GB612737A - Improvements in or relating to washing machines - Google Patents

Abstract

612,737. Washing-machines. HOOVER, Ltd. May 20, 1946, No. 15189. Convention date, June 8, 1945. [Class 138(ii)] The rotary agitator of a washing- machine comprises a disc 12 which is mounted for continuous rotation in a side wall of a liquid container 10, the disc being disposed so that it will normally be submerged in the washing liquid and with the whole of its circumferential edge lying close to the side wall of the container or a part thereon so as to prevent articles being washed from entering the space behind the disc. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the container 10 has a semi-cylindrical base 10a with vertical walls 10b, 10c, and the disc 12 is mounted on a shaft 13 with its circumferential edge disposed close to the wall 10c and in a shallow recess 15 in the wall. The exposed surface of the disc is substantially flat, apart from two radial depressions 12a therein adapted to provide an intervening rib 12b. In the arrangement shown in Fig. 4, the disc is not disposed centrally of the wall 10c and the base of the container is shaped to accommodate the modified position of the disc. The container may be provided with a flat, instead of a rounded base, in which case the disc is mounted in a vertical wall when the container is of square, rectangular or circular shape in plan, or it may be mounted on a slightly-inclined axis adjacent to a bottom corner of the container as shown in Fig. 8; both when the disc is arranged as shown in Fig. 8 and when it is arranged in a cylindrical container, a plate or shroud may be provided in the wall of the container close to the circumferential edge of the disc. In another construction, the upper part of the container may be of reduced cross-section so as to provide an overhanging ledge above the disc, which is then mounted in a recessed portion formed by an annular rib on the wall of the container. Alternatively, the edge of the disc may be lipped as shown at 36, Fig. 12, for cooperating with a boss 35 on the wall of the container. If desired, a rotary agitator may be arranged on each of the two opposite vertical walls of the container, or, as shown in Fig. 15, two agitators may be mounted in inclined portions 25b of the side walls 25a of the container; in these constructions, the agitators may be provided with three ribs.