JPH0410838B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a detergent supply device for a washing machine, etc., which is installed in a device such as a washing machine and supplies detergent to a detergent receptacle thereof. .

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as a detergent supply device for this type of washing machine, etc., there is one shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-43827. This device is generally installed in a washing machine, and the detergent stored in a hopper is discharged by a valve manually operated by the user and supplied into a washing tub.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the case of the above-mentioned conventional washing machine, the entire installation structure for the washing machine is fixed, and it is not possible to easily remove the hopper and valve together. Therefore, when cleaning the hopper, for example, the hopper must be cleaned while it is fixed to the washing machine, which poses the problem of not only being difficult to clean but also not being able to clean it thoroughly. Ta.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its purpose is to enable cleaning of the hopper easily and thoroughly, and also to prevent new problems from occurring in the hopper itself. An object of the present invention is to provide a detergent supply device for a washing machine, etc., which can obtain reliable operation.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The detergent supply device for a washing machine or the like of the present invention unitizes a hopper and a detergent dispensing member for discharging detergent from the hopper toward a detergent receiving portion. The unit is removably provided to the device with a movable engagement portion and a fixed engagement portion, and a transmission mechanism is provided on the side of the fixed engagement portion to transmit the driving force of the drive source to the detergent dispenser member. It is characterized by what it does.

(Function) According to the above means, the hopper can be easily removed from the equipment in a unit state with the detergent dispensing member, and therefore, the cleaning etc. can be carried out as desired with the unit removed.

Furthermore, in cases where the hopper can be removed in this way, the transmission mechanism that transmits the driving force of the drive source to the detergent dispensing member is located on the side of the fixed engagement part for attaching the unit and transmits the driving force. Therefore, reliable transmission is possible without causing the problem of detachment due to rattling, which is a problem peculiar to a removable structure, and as a result, reliable detergent supply is possible.

(Example) An example in which the present invention is applied to a detergent supply device for a washing machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, in Figure 2, 1 is the outer box of the washing machine,
Reference numeral 2 indicates an upper cover attached to the upper surface of the upper cover; 3 indicates a bi-fold type lid provided on the upper cover 2 so that it can be opened and closed; and 4 indicates an upper cover 2 located in front of the cover 3.
This is an operation panel installed on the front edge of the machine. On the other hand, reference numeral 5 designates a rear panel located behind the lid 3 and provided at the rear edge of the upper cover 2, and is provided with a power switch 6 and a hopper 7.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the hopper 7 includes an inner wall 9 made of, for example, transparent plastic and having a horizontally cylindrical detergent delivery portion 8 at its lowest part, and an outer wall 10 made of transparent plastic surrounding the outer periphery of the inner wall 9.
This constitutes the entire peripheral wall 11, and furthermore, the outer wall 10 has an upper part 10a and a lower part 10b that are separately manufactured and joined together, and the uppermost part thereof is fitted inside the upper outer peripheral rib 12 of the inner wall 9. According to
The inner wall 9 is connected with a predetermined gap 13 around the outer periphery thereof. Note that 14 is a lid of the hopper 7.

Further, reference numeral 15 indicates the lower part 10 of the outer wall 10 on one side (left side in FIG. 1) of the lowermost sides of the outer wall 10.
a first claw which is a fixed engagement part formed integrally with b;
16 is the outer wall 10 on the other side (right side in the figure)
a second claw which is a movable engagement part formed integrally with a push button 17 removably installed in the lower part 10b of the
On the other hand, 18 is a recess formed in the rear panel 5 with its upper edge surrounded by ribs 19 as shown in FIG.
This includes one of the two sides (left side in Figure 1).
Hole 20 is formed on the other side (right side in the figure).
1, and the hole 20 has the above-mentioned first hole.
The hopper 7 is removably attached to the rear panel 5 by engaging the claw 15 of the hopper and the second claw 16 with the hole 21.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a detergent dispensing member inserted in advance into the contents of the detergent dispensing portion 8 located in the recess 18 with the above-mentioned hopper 7 attached, and in particular, in the case of this embodiment, it is composed of a coil, and its base end (the left end in FIG. 1) is attached to a power transmission shaft 23 inserted into the base end of the detergent dispensing section 8 and rotatably supported, whereby the detergent dispensing member 22 is integrated with the hopper 7. and unitize them.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a motor attached to the left end of the upper cover 2 in FIG. Screw 2 shown in Figure 4
8, and is attached to the upper cover 2 by tightening it, and a drive gear 29 that also serves as a waterproof cap is attached to the rotating shaft 25a, and the drive gear 2
9 is meshed with a driven gear 30 attached to the end of the transmission shaft 23 protruding from the detergent delivery section 8. Therefore, in this case, the transmission mechanism 31 constituted by the drive gear 29 and the driven gear 30 is also connected to the motor 2.
5, and press the left side in Figure 1, that is, the first claw 1.
It is located on the 5th side.

Reference numeral 32 denotes a recess extending over almost the entire rear edge of the upper cover 2, which includes a drain port facing into the washing tub (not shown) disposed inside the outer box 1 near the tip of the water receiving portion 26. 33 is formed. Moreover, the recess 32
In the hopper 7, a detergent receiving part 35 is formed at a portion located below the detergent outlet 34 at the tip of the detergent delivery part 8, separated from other parts by partition walls 36, 37. As shown in FIG. 5, this detergent receiving part 35 has a front-downward slope, and has a supply port 38 facing the inside of the washing tub at its tip, and a rear end. A water supply device 39 is arranged in series with a water supply valve 40. 41 is located above the detergent receiving portion 35 and is located in the recess 1 of the rear panel 5.
8 An opening formed at the bottom for passing detergent through and also for cleaning.

42 is a convex portion protruding from the bottom of the recess 18 of the rear panel 5, and 43 is a lid (the lid of the hopper 7 described above) whose upper end is pivoted to the lower part 10b of the outer wall of the hopper 7 by means of a shaft 44. 14), and this small lid 43 has a protrusion 45 formed near its upper end, as shown in FIG. 46
is interposed therebetween, thereby urging the push button 17 outward and urging the small lid 43 inward (toward the detergent outlet 33). Furthermore, a diagonal tongue piece 47 is formed at the rear part near the lower end of the small lid 43, and this is engaged with the convex portion 42 to push the small lid 43 outward against the biasing force of the spring 46. (to the side opposite to the detergent outlet 34 direction) to open the detergent outlet 34.

Here, FIG. 7 shows the state when the hopper 7 (a unit of the hopper 7 and the detergent dispenser member 22) is being removed, and at this time, the push button 17 is pushed inward against the biasing force of the spring 46. By pushing in, the second claw 16 is removed from the hole 21, and then the first claw 15 is removed from the hole 20. With the removal of such hopper 7 (unit),
The small lid 43 separates the tongue piece 47 from the convex portion 42, so that the small lid 43 is released from the force of outward rotation by the convex portion 42 and moves inward with the biasing force of the spring 46. It is rotated and pressed against the detergent outlet 34 to close the outlet 34. If you reinstall hopper 7 (unit) from this state,
The small lid 34 engages the tongue 47 with the convex portion 42 and slides, and is rotated outward against the biasing force of the spring 46 as described above, thereby opening the detergent outlet 34.

The stirring body 48 is rotatably disposed inside the hopper 7 with a shaft 49 passed between the front and back of the hopper 7, and has a plurality of holes 50 and a plurality of protrusions 51 projecting in the front and back direction. It has a large number of protrusions 52 that protrude outward from the periphery, and one of the protrusions 52 is engaged with the detergent dispensing member 22.

Now, in the case of the device configured as described above, when using it, for example, remove the hopper 7 (unit), open the lid 14, and then pour detergent, for example, powdered detergent 53 into the hopper 7. and close the lid 14. Then, the hopper 7 (unit) is installed as shown in FIG. 1, so that the powdered detergent 53 is stored in the installed hopper 7. In this state, when you operate the necessary switches on the operation panel 4 to wash the clothes, a control device (not shown), for example, a microcomputer built into the lower part of the operation panel 4, starts operating. The motor 25 and the water supply valve 40 are energized and operate together, and the motor 25 transmits its rotational force from the rotating shaft 25a to the driving gear 29 of the transmission mechanism 31, and further from the driving gear 29 to the driven gear 30. By transmitting the power to the transmission shaft 23 and the detergent dispenser 22, the detergent dispenser 22 is rotated, particularly in a so-called spiral direction. Therefore, the powdered detergent 53 in the hopper 7 is transferred to the detergent dispensing member 22.
Due to the rotation of the detergent, the detergent is advanced in the detergent delivery section 8 toward the detergent outlet 34, and is taken out from the detergent outlet 34 as shown by arrow A in FIGS. 1 and 5,
It falls onto the detergent receiver 35. On the other hand, the water supply valve 40 allows water to flow through the water supply device 39 onto the detergent receiver 35 as shown by arrow B in FIG. Both of them are supplied from the supply port 38 into the washing tub (not shown).

When the detergent dispensing member 22 is rotated as described above, the stirring member 48, which has one of the protrusions 52 engaged with the detergent dispensing member 22, sequentially engages the protrusions 52 with the detergent dispensing member 22. The powder detergent 53 in the hopper 7 is thereby agitated, and the powder detergent 53 can be introduced into the detergent delivery section 8 more smoothly.

In this way, according to this embodiment, the powdered detergent 53 can be supplied without leaving it in the hands of the user, and furthermore, in the structure, the hopper 7 (unit) can be connected to the rear panel 5 as described above. By being removable from the unit, when cleaning the hopper 7 or, in addition, the detergent dispensing member 22, it can be done as desired by, for example, washing the unit with the unit removed. Can perform cleaning, etc.

In addition, when the hopper 7 is made to be removable in this way, the unit's mounting claws 15,
16, the movable structure of the second pawl 16, which is a movable engaging portion, makes it easier to remove, but it is conceivable that the hopper 7 may be more likely to move. However, on the contrary, the first fixed engagement part
On the claw 15 side, due to its fixed configuration, the hopper 7
movement is unlikely to occur. In accordance with this, in this embodiment, the transmission mechanism 31 that transmits the driving force of the motor 25 (drive source) to the detergent dispenser member 22 is located on the first pawl 15 side to transmit the driving force. This prevents the transmission mechanism 31 from coming off due to rattling, which is a problem peculiar to a removable structure, and ensures reliable transmission. The detergent 53 can also be supplied reliably.

Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and in particular, the detergent receiving portion is not limited to the detergent receiving portion 35 formed in the rear panel 5 described above, but may be a washing tub. In other words, the detergent may be supplied directly into the washing tub without using the water supply. Further, the detergent dispensing member is not limited to the above-described coil, but may be a conventional valve or screw, for example. In addition, the drive source for rotationally driving the detergent dispensing member is not limited to the motor 25, and may be, for example, a water wheel operating in a water supply channel. And, as a whole, it is not limited to washing machines, but can be similarly applied to all devices that function using detergent, such as dishwashers, and the agitator 48 etc. In addition, the detergent may be a liquid detergent other than the powder detergent 53.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the detergent supply device for a washing machine or the like of the present invention is installed in a device such as a washing machine and supplies detergent to the detergent receiving portion thereof.
A hopper for accommodating and storing the detergent, and a detergent dispensing member for discharging the detergent from the hopper toward the detergent receiving portion are provided as a unit, and the unit is connected to the device through a movable engagement portion and a fixed engagement portion. The device is characterized in that it is removably provided by the hopper, and is also provided with a transmission mechanism located on the fixed engagement part side to transmit the driving force of the drive source to the detergent dispensing member. Cleaning etc. can be done easily and thoroughly, and the removal of the hopper for that purpose is easy, and furthermore, the transmission mechanism does not come off due to rattling, which is a new problem in itself. This has the excellent effect of ensuring reliable detergent supply.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts, Fig. 2 is an external perspective view of the upper part of the washing machine where the same parts exist, and Fig. 3 is the upper part of the washing machine. External perspective view with the hopper removed, No. 4
The figure is a vertical side view of the main part with the hopper removed, Figure 5 is a vertical side view of the same part at a different cross-sectional position, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the small lid alone, and Figure 7 is the main part with the hopper removed. It is a longitudinal sectional front view in an intermediate state. In the drawing, 1 is a washing machine outer box, 5 is a rear panel, 7 is a hopper, 15 is a first claw (fixed engagement part), 16 is a second claw (movable engagement part), 17 is a push button, 22 3 is a detergent dispensing member, 25 is a motor, 29 is a drive gear, and 3
0 is a driven gear, 31 is a transmission mechanism, 35 is a detergent receiver, and 53 is a powdered detergent (detergent).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A device installed in a washing machine or other device to supply detergent to its detergent receiver, including a hopper that accommodates and stores the detergent, and a detergent dispenser that discharges the detergent from the hopper toward the detergent receiver. The detergent dispensing member is provided as a unit, and the unit is removably provided to the device by a movable engagement part and a fixed engagement part, and is located on the fixed engagement part side, and a driving source is provided to the detergent dispensing member. A detergent supply device for a washing machine, etc., characterized in that it is equipped with a transmission mechanism that transmits a driving force.