The present invention relates in general to the field of household appliances, and more particularly to laundry washing and/or drying appliances like laundry washers, dryers and washer-dryers. Specifically, the present invention concerns an accessory, adapted to be used in conjunction with a household appliance having the function of drying laundry, for drying shoes exploiting the drying household appliance.

When shoes get wet in consequence for example to walking on the streets in rainy days or in the grass of parks or of the countryside, a rather long time is needed for them to dry by simple natural evaporation, especially in the rainy or winter seasons. This is an evident problem, because until the shoes are dry they cannot be worn again, since wearing wet shoes is a very uncomfortable experience and is possibly unsafe for health.

The Applicant has tackled the problem of devising an effective solution for drying shoes rapidly and without damaging them.

The Applicant has found that, for drying wet shoes, advantage can be taken of laundry drying household appliances like those disclosed in the European patent applications EP 1845185 and EP 1854916, both in the name of the present Applicant.

Such household appliances have been designed for quickly and effectively drying garments made for example of delicate textile materials, such as cashmere, which are not adapted to undergo regular drying treatments in a laundry drying household appliances like tumble dryers, due to the mechanical stresses, mainly in the form of impacts, which the textile fibers would be subject to, and the consequent damage to the garments.

In particular, the household appliances disclosed in EP 1845185 and EP 1854916 have a worktop defining a drying surface having a plurality of apertures fluidly connected to conveying means which are adapted to deliver a flow of air, particularly warm air, through said apertures for drying garments placed over said drying surface.

The Applicant has found that, in order to dry wet shoes, the flow of air delivered through the drying surface of these appliances can be exploited.

The Applicant has devised for this purpose an accessory adapted to be used in conjunction with a household appliance of the type having a worktop defining at least a drying surface having a plurality of apertures fluidly connected with conveying means adapted to deliver a flow of air through said apertures. The accessory is an adapter suitable to be coupled to the household appliance so as to modify the drying surface to confer thereto a shape defining a support rack for receiving and supporting at least one shoe in such a way that the shoe, when supported by the rack, is hit by the flow of air.

In this way, by exploiting the flow of air exiting from the drying surface of the household appliance , the shoe supported by the rack is effectively and rapidly dried.

According to an aspect of the present invention, an accessory is provided which is adapted to be used in conjunction with a household appliance having a worktop defining at least one perforated drying surface provided with a plurality of apertures fluidly connected with conveying means adapted to deliver a flow of air through said apertures. The accessory is shaped so as to define a support rack for receiving and supporting at least one shoe in such a way that the shoe, when supported by the rack, is hit by the flow of air. The accessory is either integrally formed with, or it is separate and removably couplable to said drying surface in order to convey the flow of air inside the supported shoe.

The accessory may comprise a hollow body having a base for the abutment on said drying surface, and at least one perforated head shaped so as to be insertable into a shoe.

A rim of said base may be flanged, to ensure stability of the accessory when lying on the drying surface.

At least one peg may be provided along a rim of the base, said at least one peg having size and shape adapted for the insertion into one of the apertures of the drying surface.

Said drying surface may comprise a plate-like element shaped to define at least one perforated head shaped so as to be insertable into a shoe.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a household appliance is provided, having a worktop defining at least one perforated drying surface provided with a plurality of apertures fluidly connected with conveying means adapted to deliver a flow of air through said apertures, characterized by comprising at least one accessory according to any one of the preceding claims.

These and other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent by reading the following detailed description of some embodiments thereof. For better intelligibility, the description should be read in conjunction with the attached drawings, wherein:

• Figure 1 shows in perspective a household appliance with applied accessories for drying wet shoes according to an embodiment of the present invention;
• Figure 2 shows in cross-section and in enlarged scale a detail of a worktop of the household appliance of Figure 1 with applied one of the accessories for drying shoes according to an embodiment of the present invention;
• Figure 3 shows, in still enlarged scale, a detail of the coupling of the accessory of Figures 1 and 2 to a drying surface of the household appliance, according to an embodiment of the present invention;
• Figure 4 is similar to Figure 3, but shows a coupling according to another embodiment of the present invention; and
• Figure 5 shows a detail of a drying surface of a household appliance shaped so as to integrally define a support rack for shoes, according to another embodiment of the preen invention.

Making reference to the drawings, in Figure 1 there is shown in perspective a household appliance 100, particularly for washing and/or drying clothes and garments, of the type described in detail in the European patent application EP 1845145, which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference. The household appliance 100 comprises an outer casing 105 with a worktop 110 and a front panel 115 carrying operational input and setting controls 120 for the user. A drum-shaped tub (not visible in the drawing), adapted to be loaded with the items to be washed and/or dried, is rotatably accommodated and supported within the casing 105, and an opening in the front panel of the casing 105 allows access to the tub for loading/unloading the items into/from the tub; the opening is closable by a door 125.

The worktop 110 comprises a top plate member 127, for example in plastic, which defines a drying surface 130, on which the garment to be dried is laid. The drying surface 130 has a plurality of apertures or perforations 135, each one of which is fluidly connected with conveying means adapted to direct a flow of air through the apertures 135; the air flowing through the apertures 135 hits the garment that is laid upon the drying surface 135, thereby drying it quickly and gently.

The conveying means may be located inside the outer casing 105, below the drying surface 130 of the worktop 110, as shown in Figure 2.

The conveying means may comprise at least an air passage 205 adapted to convey the air up to the worktop 110 underneath the drying surface 130, so that the air is then able to flow through the apertures 135 from the bottom upwards, as well as air circulating means 210 adapted to force a flow of air into and through the air passage 205.

The air passage 205 extends horizontally along the drying surface 130, so as to be able to supply air to every aperture 135 at the same time. An end portion 215 of the air passage 205 is blind, i.e. sealed, whereas the other end portion 220 thereof is open and fluidly communicating with the air circulating means 210 to receive the flow of drying air thereinto. The conveying means may further comprise a communication duct 225 provided in the worktop and/or the outer casing 105 to connect the air circulating means 210 with the air passage 205.

The air circulating means 210 may for instance be comprised of at least one blower arranged inside the outer casing 105 of the appliance and adapted to take in air form either the interior or the exterior of the cabinet of the household appliance to convey it into the air passage 205. The blower may be housed in a proper accommodation provided to this purpose inside the outer casing of the appliance in order to take in the ambient air from the interior of the cabinet (which is normally not air-tight and thus is in fluid communication with the external ambient, from which air can enter into the cabinet). Other arrangements are however possible, as described in EP 1845185, which is incorporated herein by reference; in particular, and merely by way of example, the conveying means may be located outside the casing 105, for example, the air circulating means 210 and the communication duct 225 may be associated to the upper backward portion of the casing 105 in proximity to and below the worktop 110 projecting from the casing, or the air circulating means 210 and the communication duct 225 may arranged above the worktop 110 in fluidly connection with the air passage 205. The air to be conveyed to the drying surface may be ambient air taken in from the exterior or interior of the outer casing; in embodiments of the present invention, the air conveyed to the drying surface may be process air used to dry the items inside the dryer drum, or air used to cool a condenser present to remove moisture from the process air used to dry the items in the drum.

Advantageously, heating means 230 may be provided to heat up the air that flows into the air passage 205; heated-up air hitting the garment to be dried accelerates the drying process. The heating means 230 may for instance be comprised of one or more electric heating elements arranged downstream from the air circulating means 210 and upstream of the air passage 205. In particular, the heating means 230 may be housed inside the communication duct 225, upstream of the open end portion 220 of the air passage 205.

The household appliance 100 comprises control means to enable the air circulating means 210 and the heating means 230 to be switched on as required, as well as the different drying modes of the appliance to be properly selected (different drying temperatures and different drying times may be required to properly treat the various garments to be dried, depending, among other things, on the textile fibres which each single garment is made of). Such control means may be arranged on the front panel 115 of the household appliance 100, or on a specific console provided on the appliance, or they may be directly integrated on the worktop 110, as shown in Figure 1.

According to the present invention, the drying surface 130 provided on the worktop 110 of the appliance 100 is advantageously exploited for drying shoes. To this purpose, according to an embodiment of the present invention, an accessory 140 is provided for, which is adapted to be coupled to the drying surface 130.

The accessory 140 is shaped so a to perform the function of support rack for at least one shoe 145 to be dried. In particular, as better visible in Figures 3 and 4, the accessory 140 comprises an enlarged base 305, for example of circular shape, adapted to rest by abutment on the drying surface 130, the base 305 being wide enough to allow the accessory 140 remain in upstanding position and not fall even when supporting the weight of a shoe to be dried. A tubular neck 310 extends essentially vertically from the base 305 and terminates into an arcuated tubular head 315 shaped so as to be capable of being inserted into a shoe to be supported by the accessory 140 for being dried.

The accessory 140, which may be realized in plastic or metal, in a single piece or as an assembly of separate parts, is internally hollow, and, in an embodiment of the present invention, the base 305 thereof is open from the side that, in use, abuts against the drying surface 130. The tubular head 315 is provided with a plurality of apertures 320, adapted to allow the air passage.

As shown in Figure 3, in an embodiment of the present invention, one or more pegs 330 may be provided along the rim 325 of the base 305, for instance regularly distributed, of size matching the diameter of the apertures 135 in the drying surface 130; in use, when the accessory 140 is placed on the drying surface 130, the user may take care of inserting the pegs 330 into corresponding apertures 135, and this will ensure that the accessory 140 is hold in proper position during the drying of a shoe.

In an alternative embodiment of the present invention, depicted in Figure 4, the pegs 330 are not provided, and the rim of the base 305 is properly flanged, for ensuring the steadiness of the accessory on the drying surface 130.

One or more accessories 140 may be laid on the drying surface 130 of the worktop 110, for drying one or more shoes simultaneously.

In still another embodiment of the present invention, depicted in Figure 5, the accessory 140, instead of being a stand-alone, separate component, is integrated in the worktop 110: the top plate member 127 of the worktop is shaped so as to provide, in one or more selected areas thereof, for example along a side or at the back thereof, a support rack 505 for the shoes to be dried. The support rack 505 may have the same shape as the stand-alone accessory 140 described in the foregoing, with a neck 510 and a perforated arcuated head 515, without however the necessity of providing an enlarged base. The top plate member 127 may preferably easily be interchangeable, so as to allow the user to replace the top plate member shaped to define the support rack(s) 505 with an essentially planar top plate member when there is no necessity to dry shoes; in this case, a preferred solution may provide for not having apertures 135 formed in the top plate member shaped to define the support rack 505, apart from those formed in the head 515 of the support rack 505 for the shoes, so as to maximize the hitting of the shoes to be dried by the flow of air generated by the air circulating means 210.

Accessories 140 of different size may be provided for, to adapt to shoes of different size, different weight, different type (e.g., male shoes, female shoes, children shoes, boots and so on); the same applies to the case the accessory 140 is integrated in the top plate member 127 of the worktop 110.

In use, when the user desires to dry one or more wet shoes, he/she simply mounts a corresponding number of accessories 140 on the worktop 110 of the appliance 100, puts the wet shoes to be dried on the corresponding support racks thus created, and turns on the air circulating means 210 (and, where provided, the heating means 230), possibly selecting the temperature/duration of the treatment. The flow of air passing through the apertures 135 in the drying surface 130 enters the hollow space inside the shoes support racks, rises to the head 315 thereof and there the air passes through the apertures 320, entering the shoes to be dried and hitting the walls of the shoes, thereby drying them.

The accessory according to the present invention is also useful to warm-up shoes before wearing them.

The present invention has been here described presenting some of its possible, exemplary embodiments. Those skilled in the art will recognize that several modifications to the presented embodiments, as well as different embodiments of the invention are possible, without departing from the scope of protection as set forth in the appended claims.

For example, the generic accessory 140 may be designed to define two or even more support racks (i.e., two or more heads 315) for two or more shoes.

Also, the base 305 of the accessory 104 may be a perforated plate with apertures matching the apertures 135 of the drying surface 130.

The accessory of the present invention can be used in combination with any household appliance (e.g., a washing machine, a tumble dryer, a washer-dryer, an autonomous household appliance specially intended for drying delicate garments) having a worktop defining a drying surface, like for example the household appliance disclosed in EP 1854916, which is incorporated herein by reference. In particular, the accessory of the present invention can be used in conjunction with a household appliance having a worktop with a tray-like slidable drying surface.