GB892626A - An electric switching programme control device for clothes washing and dish washing machines - Google Patents

Abstract

892,626. Time switches. HOLZER, W. April 16, 1958 [April 20, 1957], No. 12114/58. Class 38 (5). A programming device for washing machines comprises contacts 2 operable by cams 1 mounted on a shaft 3 controlled by an escapement mechanism 4, 5 driven by a store of potential energy which is recharged after each switching operation. A motor 8 drives a programme disc 6 via gearing 7, and a spring 10 couples the disc 6 to the shaft 3. Pins 9 and 26 on the disc 6 control the escapement member 5 as shown in Fig. 2. Rotation of disc 6 in the direction of the arrows 24 strains the spring 10 which causes wheel 4 to tend to rotate in the direction of the arrow thereon. Thus claw 14 is pressed upwardly and member 5 tends to lift a locking bar 16 by means of a pin 15 engaged in a slot 18, but a nose 20 on the bar 16 is held against a buffer 25 by spring 25A and prevents any movement. A projection 19 on the bar 16 is, however, in the path of pins 9 such that at a predetermined time a pin 9 will pivot bar 16 so that nose 20 is clear of buffer 25 and the bar 16 and member 5 will move to the positions shown by broken lines, allowing wheel 4, and hence shaft 3, to move one step. Claw 13 is then engaged by wheel 4 and tends to restore the member 5 and bar 16 to the full-line position which is not permitted until a predetermined time later when a pin 26 engages projection 19 and releases nose 20 from its position above buffer 25 allowing wheel 4 and shaft 3 to move a further step. In practice, the number of notches on wheel 4 is related to the number of pins on disc 6. A certain switch position may be set manually by rotation of a knob, not shown, which turns disc 6 such that pins 9 and 26 engage the projection 19 in relatively rapid succession allowing the escapement to run vertually continuously until the desired position is reached.