100 may extend above the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22. It is important to point out that the exact number of driving rotor 23 and the supporting members 250 employed in the outer case 10 may depend on the exact configuration of the outer case 10, and the desirable travel path of the fabric sheet 100.
The supporting members 250 may be mounted in the outer case 10 for supporting the fabric sheet 100 in a tensioned manner. The supporting members 250 may be stationary or rotatably mounted in the outer case 10. The purpose of the supporting members 250 is to guide and support the fabric sheet 100 to travel in a predetermined direction as driven by the driving rotor 23. The exact number of the supporting members 250 may depend on the exact configuration of the outer case 10, and the desirable travel path of the fabric sheet 100. For example, as shown in
The first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 may be mounted in the outer case 10 for providing supports to the fabric sheet 100 and the user's hand. Each of the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 may be securely mounted in the outer case 10. Alternatively, at least one of the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 may be movably mounted in the outer case 10. The movement of the first supporting panel 21 and/or the second supporting panel 22 may be actuated by a driving mechanism 25 described below. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the second supporting panel 22 is securely and immovably provided in the outer case 10 while the first supporting panel 21 may be movably mounted in the outer case 10 to move toward or away from the second supporting panel 22. As shown in
It is also worth mentioning that the second supporting panel 22 may be mounted or connected in the outer case 10 as a separate element. Alternatively, the second supporting panel 21 may also be integrally formed on the outer case 10 so that the outer case 10 and the second supporting panel 22 form an integral signal component. From manufacturing perspective, the outer case 10 and the second supporting panel 22 may be formed together as a whole without external connection or mounting.
The squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may further comprise a driving mechanism 25 provided in the outer case 10 for driving at least one of the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 to move toward the other supporting panel 21(22). In this preferred embodiment, the first supporting panel 21 may be positioned above the second supporting panel 22 wherein the driving mechanism 25 may be configured to drive the first supporting panel 21 to move toward the second supporting panel 22 so as to adjust the size and volume of the driving cavity 24.
The driving mechanism 25 may comprise a driving assembly 251 attached to the first supporting panel 21 for driving the first supporting panel 21 to move toward the second supporting panel 22. In this preferred embodiment, the driving assembly 251 may be configured as comprising two threaded rods 2511 (but at least one) connected to the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 in such a manner that when the threaded rods 2511 is driven to rotate, the first supporting panel 21 is arranged to move along a longitudinal direction of the threaded rod 2511. The second supporting panel 22 may remain stationary in the outer case 10.
The squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may further comprise at least one deformable pad 221 supported on one of the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 for supporting the user's hand. In this preferred embodiment, the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may comprise two deformable pads 221 supported on the first supporting panel 21 and the second supporting panel 22 respectively. When the user's hand rest on the second supporting panel 22, one of the deformable pads 221 may slightly deform due to the hand's weight. Further deformation may occur when the first supporting panel 21 is driven to depress on the user's hand. Moreover, the deformable pad 221 on the first supporting panel 21 may also deform due to the pressure exerted by the first supporting panel 21. The slight deformation may allow the fabric sheet 100 to deform slightly so as to absorb moisture from the user's hand. Each of the deformable pads 221 may be configured from soft or foam material such as memory foam. Thus, one of the deformable pads 221 may be supported on an upper side 213 of the second supporting panel 22 while a portion of the fabric sheet 100 may be supported on the deformable pad 221. The other deformable pad 221 may be supported on the first supporting panel 21 while another portion of the fabric sheet 100 may be supported underneath the deformable pad 221. When the first supporting panel 21 is driven to move toward the second supporting panel 22, the corresponding portions of the fabric sheet 100 may come into contact with the user's hand.
As shown in
The squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may further comprise a central processing unit 262 electrically connected to the driving motors 261, and at least one motion sensor 263 provided in the drying cavity 24 and electrically connected to the central processing unit 262 for sensing presence of motion in the drying cavity 24. The central processing unit 262 may be programmed to control the operation of the driving motors 261 when signals from the motion sensor 263 are received. Some of the driving motors 261 may be connected to the driving assembly 251 for driving the threaded rods 2511 to rotate so as to drive the first supporting panel 21 to move toward the second supporting panel 22.
It is worth mentioning that used fabric sheet 100 may be moved to accommodate in the collecting compartment 12 which may be located underneath the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20. When all the fabric sheet 100 has been used, the used fabric sheet 100 may be taken out for cleaning so that it may be re-accommodated in the storage compartment 11 and reused for drying in the manner described above.
The used fabric sheet 100 collected in the collecting compartment 12 may be freely stacked. Alternatively, the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may further comprise a folding arrangement 265 which may comprise a folding rod 2651 moveably mounted in the collecting compartment 12 of the outer case 10 for folding used fabric sheet 100 into a folded stack. As shown in
The operation of the present invention may be as follows: when no object is in the drying cavity 24, the hand drying apparatus is idle. When a user wants to dry his hand, he may put his hands into the drying cavity 24 through the access opening 161. When his hands are in the drying cavity 24 and rest his hands on the fabric sheet 100 disposed on the deformable pad 221 and the second supporting panel 22, the motion sensor 263 may detect motion and send the corresponding signal to the central processing unit 262. The central processing unit 262 may then drive the corresponding driving motor 261 to rotate so as to actuate the driving assembly 251. The first supporting panel 21 may then be driven to move toward the second supporting panel 22 until the fabric sheet 100 supported on the first supporting panel 21 come into contact with the user's hands. The pressure exerted by the first supporting panel 21 may slightly depress the user's hand and squeeze the deformable pads 221 so as to allow the user's hands to be surrounded or wrapped by the fabric sheet 100.
The first supporting panel 21 may be configured to depress on the user's hand for a predetermined period of time. After the time lapses, the first supporting panel 21 may be driven to move away from the second supporting panel 22. At this time, the user may move his hands out of the drying cavity 24 through the access opening 161. It is worth mentioning that the central processing unit 262 may be configured to drive multiple squeezing motions (i.e. reciprocating movement) of the first supporting panel 21 with respect to the second supporting panel 22. This motion may again trigger the motion senor 263 and the corresponding signal may be sent to the central processing unit 262. The central processing unit 262 may be configured to drive the corresponding driving rotor 23 to rotate so as to drive the fabric sheet 100 to move along the path dictated by the distribution of the driving rotor 23. This allows the used fabric sheet 100 in the drying cavity 24 to be moved aside (and eventually moved to the collecting compartment 12) and replaced by unused fabric sheet 100 moved from the storage compartment 11. The hand drying apparatus may then become idle again and ready for next round of operation as mentioned above.
It is worth mentioning that the arrangement of the various components of the hand drying apparatus as described above may have several alternatives and variations. Some of these alternatives and variations may be described below. For example, the storage compartment 11, the collecting compartment 12 and the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 may be arranged and configured in a side-by-side manner (as opposed to up-and-down manner) so that fabric sheet 100 may travel from the storage compartment 11 sidewardly to the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20 and eventually to the collecting compartment 12.
Moreover, the drying cavity 24 and the access opening 161 may be shaped and sized to form a horizontal orientation in the sense that a longitudinal axis of the drying cavity 24 may substantially parallel to horizontal. This configuration may be illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
Moreover, the drying cavity 24″ and the access opening 161″ may be extended along a transverse axis of the outer case 10″ while the first supporting panel 21″ and the second supporting panel 22″ may be formed on two sides of the drying cavity 24″. Moreover, the driving assembly 251″ may also be configured as comprising at least one threaded rod 2511″ connected to the first supporting panel 21″ and the second supporting panel 22″.
According to the second alternative mode, at least one of the driving rotors 23″ or the supporting member 250″ may be provided in the collecting compartment 12″ for retracting used fabric sheet 100″ from the drying cavity 24″. The folding arrangement 265 and the fabric cutter 264′ are not employed in this second alternative mode.
Referring to
In the third alternative mode, the outer case 10A may have two drying cavities 24A for accommodating two hands of a user respectively. Accordingly, the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20A may further comprise a third supporting panel 27A provided in the outer case 10A to form a first drying cavity 241A and a second drying cavity 242A. In this third alternative mode, the second supporting panel 22A may be stationary while the first supporting panel 21A and the third supporting panel 27A may be spacedly positioned at two opposed sides from the second supporting panel 22A. The first drying cavity 241A may be formed between the first supporting panel 21A and the second supporting panel 22A, while the second drying cavity 242A may be formed between the second supporting panel 22A and the third supporting panel 27A at a opposed side to the first supporting panel 21A.
With the presence of the third supporting panel 27A, the driving rotors 23A are distributed such that the fabric sheet 100A may sequentially pass through the first supporting panel 21A, the second supporting panel 22A, and the third supporting panel 27A. Moreover, in this third alternative mode, each of the first drying cavity 241A, the second drying cavity 242A, may be shaped and sized to form a vertical orientation in the sense that a longitudinal axis of the drying cavities 241A, 242A may substantially parallel to vertical direction with respect to the outer case 10A.
The driving assembly 251A of the driving mechanism 25A may further comprise a threaded rod 2511A so that at least two threaded rods 2511A may be used to actuate the first supporting panel 21A and the third supporting panel 27A respectively. Specifically, one of the threaded rods 2511A may operatively connect the first supporting panel 21A to the second supporting panel 22A so as to allow the first supporting panel 21A to selectively and controllably move toward the second supporting panel 22A. On the other hand, the other threaded rod 2511A may operatively connect the third supporting panel 27A to the second supporting panel 22A so as to allow the third supporting panel 27A to selectively and controllably move toward the second supporting panel 22A.
As a slight alternative, one threaded rod 2511A may extend across first through third supporting panel 21A, 22A, 27A so that a single threaded rob 251A may drive the first supporting panel 21A to move toward or away from the second supporting panel 22A, and to drive the third supporting panel 27A to move toward or away from the second supporting panel 22A. This may be accomplished by having the threaded rod 2511A to have two threaded sections.
Moreover, in the third alternative mode, the collecting compartment 12A may be formed at an upper portion 13A of the outer case 10A, the storage compartment 11A may be formed at the mid-portion 15A of the outer case 10A while the squeezing and dispensing arrangement 20A may be provided at the lower portion 14A of the outer case 10A. As in the second alternative mode, at least one of the driving rotors 23A or the supporting member 250A may be provided in the collecting compartment 12A for retracting used fabric sheet 100A from the drying cavity 24A.
Referring to
The first connecting rod 2511B may have one end pivotally connected to a first side portion 211B of the first supporting panel 21B while the second connecting rod 2512B may also have one end pivotally connected to a corresponding first side portion 221B of the second supporting panel 22B. The other end of the first connecting rod 2511B may be pivotally connected to the other end of the second connecting rod 2512B.
Similarly, the third connecting rod 2513B has one end pivotally connected to the second side portion 212B of the first supporting panel 21B while the fourth connecting rod 2514B also has one end pivotally connected to a corresponding second side portion 222B of the second supporting panel 22B. The other end of the third connecting rod 2513B may be pivotally connected to the other end of the fourth connecting rod 2514B.
One of the driving motors 261B may be connected to the second connecting rod 2512B and one of the driving motors 261B may be connected to the fourth connecting rod 2514B so that when these two driving motors 261B are driven to rotate, the second connecting rod 2512B and the fourth connecting rod 2514B may be driven to pivotally move with respect to the second supporting panel 22B. These pivotal movements may drive the first connecting rod 2511B and the third connecting rod 2513B to move so as to drive the first supporting panel 21B to move toward the second supporting panel 22B. Thus, by controlling the driving movement of the corresponding driving motors 261B (such as the driving direction), the first supporting panel 21B may be driven to move toward or away from the second supporting panel 22B. The first supporting panel 21B and the second supporting panel 22B may be secured on the outer case 10 through two elongated slots provided on the outer case 10.
It is worth mentioning that when three supporting panels are utilized (such as the alternative described in the third alternative mode), the connection between the first supporting panel 21A and the second supporting panel 22A as described in this fourth alternative mode may also be applied to the connection between the second supporting panel 22A and the third supporting panel 27A.
Referring to
As shown in the exemplary configuration illustrated in
Referring to
Note that the number of rack and pinion gears adopted in the hand drying apparatus may depend on the number of supporting panels and manufacturing circumstances of the present invention. For example, when only the first supporting panel 21D and the second supporting panel 22D are employed, two rack and pinion gears may be provided at two sides of the first supporting panel 21D and the second supporting panel 22D while two driving shafts 2513D may be connected between the two pinion gears 2512D and two corresponding sides of the first supporting panel 21D respectively.
Referring to
In the seventh alternative mode, the driving wheel 2511E may have a circular cross section or a having a bulging portion 2514E. The driving motor 261E may be eccentrically connected to the driving wheel 2511E so that when the driving wheel 2511E is driven to rotate, the connecting rod 2512E may be driven to move in a reciprocating manner so as to move the first supporting panel 21E toward or away from the second supporting panel 22E. Thus, by controlling the rotation of the driving wheel 2511E, the connection rod 2512E may be driven to move so as to move the first supporting panel 21E with respect to the second supporting panel 22E.
The driving assembly mentioned in the above alternative mode may also be applied when the squeezing and dispensing arrangement comprises two or three supporting panels. Any two of the supporting panels may also be driven by any one of the driving assemblies mentioned above.
The present invention, while illustrated and described in terms of a preferred embodiment and several alternatives, is not limited to the particular description contained in this specification. Additional alternative or equivalent components could also be used to practice the present invention.
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