US1086635A - Washing-machine. - Google Patents

Description

W. J. ZUILL. ,A WASHING MACHINE.

APPLIUATION FILED NOV. 12,1912.

Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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W in es; es

W. J. ZUILL.

WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION I'ILBD Nomvlz, 1912.

1,086,635. Patented Feb.1o,1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

WALTER J'. ZUHJL, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

WASHING-MACHINE.

- Specication of Letters Patent.-

Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

Application led November 12, 1912. Serial No. 730,898.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, WALTER J. ZUILL, of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the 'State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Washing-Machines, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

Thisinvention relates to certain improvements 1n washing machines and refers more particularly to a reciprocatory dasher or dashers moving in a vat containing cleansing fluid and articles to be cleansed whereby the cleansing Huid is alternately forced and drawn through such articles by pressure and suction produced by the trapping of the air in the cup shaped dashers as the lattelI are raised and lowered into and out of contact with the clothes and cleansing Huid.

The main object, therefore, of my present invention is to enable the dashers to be reciprocated and intermittingly shifted rot-arily` by suitable mechanismextending through the cover or top of the vat without shifting the axis of rotation of the dashers, except to a slight degree forwardly and rearwardly. In other words, the specific object is to increase the utility and general efciency of this class of machines by making the vat Adust proof, permitting the dashers to be operated without shifting the l operating lever laterally around the vat and allowing the entire cover to be removed and the dashers withdrawn from the interior of the vat so as to leave the entire area of such vat open for the insertion and withdrawal of clothes o rcleansing'fluid,

Other objects and uses relating to specific parts of the machine will be brought out in the following description.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a transverse vertical sectional view of a hand operated washing machine embodying the various features of my invention, the supporting legs and a portion of the handle of the operating lever being broken away. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the dasher-operating mechanism omitting the dasher's. and vat. Fig. 3 is a top plan of the washing machine shown in Fig. l. Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the mechanism for eii'ecting the rotary adjustment of the dashers and adjacent portion of the dasher-reciprocating lever, a portion of the vat with the cover thereon being shown in top plan. Y

The machine shown is techmally known as a hand washer. and comprises a circular vat *l* mounted upon a suitable supporting frame -2- and provided'with a cover composed of semi-circular sections -3- closely fitted upon the rim and covering the upper end o-r top of the vat for the purpose of excluding dust and other foreign matter and also to prevent splashing or spattering of the water over the sides and retaining the heat of the cleansing fluid 'in the vat when heated wateris used. The bottoni of the vat is provided with a normally closed outlet valve -4- capable of being opened inwardly by upward pressure on the bottom thereof for withdrawing the cleansing luid from thevat when desired. Secured to and eX- tending upwardly from the rear side of the vat is an arm or bracket -5- carrying at its upper end a removable head '-6-, which is normally held inoperative position by a clamping screw -7-, but may be withdrawn upwardly from the end of the bracket or arm -5- when the clamping screw -`-7-- is loosened, said clamping screw also serving to hold the head against rotation on the bracket. it will be seen, on reference to Fig. l, that this bracket -5- and head 6- are disposed wholly at the rearside of the vat so as to permit the cover 3 to be easily and quickly placed in operative position or removed.

A hand lever 8- extends transversely of and some distance above the cover, preferably diametrically thereto and is pivoted at its rear end at 9- to the lower end of the head -G- so as to permit the free end of the lever to be rocked vertically by means of a handle -10- on its front end. `In practice, the portion of the lever -8 eX- tending rearwardly from the handle -10- is furcated or provided with opposite arms spaced a sufficient distance apart to receive between them a dasher-supporting sleeve or yoke -11 directly over `the center of the cover or rather substantially co-axial with the vat, said lever being pivoted at -12- to the lower end of the sleeve l1- for reciprocating the sleeve as the lever is rocked vertically in opposite directions.

A dasher rod or stem 413 has its upper end journaled in the sleeve or bearing -11- some distance above the top of the vat or cover 3- and its lower end is provided with opposite laterall extending arms -14- carrying inverte( cup-shape dashers 15- as shown more clearly in Fig. 1. The

dasher rod or stem w423-- is held against relative axial movement in the sleeve or bearing -11- by means of .collars -16- and 17- which are secured to said rod or stem and engage respectivelyv the'lower and upper ends of the sleeve orbearing, thereby limparting'vertical reciprocatory movement to the dashers as the lever f5- is rocked vertically in opposite directions. The arms wleare rigidly securedto the lower end of the plunger rod or stem 13 within the vat and extend radially therefrom for receiving and supporting the dashers l5- which are also arranged within the vat equal distant from the axis of the rod 13* and are rigidly secured to the outer ends of the arms -l4-- in substantially the same horizontal plane.

The dashers --15- are preferably circular and of slightly less diameter than the radius of the bottom of the vat so as to operate upon as large an area of the clothes as possible when reciprocated, the chambers in the bottom of the dashers serving to trap the air therein when moved into contact with the water or clothes, thereby producing air cushions to aid in pressing the clothes and forcing'the cleansing fluid therethrough during the downward stroke of the dashers and also serving as vacuum chambers for drawing the cleansing fluid upwardly through the clothes during the upstroke of the plunger, it being understood that the upper sides 'of the dasher are imperforated or closed to permit pneumatic pressure and suction upon the clothes as above referred to.

In order that the dashers and the operating mechanism therefor may move in vertical parallelism so as to keep both dashers in a horizontal plane, the upper end of the sleeve -llm is flexibly connected by a link -18- to the upper end of the head t3- saidA link being substantially parallel with the underlying portion of the lever '-8-.-.

It is now clear that the dasher -15- and its supportin plunger ---13- may be reciprocated by t e vertical movement of the lever -10- in opposite directions, the raising of the dasher and its operating mechanism being vfacilitated by a retracting spring -20 having one end connected to the` upper end of the head 6* and its opposite end connected to the lower end of the sleeve -11-. l

Suitable means is provided for limiting the upward movement of the dasher and its operating mechanism and for this purpose, l have provided the handle of the lever with a rearwardly projecting loop "2lin which is mounted an adjustable limiting sto -22- positioned so as to engage the adjacent front face of the sleeve l1- when the lever -8- is raised sutliciently to withdraw the dashers from cont-act with the clothes, said stop also serving to prevent the arms -14- on the lower end of thek plunger -13- coming in Contact with the underside of the cover -3- although it is evident that by adjusting the screw Q2- the dashers and operating mechanism therefor maybe allowed to raise a considerable distance higher than the position shown in Fig. l.

Rotary adjustment-Suitable means is provided for shifting the dashers -'15- r0- tarily and intermittingly about the axis of the plunger rod -13-- so as to cause 'them to traverse the entire area of the bottom of the vat and for this purpose the rear end of the lever 4--8- is provided'with a forwardly projecting pawl 2S- which is springpressed under its own tension into engagement with the teeth of a ratchet wheel -Q4- on the plunger rod I3- just beneath the collar -16-- or lower end ofy the sleeve -11- and, therefore, below the pivotal connection l2- between the lever and sleeve so that, as the free end of the lever is rocked downwardly to force the dashers into pressing engagement with the clothes, the tree end of the pawl and ratchet wheel will be drawn back from the ratchet teeth the distance of one 'or more teeth and, when the lever is raised to its normal position, the free end of the pawl will engage one of the succeeding teeth and thereby shift the plunger rod -^13-- and dashers rotarily a corresponding distance. ln other words, by positioning the lever -8-- normally in an inclined plane, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, and bringing the tooth of the pawl and ratchet wheel below the horizontal plane of the pivotal connection between the lever and sleeve -11-, it is evident that, as the lever is rocked downwardly from. its normal position, the ratchet wheel will be moved forwardly or toward the handle of the lever relatively to the tooth of the pawl as the lever approaches a horizontal position, this forward movement being suiicient to cause the tooth of the pawl to engage the next succeeding tooth of the ratchet wheel for shifting the dashers rotarily as the lever is restored to its normal inclined position.

As previously intimated, the head -6- is detachably mounted upon the upper end of the bracket -5- so as to permit the dashers and operating mechanism therefor to be removed from the vat bodily when desired, the loop -21-, carrying the adjustable limiting sto the lever near t e junction of the handle with the fork so as to permit it to bc thrown back to the position shown by dotted lines, thereby allowing the entire lever to be elevated to a vertical position, the rear end of the handle of said lever terminating a sufficient distance in front of. the sleeve-llto permit the lever to be rocked upwardly iio -22, being pivoted to Losaeae over the top of the sleeve when desired to remove the dashers and operating mechanism for the vat.

Instead of removing the head p6-- from the bracket the set screw -7- may be fastened and the lever rocked u wardly to nearly a vertical position or su cient to withdraw the dashers from the top of the vat and allow the same to be rocked laterally out of alinement with said vat, thus making the entire opening available for the insertion or removal of clothes and cleansing fluid.

It has been previously stated that the dasher supporting rod 13- is held against lateral movement but it is vto be understood that it is free to Imove backwardly and forwardly a slight distance as necessitated by the rocking of the lever to and `from a horizontal position and, in order to provide for the vertical movement as well as the forward and rearward movement of the plunger, the center of the cover is provided with an opening through which the plunger rod extends.

In order that the pawl -23- may be properly adjusted relatively to the ratchet wheel -24, its rear end is adjustably screwed to the lever by means of clamping bolts or screws -30 which are passed through elongated slots 31- inthe adjacent end of the pawl as shown more clearly in Fig.l 2.

What l claim is: l. ln a washing machine, a vat, a bracket secured to and rising from one side of the vat, a head on the bracket, a lever fulcrumed on the head and extending diametrically across the top of the vat, a non-rotatable sleeve pivoted to the lever some distance to the rear of the axis of the sleeve, a plunger journaled vin the sleeve and extending into the vat, means for holding'the sleeve and plunger against relative endwise movement, a ratchet wheel on `the plunger some distance below the pivotal connection between the sleeve and lever, and a pawl on the lever engaging theteeth of the ratchet wheel at a point some distance in front of said pivotal connection.

2. ln a washing machine, a vat, a cover for the vat having a central diametrically elongated slot, a lever extending over the cover lengthwise of the slot and tulcrumed at one end to swing vertically, means. for holding the lever against lateral movement, ak sleeve pivotally connected to the lever some distance to the rear of the axis of the between said ulcrum and pivotaly connection between the lever and sleeve.

3. In a washing machine, a vat, an arm secured to and rising from one side of the vat, a head mounted on the arm', lmeans for securing the head against rotation and vertical movement, a lever pivoted to the head to swing vertically and extending diametrically across the top of the vat, a vertically disposed sleeve pivoted to the lever directly over the center of the vat, means for holding the sleeve in parallelism with the head, a spring connecting the sleeve and head and normally holding the lever above a horizontal position, a plunger rotatably mounted in thesleeve and extending into the interior of theV vat, arms secured to the lower end of the plunger and extending radially therefrom, dashers mounted on said arms, means for holding the sleeve and plunger against relative endwise movement, a rocking member pivotally mounted on the lever in front of the sleeve and an adjustable limiting stop mounted on said rocking member for engagement with the sleeve to limitthe upward rocking movement of the lever by the s ring. y

4. In a was ing machine, a vat, a bracket secured to and rising from one side of the vat, a head secured to the bracket, a lever ulcrumed on thel bracket and extending diametrically across the top of thel vat, a sleeve pivoted to the lever directly over the center of the vat, a plunger journaled in the sleeve, means for holding the plunger and sleeve against relative endwise movement, dashers mounted on the lower end of the plunger, a spring connecting the sleeve and head for normally elevating the lever above a horizontal plane, and means mounted on the lever and coacting withsaid sleeve to limit the upward swinging movement of said lever.

In witness whereof l have hereunto set my hand this 6th day\of November, 1912.

WALTER J. ZUILL.

Witnesses: V

H. E. CHASE, fEvA E. GREEIEAF.

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