FR2480319A1 - LAUNDRY WASHING MACHINE WITH IMPROVED POWDER BOXES - Google Patents

Abstract

A washing machine comprises a washing-agent box 6 disposed at least on one side of the machine between the drum 2 and the upper part of the tank 3, said box 6 having a flattened shape practically matching the shape of the drum. The box is open at its lower end to allow the water+agent mixture to pass therethrough while retaining the undiluted agent comprises further openings 20 or an opening (48), Fig. 3 (not shown), for introducing water brought by a ring of water formed by rotation of said drum in the partially filled tank. In one embodiment, Fig. 1, a fixed box 6 for powder has a rib 13 which participates with a trough 14 to retain dry powder. Water enters the box through louvre apertures 20 and apertures 21 and the mixture leaves through an opening 12. In a modification, Fig. 2 (not shown), the powder box is removable. In another embodiment, Fig. 3 (not shown), a removable box for liquid agent empties, under the action of the ring of water, through a siphon system (44).

Description

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THR / GLT

  The present invention relates to a machine for washing clothes comprising boxes with powdery products, the contents of which will be able to be emptied automatically into the tank of the machine at the desired time, these bolites being particularly simple and efficient, and requiring no particular solenoid valve Washing machines include almost all boxes of products which are filled, before the operation of the machine, with the appropriate products 7 these products are

  example: the detergent intended for the actual washing (by contrast

  pre-wash product), bleach or fabric softeners.

  In many machines known to date, the eva-

  cuation of the products in these boxes is done, at the desired time, by opening solenoid valves controlled by the programmer of the machine, an electro-valve being for example associated with each product box. These techniques for pouring products into the tank of the washing machine have several drawbacks. They

  are uneconomical insofar as it is necessary to provide an electro-

  valve per product box; they may have failures

  to the extent that a solenoid valve may fail.

  Other simpler and more economical solutions have already been described, for example in the German patent application N 2 116 980 from the company Licentia. In this patent application, a process has been described which consists in rotating the drum of the machine in the tank to empty the product in a product box at the desired time at the top of the tank. partially filled with water, at a sufficient speed so that a ring of water is created around this drum. This ring of water somehow creates projections that fill the box

  product and empty it into the tank.

  This solution is very interesting insofar as it

  completely eliminates conventional solenoid valves.

  A variant of a machine using this process has been described by the applicant in French patent application N 79/10530 filed on April 25, 1979. In the machine described in

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  this patent application, the principle of the ring created by a sufficiently rapid rotation of the drum, is used to empty product boxes hung under the upper cover of the machine. This solution has the advantage over the previous one, in particular, of decluttering the tank and therefore allowing

  be to make less bulky machines.

  However, this solution has a common drawback with that of the aforementioned German patent application. Indeed, as long as it is a question of pouring liquid products into the tank, the evacuation of these products is done properly. On the other hand, when it comes to pouring powdery products into the tank

  such as washing powder for example, there are drainage problems

  ation. In fact, the powder boxes must have a volume

  sufficient to contain the doses of detergent required for washing.

  When the water arrives in the powder box, the detergent before starting to be discharged, becomes humid and risks creating blocks of wet powder which may take a long time to disintegrate, and which sometimes even will not completely disintegrate before washing begins. Thus the detergent which can no longer be removed during the actual washing, since the drum will rotate at a speed. insufficient to create the water ring, will not have been completely released in the tank, and washing will be done with a

insufficient quantity of powder.

  The present invention relates to a washing machine comprising

  as long as at least one box for powdery products (powder), arranged and arranged in the machine so as on the one hand to present a minimal bulk and to allow the realization of small and easily built-in machines, and on the other hand to allow an evacuation total and rapid of all the powder contained in the box. According to the invention a washing machine comprising a drum rotating in a tank about a horizontal axis, and at least one box for powdery products for temporary storage

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  treatment products, the evacuation of these products in the tank being done, on command of a programmer, by forming a ring of water around the drum rotating in the tank containing water, this ring water carrying the treatment products from the product box to the tank, is characterized in that this box: - is housed between the drum and the upper part of the tank, towards the opening area of the machine; - Has a flattened shape matching the shape of the drum and having a small thickness along the radii of the drum; - slightly protrudes into the opening area of the machine

  so as to be able to receive the pulverulent product through this opening

  ture; - is provided on its underside, close to the surface of the drum, with several openings which do not allow the dry powder to pass but allow the water from the ring of water to enter the powder box; - has, at its lower end, an opening which does not allow the dry powder to pass but lets the water + mixture escape

  powder under the action of the water ring.

  Other objects, characteristics and results of the invention

  will emerge from the following description given by way of example not

  limiting, and illustrated by the single appended figure which represents

  very schematically a washing machine according to the invention.

  Very schematically shown in the accompanying single figure, the covering 1 of a washing machine comprising a drum 2 with a horizontal axis rotating in a sealed tank 3 and intended to receive the washing or rinsing water. We see in this figure that the upper part of the tank 3 opens through an opening 4, this opening being for example connected to the rest of the covering of the machine 1 by sealing bellows 5. There is no

  not shown here, so as not to weigh down the figures, the upper part

  the cover of the machine, no more than the cover allowing it to be closed. As for drum 3, a door, also

  not shown, allows the introduction of linen.

  We have represented here in more detail what constitutes the

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  characteristic part of a machine according to the invention, namely

its powder box 6.

  It is clearly seen in this figure -that the powder box 6 according to the invention is located towards the upper part of the machine between a part of the tank 3 slightly protruding 7

  relative to the rest of the tank, and the cylindrical wall of the drum 2.

  This part of the tank 3 in protrusion 7 is connected to

the opening 4 of the tank 3.

  The powder box 6 essentially comprises a bottom 8 approximating the cylindrical wall of the drum 2, this bottom 8 forming a box with three side walls. The two side walls such as 9 which form the sides of the powder boot can, in an exemplary embodiment, be the means by which this powder box is attached to the upper face of the protuberance 7 of the tank. As for the third side wall, this is the vertical wall 10 which projects, as illustrated in the figure, into the opening 4 of the tank. The space 11 left between the opening of the tank and the vertical wall 10 of the box, will allow when the door of the machine is open, the introduction 2O of the powder into the box 6. As for the lower part 12 the bottom

  of the box 6, it is not closed; it opens directly

  in the tank 3. This will allow the evacuation of the water mixture

  + powder in the tank as we will see later.

  However, to prevent the powder during its introduction through the upper space 11 from falling directly into the tank, instead of being retained until the actual washing cycle has been started, a throttle has been provided from the bottom of the box which, by slope effect, will retain the dry powder and prevent it from falling into the tank. This constriction is achieved, in the example illustrated here, by the cooperation of a rib 13 slightly raising the bottom of the powder container towards the upper wall of the tank, and of a bucket 14 located at a certain distance from the bottom 8 of the powder box. This bucket 14 can for example be fixed directly to the upper part of the tank (protuberance 7). either be fixed on the side walls 9 of the powder box 6. This bucket 14 can still

  e; re made by a suitable stamped in the tank.

  Whatever its method of attachment, this bucket is arranged so that, cooperating with the rib 13 of the bottom of the box, it prevents the flow of dry powder, while it leaves between itself and the bottom of the boot enough space for

  the water + powder mixture is adequately removed during the alirlen-

  water in the powder container 6.

  As for the bottom 8 of this powder box 6, it is provided with several openings such as the gills 20. These gills 20 are dimensioned so as not to let the dry powder pass, but to let the water pass through which the l water ring as it will be described

  further. These gills can for example be made by discovering

  pant, on three sides only, small rectangles in the bottom 8 of the powder boot, and by folding these small rectangles towards the inside of this bowl. Thus the openings 20 are formed for the passage of water; the dry powder is at the same time retained by these folded parts of the bottom 8. These vents can also have a disposition such that they retain the powder according to the

slope shape.

  It is also possible, as illustrated here, to provide such openings on the vertical wall 10 of the box 6. These openings 21

  will further facilitate the entry of water into the powder boot.

  In the embodiment described here, it can be seen that the central part of the vertical wall 10 and the part close to the bottom 8 of the powder box form a protrusion 22 in this box, which results in a hollow on the side of the drum. This recess 22 will allow, in certain types of machines, where the door of the drum when it opens slides along the drum, to pass the hand between the

  powder box and the drum to grab the door and close it.

  This arrangement is not necessarily necessary in all types of machines. It is only when you have to be able to go

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  look for the drum door under the powder boot.

  The operation of the machine according to the invention is as follows. Once the laundry has been introduced into the drum, its door closed, the washing powder introduced into the powder box 6, and the machine door (not shown here) closed, the cycle of

washing will start.

  When it will be necessary to introduce the powder P into the washing tank, the programmer controls the introduction of a certain amount of water into the tank 3, and the rotation of the drum in the direction indicated by the arrow F, at a speed sufficient for it to create a water ring E around the drum 2. This water ring E will create water splashes which, thanks to the constitution of the powder box 6 which has just been described, will quickly come to wash the inside of the powder boot 6 completely. The water + powder (E + P) mixture thus formed falls rapidly

  through the lower opening 12 in the tank 3.

  It is clear that the relatively flattened shape of this powder boot 6 means that there is very little risk of creating humidified powder packets which would take a long time to dissolve and fall into the tank. Thanks to the cooperation of numerous openings such as

  and 21 practiced in the powder box 6, and the relative form

  flattened out of this powder box, all the powder is very

  quickly driven by the opening 12 in the tank 3.

  Thus the powder box which has just been described has not only the advantage of being very space-saving by practically matching the shape of the drum, but also makes it possible to evacuate

  easily and quickly all the powder contained in the box 6.

  In the example described here, a machine has been represented.

  as a single powder box 6 placed on one side of the machine. It is clear that it is possible to have a second symmetrical to it on the opposite side 30 of the tank. This second boot, to be emptied, would require rapid rotation of the drum in the opposite direction to that of arrow F. It is thus possible to provide a

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  machine comprising for example a pre-wash powder box and

a washing powder box.

  It is also possible to have on the side 30 opposite the powder box 6, a product box of a more conventional model, intended for example to receive a liquid product, which is not

  possible in the boxes of the present invention.

Claims (3)

  l. Washing machine comprising a drum (2) rotating in a tank (3) about a horizontal axis, and at least one box (6) for powdery products for the temporary storage of treatment products (P), the evacuation of these products in the tank (3) being done, on command of a programmer, by forming a water ring (E) around the drum rotating in the tank containing water, this water ring (E) driving the treatment products from the product box (6) to the tank (3), characterized in that this box (6): - is housed between the drum (2) and the upper part of the tank ( 3), towards the opening area (4) of the machine; - Has a flattened shape matching the shape of the drum and having a small thickness along the radii of the drum; - slightly protrudes into the opening zone (4) of the machine so as to be able to receive the powdery product (P) through this opening; - is provided on its lower surface (8), close to the surface of the drum, with several openings (20) not letting the dry powder (P) pass but allowing the water from the water ring to enter in the powder box; - has, at its lower end, an opening (12) not letting the dry powder (P) pass but letting the   water + powder mixture (E + P) under the action of the water ring (E).   2. Washing machine according to claim 1, characterized in that the part of the box. powder (6) projecting into the opening area (4) of the machine ends in a vertical wall (10) having openings (21) allowing the passage of water (E)   towards the inside of the powder box (6).   3. Washing machine according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the opening (12) of the lower end of the powder container (6) is elongated parallel to the axis of the drum (2) and is delimited at its upper part by a bucket (14) retaining the 24805 1 9   dry powder (P) û A Machine according to claim 3, characterized in that the bottom (9) forming the lower surface Cie the powder box (6) ends, at the lower end of said box by a rib (13 ) participating with lauget (14) to retain the. dry powder (P) following the slope of the Laluso   Washing machine according to any of claims 2 to 4,   characteristic in that, the drum (2) having a door to be operated from inside the opening: e (4) of the machine, the part of the powder box (6) projecting into this opening zone (4) has a recess (22) which clears a passage in the opening (4) of the machine   for operating the drum door (2).