GB2359248A

GB2359248A - Dishwasher rack

Info

Publication number: GB2359248A
Application number: GB0103386A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Piero Durazzani; Giannino Sandrin
Original assignee: Electrolux Zanussi Elettrodomestici SpA; Electrolux Zanussi SpA; Ro Plast SpA SA
Current assignee: Electrolux Zanussi Elettrodomestici SpA; Electrolux Zanussi SpA; Ro Plast SpA SA
Priority date: 2000-02-21
Filing date: 2001-02-12
Publication date: 2001-08-22
Anticipated expiration: 2021-02-12
Also published as: FR2805145A1; GB2359248B; ES1048422Y; DE20102169U1; ITPN20000004U1; IT251280Y1; FR2805145B3; GB0103386D0; ES1048422U

Abstract

A rack for holding items to be washed, such as plates and glasses, in a dishwasher, having a bottom wall (1) and side walls (2,3,4,5) made from a plurality of bars (10,20,30,40) of steel wire set out in substantially vertical and horizontal planes and welded together. The free upper ends of the said bars set out in substantially vertical planes (10,20,40) are embedded in a continuous frame (50) that is produced by a plastic injection overmoulding along all the said side walls.

Description

2359248 IMPROVED RACK FOR ITEMS TO BE WASHED IN A DISHWASHER SUCH AS

PLATES AND GLASSES The present innovation relates to a rack for articles, such as plates and 5 glasses, to be washed in a domestic dishwasher or the like.

A rack of this kind conventionally has a net-like structure with a bottom made up of a series of cross pieces and is made from bars of steel wire welded together and completely coated, after a surface cleaning treatment, with a protective polymer material. There is an obvious risk of wear and corrosion by the cleaning agents when the dishwasher is in use, if the thickness of the protective material is for example too thin in the more concealed areas and/or the surface cleaning is not done thoroughly. The stiffness of the steel wire may also damage very delicate items such as fine china plates or crystal glasses if the user is a little careless and drops them onto the bottom of the rack from a certain height rather than placing them carefully on the rack.

On the other hand, there has not been the hoped-for success for the proposal that the rack be made with a bottom wall in the form of a moulded plastic grid and four side walls of net-like structure also moulded from plastic and hinged to the outer edges of the bottom wall, with means provided to lock the said side walls when in the raised position - see Italian utility model no. 165 953 filed under no. 53045B/75. The need to use a large amount of plastic with excellent resistance to corrosion, wear and temperature, very low hygroscopicity and good mouldability makes the cost too high as a proportion of the total cost of the dishwasher. It should also be observed that the intended hinging of the side walls to the bottom wall, all being made of plastic only, can give users a certain impression of flimsiness.

It would be desirable, and this is in fact the object of the present invention to provide a rack for dishwashers that is robust and sturdy throughout the working life of the dishwasher and practical to use, that would not be likely to damage the more delicate objects if these were loaded somewhat carelessly by the user, and that can be produced industrially without difficulties and inexpensively.

According to the present invention, there is provided a rack for holding items to be washed, such as plates and glasses, in a domestic dishwasher or the like, having a bottom wall and side walls made from a plurality of bars of steel wire set out in substantially vertical and horizontal planes and welded together, wherein the free upper ends of the said bars set out in substantially vertical planes are embedded in a continuous frame that is produced by a plastic injection overmoulding along all the said side walls.

The invention will be further described by way of non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a three-dimensional assembly view of and embodiment of the rack according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view of the rack of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a front view of the same rack.

A rack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention for holding plates and glasses to be washed in a dishwasher thus comprises a bottom wall, generally indicated by the numerical reference 1, and four side walls of rectangular shape that is generally indicated by the numerical references 2, 3, 4 and 5 - see Figure 1.

As can be seen, the long side walls 3 and 5 of the rack are made up of a plurality of bars of steel wire (preferably AISI 304) all the same as each other and lying in parallel vertical planes - see Figure 1. Here, for simplicity, only one of these bars will be described, indicated by the numerical reference 10; as shown in Figure 3, it essentially consists of two more external vertical sections 11 and two more internal vertical sections 12 separated from the sections 11 by respective steps 13. The bar 10 also comprises two sloping central sections 17 and 18 which meet at the point 19 in the plane of the centreline of the rack to produce the bottom wall 1 in the form of an inverted V.

Meanwhile the short side walls 2 and 4 of the rack are formed by two bars 20 and 40, these also being made from steel wire, lying in vertical planes perpendicular to the planes of the bars such as 10 - see Figure 1. As Figure 2 shows, the bars 20, 40 consist essentially of two more external vertical sections 21 and 41 and two more internal vertical sections 22 and 42 separated from the sections 21 and 41 by the steps 23 and 43, respectively. The bar 20 also includes a horizontal section 25 which is directly welded to the first sloping section 17 of each bar 10 while the bar 40 also includes a section 45 joined to the second sloping section 18 of each bar 10 by a short vertical post 44.

The rack also includes a stiffening bar 30 lying in a horizontal plane see Figure 1 - also of steel wire, which has the same rectangular shape as the bottom wall 1 and whose sides 32, 33, 34 and 35 are welded at right angles not only to all of the bars a short distance above the steps 13 but also to the two bars 20 and 40 a short distance below their respective steps 23, 43.

It is a fundamental characteristic of the embodiment that the free upper ends of all of the said bars 10, 20 and 40 lying in vertical planes are embedded by injection overmoulding in a continuous frame, indicated as a whole by the numerical reference 50, made of a relatively soft and compliant plastic (e.g. 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 side walls 2, 3, 4 and 5 of the rack.

In this preferred embodiment of the invention, the frame 50 also integrally comprises:

at least one handgrip area on the short sides 52 and 54 to make it easier for the user to handle the rack. This is particularly useful if the dishwasher is of the type presented in the application for a patent for Italian utility model no. PN99U000014, filed 15by this Applicant on 27.04.1999 for which example for which the rack must be loaded and unloaded from its supporting surround at the beginning and end, respectively of each operating cycle of the dishwasher; along at least its first long side 53, on a first long side wall 3 of the rack, a plurality of projections 51 that project into the rack and are aligned with the various bars 10. The edge of a plate and/or the stem of a glass placed in the rack will therefore be held securely, but not damaged, by two adjacent projections 5 1.

Just below the second long side 55 of the frame 50, for only the upper part of the more external vertical section 11 on the second long side wall 5 of the rack, each of these bars 10 is also embedded by injection overmoulding in a corresponding fin 70 of plastic material. The fin 70, which is preferably made from the same material as the frame 50, projects into the rack beyond the inner perimeter of the frame 50. The fin 70 may for example be essentially in the shape of a triangle (as shown in the attached drawing) or of a circular sector. The edge of a plate and/or the stem of a glass placed in the rack are therefore held securely, but not damaged, between two adjacent fins 70.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention - as shown in the figures of the accompanying drawing - a series of injection overmouldings producing plastic sleeves are lastly used to also embed the sloping sections 17 and 18 of each bar 10 on the bottom 1 of the rack, the horizontal section 45 of the bar 40, the vertical posts 44 and the horizontal section 25 of the bar 20.

The outer surface of the latter injection overmouldings, which are preferably made from the same relatively soft and compliant material as the frame 50 and fins 70, has a series of discontinuities, such as that indicated by the numerical reference 75 in Figures 1 and 3. The function of these is to facilitate tile draining of the rack during and at the end of the operating cycles of the dishwasher.

As can be deduced from the foregoing description, the advantages offered by the present embodiment may be summarized as follows:

a) the use of plastic, although expensive, is limited to relatively small areas of the rack, specifically points or surfaces that are physically in contact with the items being washed when these are held in the rack. The manufacture of the rack is thus simplified and inexpensive; b) the injection overmouldings perform the two functions of protection against corrosion of the welded joints between the bars forming the structure of the rack and of absorbing any impacts, caused by carelessness on the part of the user, during loading of the rack with items to be washed, including items that are delicate because made of china or glass; c) the use of stainless steel such as AISI 304 makes the structure of the rack very strong and improves its outward appearance; d) the injection-overmoulded frame 50 also contributes decisively to stiffening the structure of the rack, which has an understandably good effect on the user, including psychologically, and, owing to the handgrips provided integrally on it, facilitates its handling.

Although what is described above is the currently preferred embodiment, it will be understood that the rack can be developed differently by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Claims

1. A rack for holding items to be washed, such as plates and glasses, in a domestic dishwasher or the like, having a bottom wall and side walls made from a plurality of bars of steel wire set out in substantially vertical and horizontal planes and welded together, wherein the free upper ends of the said bars set out in substantially vertical planes are embedded in a continuous frame that is produced by a plastic injection overmoulding along all the said side walls.

2.

A rack according to Claim 1, wherein the said frame is made from a relatively compliant and soft material.

3. A rack according to Claim 1 or 2, wherein that the said frame comprises integrally along at least one first long side, on a first long side wall of the a rack, a plurality of projections that project into the a rack and are aligned with the bars set out in a first substantially vertical plane.

4. A rack according to any one of the preceding claims wherein, beneath the said frame each of the bars set out in a first substantially vertical plane is also embedded by injection overmoulding, for only a portion of its length, on the second long side wall of the a rack, in a fin of plastic material that projects beyond the inner perimeter of the said frame into the a rack.

5. A rack according to Claim 4, wherein the said fins are made from the same material as the injection-overmoulded frame.

6. A rack according to Claim 4 or 5, wherein each of the said fins is substantially in the shape of a triangle.

7. A rack according to Clahn 4 or 5, wherein each of the said fins is substantially in the shape of a circular sector.

8. A rack according to any one of the preceding clahns, wherein the said frame is provided integrally with at least one handgrip.

9. A rack according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein each of the bars set out in a first substantially vertical plane comprises, on the bottom of the a rack, two sloping central sections that give it the shape of an inverted V and are for at least part of their length embedded by injection overmoulding in plastic sleeves.

10. A rack according to Claim 9, wherein on the outer surface the said sleeves have a series of discontinuities such as to encourage draining of the wash liquid during and at the end of the operating cycles of the dishwasher.

11. A rack constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

12. A dishwasher incorporating at least one rack according to any one of the preceding claims for supporting items to be washed.