FR2805145A1 - IMPROVED BASKET FOR WASHING ARTICLES IN A DISHWASHER, SUCH AS PLATES AND GLASSES - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a basket capable of receiving washing articles, such as plates and glasses, in a dishwasher, having a bottom wall (1) and side edges (2, 3, 4, 5) made. with a plurality of bars (10, 20, 30 40) of steel wire arranged on substantially vertical and horizontal planes and welded together. The upper free ends of said bars arranged on substantially vertical planes (10, 20, 40) are integrated into a continuous frame (50) produced by over-injection of plastic material which extends over all of said lateral edges (2, 3, 4, 5). USE: Basket for plates and glasses of a dishwasher, for example domestic. ADVANTAGES: Robust construction but simple and economical to achieve with the protection of the articles received in the basket.

Description

IMPROVED BASKET FOR WASHING ARTICLES IN A WASHER

  DISHES, SUCH AS PLATES AND GLASSES

  The present invention relates to a basket for washing items, such as plates and glasses,

  in a household dishwasher or similar.

  Traditionally, a basket of this type has a grid structure, the bottom of which is in the form of a drip tray and is made with bars of steel wire welded together and fully coated, after a surface cleaning treatment, a protective polymeric material. The risk of wear and corrosion by washing agents during the use of the dishwasher is obvious, if the thickness of the protective material is for example too thin in the most hidden places and / or if the surface cleaning is not carried out in the rules of art. The rigidity of the steel wire can also damage very fragile items such as fine porcelain plates or crystal glasses if these, by a certain negligence of the user, instead of being placed delicately on the basket, are dropped on the bottom of the basket

from a certain height.

  As for the proposal consisting in making the basket with a bottom wall in the form of a grid molded in plastic and four lateral edges having a grid structure which are also molded in plastic and articulated on the peripheral sides of the bottom wall. , means being provided to block said edges when they are in the raised position - see the Italian utility model No. 165 953 filed under No. 53045B / 75 -, it has not met with the expected success. The need to use a large amount of plastic material having excellent resistance to corrosion, wear and temperature, minimal hygroscopicity and easily moldable results in too high a cost compared to the total cost of the dishwasher. . It should also be noted that the hinge connection provided from the side edges to the bottom wall, all made exclusively of plastic, can give users a certain impression of

weak robustness.

  It would be desirable, and this is indeed the object of the present invention, to have a dishwasher basket which is robust and

  resistant during the service life of the washer

  crockery, practical to use, which does not risk damaging the most fragile objects if they are loaded with a certain negligence by the user, and which can be produced by industry without

economic difficulties.

  In order to achieve this object, it is proposed a basket capable of receiving articles to be washed, in

  especially plates and glasses, in a washing machine

  household crockery or the like, having a bottom wall and side edges made from a plurality of steel wire bars arranged on substantially vertical and horizontal planes and welded together, characterized in that the upper free ends of said bars arranged on substantially vertical planes are integrated into a continuous frame produced by plastic over-injection

  which extends over all of said lateral edges.

  Preferably, the frame is made in a

  relatively malleable and flexible material.

  Advantageously, the frame comprises, in one piece along at least a first of its long sides, in correspondence with a first long edge of the basket, a plurality of appendages which project towards the inside of the basket and in alignment with the bars which are arranged on a foreground

substantially vertical.

  According to one embodiment, below the frame, each of the bars disposed on a first substantially vertical plane is further integrated by over-injection, in a way limited to a segment of its length, in correspondence with the second long edge of the basket, in a plastic fin which projects beyond the internal perimeter of said frame towards

inside the basket.

  The fins are then advantageously made of the same material as the over-injected frame and they can be of substantially triangular shape or in

arc shape.

  Preferably, the frame is provided in one piece,

at least a handful.

  In addition, each of the bars arranged on a substantially vertical first plane comprises, in correspondence with the bottom of the basket, two inclined central segments which give it a "V" shape upside down and which are, for at least part of their length, integrated by over-injection into sleeves

made of plastic.

  Advantageously, on their outer surface, said sleeves have a series of ruptures serving to promote the drainage of the washing liquid during and at the end of the dishwasher's operating cycles. A basket according to a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which: FIG. 1 is an overall three-dimensional view of the basket; Figure 2 is a side view of the basket of Figure 1;

  Figure 3 is a front view of said basket.

  A basket according to the invention intended to receive plates and glasses to be washed in a dishwasher thus comprises a bottom wall generally designated by the reference numeral 1 and four lateral edges of rectangular shape which are generally designated by the reference numerals 2,

3, 4 and 5 - see Figure 1.

  As can be seen, the long edges 3 and 5 of the basket consist of a plurality of bars of steel wire (preferably AISI 304) identical to each other, which rest on parallel vertical planes - see figure 1. For convenience, only one of these bars is described here, indicated by the reference numeral 10 which, as shown in FIG. 3, consists essentially of two external vertical segments 11 and two internal vertical segments 12 separated from the segments 11 by respective tiers 13. The bar 10 further comprises two inclined central segments 17 and 18 which meet at point 19 in correspondence with the central plane of the basket in order to constitute the bottom wall 1 in the shape of a "V" upside down. As for the small edges 2 and 4 of the basket, they consist of a pair of bars 20 and 40, also made of steel wire, resting on vertical planes perpendicular to the planes of bars arrangement like 10 - see the Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the bars 20, 40 are essentially constituted by two external vertical segments 21 and 41, two internal vertical segments 22 and 42 separated from the segments 21 and 41 by the steps 23 and 43 respectively. bar 20 further comprises a horizontal segment 25 which is directly welded to the first inclined segment 17 of each bar 10 while the bar 40 also comprises a segment 45 joined to the second inclined segment 18 of each bar 10 by a

short vertical upright 44.

  The basket also comprises a consolidation bar 30 resting on a horizontal plane - see Figure 1 - still made of steel wire, which has the same rectangular shape as the bottom wall 1 and its sides 32, 33, 34 and 35 welded at right angles to all the bars a little above the steps 13 as well as to the pair of bars 20 and 40 a little below their steps

23, 43 respectively.

  According to a fundamental characteristic of the invention, the upper free ends of all said bars 10, 20 and 40 resting on vertical planes are integrated by superinjection in a continuous frame, generally designated by the reference numeral 50, of relatively flexible plastic material and malleable (for example based on polypropylene or EPDM - ethylene-propylene terpolymer). The four sides 52, 53, 54 and 55 of the frame 50 thus extend along the corresponding lateral edges 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the basket. In this preferred embodiment of the invention, the frame 50 also comprises, in one piece with it: - at least one handle zone on the short sides 52 and 54 to facilitate the handling of the basket by the user. This is particularly convenient in the case where the dishwasher is of the type presented in the patent application for Italian utility model n PN99U000014, filed by the same applicant on 04.27.1999 for which, for example, the basket must be loaded and unloaded from its support plate respectively at the start and at the end of each dishwasher operating cycle; - at least along its first long side 53, in correspondence with a first long edge 3 of the baskets, a plurality of appendages 51 which project towards the inside of the basket and in alignment with the various bars 10. An edge d plate and / or a glass leg housed in the basket therefore remain maintained, without being damaged, by two

adjoining appendages 51.

  Just below the second long side 55 of the frame, in a limited manner to the only upper part of the external vertical segment 11 in correspondence with the second long edge 5 of the basket, each of said bars is also integrated by over-injection into a corresponding plastic fin. . The fin 70, which is preferably made of the same material as the frame 50, projects inwards from the

  basket beyond the internal perimeter of the frame 50.

  The fin 70 may for example have a substantially triangular shape (as shown in the accompanying drawing) or a shape of an arc of a circle. A plate edge and / or a glass leg received in the basket are therefore maintained but without being damaged, by two fins

70 contiguous.

  In the preferred embodiment of the invention, as shown in the figures of the accompanying drawing, by means of over-injections which make it possible to produce plastic sleeves, the inclined segments 17 and 18 of each bar 10 on the bottom 1 of the basket , the horizontal segment 45 of the bar, the vertical uprights 44 and the horizontal segment

  of the bar 20 are also finally integrated.

  The external surface of these latter injections, preferably obtained from the same relatively flexible and malleable material as that of the frame 50 and the fins 70, has a series of ruptures, such as that designated by the reference numeral 75 in FIGS. 1 and 3 , having the function of facilitating the draining of the basket during and at the end of the

operation of the dishwasher.

  As can be inferred from the description which

  precedes, the advantages offered by the present invention can be summarized as follows: a) the use of a plastic material, although it is expensive, is limited to relatively small areas of the basket, namely in correspondence with the points or surfaces that are physically in contact with the items to be washed when they are placed in the basket. The manufacture of the basket is therefore simplified and economical; b) the over-injections fulfill the double function of anticorrosion protection of the welded junctions between the bars which constitute the basket structure and of damping of any shocks, due to the negligence of the user, during the placing on said basket of the articles to be washed , including items that are fragile because of porcelain or glass; c) the use of stainless steel such as AISI 304 makes the basket structure particularly resistant and improves its external appearance; d) the over-injected frame 50 also contributes decisively to the consolidation of the basket structure, with an understandable positive effect, even psychological, on the user and, thanks to the handles formed integrally thereon, by facilitates handling. Even if it is the presently preferred embodiment which has been described above, it goes without saying that the basket can be developed in a different way by a person skilled in the art without leaving the field of

protection of this patent.

Claims (10)

  1. Basket capable of receiving articles for washing, in particular plates and glasses, in a domestic dishwasher or the like, having a bottom wall (1) and side edges (2, 3, 4, 5) made with a plurality of bars (10, 20, 40) of steel wire arranged on substantially vertical and horizontal planes and welded together, characterized in that the upper free ends of said bars arranged on substantially vertical planes (10, 20 , 40) are integrated into a continuous frame (50) produced by plastic over-injection which extends over all of said lateral edges (2, 3, 4, 5).   2. Basket according to claim 1, characterized in that said frame (50) is made of a material relatively malleable and flexible.   3. Basket according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said frame (50) comprises, in one piece along at least one first of its long sides (53), in correspondence with a first long edge ( 3) of the basket, a plurality of appendages (51) which project towards the inside of the basket and in alignment with the bars (10) which are arranged on a first substantially vertical plane.   4. Basket according to any one of   previous claims, characterized in that, in   below said frame (50), each of the bars (10) disposed on a first substantially vertical plane is further integrated by over injection, in a limited manner to a segment (11) of its length, corresponding to the second long edge (5) from the basket, in a plastic fin (70) which projects beyond the internal perimeter of said frame (50) towards inside the basket.   5. Basket according to claim 4, characterized in that said fins (70) are manufactured in the   same material as the over-injected frame (50).   6. Basket according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that each of said fins (70)   is substantially triangular in shape.   7. Basket according to claim 4 or 5, characterized in that each of said fins (70)   is substantially in the form of an arc of a circle.   8. Basket according to any one of   previous claims, characterized in that said   frame (50) is provided, in one piece, with at least one handle. 9. Basket according to any one of   previous claims, characterized in that   each of the bars (10) arranged on a first substantially vertical plane comprises, in correspondence with the bottom (1) of the basket, two inclined central segments (17, 18) which give it a "V" shape upside down and which are, for at least part of their length, integrated by over-injection into plastic sleeves. 10. Basket according to claim 9, characterized in that, on their outer surface, said sleeves have a series of ruptures (75) serving to promote the drainage of the washing liquid during and   at the end of the washer's operating cycles dishes.