US2342435A - Washing machine - Google Patents

Description

Fella. 22', 1944. y STRAUSS ETAL 2,342,435

WASHING MACHINE Original Filed Jan. 10, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 22, 1944.. J STRAUSS ET AL I 2,342,435-

WASHING MACHINE Original Filed Jan 10, 1939 Z-Sheets-Sheetfi ,0 FSQS.

' |-v NTORS Patented Feb. 22, 1944 2.342.435 WASHING MACHINE Luke J. Strauss, Snyder, and Raymon E. Rousscan, Orchard Park Township, Erie County,

Original application January 10, 1939, Serial No.

250,200. Divided and this application December 30, 1941, Serial No. 424,908

'5 Claims.

This .invcntion relates to improvements in washing machines or the like, and is a division of gur Patent No. 2,275,698, granted March 10, 194

The present invention contemplates a washing mac lune wherein a source of power is coupled to an agitating element in such a manner that the latter responds with a predetermined oscillative agitating stroke which is automatically shortened in accordance with resistances in excess of a predetermined load resistance im posed upon the agitator by and during movement of the materials being washed. The invention further contemplates means for conditioning the coupling between the source of power and the agitator so that the load-responsive agitating action may also be selectively varied in accordance with the character and load of materials to be washed.

In washing machines simplicity oi manufacture, long life, and quiet, safe and easy operation are important considerations. The desirability of selectively varying the agitating action of a washing machine in accordance with the texture and load of materials being washed therein is well recognized.

Among the important objects of the present invention is the provision of a washingmachine wherein the agitating action may be automatically varied by and in accordance with varying load resistances imposed thereupon when such load resistances exceed a predetermined value.

Another important object is the provision of a simple and eiiective selective control for starting, stopping and varying the agitating action to suit the load and texture of the material being Washed.

These and various other objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will become apparent from the described and illustrated forms of the invention. It should be understood however that these embodiments of the invention are merely illustrative of the inventive principles involved and that the scope of the invention is not to be restricted thereby.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is an inverted plan view of a washing machine with the cover member removed to show the washing mechanism and associated parts;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially on line II-II of Fig. 1; a

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevational view of the control mechanism shown in v Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the variable stroke mechanism shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the drive mechanism shown in Fig. 2. certain parts being shown in section;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to that shown in Fig. 5 of an alternate form;

Fig. 7 is a group perspective view of the means for opposing rotation of the crank end of the pitman; and,

Fig. 8 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional plan view of an alternate form of drive member.

Referring now to the drawings, we have depicted a Washin machine in which the load responsive variable agitating stroke mechanism is illustrated as being wholly mechanical. In the preferred embodiment of our washing machine we provide means whereby the oscillating stroke of the agitator i selectively variable to wash difierent types of washable materials and is also responsive to the load resistance upon the agitator for varying the selected degree of oscillation of the latter. As illustrated, this means includes an agitator connected to a driven mem ber oscillatable by the back and forth movement of a drive member when frictional interengagement therebetween is maintained under one of several predetermined loads selectable by'the operation and positioning of a control mechanism By reason of a resilient member in the control mechanism the selected predetermined load upon the interengaging members is resiliently main opening in its bottom wall through which a tubuu lar post 3 is projected. The post is provided with a flange 4 and a nut 5 betweenwhich the tube is supported. Suitable gaskets 6 are arrangecfbetween the tub and the flange 4 and the nut 5 to prevent leakage. The lower end of the post 3 is secured to a transmission case or housing 1 and is supported thereby. The transmission case is secured in the base I by suitable fastening devices passed through a brace 8 at its inner end and lugs 9 adjacent its outer end.

A vertical shaft l0. extends upwardly through the post 3 and downwardly into the transmission case, being joumaled for rotative or oscillative movement in a suitable bearing in the post (not shown) and in a bearing in the case. The upper end of the shaft is provided with a drive block or member ll upon which an agitator i2 is detachably secured. The agitator has 9. depending tubular portion spaced from and extending downwardly around the post and is provided with a plurality of radially disposed fins or blades l3.

As shown in Fig. 5, the lower end portion of shaft is provided with a disc or wheel secured thereto as by a key 2|. The upper and lower faces 22,and 23 of wheel 20 converge outwardly and are arranged for a short-line engagement with the complementary outwardly diverging upper and lower faces 24 and 25 of the opposed gripping jaws provided by a groove 26 formed in the reciprocable driving member or pitman 30. The reciprocating stroke of the driving member and the diameter of the wheel Ell are preferably so proportioned that wheel Z il, shaft l0 and agitator 12 may be oscillated by the driving member through approximately 180";

While we have found that an included angle of approximately 7 between the respective friction faces of a single steel wheel and the gripping jaws of a single groove in a steel pitman, and an interengagement therebetween of approximately five thirty-seconds of an inch measured radially of the wheel 20 provdes a satisfactory load responsive oscillation of the drive-n shaft, it should be understood that various other materials, any number of angularly disposed or curved engaging faces, and various included angles and depths of interengageme'nt between the driving and driven members may be provided for the purposes set forth.

By making the included angle between the respective friction faces comparatively small, the pressure of the drive surface upon the driven surface is much greater than the force imposed through roller M which maintains the frictional drive relation. In this way the pressure necessary to an effective friction drive may be maintained without causing appreciable losses of power due to excessive friction between the drive member and the means for maintaining it in drive relation with the driven member. In practice it has been determined that with the arrangement shown there is little power loss even though the part does not rotate.

Fig. 6 shows an alternate form of the variable oscillating stroke load responsive means in which the lower end of a driven shaft H! has keyed thereon a wheel 20' grooved to provide jaws having outwardly diverging faces 22' and 23 a1" ranged for short-line marginal engagement with the complementary converging faces 24', 251', formed on the driving member or pitman 38'.

It will be observed in the drawings that the depth of interengagement between the driving and driven members is relatively small as compared to the depth of the groove, whereby considerable wear may occur between the driving and driven members with the result that merely the degree of oscillation of the driven member and its variability is changed without appreciably affecting the quietness of operation or the load responsive action between the driving and driven parts.

The outer end of the pitman 30 is provided with means 50 for-opposing relative motion of the pitman and worm wheel 40, and incldues a crank pin 5| which is rotatable in a bearing eccentrically located in a worm wheel 60 keyed to the lower end of a vertical shaft 6|. Shaft BI is journaled for rotation in the outer end portion of the transmission case in any suitable manner. As viewed in Fig. '1 the worm wheel is rotated in a clockwise direction by a worm 62 flexibly coupled to and driven by an electric motor 63 resiliently mounted in a bracket 64 secured to the case I by fastening devices 65, 66.

Rotation of pin 5| in its bearing in the worm Wheel is resisted by friction washers 52 and 53 which bear upon opposite sides of the gear under-the urge of spring washer 54 backed up and retained by the washer 55, lock Washer 56 and a screw 51. The friction between the washers and the gear opposes the reciprocating movement of the pitman and thereby tends to prevent overtravel of the reciprocating pitman and reduces the backlash between the worm and the worm straining force back of the pitman.

Various means may be employed to bring about engagement and disengagement of the driving anddriven members but such means will preferably include some form of yielding means.

In the embodiments shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings the rollers 3!, 3i are arranged to bear against the back of the pitmans 30, 30,

respectively. In each instance the roller is rotatively'mounted in the bifurcated end of a lever 32 fixed to the inner end of a vertical stub sliaft 33 rotatively mounted in and extended beyond a bearing in the upper wall of the transmission case. Oscillatory movement of shaft 33 about its axis effects engagement and disengagement of the pitman and the wheel in a manner to be hereinafter described. A lever 34 is fixed to the outer end of shaft 33 to oscillate the latter and has its outer end provided with an opening to loosely receive therethrough the free end of a bent link or'rod 35, formed wth an abutment 35'. The opposite end of the rod is pivotally connected to a lever or crank arm 35 secured to a control rod 37 journaled in spaced bearings 38 formed on the case. The non-pivoted or free end of the rod 35 is preferably threaded to receive one or more adjusting devices 39. A compression spring 40 mounted on the rod 35 is disposed between the lever 3 and one of the devices 39, so that the compression of the spring may be properly adjusted.

The control rod ill extends through a bearing 6! fixed in the wall of the support 2 and is provided with an upwardly extending lever or handle 42 for manual operation.

Assuming that the motor is running and the.

pitman oscillating in its disengaged position, the control parts will be in their fully disengaged positions partially indicated in broken lines in Fig. 3. In this position the abutment 35 abuts the lever 35 thereby maintaining the latter, the shaft 33, the lever 32 and the roller 3! in their disengaged positions.

With the control parts in their fully di,sen gaged positions the friction faces 24, 25 of the pitman jaws are slightly spaced from the friction faces 22, 23 of the wheel 20 so that the pitman .nerelyidles against the roller 3|. The slight spacing between the faces of the pitman and wheel when disengaged obviates the necessity for any separate guide for the pitman during its free reciprocating movements, the pitman and wheel being submerged in a lubricant, so that a film of the lubricant therebetween supports the former upon the latter, there being sufficient friction in the wheel shaft bearings to prevent any oscillation of the wheel by the pitman. The lubricant such as oil or grease is retained in the case I by a cover member l4, a sealing gasket l interposed therebetween and suitable oil or grease seals forthe shafts ll, 33 and worm 62. The cover is secured to the case I by suitable fastening devices II.

The direction of rotation of the worm wheel and the frictional action of the means '50 at the ment the rod 35 is drawn through the opening in lever 34 and the spring 40 is gradually compressed or loaded so that it exerts an increasing resilient force against lever 34, thereby causing counterclockwise movement of the shaft 33, the lever 32 and the roller H as viewed in Fig. l,

that more or less slippage may occur at the ends of its stroke.

When the pitman 30 is at either end of its stroke and engaged with the wheel, it lies in a plane substantially normal to a line drawn between the axes of the wheel 20 and the roller 3|. By reason of the rotation of the outer end of the pitman by the worm wheel 60 its anguwhich eflects engagement of the pitman with V the wheel. Only a small proportion of the movement of the rod 35 is needed to silently engage the pitman with the wheel since their spacing is slight. The remaining movement of the rod is util zed to load the spring whereby the engaging frictional faces of the pitman and wheel are wedged together to provide a predetermined load responsive driving force therebetween. This force is less than the force required to stall the motor so that slippage between the driving and driven members occurs when the normal osciilatiing movement of the latter is impeded by any of the causes above described, e. g., over-- loading, etc.

Due to the fact that a load of clothes to be washed is seldom weighed, overloading may occur. However, with our improved washing machine an overload condition results in reduced strokes of the agitator which apprise an alert operator of this condition so that it may be corrected as by removing part of the clothes load for a more efllcient washing operation.

'Prom the foregoing it will be observed that the transmission which connects the motor or source of power to the agitator embodies a load responsive means for functioning as a safety device in that it avoids injury to the mechanism as well as to the load or wash. It will also be noted that this safety device is located immediately next to the agitator so as to be responsive directly and solely to the resistance afforded the agitator without other intermedia y mechanism incidental to a remote disposition thereby and which might detract from the sensitiveness of the device.

Believing that a washing machine should be able to successfully wash all types of fabrics we have provided means to selectively vary the washing action of the agitator in accordance with the type of material to be washed. In other words, in addition to the usual approximately 180 oscillating stroke of the agitator for a full load of heavy fabrics, such as sheets. we provide shorter oscillating strokes of the agitator for lighter. fabrics such as cotton wearing apparel, and we further provide very short oscillating strokes of the agitator for fine sheer fabrics such as hosiery and silk undergarments.

In the specific embodiment shown in the drawings we accomplish our load responsive and alsgour selectively variable washing action by varying the pressure on the driving member, so

larity is constantly changing from zero angularity (with respect to said normal plane) at the ends of its stroke to a maximum angularity intermediate the ends of its stroke. This change in the angularity of the pitman causes the roller 3| to gradually move outwardly as the pitman approaches its maximum angular positions and the roller to gradually move inwardly as the pitman approaches its zero angular or end positlons, whereby the resilient force of the spring 40 is gradually increased as the pitman ap-,,

proaches its maximum angular position wherein the resilient force is greatest, and gradually decreases as the pitman approaches its zero angular position wherein the resilient force is less.

Therefore, the frictional driving force between the wheel and the pitman is less at the ends of a stroke due to the reduced resilient force as above referred to and slippage may occur at the ends of a stroke should the oscillation of the wheel or agitator be resisted. By simply varying the resilient force of the spring the slippage at the ends of the pitman stroke may be increased or decreased so that oscillation of the wheel and the agitator driven thereby may be increased or decreased to suit the type of fabric, or material to be or being washed.

Should it be desired, greater slippage and greater variation of the oscillating stroke of the driven member and the agitator may be obtained by a greater pressure variation in the resilient force. This may be accomplished by outwardly curving or arching the back of the driving memher (the surface engaging roller 3|) intermediate the end positions of its engagement with the driven member.

We further contemplate a driving member or pitman formed so that slippage may occur'during any part of its stroke should the load resistance on the part it is driving be exceeded. In other words, we may provide load responsive action of the driven member and the agitator without our variable oscillating stroke feature.

This action may be accomplished as by simply arching or curving the back of the pitman inwardly toward the groove 26 as indicated at 29 in Fig. 8. Obviously this same result may be accomplished by having the faces 24, 25 of groove 26 formed with a slight curve or bowed away from each other so that the resilient pressure of the spring is constant throughout the stroke of the driving member.

In the present application of our principles for varying the oscillatory load responsive stroke of the agitator we provide the handle 42 for manual operation by an operator. The inner face of the bearing 4| is knurled or serrated-as at 43 and is engaged by a similarly knurled or serrated member 44 slidably secured on the rod '31 as by the pin and slot connection indicated. A compression spring 48 anchored to rod 31 as at 49 and resiliently bearing against the member 44 urges the latter toward the face 43 of the bearing 41 for a clutching action between members 4| and 44.

the disengaged position, shown in broken lines in Fig. 3, a counterclockwise movement of the handle to the full line position in Fig. 3 results in full engagement of the load responsive drive and'the full oscillating stroke of the agitator of approximately 180. mediate the illustrated positions varies the resilient force of spring 40 so that different oscillating strokes of the agitator are obtained. The handle 42 is resiliently maintained in any of its selected positions by the clutching-action of the serrated faces of members 4! and 4d and may be readily moved by the operator in selecting the desired stroke or handle position.

Obviously, the handle 42 may be moved over a dial or graduations suitably marked or designated to indicate the main positions of adjustment, and for convenience to the operator these main positions may be appropriately denoted, as for example, cotton, wool, silk and off. These positions are graphically illustrated in Fig. 3 by the broken lines C, W, S and'O radiating from the center of shaft 37.

With the present invention the agitator may make several complete rotations for each stroke, dragging the wash load along with it and should the load twist and wind about the agitator so as to cause the fabric articles comprising the load to strain toward the tearing point the stroke will automatically shorten in accordance with the presetting of the load responsive transmission. This presetting is determined by the operator at the time of placing the clothing and other articles in the washer and will be made to function in approximate accordance with the tensile strength of the fabric in general. wash load may be all of one character, but if the wash comprises articles of different tensile strengths thenthe presetting should be made to function for the more delicate articles.

While we have shown'and described in great detail the present preferred forms of our invention, it should be understood that they are merely illustrative of the principles of our invention and that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit or scope of the appended claims. All changes or variations which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are intended to be embraced therein.

We claim:

1. In a machine for washing aselected type and quantity of washable fabrics, the combination of an agitator, a rotary drive therefor, and stroke producing means interposed between and operatively connecting the drive to the agitator for imparting an oscillatory stroke to the latter, said oscillatory stroke producing means comprising a friction unit having a driving part movable back and forth and a cooperating driven part having frictional driving contact therewith, and pressure means acting gradually to increase and thengradually decrease the pressure in the frictional contact between said parts toward and from a high pressure point intermediate the ends of the stroke whereby the stroke once begun will continue with a gradually increasing then a. gradually decreasing frictional driving efiect first 'toward then from said high pressure point.

2. In a machine for washing a selected typg and .quantityof washable fabrics, the combination of an agitator, a rotary drive therefor, and a stroke Positioning of the handle 42 inter- The articles of any effect a shortening or lengthening of the agitator stroke on opposite sides of the high pressure point, whereby a continuous oscillatory stroke of the agitator of an angular extent suitable to the selected type and quantity of fabric to be washed is obtained.

3. A Washing machine comprising an-agitator,

, a rotary drive therefor, and means between the agitator and the rotary drive for converting the rotary motion of the drive into oscillatory motion of the agitator, said motion converting means including pressure means variable by and during said motion conversion and having the least pressure at the ends of a stroke, whereby the agitator isresponsive to washing loads tending to resist its movement and is more responsive to said washing load and less responsive to the drive at the ends of a stroke and less responsive to said load and more responsive to said drive between the ends of a stroke, whereby a washload responsive stroke once begun is completed.

4. A washing machine comprising an'agitator, a rotary drive therefor, and means between the agitator and the rotary drive for convertin the rotary motion of the drive into oscillatory motion of the agitator, said motion converting means including pressure means variable by and during said motion conversion and having the least pressure at the ends of a stroke, whereby the agitator is responsive to washing loads tending to resist its movement and is more responsive to said washing load and less responsive to the drive at the ends of a stroke and less responsive to sz'iid load and more responsive to said drive between the ends of a stroke, and means for selectivity varying the pressure of the pressure. means whereby the responsiveness of th motion converting means to the drive is varied at the ends of a stroke and an uninterrupted oscillatory stroke of the agitator is obtained.

5. A washing machine comprising an agitator, a drive therefor, transmission means connecting the two for imparting oscillatory strokes to the agitator, said transmission means including a friction device having a relatively greater frictional component during the central portion of each agitator stroke with a tapering off toward the ends thereof whereby after the start of the agitator on a stroke said agitator will continue

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