A laundry dryer has a drum rotatively installed inside a case, a heater heating air flowing inside the drum, a rear plate coupled so as to cover a rear portion of the drum and having a vertically elongated inlet hole traversing upper and lower areas of the drum body, a central portion of the vertically elongated inlet hole crossing a horizontal line of the rear plate, and an inlet duct covering the inlet hole and simultaneously having a plurality of duct holes formed at a portion covering the inlet hole so as to guide air heated by the heater to flow inside the drum. The present invention enables the common use of the rear plate for both electrical and gas laundry dryers, and thus allows the use of a common line for assembly. Therefore, the present invention reduces product costs and increases productivity.

A lint enclosure system for a laundry dryer including an elongated lint basket supported beneath a lid. The lint basket is formed from a filter wall having a first end wall and a second end wall disposed at opposite ends. The filter wall has a generally U-shaped cross-section. An inlet opening is formed into the first end wall and a plurality of outlet openings are formed into the filter wall. The outlet openings are configured to cover successively greater portions of the filter wall at successive linear points between the first wall and the second wall. Lint builds up linearly in the lint basket, accumulating in a linear fashion from the second end wall toward the first end wall. The lid positioned above the lint basket includes a window disposed adjacent the first end wall such that when lint accumulation is visible through the window the basket is substantially full of lint. In this fashion, the window operates as visual signaling means for cleaning the lint from the basket.

A lint collecting device, particularly suited for use in a clothes dryer has an access opening through a front wall of the dryer above the horizontal access of the dryer and laterally offset and spaced from a vertical line passing through the access. The lint collecting device includes a lint screen held horizontally in a lint collecting zone formed in an air duct within the dryer cabinet and a viewing window is provided in the air duct and the dryer cabinet to render a portion of the lint screen visible from the exterior of the cabinet. A light source may be provided for illuminating a portion of the lint screen.

An air filter apparatus filters air drawn into a vehicle. The air filter apparatus is disposed in an instrument panel in a passenger compartment of the vehicle. The air filter apparatus includes an air filter housing and a filter element disposed in the housing for filtering the air that is drawn into the vehicle. The housing includes an external air side and an internal air side. A filter channel of the housing is defined between the external and internal air sides. The filter element is disposed in the filter channel. The housing further includes a filter access port defined between the external and internal air sides and that extends from the filter channel. The filter access port terminates adjacent an outer skin of the instrument panel such that the filter element can be selectively removed from the filter channel for service and/or replacement of the filter element from the passenger compartment.

An idler device is provided for maintaining tension on a belt driven by a rotating drive pulley of a motor. The idler device includes an idler strap assembly having a strap with first and second end portions, a circular boss on the first end portion, and an idler pulley rotatingly mounted on the second end portion. The boss extends through an opening in a wall of a motor support bracket which is generally perpendicular to a rotational axis of the drive pulley such that the strap is rotatable about a central axis of the boss which is parallel to a rotational axis of the drive pulley. The boss has a pair of opposed, longitudinally extending, rectangular tabs behind the wall to secure the strap to the wall. The idler pulley has a rotational axis generally parallel with the rotational axis of the drive pulley. The spring element is connected between the support bracket and the strap such that rotation of the strap is biased in a direction toward the drive pulley with the idler pulley against the belt to tension the belt. The opening in the wall has a pair of opposed rectangular notches at a 45 degree angle relative to vertical in a direction opposite the biased rotation of the strap for passage of the tabs to install and remove the strap.