GB1177214A - Improvements relating to Washing Machines - Google Patents

Abstract

1,177,214. Machinery safety devices; linkwork. HOOVER Ltd. 29 March, 1967 [31 March, 1966], No. 14342/66. Headings F2J and F2K. [Also in Divisions D1 and E2] In a washing machine having a loading/ unloading door 11 giving access to a drum in which articles are washed, a locking device for a sliding latch 12 for holding the door shut is mechanically linked to a timer 42, Fig. 5, controlling a cycle of operations of the machine, to prevent opening of the door 11 while the drum is rotating or the water level in the machine is above the lower edge of the door. The latch 12, spring-urged into the operative position, is actuated by a bell-crank 15 secured to a shaft 14 carrying a handle (13), (Fig. 2, not shown). One end of a push-rod 24 is spring- urged against an arm 23 of bell-crank 15. The end (51), (Fig. 2, not shown) of an arm 40, pivoted at 41 and controlled by a timer cam 44, engages a projection 34 of a pivoted arm 30 which is spring-biased towards a position in which its end 33 prevents movement of the push-rod 24 and hence release of the latch 12. With the machine at rest, the arm 30 is held clear of the rod 24. When the machine is started, the cam 44 rotates to cause the arm 30 to block the rod 24. When the cycle is completed, the follower 45 on lever 40 drops back to the inner position shown (Fig. 5) on the cam, and the rod 24 is released. On failure of the machine during the operating cycle, a tool may be inserted through a hole in the casing to manually move the arm 30 clear of the rod 24. A plate (62), (Fig. 6, not shown), slidable in a guide channel 57 behind a window (67) in the machine casing to indicate the progress of the operating cycle, is secured to a cable 55 anchored at its ends 56, (60) to the casing and passing over a pulley 54 on the lever 40, a fixed pulley 58, and a tensioning pulley (59), so that it moves in response to movement of the timer cam 44.