GB812552A - Improvements relating to clothes washing machines - Google Patents

Abstract

812,552. Washing-machines. GENERAL ELECTRIC CO. July 27, 1955 [July 28, 1954], No. 21726/55. Class 138 (2). A washing-machine comprises a casing 25 extending upwardly from the bottom 16 of a tube 15 adapted to contain water and clothes to be washed, the casing 25 being provided with a water inlet opening 28 in its upper portion and first and second series of water discharge ports 32, 33 in its lower portion, these ports being disposed in substantially annular arrays with the first series arranged to direct water in a generally horizontal direction across the bottom 16 of the tube and the second series above the first and arranged to direct water in a generally horizontal direction above the bottom wall 16, means for drawing water into the casing through the inlet opening 28 and for discharging it from the casing progressively in streams through the discharge ports with a substantial angle between the first and second streams, and means for preventing the clothes suspended in the water thus circulated in the tub from being drawn through the inlet opening into the casing. The ports 32 are defined by curved diffuser blades 30 and the ports 33 by curved diffuser blades 31. A diffuser ring 29 arranged between the ports has a curved lower surface to direct the first stream of water downwardly and a curved upper surface to direct the second stream of water upwardly. The casing 25 houses a rotary impeller 36 mounted on a shaft 37 and comprising curved blades 41 (Fig. 4), a substantially bell-shaped shell 40, and a disc 39 arranged adjacent to the bottom wall 16 of the tub and disposed at an angle with respect thereto. The shell 40 and disc 39 define an annular water discharge opening 45 therebetween and the inclination of the plate 39 ensures that oppositely disposed portions of the plate cooperate with a first and second series of discharge ports respectively. Water is thus discharged from the casing 25 in a series of rotating currents as indicated by the arrows 34, 35, 46 and 47. A perforated clothes guard 50 prevents clothes reaching the inlet opening 28, and a structure 48 including three equi-angularly spaced-apart blades 49 supported on the top of the easing 25 minimizes swirling of the water entering the casing. Fig. 5 (not shown) illustrates a modified form of clothes guard of corrugated construction providing a series of clothes rubbing ribs with intervening troughs in which the perforations are formed. The tub 15 is provided with a series of water discharge openings and a clothes guard ring 18 and may be rotated at high speed to spin-dry the clothes.