GB2270757A

GB2270757A - Adjustable indicating equipment for a domestic appliance.

Info

Publication number: GB2270757A
Application number: GB9319166A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Hermann Zbigniew
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1992-09-21
Filing date: 1993-09-16
Publication date: 1994-03-23
Anticipated expiration: 2013-09-16
Also published as: ITMI931981A0; GB9319166D0; ES2078859A2; IT1272625B; DE4231551A1; ITMI931981A1; ES2078859B1; ES2078859R; FR2696021B1; GB2270757B; FR2696021A1; DE4231551C2

Abstract

Adjustable indicating equipment for a domestic appliance comprises a movable indicating element (3), a movable adjusting element (8) and two intermeshing gearwheels (5, 7) drivably coupling the adjusting element (8) to the indicating element (3). To ensure that the gearwheels are intermeshed only in a rotational relationship in which the adjusting element is synchronised with the indicating element, the gearwheels have co-operating means which are interengageable solely in that relationship. Such co-operating means can be provided by, for example, an enlarged tooth (11) on one gearwheel and correspondingly enlarged tooth gap (12) on the other gearwheel. The domestic appliance may be a washing machine or a dishwaher. <IMAGE>

Description

ADJUSTABLE INDICATING EQUIPMENT FOR A DOMESTIC APPLIANCE The present

invention relates to adjustable indicating equipment for a domestic appliance, such as a laundry treatment machine or a dishwashing machine.

Adjustable indicating equipment for an appliance is described in German Utility Model 85 29 536. Mounted between an indicating scale or pointer and the axis of an operating element is a multi-membered toothed wheel transmission, during the assembly of which the association of the positions of the axles of the operating element and the indicating scale or pointer must be observed. These difficulties become particularly serious when the operating element must be plugged onto its axle specifically for assembly or when the axles of the toothed wheels have such a resilient spacing from each other that the individual members of the transmission can occasionally come out of engagement, for example on overloading due to bearing friction. The danger of the desynchronisation between the position of the operating element and that of the indicating scale or pointer then arises.

It would thus be desirable to remedy the described d'isadvantages in such indicating equipment and to facilitate the work during the association of the positions of the operating element and the indicating scale or pointer device by the fitter and, in the case of an engagement fault, to allow the user the possibility of restoring synchronisation of the two elements.

- 2 According to the present invention there is provided adjusting equipment for a rotationally movable indicating scale or pointer in an operating panel of a domestic appliance, in particular a laundry treatment machine or a dishwashing machine, with an adjusting element mounted to be rotationally movable in an operating panel and a scale carrier or pointer carrier coupled therewith by way of a gearwheel transmission, wherein the gearwheels, which are in direct engagement with each other, of the transmission have at least one special shapelocking couple associated with each other in the single synchronous position of adjustment.

Such a shape-locking or mechanically positive couple can lie in a discontinuity of the toothing, which enables an unobstructed force transmission between the gearwheels only when these discontinuities -are synchronised with each other.

In particularly advantageous embodiment, the couple is provided by a tooth gap filling at one gearwheel and a tooth omission at the other gearwheel. This form of discontinuity in the toothing is simple in terms of production and has a conspicuous appearance to assist unambiguous association of the respective gearwheel positions.

In a further advantageous embodiment the spacing between the axes of the gearwheels can be increased resiliently. In that case the gearwheel with the tooth omission can, during the assembly of the equipment, be advanced with exploitation of the resilience until the space left by the tooth omission meets the tooth gap filling of the other gearwheel after the teeth of the force-introducing gearwheel have slid across the tooth gap filling. The gearwheel with the tooth gap filling can, if so desired, be held during this operation.

An elasticity of the spacing can be achieved by, for example, the gearwheels and bearings of the indicating equipment being made of injection-moulded synthetic material, such as plastics material.

In an advantageous embodiment, an indicating scale is provided on a roller which is rotatable behind a window of the operating panel and is integrally connected with the driven gearwheel, and the operating element has the form of a rotary knob mounted to be rotationally movable in the operating panel and is integrally connected with the drive gearwheel. Expediently, the gearwheels have inclined or helical toothing and their axes are non-parallel, in particular they cross.

An embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a partly sectional front elevation of adjustable indicating equipment embodying the invention; Fig. 2 is a partly sectional side elevation of the equipment of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a composite cross-section of gearwheels of the equipment, along the section line III-III in each of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2; and Fig. 4 is the detail IV, to enlarged scale, of Fig. 3 Referring now to the drawings there is shown adjustable indicating equipment comprising an indicating roller 3 which carries an indicating scale and which is mounted to be rotationally movable about an axis 3 behind a window 1 of an operating panel 2 of a domestic appliance, the roller being integrally connected with a gearwheel 5. Disposed at a spacing A from the axis 4 and crossing 4 this axis is an axis 6 of a further gearwheel 7, the spacing A being able to be enlarged elastically by virtue of construction of the gearwheels 5 and 7 and bearings thereof from injection-moulded synthetic material. The gearwheel 7 is integrally connected with an 5 operating element 8 mounted to be rotationally movable in the panel 2. The gearwheels 5 and 7 interengage by way of helical toothing.

In Figs. 3 and 4 the two gearwheels have been projected onto one plane to facilitate understanding. The point of interengagement of the gearwheels as represented by the detail IV of Fig. 3 is illustrated to enlarged scale in Fig. 4. The gearwheels have teeth 9 and 10 at uniform pitch, but also have a discontinuity at a certain position determined by a predetermined association of the position of the operating element 8 with that of the indicating roller 3. The gearwheel 5, which is integrally connected with the indicating roller 3, at the point shown in engagement has a tooth gap filling 11, which is formed simply by filling a particular gap between two of the teeth 9 with material; thus, the tooth gap is omitted. Correspondingly, the gearwheel 7 has at this point a tooth omission 12, i.e. a wide tooth gap is provided where a tooth 10 would otherwise have been present. The enlarged tooth and enlarged gap are mutually engageable. Thereagainst, the tooth gap filling 11 is not engageable with any part of the circumference of the gearwheel 7 other than the tooth omission 12.

The fitter, or the operator in the event of desynchronisation of the gearwheels 5 and 7, can apply a rotational force to the operating element 8 until the tooth gap filling 11 meets the head of one of the teeth 10 of the gearwheel 7. The head of this tooth then slides along on the tooth gap filling 11 until the head of the next tooth 10 meets a tooth gap filling. If the bearing friction is not sufficiently high, the gearwheel 5 can be held fast for this purpose, for example through stopping the indicating roller 3 from turning. This operation is repeated until the tooth gap filling 11 is opposite the tooth gap omission 12 of the gearwheel 7. The enlarged tooth formed by the tooth gap filling 11 then engages into the wide gap formed by the tooth omission 12, the axes 4 and 6 of the gearwheels resume their original spacing A and the gearwheels 5 and 7 thereafter intermesh in the association or relationship synchronised by the shape-locking couple 11 and 12. Consequently, faulty assembly related to the adjusted position. -of the operating element 8 with subsequent faulty indications are excluded.

Modifications of the equipment are,: 'of course, possible within the scope of the appended claims. The feature of resilient enlargement of the spacing of the axes can be dispensed with if value is attached merely to faulty indication positions being avoidable during assembly. A fixed arrangement of the axial spacing A would also exclude any faulty indication irritating the operator. The equipment can also have a construction in which the axes do not cross or in which more than two gearwheels are provided. The gearwheel s can also have any desired suitable form, such as bevel wheels and crown wheels.

Claims

1. Adjustable indicating equipment for a domestic appliance, comp-ising a movable indicating element, a movable adjusting element and two intermeshing gearwheels which drivably couple the indicating element to the adjusting element and which have co-operating means interengageable in and only in a rotational relationship of the gearwheels corresponding to a predetermined synchronised relationship of the elements.

2. Equipment as claimed in claim 1, the co-operating means being provided by a tooth omission on one gearwheel and a tooth gap 10 omission on the other gearwheel.

3. Equipment as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the indicating equipment is constructed and arranged to permit the spacing of the axes of the gearwheels to be increased against a resilient force.

4. Equipment as claimed in claim 3, wherein the gearwheels and mounting means mounting the gearwheels are made at least in part of injectionmoulded synthetic material.

5. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the gearwheels have inclined or helical toothing and the axes of the 20 gearwheels are non-parallel.

6. Equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the indicating element is a scale carrier.

7. Equipment as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the indicating element is a pointer carrier.

8. Adjustable indicating equipment substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

9. A domestic appliance provided with adjustable indicating equipment as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, the adjusting element of the equipment being rotationally movable in an operating panel'of the appliance.

10. An appliance as claimed in claim 9, the appliance being a laundry treatment machine.

11. An appliance as claimed in claim 9, the appliance being a dishwashing machine.