US1492242A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

April 29, 1924. 1,492,242

F. W. CARPENTER WASHING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7, )922 3 Sheets-Sheet l April 29 1924. 1,492,242

F. W. 'CARPENTER WASHING MACHINE Filed Aug. v, 1922 s sheetsheet 2 April '29 ,1924. 1,492,242

F. CARPENTER WASHING MACHINE Filed Aug. 7 192?.

3 Sheets-Sheet 5 I I` u vv y /0 3 65 80'4 52 7577 @N I I 74 75 l 75 u Il I l 7; ,ni-V Y* l A J 0. I 7 47 45 49 L I 72 2;@ 46 j i Patented Apr. 29, 1924.

l STATES r-TENT ,.oFFicfE.

FRANCIS W. CARPENTER, OF ST. PAUL; ll'IINNESO'.IA,y ASSIGNOR TO PARAMOUNT MACHINE CO., F ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA, A CORPORATION OIE lMIITNIELSOTA.

WASHING MACHINE.

Application led August 7, 1922. Serial No. 580,381. f

To all zo/2,0m tmc/y conce/m.:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS W. ,CARPEN- TnR, a citizen ot the United States, residing at St. Paul, in the countyof Ramsey and State of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Washing Machines; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description ot' the invention, such as will 'enable l0 others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same. f

My present invention is directed particularly to the provision of an improved washingl machine of' the type wherein a reversible motor drum is applied to work within a water tank, and the invention is directed chiefly to improved drum-driving mechanism operative to impart to the drum several rotations first in one direction and then in the other, and to perform certain other highly important functions, all as will hereinafter more fully appear. Generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.y

The accompanying drawings illustrate my invention as incorporated in a commercial machine. the efficiency of which has been demonstrated in actual practice.

Referring to said drawings,

Fig. l is a right side elevation of the inachine, some parts broken away and some parts sectioned;

2 is a transverse vertical section taken on the line 2-2 of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section. taken substantially on the line 3 3 of Fig'. l, but with some parts shown in full;

Fig: -i is a detail in vertical section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a Yhorizontal section taken approximately on the line 5-5 of Fig. 2. some parts being shown in full;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged detail in section showing` elements of the so-called neutral shown iu connection position clutch lock with other devices iu Figs. 3 and 4i:

Fig. 7 is a detail in section on the line 7--7 of Fig. 3; and n Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view ot' the motor circuit.

For containing the water or suds. I preferably employ an approximately cylindrical tank 9 of sheet metal or other suitable materialy suitablyy connected at its upper edge to a casing or cabinet l() which is also preferably of sheet metal and provided with a hinged side 'or kdoor 10a. y'Ihiscase or cabinet l() is supported by corner posts ll shown as mounted on casterwheels I2. The corner posts 11 are preferably cross-connected by upper tie-bars 13, lower tie-bars lll and intermediate tie-bars 15, all of which parts are advisably of rolled steel. rIhe tank is shown as provided with a removable cover 16.

Rotatably mounted Within the tank 9 is a horizontally disposed drum, which may be of anyy suitable construction but is preferably of the construction and arrangement disclosed and claimed in my companion application filed of even date herewith, Serial Number 580,382, and entitled Drum support and detachable driving connection for washing machines. As illustrated, this drum is made up of sheet metal heads 17 and a perforated cylinder 18V, which latter has a-hinged door section 19 adapted to be secured in closed position by pivoted lock levers 20, L(see Figs. l and 2). One drum head'l7 is provided with anaXially projecting trunnion 2l. that is detachably seated in the upwardly flaring open seat of a bearing 2,2 that is rigidly secured to the adjacent side of the tank. To the other head of said drum is rigidly secured an axiallylocated triangular couplingy ange 23, one of the three sides of which is made much more narrow than the other two sides. This trian- `rular coupling iiange 23 is detachably engaged with a triangular driving head 24C secured on the inner end of a short horizontal driving` shaft 25 that extends through -a stuiiing' box 26 in the adjacent side of the tank 9 and is journaled in bearings afforded by a rectangular hearing` bracket 27. This bracket 27 is bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to one ofthe intermediate frame bars l5 and to an angular reinforcing' bar 28 that is secured to the adjacentrhead of the tank r9 and thus forms a brace between the tank. the case and the framework.

llVhen the shallow side of the triangular coupling Harige 23 is turned downward as shown in Fig. 2, and the drum is tiltedr as indicated by dotted lines in that view, said flange 23 will clear the Adriving` head 24 and the drum may then be lifted from working position. This feature, however, constitutes no part of the present invention but is an important feature of my Companion application above identified.

Drum-driving mechanism.

f 3l to a .worm 32 that runs in mesh with a worm gear 33 secured on the lowerI end of a vertical shaft 34'. Said worm, worm gear and the lower end of said shaft are rotatably mounted in a bearing bracket 35 that is formed with an open oil-containing well 36, (see particularly Fig. 1),'so that said parts runv in the oil vcontained in Said well. Here it'may be further stated that the'above arrangement of the oil kwell 36 permitsthe same to keep supplied with oil that will run down the shaft 34 from the other mechanism presently to be noted and to whichthe oil willv be primarily applied. The above noted flexible shaft Section 3l is preferably a section of rubber hose which will not only bend but will yield torsionally and thus afford a cushion to relieve'the transmission mechanism shocks when the drum-driving motion is reversed in a manner presently to be described.

Bolted or otherwise rigidly secured to the intermediate frame bars 15, (see Figs. 3 rand 4), is a gear housing 0r bearing bracket 37 which has vertically spaced bearing sleeves 38 and horizontally spaced bearing sleeves 39. Journaled in the lower bearing sleeve 38 is a bevel gear 40, with the depending' hub of which the upper end of the driving shaft 34 is connected by a knuckle joint 4l afforded by diametrically projecting pins on said shaft and pin-engaging seats in said gear hub. The gearV like clutch hub 4A, which, when moved in eitherr direction from its neutral position shown in Fig. 3, Vis engageable with one or the other of cooperating half-clutches 45 formed on the opposing faces of said two gears 42. Y

The shaft 43 Vis connected at oneend by a exible jointed shaft section 46 to one end of another short shaft 47 that is journaled in a bearing on the bracket 27 and is provided at its Vextended end `with abevel pinion 43. The bevel pinion 48 meshes with a evel gear 49Y located on the shaft25 and pinned, keyed` or otherwise secured to rotate therewith.

6'latch-reoersz'ng device.

As has already probably been premised, the rotation of the drum will be reversed by alternately engaging the clutch hub 44 first with one and then with the other of the opposing bevel gears 42. My invention provides a highly important novel clutchreversing Ydevice which includes, as one of its most importantfnovel features, a socalled rotation timer. This rotation timer operates to determine the number of rotations that will be lgiven to the drum by the reversals of the drum-driving action and, per se, it is of such novel construction that it is hereinV claimed broadly as a new mechanical motion.

As preferably designedy and as embodied in the machine illustrated in the drawings, said clutch-reversing device including said rotation timer is constructed as follows: The numeral 50 indicates a guide rod secured in projections from the bearing sleeves 39 and extended Vparallel to the shaft 43. Mounted to slide on 'this rod is a. shipper sleeve 5l,

which has a projecting fork 52 that works in an annular' groove of the double-ended clutch hub 44. The sleeve 5l has a projection in which is mountedv a spring-pressed latch-acting ball 53 that is engageable alternately with notches 54 in said rod 50. The sleeve 50 has a depending lug 55 into which is hooked one end of a thrust rod made up of rod'sections 56 and 57 and certain other parts presently to be noted. The extended end of the rod section 57 is hooked 'into a depending lug 58 of an Aoscillatory sleeve 59. rl`his sleeve-59 is journaled on an inner sleeve 60l that is secured to 'the drum-driving shaft 25 and is formed with large or well defined spiral thread 61 preferably cut with concave grooves to fit a clutch ball 62. The clutch ball 62 is held about one-half engagedwvith the thread projecting spring lingers 82.

Laagste numerals and 66 indicate stop collarsk or shoulders secured on the rod section 56' and vier-king Within the tube 64:. The numerals 67 and 68 indicate reverselyv facing thimbles mounted on the rod section 56 between the collars 65 and. 66. The numeral 69 indicates a coiled spring that surrounds the rod section 56 and is compressed between the thimhles 67 and 68. e f

For yieldingly holding the timer rsleeve 59 in either one ot its two extreme positions, i provide the same with notches or ball pockets 70 that are arranged to be engaged by a spring-pressed latch ball 71 mounted in a tubular projection 72 ot a nonrotary collar 7B that is rigidly ses-urcd or anchored to the bracket 27 Neutral position clutch itz-tch.

Rigidly secured to the intermediate portion,

ot the rock sha'tt 7st liv a screw 80 is a clamping block 61 that holds the ends .ot The numeral S3 indicates latch or lock arms. the sleevelilre hubs 84 ot which (see Fig. 6)7 are provided with notches S5 that co-operate with the clamp block 81 to Vpermit said arms 85:3 vlimited independent oscillatory movements in respect to said rock shatt- 7e. The spi-ing ting-ers 82 operate one on each arm S3 and vieldingly press the saine down- Ward. The tivo arms S53 constitute a tivopart clutch latch or lock and, at the opposite outer sides of their tree ends, they are provided with depending lock flanges 86. The important function performed hy` this neutral position latch will be 'fully given in the description ot the operation. f

Motor circuit.

fas an important tenture. the motor circuit 86, (see Fig, S), is provided with a tuse 8S located in a combined 'fuse and switchhox secured on and movable With the tramewoi'lq et' the machine, (see Fig. 2)..

rari-ying capacity than the fuse located in.

quickly replaced,

'titr/alger cmd dritti/igt Macaw/sat therefor.

The Wringer, indicated as an entirety by the numeral 91,'y may, be of any approved type but it is preferably carried by a bracket 92 that is'mounted to rotate on a vertical asis. is shown. this bracket 92; (see particularly Figs. l, 2 aiid5)7 comprises a. gear housing93a horizontal shaft bearings 9st. and an upright tubular standard that is journaled on the upper end ot a tubular shaft casing 96. Thiscasing 96, at its lower end, is rigidly ysecured to the top ot the gear housingl bracket 37 and an upright ivringerdrivin; shaitt 97 is journaledtherein. At its loi-ver euch said sha'tt 97 is connected preferably by a knuckle joint to a bevel gear 93. r(see l)-A that meshes With the reversely 'facing bevel gears e2. At its upper end, said shatt 97 has a .bevel gear 99 that is adapted to be alternately engaged by reversely Ytaci-ng;- bevel gears 100 secured to a sleeve 101 thau is mounted to slide on but to rotate with a short horizontal shatt 102 that r.is journaled in the bearings 9st ot' the wringerssupporting bracket 92, (see particularly1 Fig. 5). The inner end ot the shat't 102. preferably by a knuckle joint, is. connected to a shaft 103 that directly drives 'the Wringer rolls.

Forshifting the gears 100 alternately into mesh with the gear 99 to drive the `wringer rolls in either direction, at will, or tov set said gears 100 in neutral positions to stop the Wriiiger-driving action. there is provided an operatingcrank or hand piece 1041-. 'the stein 105 ot which is journaled in one side ot the gear housing` 93 and is provided at its inner end With a gear-shitting cam or eccentric 106.

The Wringer is adapted to be swung on its vertical axis into ditte-rent positions and to be secure/d in such positions by a downwardly spring-pressed loch bolt 107 (see 2, mounted in suitable bearings on the standard and engageahle with perforations in an underlying plate 108 secured to the top ot one side ot the machine frame. To prevent. this loch bolt 107 trom being raised .at any time except when the gears are in inoperative positions, thehub of the ,operating crank 104 is loc-ated immediately above the upper end ot said lock bolt a-ndis provided with a recess 109 that at Atm'ds clearance tor the upward movement of said lock bolt in the neutral position et said gears and c anla Operation.

Certain operations have already been ses Jok

stated or suggested, but the general operation of the drum-rotating mechanism may be summarized as follows:

, lllhen the motor is in action, the shaft 34 and, hence, the gear 40, will be rotated in a constant direction, but the reversely facing gears 42 will be rotated in opposite direct-ions.- When the double-ended clutch hub 44 is in a neutral position, the drum will not, of course, be rotated in either direction, even though the motor is running. When the crank 7 6 of the rock shaft Z4 is raised, the neutral position lock arms 83 are both raised so that the clutch hub 44V may be freely moved in either direction and, in fact,

when the said clutch hub 44 isin its neutral position, the spring 69 will be set under ten-r sion to move said clutch hub in the one direction or the other so as to Ycause its interlocking engagement with one of the reversely facing bevel gears 42, and this, as is obvious, will start the drum-driving mechanism into action. lllhen the drum has been stopped in either position, the hall 62 oit' the rotation timer will be at the one eX- tremity of its spiral runway 6l and vthe sleeve 60, which latter is secured to the drum shaft 25, and when the rotation of the drum is started, said ball will begin its travel in the channel 63 of the sleeve 59 and in said spiral runway until it reaches cthe opposite extremity of said spiral runway, and while this is taking place, the drum will be given a number of rotations represented by the number oi complete threads or convolutions 01"' said spiral runway. or instance, in the arrangement illustrated, the drum will be given siX rotations in the one direction While the ball 62 is making the above notedtravel. TWhen the ball reaches an extremity of said runway, it locks the sleeve 59 to the sleevel 60 so that said sleeve 60 will be given a slight oscillatory motion sullicient to cause the push rod 56-57 to move the clutch sleeve 44 from engagement with the gear 42, with which it has just been engaged, into engagement with the opposite gear 42. This, of course, yreverses the direction of rotation or" the drum and the hall 62 will then begin its travel in the opposite direction, and when the drum has made its six rotations, it will reverse the above noted operation by shifting the clutch hub 44 back into engagement with the gear 42 withl which it is engaged at the beginningY of the description ot this operation. Thus, it will be noted that the drum will be given a predetermined number of rotations first in the one direction and then in the other underV complete automatic control. y

When Vthe clutch hub 44 is in either of its eXtreme or operative positions above noted, its latch ball 53 will be engaged with one or the other of the notches 54 in the fixed rod 50.' Preferably, the tension of the spring 69 is not sufficient to disengage the ball 53 from its engaged notch 54, so that under oscillatory movements of the sleeve 59 and crank arm 58 in either direction, the spring 69 will be compressed before the clutch 44 has moved and then the adjacent ends of the thimbles 68 will be vitorced into engagement, causing the push rod to operate positively to disengage the ball 53 from its notch 54. Then this takes place, the spring 69 becomes eii'ective to very quickly throw the clutch hub 44 intoits motionreversing position without waiting for such movement to be completed by the relatively slow motion of the thrust rod.

When it is desired to automatically stop the rotation of the drum, it is only necessary to press down on the crank arm 76 of the rock shaft 74, thereby lowering the neutral position lock arms 83 into action. When these arms are thus released or lowered, one thereof will immediately drop to operative postion, but the other will drop onto the clutch sleeve 44 ready to go into action as soon as said clutch hub has been moved, in the manner already noted, past its neutral position and, thereupon, said hub will be automatically intercepted and locked in its neutral position.

It will be understood that the above noted intercepting of the clutch in its neutral position will take place only when the drum has completed its predetermined number of rotations in the direction in which it is moving at the time thatthe arms 83 will be pressed or released. For instance, if the drum has made three rotations at the time the said arms are dropped in position, the drum will make three more rotations before its motion will be stopped by locking of the clutch hub 44 in its lneutral position. As already indirectly indicated, when the clutch hub is thus intercepted and locked in its intermediate position, the spring 69 will be compressed and set under such stress that it will shift the clutch hub 44 and automatically start the clutch-driving action in the proper direction whenever the arms 83 are raised. v l

The rotation timer described is herein considered and treated as broadly new even as a mechanical motion. It hasalready been pointed out' that the number of rotations given to the drum or other rotary body may be varied byY varying the number of threads or spiral` convolutions of the ball runway 61. However, with the givennumber of threads and by the use of a second ball placed in said runway but spaced from the ball r62, the number of rotations that will be given to said drum or body may be varied, at will. For example, if this second ball be placed in said spiral runway 61, the latter having siX convolutions, a distance two threads `from said ball 62,'then said drum or body would be given four rotations, first in the one direction and then in the other. Thus, there is afforded an extremely simple and highly etlicient rotation timer for very general use where it is desired to give a rotary body a certain number of rotations iirst in one direction and then in the other from a motor or prime mover running continuously in a constant direction.

From what has been said, it will be understood that the various novel features involved in this disclosure are capable of very considerable modification within the spirit of my invention as herein disclosed and claimed.

Vhat I claim is:

l. A rotary timer comprising timer elements having lock runways extending transversely one of the other, one of said runways being a spiral of several convolutions, a lock element working in both of said runways, a reversible driving member, a reversible power-driven transmission mechanism operative to drive said reversible driven member and one of said timer elements, the other ot said timer elements having a connection for reversing said transmission mechanism, said latter noted timer element having a limited oscillatory movement, and yielding means timed to hold the same in extreme positions.

2. A rotary timer comprising timer elements having lock runways extending transversely one of the other, one of said runways being a spiral of several convolutions, a lock element working in part in both ot said runways, a reversible driven member, a reversible power-driven transmission mechanism operative to drive said reversible driven member and one of said concentric timer elements, the other timer element having a connection for reversing said a lock element working in part in both of said runways,` a reversible driven member, a reversible power-driven transmission mechanism operative to drive said reversible driven member and one oit said concentric timer elements, the other timer element having a connection `for reversing said A(ransmission mechanisn'nand a neutral position lock for holding said transn'iission mechanism inoperative,I the connection for reversing said transmission mechanism including a yielding element arranged to be put under strain when said neutral position lock is operative and when released from said lock, operative to automatically render said transmission mechanism operative.

li. Thev combination with a prime mover operative in a constant direction and a driven member to be reversely rotated, oi. a reversible transmitting mechanism for reversely rotating said driven member from said prime mover, and a rotation timer for automatically reversing the driving action of said transmission mechanism and operative to cause said driven member to be given a predetermined number of rotations iirst in the one direction and then in the other, said rotation timer comprising two concentric elements having intersecting ball runways, one of said ball runways being spiral of several convolutions,l and a lock ball or element working in said runway.

In testimony whereof I aiiix my signature.

FRANCIS W. CARPENTER.

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