US2140866A - Impeller for washing machines - Google Patents

Description

Dec. zo, .1938. J. wHY'TE.

Y I IMPELLERFOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Jari. 23, 1957 2 Sheets-SheetA 2 fl .l l

INVENTR Jiuz Uh gte ATTORNEY.

i?atented Dec. 20, i938.

NETE i vsraras" autres raar ortica s 2,140,866 maman ron wesmc Machines qHohn Whyte, chicago, m.. assignatc arcane Household Utilities Gorporation, Ghicago, lill.,

a corporation or mlinois application Januar-'y 2s, isst, serian Nc. 121,922

Claims..

tion is directed to improvements for overcoming.

certain disadvantages and diiiiculties encountered in the use of certain well known types of l0 `trashing machines provided with impeller or agitator members. i

ln certain commercial types of washing machilies the impeller or agitator member is mounted for rotation in a direction transverse to L thevertical axis of the tub, and is disposed 4a substantial 'distance from the sides and bottom o said tub so as to permit free circulation of the washing duid and clothes around and beneath the impeller member. In certain other 2@ commercial constructions the impeller or agitator member is provided with a flanged base which is positioned in relatively close proximity to the bottom of the tub.

In washing machines oi the type having the impeller member mounted a substantial distance above the bottom of the tub it has been found that frequently clothing and other articles being washed become tangled and snagged by reason of the fact that forces acting on the water and on said articles have a tendency to move the clothes with the body ci water, while at the same time a portion of the clothes may contact and have a tendency to cling to or wrap around the stationary supporting structure in the center of the tub, which provides a support for the impeller member. This frequently results in several articles becoming intertwined, snagged and tangled, reducing the uniformity of washing.

In the other commercial form of washing machine above indicated, wherein the impeller member is mounted with its anged base in close proximity to the bottom of the tub, it has been found necessary to frequently remove the im- 45 peller member from the tub for cleansing Aboth the bottom ofthe impeller member as well 'as the tub for removing accumulated residue, such as hardened soap matter, dirt, fibers and lint of the fabric that has been washed. At times this 50 accumulation beneath the impeller becomes so great that it impairs the operation thereof, and furthermore, sometimes this accumulation is such that if permitted to remain beneath the impeller, a. portion of this matter may become f loosened the next time the machine is used, re-

(CH. 6de-i131) sulting in unnecessary contamination of the Washing uid.

In its broadest aspects the present invention is directed to the provision of an improved impeller member, preferably of unitary construc- 5 tion, including a substantial area disposed in a plane transverse to the vertical axis of the tub, and wherein the under side of said area is provided With a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart depending ribs or vanes which serve to l0 impel the washing fluid and clothes in an outward direction with respect to the vertical axis of the tub.

By the provision of the ribs or vanes beneath the impellermember in the respective commerl5 cial Washing machine constructions above referred to, the above mentioned dimculties and disadvantages encountered are obviated.

Other features and advantages resulting from ythe present invention will be apparent from the 20 -ollowing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. l is a side elevation of an impeller meinber embodying the present invention.`

' tub. In. the construction shown in the drawings reference character I0 designates a conventional 35 form of tub, having associated therewith a supporting frame Il which, together with the tub', are rigidly connected to supporting legs, not shown, for supporting the tub in proper spaced relation to the floor. The impeller member des- 40 ignated at l2 is mounted on a suitable support, herein shown as a hollow support I4, the upper portion of which is of ,frusto-conical form and the lower portion of said support being provided with a marginal annular iiange I5, disposed beneath the tub and rigidly secured by bolts i6 to a ilange I 1 of a housing I8 disposed beneath the tuband carried on the frame Il. Interposed between said flange I5 of 4the support and the under surface of the tub bottom is a. vgasket |58. Mounted on the frame I I is a prime mover, hereinv shown in the form of an electric motor 20, provided with a driving pulley 2i which through the medium of a V-belt 22 drives a pulley 23, which is operatively connected to suitable re- 56 versing mechanism enclosed within the housing I8 for transmitting movementl to a. vertically disposed drive shaft 24 which is journaled in a bearing 25 associated with said housing, a d having its upper end protruding upwardly a ove the bottom of the tub, as seen in the drawings. It is to be understood that the mechanism enclosed within the housing i8 is such as to cause a definite amount of angular rotation of the shaft 24, alternately in opposite directions, and since said mechanism does not constitute any part of the present invention it is believed that a detail description and illustration thereof is unnecessary.

The bottom wall of the tub is provided with a relatively large aperture or opening 2l to permit the support ill to be projected upwardly therethrough into the interior of the tub. To provide a seal for said aperture around the support I il, an annular threaded ring 28 is sweated onto the external lower portion of the housing i4, to be disposed above the bottom of the tub, on which ring is threaded a nut 29, adapted to engage a.

resilient sealing gasket 3l! for tightly compressing same against the bottom of the tub surrounding the opening 2l and thereby provide a fluid-tight seal.

The upper end of the cone support I6 has rigidly secured, as by sweating inside the neck thereof, a reduced sleeve of an intermediate member al of a universal ball-and-socket joint. Said member 3l is provided interiorly and exteriorly with concentric spherical surfaces. Swvelly mounted on the exterior surface of the member 3i is a cooperating member S3, the inner surface of which corresponds exactly to the outer surface of the member 23 i, and formed integrally with said member 33 is an upstanding hub portion 3d which is rigidly secured by means of a. pin 35 to an impeller shaft S6 which extends downwardly through the member 3l and is supported by the member 33 seated upon the member 3|. .The impeller shaft is disposed at an angle to the vertical axis of the drive shaft 25, with the lower portion thereof extending downwardly and interiorly of the hollow support ill. Mounted on' the upper end of the impeller shaft 36 is the impeller member I2, disposed in a plane normal to the axis of the impeller shaft.

The impeller shaft 36 -is held against aida] movement in the ball-and-socket members 3| and 38 by the construction now to be described. A collar 38 is rigidly secured to the lower end of the shaft 36 by a pin 39 and reacting between said collar and a sleeve 40 is a compression spring 4| which urges the upper end of the sleeve 40 upwardly against a cooperating internal member 42 of the universal joint. Said member 42 is of hollow semi-spherical form and having its external surface corresponding to and swivelly engagingv the internal surface of the intermediate universal member 3l, and provided with an aperture 42* through which the impeller shaft extends. The extreme lower end of the impeller shaft 36 extends through an aperture 45 in the outer end of a laterally extending inclined arm 48 of a. crank member 41 which is rigidly secured by means of the pin 48 to the upper end of the drive shaft 24.

As the drive shaft 24 is rotated it will be manifest that due to the crank arm being connected to the impeller shaft 36, said impeller shaft will be rotated in an orbit around the axis of the drive shaft, and thereby imparting corresponding movement to the impeller member I2. To accommodate such movement, the inner member 3| of the universal joint is provided with an opening 3|'A at its upper end to provide clearance for the impeller shaft in its travel in said orbit about the axis of the drive shaft 2B.

The impeller member I2 preferably is in the form of a unitary casting, and as shown includes a laterally extending marginal flange portion i2* of substantially circular outline, formed with a series of hills and valleys to provide a sinuous contour to both upper and lower surfaces of the flanged portion IZB. Said enged portion merges into an upwardly extending irregular shaped dome I2b, the upper portion of which is provided with a boss I2c in which is disposed a springpressed detent Sli carried by a screw bushing Eli. the detent engaging in an aligned annular groove 36 in the impeller shaft 36 for detachably securing the impeller member in position on said shaft. Mounted on the upper end of said dome portion of the impeller is an annular ring 52 secured in place on the shoulder formed at the upper end of said dome by means of a cap 5d, the marginal edges of which are crimped into an annular groove I2d formed in the upper end of the dome of the impeller with the lower edges of said cap engaging the annular ring b2 for holding it in fixed position. Said ring 52 serves as a convenient hand-grasp for bodily removing the impeller member from the impeller shaft. Formed centrally on the under side of the impeller member is an integral, inverted frusta-conical skirt l2", the lower portion of which is adapted to extend around and slightly below the lower edge of the outer universal joint member 33, out of contact therewith. i

Formed on the under side of the anged portion I2 and the dome of the impeller member are a plurality of circumferentially spaced-apart radially extending ribs or vanes l2f which extend continuously from adjacent the outer marginal edge of said anged portion and merge into the inclined surface of said lskirt i2. These vanes serve as impeller members so that when the impeller is rotated about the vertical axis ofthe drive shaft 24 the washing uid and clothes immersed therein are impelled in an outward direction, and the currents of fluid being continuously set up by the movement of the impeller member tends to constantly move clothing or other articles being washed, in an outward direction away from the hollow support I4. It has been found from actual experiment that this construction practically eliminates entirely tangling and snagging of articles being washed.

From the foregoing it is believed to be obvious that the use of varies or ribs on the under side of the impeller or agitator member of the type having a flanged base disposed in close proximity to the bottom of the tub will have a denite tend- ,ency to prevent accumulation of deposits of residue and foreign matter beneath the impeller member so as to render it substantially unnecessary to remove said impeller for the purpose o! cleansing the same, as well as the bottom of thev tub. It is therefore believed that illustration and a detail description of this type of washing ma.-

I claim: l

1. in a washing machine, in combination with a tub adapted to contain the washing uid and clothes to be washed, an impeller member positioned centrally within the tub at an angle to the vertical axis of the tub, and movable bodilyin an orbit about said axis of the tub, said impeller being mounted for free rotation about its own axis and spaced annularly from the side wall of the tub and located above the bottom wall thereof a sufficient distance'to provide space for the i'ree movement of the clothes and i'luid around and beneath the impeller member, said impeller member being of unitary formation including a substantially continuous area extending transversely of the vertical axis of the tub, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart depending ribs formed integrally with and projecting perpendicularly from the under side of said area and extending continuously from adjacentl the outer marginal edge of said area and terminating adjacent the center thereof.

2. In a washing machine, the combination with a tub adapted to contain the washing uid and clothes to be washed, a vertical drive shaft having a portion extending upwardly through the bottom of the tub, a crank arm carried on said portion of the drive shaft, and means for rotating said shaft and arm; of an impeller member connected to the outer member of said arm. said impeller member being positioned with its axis disposed obliquely to the angle of the drive shaft and adapted' to be bodily revolved with said arm in an orbit about the `axis of said drive shaft and being freely rotatable about its own axis, said impeller member being of unitary formation including a substantially continuous areaextendingin a plane at an angle to the vaxis of said shaft, and

a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart depending ribs formed integrally with and projecting perpendicularly from the under side of said area and extending continuously from adjacent the'outer marginal edge of said area and terminating adjacent the center thereof.

3. In a washing machine, the combination with a tub adapted to contain the washing fluid and clothes to be washed, a vertical drive shaft having a portion extending upwardly through the bottom of the tub, a crank arm carried on said portion ofvthe drive shaft, an upwardly extending impeller shaft connected to the outer end of the crank arm and disposed with its axis at an angie to the axis of the drive shaft, means for rotating said drive shaft and arm; of an impeller member mounted for free rotation on the impeller shaft and including a substantially continuous area disposed in a plane at substantially 118111; angles to audace the axis of said shaft, and adapted to be bodily revolved therewith in an orbit about the axis of the `drive shaft, said impeller member being of unitary formation and including a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart depending ribs formed integrally with and projecting perpendicularly from the under side of Asaid area and extending vcontinuously from adjacent the outer marginal edge of said area and terminating adjacent' the center thereof.

In a washing machine, in combination with a tub adapted to contain the washing fluid and clothes to be washed, an impeller member positioned centrally within the tub at an angle to the vertical axis of-the tub and movable bodily in an orbit about said axis ofthe tub and being freely rotatable about its own axis, said impeller being spaced annularly from the side wall of the tub and located above the bottom wallthereof a sufii- -cient distance to provide space for the free movement of the clothes and iiuid around and beneath the impeller member, said impeller member being of unitary formation including a substantially continuous area extending transversely of the vertical axis of the tub, an inverted .frusto-conical skirt formed integrally with the under side and substantially centrally of said area of the impeller member, and a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart depending ribs formed integrally with the under side of said area and extending continuously from adjacent the outer marginal edge of said area and terminating adjacent said skirt.

5. In a washing machine, in combination with a tub adapted to contain the washing uid and ment of the clothes and uid around and beneath the impeller member, said impeller member being of unitary formation including a substantialy continuous area extending transversely of the vertical axis of the tub, an inverted frustoconical skirt formed integrally with theunder side and substantially centrally of said area of the impeller member, and a plurality of radially extending circumferentially spaced apart depending ribs formed integrally with'the under side of said area and extending continuously from adjacent theouter marginal edge of said area and terminatin'g adjacent said skirt. l

` JOHN

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