US1493474A - Washing-machine gearing - Google Patents

Description

May 13 1924. 1,43,474

W. J. CONLON WASHING MACHINE GEARING Original Filed April 21, 1915 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 llfi uervior" n alii" J 60775077 May 13 1924. 1,493,474

W. J. CONLON WASHING MACHINE GEARING Original Fild April 21, 19 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 1370677507 mzif J C077Z077 May 13 1924.

W. J. COR-LON WASHING MACHINE GEARING Original Filed April 21. 1915 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 [fluervior TVaZiar J Gar/Z 27 Patented May 13, 1924,

TE -T WASHING-MACHINE. GEARING.

Application filed April 21, 1915, Serial No. 22,760. Renewed August. 23, 1920. Serial 1W0 405,487;

To all whom z'tmay concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER J. CoNLoN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and Stateof Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Washing-Machine Gearing, of which the-following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a partof this s ecificationh My invention relates to was ing machines and is particularly concerned with that type in which a reversing movable element 'is employed. It is the object of my invention to provide a generally improved structure which will be of economical manufacture, of simple design and of effective operation, one of the primary objects being the provision of an operative structure which" will not mcur the shock which is generally felt in machines of this type in which reversing elements a-re employed. More s'pecifically, my invention has to do with a washing machine which employs a, rotating drum-a drum which operates fora few revolutions in one direction and thenfor a few revolutions in the other d1rect1on,'and

so on. Obviously, at the end of each ope-ration in a given direction there Will be aico'nsiderable and detrimental shock unless some thing is provided to compensate for it, and thus this purpose ofomy inventionwill be appreciated. Generally, I may say that my invention has to do with the driving of this washer shaft, and various points of novelty will be brought out hereinafter and definitely pointed out in the appended claims;

In the drawings- 7 ab1ymade of sheet metal. "composed of two parts hinged at 25 and attached to the casing 23 by the hinge 26, to

"place -to "place. I Figure 1 is a front elevational view' of" the parts broken clutch between the motor'shaft and the automatic reversing-mechanism.

Figure Figure 8 is a rear elevation of the outer clutch member.

Figure 9 is a view of one ofthe friction discs. w

FlCE-l.

i I 'F igure 6 is a front view with a part broken away of the shock absorbing friction 7 is a cross-section of the-same.

Figure .10 isa view ofacooperating fric-' tion disc, and

Figure 11 is a view member. a g

The machine comprises acombined washof the inside clutch,

ing'and wringing machine, having a wash-3 ing drum 20 and wringer rolls 21 which are driven by the electric motor=22.f The drum 20 is enclosed in a suitable casing 23 having a. semi circular bottom portion and a rectangular top portion, and provided with a hinged cover 24 which is prefer- This cover is i allowthe cover to be moved out laterally" I to disengage the various projecting parts of the'machine when the cover is removed. Thenwashing drum 20 is provided with-a allowingr'eady access'to theinterior of the drum;

5 The various-parts of themachine 'aresup 5 ported-by the legs 2? whichfare bolted-to the I casing 28 and -which in connection with the a casing form a framework' ior" the' othe-r.

parts. Pivoted rollers are provided to allow themachine' tobe readily moved from The washing drum 20,

shown in dotted lines in Figures :1 'and 2,

"substantially fills the casing 23 and when the machine isin operation, this drum 20 contains the a-rticleswhi'ch are to be washed and'the casing 23contains the washing liqsubuidinto which thedrum is partially merged. Ina machine of, this character, it

is desirable that the washing-drum be re 1 'tate'd a number of times inone direction "and then'in theopposite direction the same.

number of times .to prevent wadding the clothes into a compact mass inside of w i the drum 2Q. jIsecure. this iefi'ect by the use of"automatio reversing mechanism of 29 is attached to the outer end of shaft 28.

driving shaft and the drum so that the drum can readily be taken out of the casing 23 when so desired. A bevel gear This gear is driven for a definite number of revolutions in one direction of rotation gear 29 at all times.- A spacing sleeve is rigidly attached to the shaft 30 and serves both to hold the bevel pinions place and to transmit power intermittently to one and then the other of these pinions. This is accomplished by meansot a bar 34 pivoted on .a. pin 35. The pin is mounted in two lugs 36 between which a groove is formed for the reception of bar 34. This bar 34 has only a limited play as the ends thereof strike against the bottom of the groove between the lugs 36. The outer ends of the bar 34 are adapted to engage at times the pins 37 and 38 mounted on the bevel gears 31 and 32, but, due to its pivotal mounting, only one end of this bar is able to engage one of these pins at a time.

In Figure 4, the bar 34 is shown as being in contact with the. pin 37 on thebevel gear 31. As the shaft 30 is constantly driven in one direction of rotation, as inclicated by the light arrow, the sleeve 30, which is connected to said shaft, will drive the gear 31 because of the engagement of the bar 34 to the pin ,37. The bevel pinion 32 revolves idly in mesh with the gear 29 at this time. After the gear 29, which is attached to the drum 20, has revolved a predetermined number of times in one direction, the bar 34 is swung about its pivot to disengage the pin 37 and to engage bring the pin 40 within the radius of the end I of the bar 34, pin 40 and the bar 34 will come. in contact and. by a movement in the nature of a rolling motion the end or the bar 34 will be forced inwardly to disengage the pin 37, but will have its other end raised tolie within the path of the pin 38 on bevel gear 32 and as the shaft 30 continues to revolve the bar 34 will engage the pin 38 and drive the gear 29 in the opposite direction.

I To maintain'the lever 34 positively in each position and to prevent any shifting except by action of pin 40, a mechanism is provided for giving a snap motion from one position to the other. plished by means of the pins 41 which are attached to the flat spring 42 mounted on.

Sockets are prolthe side of the lug 36. vided in the bar 34 into which the pins 41 are forced by the spring 42 to give the This is accombar 34 a snap action. The ends of the pins 41 are preferably rounded or tapered. The

pins 37 and 38 are angularly displaced relau tively to the bar 34 so that, when the bar is snapped out of engagement with one ot the pins, the shaft 30 will turn part.

ofa revolution before the bar engages the other pin. This gives the drum connected to the bevel gear 23 time to slow down and it may even come to rest and, thus, jarring or occur in overcoming inertia. of the moving drum, if its movement were immediately reversed, 1s obviated.

In operating the machine, it has been found that the clothes will sometimes cling to the sides of the drum 20 and will tend to rotate the drum ahead of the driving means. This moves .the pinion ahead of the driv ing bar 34 and when the bar overtakes --the pin 37-or 38, it engages the pin with considerable jar and shock in again starting the drum to revolve. This action would also occur if the machine'were run idly.

The inertia of the drum is considerable;

able as well as being dangerous to the mechv anism. Special means-in the shape of a latch 1S provided to preventz-suchi action.

The latch comprises a bevel pin passing through a hole in the web of the pinion and pressed inwardly by spring 44. In action the bar .34 passes over the beveled end of the pin 43 to come into engagement .with one of the driving pins 37 or 38 and is then held between the driving pin and the i latch pin until this bar 34 is snapped outof engagement with both pins by the action of the pin 40. v

To supplement the actionof the reversing mechanism, a shockahsorber 46 has been introduced in the driving connections for the washing drum. This shock absorber, which consists of a multiple disc clutch, is mounted in the hub of the gear 50. A detailed description of this clutch will be given later in connection with Figures 6 and 11. The positive gripping action caused by the latch 43 does not entirely obviate the difliculties imposed upon the transmission mechanism, but the shock absorbing clutch 46 supplements this action so that a very satisfactory transmission is secured.

The bearings for the shafts 28 and 30 are provided in the bracket casting which is bolted to the casing 23 and the legs 27. The casting also forms a support for the motor 22 which drives the power shaft 30.. The shaft 30 is driven through the bevel gears and 51 from the main shaft 52, which is connected to the motor shaft by means of the gear wheel 53 and a worm 54 mounted on the extension of the motor shaft.

The bevel pinion 51 is loosely mounted on the shaft 52 and is adapted to be clutched to said shaft only when it is desired to actuate the drum 20 of the washing machine. An extension 55 of the shaft 52 is connected through gears to the wringer rolls 21. The

clutch for throwing the washing mechanism in and out of gear comprises a projection 56 mounted on the pinion 51 and a pro ection 57 mounted on the sliding sleeve 58. This The connection between the rod 60 and the lever 61 is enclosed in the housing 63 which also encloses the control mechanism for the wringer. Since my present'i'nvention is not concerned with this control mechanism I shall refrain from going into a detailed description here, but shall now proceed with the description of the friction clutch mechanism.

The friction clutch 46 is shown in detail in Figures 6 to 11. It consists essentially of an outer clutch member 110, which is formed preferably at an extension of the hub of the gear wheel '50, an inner clutch member 111, with a plurality of friction discs cooperating with the clutch members. Alternate ones 112 of these discs are connected with the outer clutch member. The other'discs113 are connected with the inner clutch member and rotate therewith. The flange 115 of the member 110 has slots 116 out lengthwise at symmetrical points on its circumference. Teeth or projections 117 formed on the outer edge of members 112 are adapted to fit into these slots and to have positive engagementtherewith. The discs 113, which alternate with the discs 112, have teeth 118 formed on their inner edge. These teeth are adapted to have positive engagement with the groovesl120 formed on the hub of the inner clutch memher. It can thus be seen that alternate ones of the discs are connected with one clutch member'and the others are connected with the otherclutch member. Pressure is applied to the discs by means of the screws.

it serves also as a shock absorber for the re versing mechanism to give a .smooth reversal 1 of motion.

A brief description of the operation of 3 the mechanism illustrated will now be given The drum 20 is opened by means of a gate indicated in Figure 3 and-the clothes are placed inside the drum. The casing 23 is then partially filled with washing water.

The gate of the drum is closed and the cover 24 is closed and the machine is ready for the washing operation.

Current is-supplied to the electric motor to drive the power shaft 52. The handle 61 shown in Figure 2 is moved to a lower position to throw the clutch mechanism for the 'washing drum into engagement with, the

power shaft. The shaft 30 transmits mothen through the other, by the operation of the automatic reversing mechanism. After the clotheshave been sufficiently washed, the lever 61 is moved to the upper position, to disengage the washingblutch mechanism. The cover 24 may be raised and the drum 2O opened to give access to the washed articles.

I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent: 1

1. A device of the class described comprising a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a pair of facing bevel. gears loosely mounted on one of the shafts, a bevel gear meshing with said facing gears and rigidly secured to the other shaft, a sleeve on the shaft inter mediate said facing gears and rigidly secured to said shaft, a pivoted member on said sleeve, means on said bevel gear meshing with said facing gears for causing said member on said sleeve to engage alternately" each of said facing gears after a predetermined number of revolutions, and latch 105 tion to the gear 29 and to the washing drum 1 20, first through one of the bevel pinions and mechanism for engaging said member adjacent its end.

2. A device of the class described comprising a driving shaft, a driven shaft, a pair of facing bevel gears loosely mounted on one of the shafts, a bevel gear meshing with said facing gears and rigidly secured to the other shaft, a sleeve on the shaft intermediate said facing gears and rigidly secured to said shaft, a pivoted member on said sleeve, means on said bevel gear meshing with said facing gears for causing said member on said sleeve to engage alternately each of said facing gears after a predetermined number of revolutions, and latch mechanism on said sleeve and also on said facing gears for holding said member 'ineach of its positions.

3. In combination, a driving shaft, a pair of loose pinions on said shaft, a driven shaft having a gear meshing With said pinions, a member pivoted Within its length and mounted to rotate With the driving shaft, the ends of said member being adapted to clutch the pinions alternately to the driving shaft, and latch mechanism arranged to engage each end of said member forholdingthe member in clutching engagement With the pinions.

In Witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe WALTER J. CONLON.

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