US2615280A

US2615280A - Toy washing machine

Info

Publication number: US2615280A
Application number: US759749A
Authority: US
Inventors: George W Thelin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1947-07-09
Filing date: 1947-07-09
Publication date: 1952-10-28
Anticipated expiration: 1969-10-28

Description

Oct. 28, 1952 G, w] THELIN 2,615,280

TOY WASHING MACHINE Filed July 9. 1947 3 Sheet s-Sheet 1 .00 A/5F was FAsT sz.ow-- H /4 Inveniqzr Geo rge W Thehn 2 g a a, 1%, M MM gu 1952' G. w. THELIN TOY WASHING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed July 9. 1947 I6 I nvenior: WThGY/i/ZZ. rMM uEli/Zys 6802' e i flmzlim,

G. W. THELIN TOY WASH Oct. 28, 1952 INC MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet :5

Filed July 9. 1947 In eni/ op' George WTheZz/fl y M,M,JW, MMO'M Patented Oct.28, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF-ICE,

'TOYQWASHING MACHINE George'w;ThelimNevvton; Mass.

. ApplicationJuly .9, 1947,.Serfial .No.-'Z59,7l-9

7 Claims. (o1; 46- -14) '1 This invention relates to amusement devices in the nature of toys, and is concerned with a toy whichsimulates a washing machine by the creation of an illusion that articles such as dolls clothes, for example, are being tumbled about in a chamber, washed, rinsed, and spun dry. This illusion involves the provision of separate inner and outer chambers, the inner one for clothes and the outer one for water, the outer chamber having transparent walls through which the inner onemay be viewed, together with appropriate means, either hand .or power operated, for rotating both chambers, and means for causing turbulence'of the water when the chamber containing the water istrotated. By

varying the speed of rotation, various illusionary effectsof washing, rinsing, and spin-drying are achieved by the provision of suitable means associatedwith the water chamber. 'Thus a child is amused by theillusion but without any contact whatever with the water and without danger of spilling the same.

' The invention will best be understood by reference to the following description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings of one specific embodiment thereof, while its scope will be pointed out more particularly in the appended claims.

-In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a toy embodying the invention.

2 is a vertical sectional view .online 22 .ofFig. 1; and

3 is a vertical sectional view on line 3-3 of Fig.2.

-Referring .to the drawings and to the embodiment illustrated therein as an example; there is shown a .toy comprising a housing 4. (see Fig. l) of. appropriate construction, made of wood or'metal, the one shown being of sheet metal, for example, and having a front Wall 6 (see Fig. 2) a rear'wall 8, side walls It a top cover 12,

and a bottom It, all suitably constructed and arranged and having the general appearance of a washing machine. The bottom l4 may be provided with feet such as rubber cushions IE to rest upon a floor or other support.

"I To. carry out the effect of a washing machine,

.the' front wall 6 is provided with an opening it,

which, as will presently appear, is occupied by the front end of a rotatable assembly including a drum 2:! presenting an inner chamber 22 to receive a dolls clothes, for example, said drum having an open front end 24 normally closed by a cover of novel construction comprising two transparent'walls' 2s and 28 through which the inner chamber may be viewed, to carry out the illusion. To further this effect, these walls are separated by a chamber 30 to contain a liquid such as water 32,. a sufficient amount of which is permanently sealed in the chamber to produce the desired effect. The transparent walls are sealed as by sealing rings 34 audit in a ring orlbezel 38 provided with a flange 40 directed radially inward to hide thejwater at times, as will presently appear. A'flange 112., directed radially outward, has the appearance of closing the front opening 18 ofthe housing. The ring or b'ezeltil maybe made of cast metal or molded plastic, for example, and has ribs 44 contacting the internal surface of the drum 28 rather snugly but enabling the cover to be withdrawn for- 'wardly to permit the chamber 22 to be charged and emptied as desired. Finger recesses 46' .en-.

able the users fingers to be inserted behind the flange 42 to pull the. cover from its position in the front end opening of the rotatable drum.

To provide theidesirecl turbulence of the water of water is visible. 'As the dolls clothes are visible through the transparent walls at all times, the.desiredillusionsof immersion in water, tumbling and. turbulence, and spinning to dry the clothes are produced, yet without the undesired spillingf of water with consequent possibility of damageto house furnishings and to the house itself as by leakage through afioor to a ceiling.

In the present. example, the described rotor is suitably mounted for rotation about a hori- .zontal axis, as bythe provision of a rear stub shaft 52 (see Fig. 2) attached to the-rear end of the drum 20 and turning. in a suitable bearing 54 in the rear wall 8. The front end of the rotor is suitably supported as'by a set of rollers or wheels 5d, of. rubber or other noise deadening material, for example, turning on fixed studs 58 on brackets 66, and resting against-the external cylindricalsurface of the rotor.

Rotation of the rotor may be accomplished by hand or by power. If accomplished by hand, the hand will regulate the speed as desired. If accomplished by power, a suitable motor such as an electric motor 62 (see Fig. 2) may be employed. While variable speed motors and suitable controls such as rheostats are available, in the present example I have chosen to employ a speed-reducing and speed-varying mechanism between the motor and the rotor. Many mechanisms for this purpose are commercially available and may be employed. The one which I have chosen to employ is a variable-speed, friction-drive affair affording a double reduction, and a wide speed variation.

To this end, there is provided a sleeve '64 having affixed thereto two pairs of

friction disks

66 and 68, the disks of each pair being in the nature of springs which press toward each other with resilient pressure. Th disks 66 receive'between them a disk it ainxed to the drum 20, and the disks 68 receive between them a disk 12 affixed to a motor shaft 74. The sleeveffi l turns on a stud i6 whose positionv is suitably varied toward and from the motorv shaft as by mounting the same on a rocker 18 fulcrumed on a stud 80 affixed to the rear wall 8 of the housing. Rocking of the rocker l8'is conveniently accomplished as by rod 32 aflixed thereto and extending therefrom upwardly through a slot 84 in an ofiset 86 in the rear wall of the housing. In this example, the current to the motor is controlled by a double-pole, single-throw switch 88 of appropriate construction, the one herein employed being coordinated with the speed control as by having an arm 90 contacted by the rocker 18 as the speed varying mechanism reaches its lowest speed.

Cables

92 and 94, one to the motor and one to a plug '96, conduct current to and from the switch.

The control rod 82 (seeFig. 2) extends upwardly through a second slot 98 in the housing and has a .U-shaped terminal portion I which straddles an arcuate flange I02 at the top of the housing and serves as an indicator cooperating with suitable markings on the flange, such as oil, indicating current shut oil", Wash indicating slow-speed wash position, Rinse and Spin-Dry, the high-speed position, with the indications Fast and Slow associated with arrows. From the Ofi position, a slight movement closes the switch and starts the motor. Further-movement increases the speed through the Wash and Rinse positions to the Spin Dry position. Reverse movement of thecontrol rod reverses this cycle.

Having thus described one embodiment of the invention, what I claim is: j

1. In a toy which simulates a washing machine, the combination of a cylindrical rotor having a dry chamber adapted to receive articles such as a dolls clothes, said chamber having a viewing opening, a closure for said opening comprising a sealed chamber having transparent walls and adapted to contain liquid such as water, means in the second-named chamber to cause turbulence of the liquid therein, and means to rotate said rotor to agitate the articles in the first-named chamber and the liquid in the second-named chamber. I

2. In a toy which simulates a washing machine, the combination of a cylindrical rotor having a dry chamber adapted to receive articles such as a dolls clothes, said chamber having a viewing opening, a closure for said opening comprising a sealed chamber having transparent walls and adapted to contain liquid such as Water, the liquid chamber having a peripheral opaqu wall portion and means to rotate said rotor to agitate the articles in the first-named chamber and the liquid in the second-named chamber, said rotating means including a motor to drive said rotor, and means to cause variation of the speed of said rotor whereby at a relatively higher speed the liquid is centrifugally concealed by the opaque wall portion.

3. In a toy which simulates a washing machine, the combination of a housing, a rotor rotatably supported on said housing and having a chamber to receive articles such as a dolls clothes, said chamber having an opening for insertion and removal of such articles, a readily removable closure for said opening having two transparent walls separated by a chamber to receive liquid such as water, the article chamber being viewable through said walls and through the liquid chamber between ,them, vanes in the liquid chamber to cause turbulence of the liquid therein, opaque means about the periphery of the transparent walls at times to conceal the liquid, means to rotate said rotor to agitate the articles in the article chamber and the liquid in the liquid chamber, the rotating means including a motor to drive said rotor, variable speed control means for said motor including a lever pivoted on the housing, and indicia on said housing in predetermined motor-speed-representing juxtaposition to said lever.

4. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine comprising a supporting frame, a rotor thereon with means to rotate the same, the rotor having an inner chamber accessible to a wash load and an outer chamber sealed for liquid and having transparent walls through which the innerchamber and contents may b viewedwith the effect of subjection of the load of the inner chamber to the liquid of the outer chamber, and turbulence creating means for the liquid of the outer chamber, whereby an illusion of a washing action upon the load is aiTorded.

5. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine, comprising a support, a wash-load chamber on the support, and a sealed liquid chamber rotatable on the support, the liquid chamber having opposed spaced transparent walls arrangedin relation to the load chamber as a window thereto through which the load appears as though immersed in the liquid of the windowing sealed liquid chamber, variable speed rotating means for the liquid chamber, the latter having a peripheral opaque Wall portion for concealing the liquid centrifugally at relatively high rotative speed of the liquid chamber, the latter also containing turbulence-creating means for the liquid, whereby at difierent speeds of the variable speed means the illusion is created of immersion of the load in the liquid, of a turbulent washing action, and of a spin-drying action.

6. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine, comprising a housing, a wash-load chamber rotatably supported on the housing, a sealed liquid chamber also rotatably supported from the housing and having opposed transparent Walls, the load chamber having an opening in visual line with the transparent chamber walls whereby the illusion of subjection of the load to the liquid is afforded, rotating means for both chambers, the liquid chamber having an opaque peripheral portion adapted to conceal the liquid under centrifugal action under rotation of the liquid chamber at a relatively high speed, and the rotating means being variable to afiord such speed and alternatively a lower speed.

7. A toy simulating a clothes washing machine, comprising a housing, a wash-load chamber rotatably supported on the housing, a sealed liquid chamber also rotatably supported from the housing and having opposed transparent walls, the load chamber having an opening in visual line with the transparent chamber walls whereby the illusion of subjection of the load to the liquid is afforded, rotating means for both chambers, the liquid chamber containing means for creating turbulence of the liquid under rotation of the liquid chamber.

GEORGE W. THELIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date Bauermeister Apr. 13, 1920 Kee Oct. 23, 1923 Pahl Feb. 7, 1928 Jacobs Nov. 27, 1928 Skolnick Jan. 17, 1939 Tapner Feb. 3, 1942 Breckenridge Sept. 22, 1942 Jorgenson Mar. 9, 1943