Enclosed towel warmer
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to towel-warming devices for use in homes, hotels, hospitals, health clubs, passenger ships, and the like. More particularly it relates to towel-warming devices of the wall-mounted enclosed type. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The desirability of having a warmed towel available after bathing or showering has been well known over a long period of time. A warmed towel serves to offset the well known chilling effect due to evaporation of water from the body after showering, even at normal room temperatures. Numerous circumstances arise, especially in chilly environments, where the convenient availability of a warmed towel whenever needed could becomes an important factor in the well-being, health or survival of individuals who may be frail or under medical treatment and thus vulnerable to thermal shock between showering (or bathing) and drying. 
     In recognition of this need, public care institutions such as hospitals are usually equipped with industrial type warming oven for warming quantities of towels; however, there exists a widespread need elsewhere for warmed towels which is not adequately served at present. 
     DISCUSSION OF THE PRIOR ART 
     A heating appliance, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,138,699 to Taylor, typifies a rudimentary approach in which a towel or other fabric article could be draped over an inverted U shaped heated form extending from a wall mount. This configuration, which utilizes a central electric light bulb as the heating element, suffers from a number of basic disadvantages; in particular, the inefficient heat transfer from the element to the form due to the large air space involved would make the warm-up time excessively long, away beyond the length of time one normally spends showering. The cantilevered disposition, extending away from the wall, and the detachable wall-mount suggest a tentative, potentially unstable expedient rather than a sound and aesthetically attractive installation. 
     U.S. Pat. No. 3,217,137 to Weitzner for a HEATED TOWEL RACK AND HANGER discloses a heated roller apparatus upon which a towel could be spirally rolled, heated in the rolled position and then drawn off for use when heated. U.S. Pat. No. 3,160,734 to Rylander for an ELECTRICALLY HEATED TOWEL DRIER also discloses a roller type heater, however the Rylander device is directed to drying towels after use rather then pre-heating towels for use. 
     Graham, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,442 discloses a wall-mounted tubular vertical heating element having various shaped horizontal plates or wire forms as towel hangers, attached to the element and extending outward from the wall. 
     A type of towel warmer having warmed oil circulating in a plurality of horizontal tubular towel supports in a generally ladder-shaped flat vertical roll-about configuration is known in the prior art, particularly in Europe. 
     All of the above-described prior art towel warming device suffer the disadvantage that, being of the open type without any outer enclosure, they expose the towel to the room atmosphere during heating, causing a heat loss which reduces heating efficiency and thus increases warming time and energy cost. Furthermore this uncontrolled heat loss introduces large variations in towel temperature depending on the time duration, room temperature, air drafts and various other factors. Also, open type towel warmers tend to warm the towel unevenly, leaving portions of it cold while other portions may become too hot. This uneven heating can force a compromise in seeking a satisfactory tradeoff between effectivity and safety hazard tradeoff: if sufficient heating energy is applied to achieve a desired short warmup time, some point on the exposed heated holder way reach an excessive temperature that could burn the skin or scorch the towel. 
     All utility devices of this type offered to the public are strictly regulated with regard to safety including skin burn, shock and fire hazard. Generally, it is extremely difficult to design an open type device, satisfying all public safety regulations, which will heat a towel up uniformly to a good usable temperature in the short time one spends in a shower, say two minutes, and which will thereafter reliably keep the towel at a constant proper and safe temperature in the event the towel does not get used immediately. 
     Among further disadvantages of open towel warmers of the abovedescribed types, beyond their intrusion into the space of a room, is the tendency to invite children to climb or pull themselves up on exposed tubular members, creating a hazard to themselves, the device and/or the building, or at least considerable annoyance. 
     An unfulfilled need exists for an enclosed type personal towel warmer, as opposed to known institutional multiple-towel enclosed types and known open personal types, which overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages and problems and which can promptly and safely warm up a towel and hold it ready for use at constant optimal temperature. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     It is a primary object of the present invention to provide an enclosed type towel warmer for personal use. 
     It is a further object to an enclosed type towel warmer having a relatively flat generally rectangular profile, adapted to mount onto a flat existing wall with minimal structural modification, and having an overall configuration which is non-hazardous, particularly with regard to children. 
     It is a further object to provide a towel warmer in a wall-mounted tilt-out configuration having a touch-pad control panel. 
     These and other features and advantages have been provided in the towel warmer of this invention, which will be best understood through study of the following description and the drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the towel warmer of this invention showing the cover in its open position. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the towel warmer of this invention showing the cover in its closed position. 
     FIG. 3 is a sectional side elevation of the closed towel warmer taken through line 3-3&#39; in FIG. 2. FIG. 4 is a sectional plan view of the closed towel warmer taken through line 4-4&#39; of FIG. 2. 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional side elevation of the open towel warmer taken through line 5-5&#39; of FIG. 1. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     The perspective view of FIG. 1 shows a towel warmer illustrative of this invention in a preferred embodiment. The towel warmer comprises three major elements: a main body 10 including side panels 10a and 10b, a cover 12, hinged to main body 10 along the bottom, and a towel holder 14 pivotally attached to side panels 10a and 10b, near the bottom. A towel 16 is shown placed in position over towel holder 14 which is made to have a rounded upper edge as shown. The cover 12 is fitted with a touch-pad control panel 18, and the main body 10 is fitted with a solenoid latch 20, centrally located near its top edge. Thin wall electrical warming elements 22a and 22b may be seen, located on the inside of the rear panel of main body 10, and on the towel holder, respectively. The towel warmer assembly is fastened by conventional means to an interior wall 24 at a convenient height. 
     The perspective view of FIG. 2 shows the same subject towel warmer with cover 12 in its closed position, where the rear edge of top panel 12b is now positioned close to wall, and the side edges of cover 12 fit flush with main body end panels 10a and 10b to provide smoothly contoured exterior surfaces. 
     FIG. 3, a sectional elevation taken through line 3-3&#39; of FIG. 2, shows the interior of subject towel warmer with cover 12 in its closed position, where it is held in place by solenoid latch 20 engaging an opening 26 on the bottom side of cover top panel 12a. The plunger of latch 20 is spring loaded so as to automatically latch mechanically when cover 12 is pushed to the closed position shown. In this position, towel 16 is warmed by four thin wall electric elements: 22a and 22b (as seen in FIG. 1), 22c on the rear side of towel holder 14, and 22d on the rear side of cover 12. Along the bottom, piano type hinge 28 secures the cover 12 to a bottom plate 30 of main body 10. Towel holder 14 is pivoted on each side to the main body end panels by captivated pins at location 32. 
     FIG. 4 shows a sectional plan view of subject warmer in its closed condition, as viewed at line 4-4&#39; of FIG. 2. Again towel 16 is seen sandwiched between the warming elements 22a, 22b, 22c, and 22d. The main body side panels 10a and 10b are seen providing a jamb configuration to form a flush fit with the side edges of cover 12 to achieve a smooth exterior contour. 
     FIG. 5 shows a sectional side view of subject towel warmer in its open condition as seen at line 5-5&#39; of FIG. 1. The cover 12, fastened by hinge 28 to bottom plate 30 of main body 10, is shown tilted away from wall 24 so as to allow insertion or removal of towel 16, shown supported on towel holder 14, pivoted at location 32. Cover 12 and towel holder 14 are constrained against tilting further than the approximate positions shown by stopping means well known in the art of cabinetry. 
     Referring once again to FIG. 2, control panel 18, in a preferred embodiment, provides a touch pad designated OPEN, located in the lower left region of the panel, a vertical row of three touch pads designated HOT, MEDIUM and WARM in the right hand region of the panel, and four flashing message displays, indicated in the drawing by dashed lines: READY, WARMING and LOAD TOWEL above the OPEN touch pad, and SELECT TEMP located to the left of the HOT, MEDIUM and WARM touch pads. 
     The OPEN touch pad is adapted to energize the solenoid of latch 20 and thus retract its plunger to release the cover 12 from its closed position (FIGS. 2, 3 and 4) and allow it to tilt outward to the open position (FIGS. 1 and 5). As an optional refinement, there may be provided a hydraulic or pneumatic device to avoid abrupt opening of cover 12 when released by latch 20. Not shown in the drawings, such devices are well known in the cabinetry art as door closers. 
     The HOT, MEDIUM and WARM touch pads are adapted to cooperate with a three-level thermostatic control device to energize the heating elements 22a through 22d and to limit the temperature of the towel to designated values; typically 160, 130 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit respectively. 
     Typically subject towel warmer will be operated in the following manner in order to warm a towel: 
     The towel warmer remains in the closed position of FIG. 2 in a standby state when not in use, and normally a towel is not left stored inside. Immediately before showering or bathing, the user presses the OPEN touch pad, releasing cover 12 to its open position of FIG. 1, tilted outward from wall 24, with towel holder 14 tilted out part way ready to receive a towel. The control panel 18 flashes the LOAD TOWEL message. A dry towel 16, typically folded once longitudinally, is placed over towel holder 14 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 5, and the cover 12 is pushed to its closed position where it latches in place as shown in FIG. 3. Control panel 18 then flashes the SELECT TEMP message to prompt the user to make a selection by pressing one of the HOT. MEDIUM and WARM touch pads, whereupon the WARMING message is flashed while the towel is being warmed by heated elements 22a through 22d. In approximately two minutes, when the correct temperature has been reached, the WARMING message is replaced by the READY message, indicating that the warmed towel is being maintained at the selected temperature until needed. When ready to dry, the user presses the OPEN touch pad, and once again the cover tilts outward, now offering the warmed towel to the user, who simply lifts out the warmed towel, pushes the cover to latch it closed and proceeds to dry with the warmed towel. The towel warmer reverts to the standby state. If, for any reason, the user does not make a temperature selection when the LOAD TOWEL message is flashing or does not use the warmed towel within a predetermined time period, say 15 minutes, the towel warmer is programmed to automatically shut down and revert to the standby state. 
     The principal parts of the towel warmer of this invention, the main body 10, cover 12 and holder 14, are preferably molded from plastic having suitable mechanical and thermal properties, such as Corian (trademark of Du Pont de Nemours &amp; Co.), in the Class 1 fireproof category. The dimensions chosen to accomodate a typical sized bath towel resulted in outside dimensions of approximately 17&#34; high, 15&#34; wide and 4&#34; deep, the towel holder being approximately 14&#34; high, 13&#34; wide and 1/2&#34; thick. 
     The electric heating elements 22a through 22d are of the etched foil type laminated within a special 0.002&#34; thick Kapton (Dupont trademark) insulating film coated on one side with a 0.001&#34; layer of FEP teflon, available from Watlow Electric Mfg. Co., St. Louis, Mo. The total wattage should be chosen as no more than that required to achieve the desired warmup time, typically 300 watts. 
     There are a number of possible refinements and variations which could be applied to the basic embodiment of this invention described above. The possible inclusion of an air circulating fan and/or vent openings is optional. Means of indicating the presence of a towel in the closed condition could be provided, for example in the form of a transparent window in cover 12. 
     Although the towel warmer of this invention is contemplated primarily for use with dry towels, the basic concept may be expanded to handle moist towels, either to dry them or provide them as a hot compress, subject to appropriate design considerations and modifications such as the provision of moisture-sensing means and special control and ventilation facilities. 
     The invention may be embodied in still other specific forms without departing form the spirit and essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description; and all variations, substitutions and changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.