EP2941499A1

EP2941499A1 - Stacking kit for laundry treatment appliances

Info

Publication number: EP2941499A1
Application number: EP12813383.2A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Guven Ertas; Egemen Kose; Ertan Saribayrakdaroglu; Umit Gulbay
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2012-12-30
Filing date: 2012-12-30
Publication date: 2015-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 2032-12-30
Also published as: EP2941499B1; WO2014101966A1

Abstract

The present invention pertains to a stacking kit (13) allowing installation of a laundry treatment appliance on a workplate top of another laundry treatment appliance in a space saving manner. In a more specific manner, the present invention provides a stacking kit for conveniently stacking two laundry treatment machines in a one above the other configuration. Said stacking kit comprises a carrier plate (11) which is extending over said lower appliance in the manner to peripherally cover edges thereof with a front panel (5) and two arms (4) at both sides.

Description

STACKING KIT FOR LAUNDRY TREATMENT APPLIANCES

The present invention pertains to a stacking kit allowing installation of a laundry treatment appliance such as a drying appliance on a workplate top of another laundry treatment appliance such as a washing appliance in a space saving manner. In a more specific manner, the present invention provides a stacking kit for conveniently securing two laundry treatment machines in a one above the other configuration.
Use of a separate laundry drying appliance beside a laundry washing appliance requires additional space for accommodating the additional machine. It can become an important issue to the extent that people intending to buy a drying appliance may not do so simply because he/she has no available place in the room planned for this purpose.
A further problem associated with stacking two different domestic appliances is that, for example in order for stacking a first front-loaded appliance as a washing appliance and a second front-loaded appliance as a drying machine, it may occur that the two appliances are not physically similar in size to the extent that placing one on top of the other would either cause stability problems or requires additional means for establishing a secure connection in between the two machines. As a matter of fact, a stacking kit allowing adaptation of a plurality of different machines having varied depth values on top of a first laundry treatment appliance is desirable as renewing only a single appliance in the pair would lead to readjustment of the stacking configuration.
Further, a solution allowing convenient stacking of two laundry treatment machines should not involve drilling of many holes on the machines to secure them to each other for the reason that such holes will cause an unpleasant view in case said machines are later on needed to be used separately
A prior art reference, among many others, relevant to the technical field of the present invention is the DE 3827790 publication. It discloses a kit for mounting of an upper appliance eg. a laundry drier, with four height-adjustable feet onto a workplate top of a lower appliance. The document addressing secure interlocking of the machines is however silent about stacking of machines having different depths in an adaptive manner.
The present invention therefore provides a stacking kit for stacking a pair of laundry treatment machines overcoming the aforementioned inconveniences, which is as defined in Claim 1.
Primary object of the present invention is to provide a stacking kit for stacking a pair of laundry treatment appliances with different depths one on top of the other in a securely interlocked manner.
The present invention proposes a stacking kit allowing mounting an upper laundry treatment appliance on top of a lower appliance. Said stacking kit comprises a carrier plate which is extending over said lower appliance in the manner to peripherally cover edges thereof with a front panel and two arms at both sides.
Said carrier plate has a front panel and is mounted on the lower appliance with two carrier plate arms extending along lateral edges of the workplate top. Said carrier plate arms are designed to have a laterally open profile on a cross-sectional view being taken on the longitudinal axis. This open profile depth adjustment rail receives a lateral support plate and a rear support plate in a fixedly securable manner such that said upper laundry treatment appliance is supportedly maintained in a secure position.
Said open profile of said depth adjustment rail has a uniformly extending continuous opening such that a bearing for effecting fixing of said lateral or rear support plates is connectable at a desired location along said continuous opening. This provides that a worker responsible for installing the two laundry treatment appliances may secure said plates to correct positions according to the specific dimensions of the appliances. To this effect, said rear support plates are adjustably mountable to said carrier plate arms in accordance with the depth of said upper laundry treatment appliance and said lateral support plates are adjustably mountable to said carrier plate arms in accordance with the depth of said lower laundry treatment appliance.
Said carrier plate is designed as a U-shaped body mounted so as to be extending along three peripheral edges of said workplate top of said lower laundry treatment appliance. The open side of said U-shaped body faces rear side of said appliances. The two arms of the carrier plate in U-shape extends rearwardly and said rear support plates connected to each of said arms are then securable to said upper laundry treatment appliance for providing a reliable mechanical connection.
Said rear support plates being designed as upright support surfaces that are connected to each carrier plate arm and pressing against the rear wall of the upper appliance maintain the same in a securely supported manner.
Further, said lateral support plate covers both an outer lateral surface portion and an upper surface portion of said carrier plate arm. The weight of the upper appliance directly presses on said upper surface portion of said lateral support plate and therefore prevents displacement or disconnection of the same. Said lateral support plate has lateral and rear fixing holes on which it is respectively fixable to said carrier plate arm and to said lower laundry treatment appliance. Therefore only a limited number of fixing holes are required on the laundry treatment appliances, namely the holes coaxial to the rear fixing holes of said lateral support plate on the lower appliance and the holes for fixing said rear support plate on the upper appliance.
Each of said carrier plate arms comprises a leg support means receiving a leg of an upper laundry treatment appliance. This way, movement of the latter in the direction of the front panel is prevented and it is maintained stationarily in a locked position.
Accompanying drawings are given solely for the purpose of exemplifying a stacking kit for stacking a pair of laundry treatment machines whose advantages over prior art were outlined above and will be explained hereinafter in brief. The drawings are not meant to delimit the scope of protection as identified in the claims nor should they be referred to alone in an effort to interpret the scope identified in said claims without recourse to the technical disclosure in the description of the present invention.
Fig. 1 demonstrates a perspective view of the stacking kit according to the present invention.
Fig. 2 demonstrates a perspective view of the depth adjustment rail profile according to the present invention.
Fig. 3 demonstrates a front perspective view of the stacking kit in use according to the present invention.
Fig. 4 demonstrates a side view of the stacking kit of Fig. 3 according to the present invention.
Fig. 5 demonstrates a rear perspective view of the stacking kit in use according to the present invention.
Fig. 6 demonstrates a general perspective view of the leg support means according to the present invention.
Referring now to the figures outlined above, the present invention proposes a stacking kit for stacking a pair of laundry treatment machines. The following numerals are assigned to different parts demonstrated in the drawings:
(1) Lateral support plate
(2) Rear extension
(3) Carrier plane
(4) Carrier plate arm
(5) Front panel
(6) Depth adjustment rail
(7) Lateral fixing hole
(8) Rear fixing hole
(9) Rear support plate
(10) Leg support means fixing hole
(11) Carrier plate
(12) Leg support means
(13) Stacking kit (13)
The present invention provides a stacking kit (13) in the form of a U-shaped body for mounting of an upper laundry treatment appliance onto a workplate top of a first lower appliance. Said stacking kit (13) provides interlocking of said two laundry treatment appliances in a secure manner. Said stacking kit (13) comprises a carrier plate (11) with a front panel (5), said plate (11) being mountable on said first appliance. Said carrier plate (11) secured to said lower appliance therefore carries said upper appliance.
Said carrier plate (11) has two carrier plate arms (4) extending along lateral edges of said workplate top. Said carrier plate arms (4) extend form said front panel (5) rearwardly in the direction of the rear part of said laundry treatment machines. Said carrier plate (11) therefore covers with its two arms (4) front and lateral edges of said workplate top of said lower appliance peripherally.
Said arms (4) of said carrier plate (11) have longitudinally extending inner channels in the form of depth adjustment rails (6) into which a lateral support plate (1) is fixedly securable. Said lateral support plate (1) is adjustably mounted in parallel with the depth of the lower laundry treatment appliance from its front to its rear part and therefore connects said carrier plate (11) to said lower laundry treatment appliance. In other words, said lateral support plate (1) is interlocked with said depth adjustment rail (6) so as to be fixed at a desired position. Said fixing position is adjusted such that said upper laundry treatment apparatus is securely held on said carrier plate (11). The depth of a laundry treatment appliance, i.e. the dimension from the front to the rear part thereof can vary in respect of service capacity and model of an appliance. Therefore a stacking kit (13) with a carrier plate (11) allowing adaptation of a plurality of appliances with different depth values ensures that different upper laundry treatment appliances are equally and securely mountable.
Said lateral support plate (1) of the present invention covers both an outer lateral surface portion and an upper surface portion ((carrier plane (3)) of said carrier plate arms (4). Said lateral support plate (1) is fixedly mountable on said carrier plate arm (4) of said carrier plate (11) such that it holds said carrier plate (11) connected to said lower laundry treatment appliance by means of a rear extension (2) in a stable manner. Fixing of said lateral support plate (1) is established by lateral and rear fixing holes (7, 8) of the same respectively on said carrier plate arm (4) and on said lower appliance.
Said depth adjustment rail (6) has a lateral side with a longitudinally extending open profile into which said lateral support plate (1) and said rear support plate (9) are securable. Said open profile of said depth adjustment rail (6) has a uniformly extending continuous opening along which a fixing bearing is selectively securable as regards its location. Said rear support plate (9) is adjustably mountable in parallel with depth of said upper laundry treatment appliance from its front to its rear part. To that end, while said lateral support plate (1) and said rear support plate (9) can be interlocked with the two carrier plate arms (4) at appropriate positions regarding depths of the respective appliances, said lateral support plates (1) connect each carrier plate arm (4) with the lower appliance and said rear support plates (9) connect each carrier plate arm (4) with the upper appliance. In this configuration, a mechanically reliable as well as versatile connection is ensured whereby adjustability of different depth appliances is possible. Further, said lateral support plate (1) covering both an outer lateral surface portion and an upper surface portion ((carrier plane (3)) of said carrier plate arm (4) provides that an upper laundry treatment appliance positioned on top of said carrier plate (11) maintains said lateral support plate (1) fixed on said carrier plate (11) by pressing it under its weight. Said carrier plate (11) being also secured to the upper appliance therefore provides an overall connection involving different parts integrated in a mechanically reliable manner.
Said rear support plate (9) is designed as an upright support extending perpendicularly to said workplate top in the reverse direction of the same with a surface facing a respective carrier plate arm (4) against which said upper laundry treatment appliance is leanable. Therefore the contact surface facing a respective carrier plate arm (4) leans against the rear wall of the upper laundry treatment appliance to maintain the same in a supported manner.
Said lateral support plate (1) has lateral and rear fixing holes (7, 8) on which it is respectively fixable to said carrier plate arm (4) and to said lower laundry treatment appliance. Said rear extension (2) is bent from said lateral support plate (1) parallel to the rear wall of said lower laundry treatment appliance.
Said carrier plate arm (4) further comprises a leg support means (12) for receiving a leg of an upper laundry treatment appliance in the manner to block movement of the latter in the direction of said front panel (16). Therefore an upper laundry treatment appliance placed on top of said lower laundry treatment appliance and secured to said carrier plate’s (11) two carrier plate arms (4) will be held in position by said leg support means (12) from the front part and by a rear support plate (9) from the rear part.

Claims

A stacking kit (13) for mounting of an upper laundry treatment appliance onto a workplate top of a first lower appliance, said stacking kit (13) comprising a carrier plate (11) with a front panel (5), said carrier plate (11) being mountable on said first appliance and having two carrier plate arms (4) extending along lateral edges of said workplate top, said carrier plate arms (4) having longitudinally extending depth adjustment rails (6) into which a lateral support plate (1) and a rear support plate (9) are fixedly securable such that said upper laundry treatment appliance is supportedly maintained in secure position.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said depth adjustment rail (6) has a lateral side with a longitudinally extending open profile into which said lateral support plate (1) and said rear support plate (9) are securable.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 2 wherein said open profile of said depth adjustment rail (6) has a uniformly extending continuous opening along which a fixing bearing is selectively securable as regards its location.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 1 or 3 wherein said rear support plate (9) is adjustably mountable to said carrier plate arms (4) in parallel with depth of said upper laundry treatment appliance from its front to its rear part.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 1 or 3 wherein said carrier plate (11) has a U-shaped body mountable on a laundry treatment appliance to be extending along three peripheral edges of workplate top of said laundry treatment appliance with the open side of said U-shaped body facing rear side of said first appliance.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 4 wherein said rear support plate (9) is securable to said upper laundry treatment appliance.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 4 or 6 wherein said rear support plate (9) is designed as an upright support extending perpendicularly to said workplate top in the reverse direction of the same with a contact surface against which said upper laundry treatment appliance is leanable.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claims 1, 3 or 5 wherein said lateral support plate (1) covers both an outer lateral surface portion and an upper surface portion of said carrier plate arm (4).
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 8 wherein said lateral support plate (1) has lateral and rear fixing holes (7, 8) on which it is respectively fixable to said carrier plate arm (4) and to said lower laundry treatment appliance.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 9 wherein said lateral support plate (1) is fixable to said lower laundry treatment appliance by means of a rear extension (2) bent from said lateral support plate (1) parallel to rear wall of said lower laundry treatment appliance.
A stacking kit (13) as set forth in Claim 1 wherein said carrier plate arm (4) comprises a leg support means (12) for receiving a leg of an upper laundry treatment appliance in the manner to block movement of the latter in the direction of said front panel (5).