US1971980A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 28, 1934. R. A. HITCHCOCK WASHING MACHINE Filed Sept. 17, 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 W A M m M a 1934- R. A. HITCHCOCK 1,971,980

WASHING MACHINE Filed Sept. 1'7, 1952 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 grime/WM Patented Aug. 28, 1934 UNITED STATES wnsnmc Raymond A. Hitchcock,

'1. Baldwin Martin,

MACHINE Macon, Ga., assignor to trustee for T. Baldwin Martin, William Thomas Williford, and Raymond A. Hitchcock, all of Macon, Ga.

Application September 17, 1932, Serial No. 633,669

5 Claims.

The invention relates to washing machines and has as an object the provision of a washing machine having means to at will oscillate or revolve a basket in which the material to be acted upon is contained.

It is a further object of the invention to provide means to oscillate a basket containing material to be acted upon for cleansing the same, and also means to revolve said basket at a high rate of speed without changing the position of the basket.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a washing machine comprising an oscillatory basket having means to cause the material in the basket to move with the basket and 'to be submerged in both directions'of oscillation.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a novel drive for devices of this character.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a washing machine with a rotary pump driven from a portion of the basket-revolving means by frictional engagement therewith.

It is a further object of the invention to provide an electric drive for selectively revolving or oscillating a basket having clutch shifting means equipped to break the circuit through the driving motor while the clutch is being shifted.

Further objects of the invention will appear from the following description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings showing an illustrative embodiment of the invention, and wherein:-

Fig. 1 is a central vertical section;

Fig. 2 is a detail plan view of the basket upon a reduced scale;

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a section on line 4-4of Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a detail section on line 55 of Fig. 6;

Fig. 6 is a detail side elevation of the lower end of the basket actuating shaft showing the clutch mechanism;

Fig. 7 is a detail side elevation of the frame;

Fig. 8 is a sectional plan view on line 8--8 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 9 is a detail section on line 9-9 of Fig. 8; and

Fig. 10 is a detail vertical section of the gear shifting lever.

As shown the device comprises a frame 10 embodying legs 11, preferably three in number, and a central standard 12 shown as supported from the legs 11 by means of upper and lower brace members 13, 14. A vat 15 is shown supported upon the legs 11, its central portion being free from the central standard 12 of the frame.

A basket actuating shaft 16 is shown journalled in the standard 12 upon a vertical axis upon ball bearings 17, 18, one of said bearings being adapted to act as a thrust bearing to take the weight of the basket, a packing gland 19 being shown about the shaft 16 where it passes through the center of the bottom of vat 15. A basket 20. having foraminous walls is shown as rigidly mounted upon and supported by the shaft 16.

To cause material as clothing to be acted upon in the basket to move with the basket while it is oscillated or revolved, there are shown a plurality of vertical rods 21 secured at their lower ends 22 to-the bottom of the basket and standing upright in a position spaced from the side wall of the basket. To cause the material to be submerged when the basket is oscillated, the upper ends of the rods 21 are shown as bifurcated, the ends of each branch being turned at an angle to provide a portion 24, the ends of which portions are secured to the side wall of the basket. Due to the inclination of the bifurcated portions 23, the material in the basket will be depressed or submerged by impact with these bifurcated portions when the basket is oscillated so as to keep them submerged in the cleaning fluid in the vat 15.

To drive the basket actuating shaft 16 selectively in continuous revolution, there is shown a belt pulley 25 loosely mounted upon the shaft 16 and supported thereon by means of clutch sleeve 26, best shown in Fig. 5, which clutch sleeve 26 is rigidly pinned to the shaft. The lower portion of the pulley 25 is shown with clutch coacting teeth 27. To actuate the pulley 25 there is shown a belt 28 passing about the pulley and about a second pulley 29 shown as rigid upon the shaft of electric motor 30 supported from the central standard 12 upon a vertical axis.

To cause oscillation of the basket actuating shaft 16 there is shown an oscillating member 31 loosely mounted upon the shaft 16 and supported by means of ring or head 32 secured upon the lower end of the shaft 16. To drive the oscillating member 31, there is shown a worm gear wheel 33 revoluble upon the end of a pin 34 100 eccentrically engaged upon shaft 35, theworm gear 33 actuating the member 31 by means of a pitman 36 engaging a ball-ended crank pin 37 carried by the wheel 33, its remaining end being in engagement with a ball-ended pin 38 project- 105 ing from the oscillating member 31.

To absorb shocks the balls 3'7, 38 which are contained in spherical cavities in the pitman 36 are pressed upon by means of springs 39 confined in the ends of the pitman by means of screw- 110 threaded discs 40, whereby the pressure upon the spring 39 may be adjusted.

The gear wheel 33 is shown as driven by a worm gear 41 carried upon the end of the shaft of motor 30.

To selectively actuate the shaft 16 for revolution or oscillation, there is shown a shiftable clutch member 42 slidable upon the sleeve 26 and feathered thereto, which clutch member 42 carries teeth 43, 44 engageable with the clutch teeth 27 and with teeth 45 carried by the oscillating member 31. The clutch member 42 is shown as equipped for actuation by means of a yoke 46 engaging a groove 47 in the clutch member and mounted upon a rod 48 spring pressed into its upper position by means of a spring 49 contained in a socket 50.

To depress the clutch member against the spring 49 there is shown a shaft 51 carrying an eccentric cam 52 adapted to depress the rod 48 by impingement upon a pin 53 projecting from the rod 48. The shaft 51 projects to the exterior of the casing 54 and bears a crank 55 bifurcated at its end at 56, the bifurcations receiving therebetween a pin 57 carried by a crank 58 mounted upon shaft 35, which shaft is journaled in the wall of the casing 54 and in a hanger 60 supported upon one of the frame walls 14.

For actuation of the shaft 59 there is shown a'second crank 61 carrying a toothed sector 62 engaging with the teeth upon a bevel gear carried by a shaft 64 which may be actuated by means of a lever 65 pivoted upon its upper end for a purpose to be described.

The eccentric end 34 of the shaft 35 is provided for the purpose of moving the gear wheel 33 out of mesh with the worm 31 when the shaft 35 is oscillated to actuate the clutch member 42 into the elevated position to cause revolution of the basket 20and to make the oscillation-producing means inoperative.

It is desirable to ensure that the motor 30 will not be causing either revolution or oscillation during the shifting of the clutch and for this purpose snap switches 66, 67 are provided at the limits of travel of the lever 65, either of which switches will close the circuit through the motor 30 and will automatically open said circuit when the lever 65 is moved out of contact therewith.

A flange 68 is shown within which the shaft 64 is journalled, which flange 68 bears notches 69,

70 into which the lever 65 may be engaged for retaining the lever in either of its limits of movement.

To cause the lever 6540 be depressed into the said notches the lever is pivoted upon rod 64 as at 71 and a rod 72 engages a pin 73 in the bifurcation of lever 65, which rod 72 is pressed outwardly against the pin 73 by means of a spring 74 surrounding the end of the rod and abutting against a member 75 provided with a thumbpiece 76. By pressing upon the thumbpiece 76, the spring 74 may be compressed and the lever 65 may be raised out of the notches but will be caused to fall into the other notch after the lever has been shifted to shift the clutch.

To pump water out of vat 15 to waste there is shown a rotary pump contained in a casing 7'7 pivotally mounted upon bracket 78, 79 projecting from the standard 12, the shaft of themotor projecting from the lower end of the casing and carrying a friction wheel 80 adapted to bear upon the belt 28 through an opening in the casing 54, as clearly shown in Fig. 4.

A lever 81 is shown projecting from the pump casing which may be pressed by a foot of the operator to cause the friction wheel 80 to impinge the continuously running belt 28 for operation of the pump.

A hose 82 is shown as leading from the bottom of the vat 15 to the pump casing 77 controlled by a valve 83. A hose not shown will be attached to the outlet 84 from the pump casing whereby the water extracted from the vat may be led to waste.

In the operation of the device the material, as clothes to be washed, will be placed in the basket 20 and the clutch shifted to cause oscillation of the basket until the clothes have been sufficiently cleansed, the clothes being maintained in submerged condition in the cleansing fluid in vat 15, by action of the sloping rods 23. After cleaning, the clutch will be shifted to cause revolution of the basket to extract the cleaning fluid from the material and the pump may be operated to remove the water from the vat. With the basket still in revolution rinsing water may be poured into the basket which will pass outwardly through the clothes and which in turn may be run to waste, after which the clothes may be removed from the basket.

If desired the electric heating means disclosed in my co-pending application No. 608,076, filed April 28, 1932, may be applied to the bottom of the vat 15 by which means washwater may be heated in the basket and the air in the basket may be heated to completely dry the clothes while they are being spun in the basket 20 whereupon the clothes may be removed ready for the ironing board.

Minor changes may be made in the physical embodiment of the invention within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit thereof.

I claim:

1. A washing machine comprising, in combination: a frame; a vertical basket actuating shaft revolubly mounted in said frame; a belt pulley and an oscillation producing member each loosely mounted on said shaft; a slidable clutch member feathered to said shaft to selectively drive said shaft from said pulley or member; a motor; a belt pulley on the shaft of said motor belted to the first named pulley to drive the shaft from said motor; a crank wheel and pitman device geared to said motor to drive said oscillation member; means to shift said clutch; and means actuated by the last named means to disconnect the motor from the crank wheel when said belt pulley is clutched.

2. A washing machine comprising,. in combination: a frame; a vertical basket-actuating shaft journaled in said frame; a belt pulley loosely mounted on said shaft; an oscillatory sleeve loosely mounted on said shaft; said pulley and sleeve bearing clutch elements on their contiguous faces; a clutch member bearing clutch elements on its opposite faces and slidably splined on said shaft between said pulley and sleeve; a motor mounted on said frame with its shaft in vertical position; a pulley fast on the motor shaft belted to said loose pulley; a worm gear on said motor shaft; a worm wheel journaled to mesh with said gear; a pitman connected to drive said sleeve from said worm wheel to cause oscillation of said sleeve; means to shift said clutch, and means actuated by said shifting means to disengage said worm gear and wheel when the belt pulley is clutched.

3. A washing machine comprising, in combination: a frame; a vertical, basket-actuating shaft journaled in said frame; a vertical, driven shaft in spaced relation to said basket shaft; a worm gear on said driven shaft; an oscillatory sleeve loosely mounted on said basket shaft and having a projecting pin; a horizontal shaft journaled adjacent said driven shaft; ap-worni wheel loosely and eccentrically mounted on said shaft to be moved into and out of mesh with said worm gear by partial revolution of said horizontal shaft; a crank pin carried by said wheel; a 'pitman engaging said pins; clutch means to drive said basket shaft from said sleeve; and means to shift said clutch operated by said partial revolution of the horizontal shaft.

4. A washing machine comprising, in combination: a frame, a vertical basket actuating shaft journaled in said frame means to selectively oscillate or revolve said shaft; an electric motor to drive said means; clutch means including a lever oscillatable between the basketoscillating and basket-revolution causing positions to control the selected movement of the basket; and a self opening switch at each limit of movement of said lever, held closed by the lever while at said limits and connected in parallel to control the circuit through said motor to break the same while shifting said clutch.

5. A washing machine comprising, in combination: a vertical basket actuating shaft; 8. motor mounted with its shaft perpendicular; a belt pulley and a worm gear each secured upon said motor shaft; a belt pulley and a collar, each loosely mounted on the vertical shaft;.a clutch member slidably feathered upon said vertical shaft to selectively engage said loose pulley or said collar; a worm wheel loosely mounted upon an eccentric portion of a horizontal shaft to revolve in a vertical plane and engageable with said worm gear; horizontally projecting crank pins carried by said collar and worm wheel respectively; a pitman connecting said pins; and means to simultaneously turn said horizontal shaft and shift said clutch whereby to disconnectrsaid worm wheel and gear when said loose pulley is clutched.

RAYMOND A. HITCHCOCK.

Images