GB923018A - Home ice-making appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

923,018. Ice-making. WHIRLPOOL CORPORATION. July 27, 1961 [July 27, 1960], No. 27332/61. Class 29. Ice-making apparatus comprises a mould, means for delivering a preselected volume of water to the mould, means for freezing the water in the mould progressively inwardly so that the freezing of the innermost portion of the water forces the ice block free of the mould and means for removing the loose ice block from the mould. The mould 14 is mounted in the freezing compartment of a domestic refrigerator on a shaft 16 which projects through the refrigerator wall 20, cold air being directed on to the top of the mould through louvres 13 so that freezing occurs progressively downwardly. When the final freezing has occurred and the ice blocks are forced loose the pressure in a capillary tube 38 which extends along the axis of the shaft 16 falls sufficiently to allow the diaphragm of a bellows 51 mounted on the end of the shaft to move to the left in Fig. 1. A control arm 46 having a button 47 in contact with the said diaphragm is then urged in an anticlockwise direction by a spring 54 and moves clear of a restraining lug 58 to permit a spring 74 to rotate the shaft 16 through 90 degrees, thus tipping out the ice into a bin 18. During this rotation, cams (Figs. 2-9, not shown), mounted on the shaft 16 successively close the water outlet from a valve housing 70 and open the inlet thereof. As the housing fills with water a rod mounted therein is forced downwardly to operate a lever 64 which rotates the shaft 16 back to its initial position and rewinds the spring 74. When the housing 70 is full its inlet is closed and water is supplied through its outlet to a pipe 26 which communicates with a filler pipe 27 projecting through the refrigerator wall. The temperature of the water thus supplied to the mould 14 causes the pressure in capillary 38 to rise and reset the bellows 51 and control arm 46.