EP3137672A1

EP3137672A1 - Laundry treatment appliance having an ergonomic front door opening mechanism

Info

Publication number: EP3137672A1
Application number: EP14720604.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Salih YILDIRIM
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2014-04-30
Filing date: 2014-04-30
Publication date: 2017-03-08
Also published as: WO2015165520A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a laundry treatment appliance (1) comprising a front door (3) having an ergonomic front door opening mechanism. The present invention more particularly relates to a laundry washing and/or drying appliance comprising a rotary drum in which the laundry is placeable and, an electric motor rotating the rotary drum and a front door (3) allowing access into the rotary drum for loading or unloading laundry through an access opening (2), the front door (3) being openable around a door hinge (5) in the manner that a lock mechanism (6) releasably secures an engagement end (13) such that the front door (3) is lockable and unlockable.

Description

LAUNDRY TREATMENT APPLIANCE HAVING AN ERGONOMIC FRONT DOOR OPENING MECHANISM

The present invention relates to a laundry washing and/or drying appliance comprising a front door having an ergonomic front door opening mechanism.
The laundry treatment appliances such as for instance washing machines, drying machines and combo washing/drying machines comprise a rotary drum in which cloth items are placeable and accessible via a front door, a water tub in which the rotary drum is rotatable and a motor providing said rotary drum to be driven by means of a pulley mechanism, the latter being disposed outside said tub. To this end, laundry treatment appliances have front doors typically allowing access into the rotary drum for loading and unloading the laundry to be processed.
A front door opening mechanism typically functions in the manner that a handle associated with a handle lever is rotatable to drive a hook lever, the latter being actuable to lock or unlock the front door. The handle lever and the hook lever therefore cooperate to initiate the proper positioning of the mechanical components such that an engagement end of the hook lever is displaced a certain distance to be released from a locking slot.
A problem associated with the above-described mechanical design lies in that while a given user reaches for a handle cover to unlock the front door of the laundry treatment appliance by way of retracting the handle lever relative to the handle cover, he/she may experience that he/she can insert his/her fingers through an opening in between the handle cover and the handle lever. This situation, normally not posing a serious risk of trapping fingers in the mechanism, may be a cause for complaint for some due to the existing opening. Obviously, one can design a larger skirt portion for the handle cover to cover a larger portion of the in-between opening but in this case it will be more difficult to operate the lock mechanism so as to handle the same with an ergonomic use on the part of the users.
The present invention therefore proposes an arrangement according to which the opening in between the handle cover and the handle lever is not noticeable to the users.
A prior art publication in the technical field of the present invention may be referred to as EP0349494 among others, the document disclosing a door lock for front-loading washing machines, comprising a support body associated with the structure of the machine and a lever articulated to the body and having an end opposite the articulated end which is connected to a flexible operating cable. A slide is articulated to the lever and has a lateral edge surface situated adjacent an aperture in the body, which is provided for the passage of a catch member connected to the door of the machine. The lateral edge surface of the slide also has a cut-out portion for enabling the catch member to be released, and consequently the door to be opened, when the slide slides.
The present invention provides an arrangement in relation to laundry treatment appliances having a front door opening mechanism, the mechanism involving a handle cover and a handle lever the dimension of the opening in between which is reduced as defined by the characterizing features in Claim 1.
Primary object of the present invention is hence to provide a laundry treatment appliance having an ergonomic front door opening mechanism.
The present invention proposes a laundry treatment appliance having a lock mechanism for locking and unlocking the front door thereof. A handle operates a hook lever in mechanical engagement whereby a locking member is rotated. Both said handle and said hook lever have separate axes of rotation in the manner that the amount of rotation of the handle is less than that of the hook lever, meaning that displacement of the handle relative to the fixed handle cover can be limited.
The handle transfers rotational movement to the hook lever by a contact surface such that they remain in mechanical contact during locking and unlocking of the front door. This contact surface displaces between two end positions when the lock mechanism is operated and the trajectory of the contact surface forms a plurality of lines. If any of these lines is accepted as the trajectory line, the shortest distance from the axis of rotation of the hook lever to the line is shorter than the shortest distance from the axis of rotation of the handle to the same line. Likewise, the angle formed between two lines extending from the axis of rotation of the hook lever to the two ends of the line is larger than the angle formed between two lines extending from the handle pivot pin axis to the same two ends of said line.
Accompanying drawings are given solely for the purpose of exemplifying a laundry treatment appliance, whose advantages over prior art were outlined above and will be explained in brief hereinafter.
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 general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance with a front door.
Fig. 2 demonstrates a general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance front door.
Fig. 3 demonstrates a general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance front door according to the present invention in an unassembled manner.
Fig. 4 demonstrates a general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance front door according to the present invention
Fig. 5 demonstrates a front view of a laundry treatment appliance front door according to the present invention
Fig. 6 demonstrates a cross-sectional side view of the lock mechanism along lines B-B as indicated in Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
Fig. 7 demonstrates a cross-sectional side view of the lock mechanism in two different positions along lines B-B as indicated in Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
Fig. 8 demonstrates another cross-sectional side view of the lock mechanism in two different positions along lines B-B as indicated in Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
The following numerals are used in the detailed description of the invention:

Laundry treatment appliance
Access opening
Front door
Main body
Door hinge
Lock mechanism
Handle
Handle cover
Handle pivot pin
Hook lever
Hook pivot pin
Contact surface
Engagement end
Skirt portion

The present invention relates to a laundry treatment appliance (1) comprising a water tub, a rotary drum, in which the laundry is to be placed and an electric motor rotating the drum. A front door (3) typically allows access into the drum for loading or unloading laundry through an access opening (2). The front door (3) of the laundry treatment appliance (1) is conventionally openable around a door hinge (5) and a lock mechanism (6) releasably secures an engagement end (13) part to a locking slot.
According to the present invention, a handle (7) is provided such that rotation thereof around a handle pivot pin (9) drives a hook lever (10), the latter being rotatable around a hook pivot pin (11) and actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3). The handle (7) and the hook lever (10) therefore cooperate to effect locking and unlocking of the front door (3).
While the handle (7) displaces relative to a handle cover (8) being fixedly attached to the main body (4) of the front door (3) in the manner to be covering the handle (7) so that the handle (7) as well as the lock mechanism (6) is not directly seen by the users and a more attractive appearance concealing the lock mechanism (6) is acccordingly obtained, it might happen that the opening in between the handle cover (8) and the handle (7) may be too large so that one can insert fingers through, which may not be viewed as an ergonomic mechanical design.
To this end, in order for reducing the distance the handle (7) can be retracted relative to the handle cover (8), the present invention provides that the handle pivot pin (9) around which the handle (7) is rotated and the hook pivot pin (11) around which the hook lever (10) is rotated are not coaxial such that the amount of rotation of the handle (7) can be adjusted to be less than that of the hook lever (10), in which case the locking mechanism (6) operates with a shorter displacement of the handle (7) and locking and unlocking is effected during which no in-between opening is generated and accidental trapping of fingers is prevented.
According to the present invention, the handle (7) maintains a contact surface (12) with the hook lever (10) such that the two parts remain in mechanical engagement with each other during locking and unlocking of the front door (3). Rotational movement imparted to the handle (7) by the user is therefore transferred to the hook lever (10).
Bearing in mind that the dimension (L₁) of a skirt portion (14) as demonstrated in Fig. 6 and 7 should not be too large as it would be difficult to operate the lock mechanism (6), the amount of displacement (L₂) of the handle (7) or the angle (c₁) swept by the same should be decreased without changing the angle (c₂) swept by said hook lever (10) because the displacement of the latter should ensure engagement and disengagement of the locking member, i.e. the engagement end (13) in a proper manner.
To this end, the shortest distance (L₄) from the position of the axis of rotation of the hook lever (10) to a line two ends of which are defined by the trajectory of the contact surface (12) during locking and unlocking of the front door (3) is shorter than the shortest distance (L₃) from the position of the axis of rotation of the handle (7) to the same line. In other words, the shortest distance from the axis of the hook pivot pin (11) to the line formed between two end positions of the contact surface (12) during locking and unlocking is shorter than the shortest distance from the axis of the handle pivot pin (9) to the same line. The angle c₃ formed between two lines extending from the hook pivot pin (11) axis to the two ends of the line defined by the trajectory of the contact surface (12) is larger than the angle c₄ formed between two lines extending from the handle pivot pin (9) axis to the same two ends of the trajectory line. This situation is demonstrated in Fig. 8, where the trajectory line two ends of which are defined by the trajectory of the contact surface (12) during locking and unlocking of the front door (3) is shown as a bold line.
According to the present invention, the angle c₃ is larger than the angle c₄, the same trajectory line being formed across from the two angles, i.e. c₃ and c₄. This ensures that the amount of rotation of the handle (7) is less than that of the hook lever (10) thanks to the fact that the handle pivot pin (9) around which the handle (7) is rotated constitutes a first axis of rotation and the hook pivot pin (11) around which the hook lever (10) is rotated constitutes a separate second axis of rotation.
In a nutshell, the present invention proposes a laundry treatment appliance (1) comprising a rotary drum in which the laundry is placeable and, an electric motor rotating the rotary drum and a front door (3) allowing access into the rotary drum for loading or unloading laundry through an access opening (2), the front door (3) being openable around a door hinge (5) in the manner that a lock mechanism (6) releasably secures an engagement end (13) such that the front door (3) is lockable and unlockable.
A handle (7) is provided to be rotatable around a first axis of rotation in mechanical communication with a hook lever (10) that is drivable by the handle (7), the hook lever (10) being rotatable around a separate second axis of rotation whereby the engagement end (13) is actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3).
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the handle (7) is rotatable around a handle pivot pin (9) and the hook lever (10) is rotatable around a hook pivot pin (11).
In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, the amount of rotation of the handle (7) is configured to be less than that of the hook lever (10).
In accordance with a still further embodiment of the present invention, the handle (7) and the hook lever (10) maintain a contact surface (12) with each other such that they remain in mechanical engagement during locking and unlocking of the front door (3).
In accordance with a yet still further embodiment of the present invention, the shortest distance (L₄) from the position of the axis of rotation of the hook lever (10) to a line two ends of which are defined by a trajectory of the contact surface (12) during locking and unlocking of the front door (3) is shorter than the shortest distance (L₃) from the position of the axis of rotation of the handle (7) to the same line.
In accordance with a yet still further embodiment of the present invention, the shortest distance (L₄) from the axis of rotation of the hook pivot pin (11) to a line formed between two end positions of the contact surface (12) during locking and unlocking is shorter than the shortest distance (L₃) from the axis of rotation of the handle pivot pin (9) to the same line.
In accordance with a yet still further embodiment of the present invention, the angle c₃ formed between two lines extending from the hook pivot pin’s (11) axis of rotation to the two ends of the line defined by the trajectory of the contact surface (12) is larger than the angle c₄ formed between two lines extending from the handle pivot pin (9) axis to the same two ends of said line.
Therefore, while a given user reaches for the handle cover (8) to unlock the front door (3) of the laundry treatment appliance (1) by way of retracting the handle (7) relative to the handle cover (8), the distance between the handle cover (8) and the handle (7) is too narrow such that accidental trapping of fingers is avoided and an easily operable lock mechanism (6) having an ergonomic use is obtained.

Claims

A laundry treatment appliance (1) comprising a rotary drum in which the laundry is placeable and, an electric motor rotating the rotary drum and a front door (3) allowing access into the rotary drum for loading or unloading laundry through an access opening (2), said front door (3) being openable around a door hinge (5) in the manner that a lock mechanism (6) releasably secures an engagement end (13) such that the front door (3) is lockable and unlockable characterized in that;

- a handle (7) is provided to be rotatable around a first axis of rotation in mechanical communication with a hook lever (10) that is drivable by the handle (7), said hook lever (10) being rotatable around a separate second axis of rotation whereby said engagement end (13) is actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 1, characterized in that the handle (7) is rotatable around a handle pivot pin (9) and the hook lever (10) is rotatable around a hook pivot pin (11).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 2, characterized in that the amount of rotation of the handle (7) is configured to be less than that of the hook lever (10).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 1, 2 or 3, characterized in that the handle (7) and the hook lever (10) maintain a contact surface (12) with each other such that they remain in mechanical engagement during locking and unlocking of the front door (3).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 4, characterized in that the shortest distance (L₄) from the position of the axis of rotation of the hook lever (10) to a line two ends of which are defined by a trajectory of the contact surface (12) during locking and unlocking of the front door (3) is shorter than the shortest distance (L₃) from the position of the axis of rotation of the handle (7) to the same line.
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 4 or 5, characterized in that the shortest distance (L₄) from the axis of rotation of the hook pivot pin (11) to a line formed between two end positions of the contact surface (12) during locking and unlocking (12) is shorter than the shortest distance (L₃) from the axis of rotation of the handle pivot pin (9) to the same line.
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 4, 5 or 6, characterized in that angle c₃ formed between two lines extending from the hook pivot pin’s (11) axis of rotation to two ends of a line defined by the trajectory of the contact surface (12) is larger than angle c₄ formed between two lines extending from the handle pivot pin (9) axis to the same two ends of the same line.