US2902852A

US2902852A - Clothes washing machines

Info

Publication number: US2902852A
Application number: US733952A
Authority: US
Inventors: George C Fields
Original assignee: Philco Ford Corp
Current assignee: Space Systems Loral LLC
Priority date: 1953-07-30
Filing date: 1958-05-08
Publication date: 1959-09-08
Anticipated expiration: 1976-09-08

Description

Sept. 8, 1959 G. c. FIELDS 2,902,852

. CLOTHES WASHING MACHINES I Original Filed July so, 1953 s Sheets-Sheet 2 INVEN TOR. GZ'ORGE C. F/[Zflf ATTORNEY Sept. 8, 1959 2,902,852

G. C. FIELDS CLOTHES WASHING MACHINES Original Filed July so, 1953 a Sheets-Sheet :5

llllilllllll w CLOTHES WASHING MACHINES George C. Fields, Wilmette, Ill., assignor to Philco Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvama Original application July 30, 1953, Serial No. 371,382, now Patent No. 2,871,689, dated February 8, 1959. Divided and this application May 8, 1958, Serial No. 733,952

7 Claims. (Cl. 68-;131)

This invention relates to a clothes washing machine and particularly to a machine of the type wherein agitator means move orbitally about an inc-lined upright axis during a washing operation, by virtue of which the agitator means are caused to tilt or wobble; such wobbling agitator means being connected with a horizontal, surrounding portion of a basket by a flexible sealing member.

A machine of this type is disclosed in applicants copending application Serial No. 371,382, filed July 30, 1953, entitled Clothes Washing Machine, now Patent No. 2,871,689, dated February 3, 1959, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention; and certain aspects of the machine are claimed in said application, said aspects being concerned especially with the feature that the agitator not only wobbles but is also free to rotate, but only in one direction, relative to the basket. The present application is a division of said copending application and is concerned 'with other aspects, features and objects of the invention.

One of these objects is to provide a machine of the character indicated wherein the agitator is capable of being positioned in desirably close relation to the bottom of the basket.

A related object is to provide a machine of the character indicated wherein the agitator, the flexible sealing member, and the bottom of the basket are so correlated to each other as to minimize wear and tear of the clothes, while providing vigorous agitation.

A more specific object is to provide a machine of the character indicated wherein said parts are so correlated as to preclude pinching of clothing and resulting wear and tear as well as breakage of buttons and the like by the flexible sealing member, incident to the vertical and orbital movement of the agitator and of the portions of the flexible sealing member connected with the agitator.

Still other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated at line 11 in Figure 2, through a clothes washing machine embodying the present invention.

Figure 2 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially at line 2-2 in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertical sectional view of central parts of the machine, the section being taken substantially as indicated at line 3-3 in Figure 2, and

Figure 4 is a fragmentary view of certain parts of the machine, partly in section, the section being taken generally as indicated at line 44 in Figure 2.

Referring now to the drawing and primarily to Figure 1, the machine comprises a cabinet containing a stationary tub which tub has a drain opening 22 connected with a pump 24. Also provided are suitable water inlet means, not shown. Mounted within the upper portion of the tub is a rotatable basket 30 for the washing and subsequent centrifuging of clothes. The upper marates Patent Patented Sept. 8, 1959 ginal edge of this basket has apertures 32 through which washing liquid can be discharged outwardly into tub 15.

Washing basket 30 is shown as having a bottom 38, a relatively large central portion of which is depressed as indicated at 39. This depressed, central portion is connected by an annular upwardly extending side wall 40 to the main portion of bottom 38. Basket 30, and particularly depressed portion 39 of the bottom thereof, is secured to an upright tubular drive shaft 48 which extends downwardly through a suitable aperture in the bottom of stationary tub 15.

Extending upwardly and substantially concentrically within tubular drive shaft 48 is an agitator drive shaft 60, the upper end of which, as best shown in Figure 3, extends through an opening 42 in depressed bottom portion 39 and carries thereabove a crank head 62 having an inclined upper portion 63. The axis of this upper portion of the crank head extends at a slightly oblique angle to the axis of drive shaft 60. Iournalled within crank head 62 by bearings 64 is a stub shaft '65, upwardly projecting at the aforementioned angle and held against axial movement by a clamping nut 66. Rigidly secured to stub shaft 65, as by welding, is a transversely extending flange 70, to which is rigidly attached an agitator mounting member 72 shown as a dome-like member of molded plastic material. The outer marginal edge of this mounting member provides an annular flange 74 extending in an inclined plane substantially perpendicular to the axis of stub shaft 65.

In order to seal the drive mechanism from the washing fluid within basket 30 and also in order to add to the agitation imparted to the clothes, there is provided an annular, flexible sealing member 75 outwardly extending from mounting member 72 and formed of suitable material such as rubber. The inner marginal edge of this flexible ring member is rigidly attached to marginal flange 74 of the mounting member by a clamping ring 77. The outer marginal portion of flexible sealing member 75 is secured to upright wall portion 40, surrounding depressed area 39 of bottom 38 of washing basket 30. For this purpose, the flexible sealing member is formed at its outer edge with a rib or bead 79, engaged by correspondingly formed grooves in outer faces of clamping segments which secure this edge to wall 40. Seal member 75 extends over and across fastening means 80 and covers the same, as shown.

Mounted on member 72 and on the upper portion of stub shaft 65 is an agitator head 85, shown as having a hub portion 87 and an outwardly extending, marginally depending flange structure 89 which overhangs and covers clamping ring 77. The agitator as illustrated also has a series of radial agitating vanes 94 (Figure 2). Agitator drive shaft 60 as well as tubular shaft 48 is driven by a motor 140, through suitable transmission means 125, 134 (Figure 1).

Seal member 75, as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 2, constitutes a generally flat, annular member with a circular, outer edge portion 79 secured to a horizontal, circular, outer seal mounting area defined by clamping ring 80 and the adjacent portions of wall 40 (Figure 3). The inner edge of the seal member is attached to said flange 74- by ring 77, which defines an inclined, circular, inner seal mounting area and which is surrounded by and radially spaced from said

outer mounting area

80, 40. Said outer mounting area has an upper edge, substantially vdefined by the top of clamping ring 80, while said inner mounting area has an outer edge, substantially de fined by the periphery of flange 74; and the body portion or unattached portion of seal member 75 forms a narrow, annular sheet member extending between said edges. As the top of clamping ring 80 is horizontal, said edge of the outer mounting area is disposed in a horizontal plane. By contrast, the edge of the inner mounting area, being normal to the axis of inclined stub shaft 65, is inclined. More particularly this latter edge is so inclined that it passes through said horizontal plane at two points of intersection, lying on line 4-4 in Figure 2. Still more particularly, two symmetrically disposed portions of the edge of the inner mounting area are separated one from the other by said points of intersection, said portions being shown respectively at right and left of line 44 in Figure 2.

By virtue of the construction illustrated and described, it is possible to employ a flexible sealing member 75 which is at all times under partial compression between the inner and outer seal mounting areas. The parts of member 75 where such compression prevails are best shown in Figure 4. They are, as indicated in that figure, attached to portions of the inner

seal mounting area

74, 77 which are at the approximate elevation of the principal plane of the outer seal mounting area. By contrast, at ninety degrees therefrom, in sectional plane 3-3 of Figure 2, the vertical limits of movement of points of connection between agitator 85 and sealing member 75 are reached, and such limits come to lie above and below the adjacent parts of the outer seal mounting area, as shown in Figure 1. The compression C of some parts of the seal at each moment (Figure 4) is caused by the fact that in the said parts, the distance between inner and outer seal mounting areas is somewhat smaller than the width of the seal itself. ing distance in the portions of said member shown in Figures 1 and 3 substantially equals said width. Incident to the wobbling of agitator 85, the compressed portions (Figure 4) as well as the raised and lowered portions (Figures 1, 3) wander or precess about the periphery of the agitator, in the direction of rotation of the drive shaft (Figure 2).

The partial compression of the sealing member (Figure 4) can be kept small by virtue of the present invention, as the seal member can be fairly wide and as the vertical motion of the inner seal mounting area, from lowermost or uppermost to central position, can be relatively small (Figures 1, 2). Thus it is possible in operation of the present machine to keep the sealing member in the approximate shape of a fiat ring, and thereby to avoid any possibility of pinching or squeezing of clothes by the sealing member, in the process of agitation. Hence the possibility of damage to the clothes or to buttons and other articles attached to clothing is substantially eliminated.

Further by virtue of this construction, wherein the sealing member need not be under tension anywhere and at any time, the sealing member is free to follow the movement of mounting member 72 without significant stress, thereby minimizing any tendency for the rubber ring 75 to crack or rupture.

As a still further result of this construction, the sealing member imposes no restriction on the freedom of movement of agitator mounting member 72 and stub shaft 65. This in turn means that the machine requires only a minimum of power to be applied by motor 14-0 and

transmission

125, 134 to agitator shaft 60, in imparting the orbital wobbling movement to the agitator, whereby substantial savings can be realized in the construction of said motor and transmission.

Thus it will be seen that the agitating operations of the new machine avoid several tendencies toward undesirable wear and tear, and that neverthelms the agitation can be made very vigorous and efiicient, with a minimum of power. The agitation includes not only a hydraulic circulation, indicated by the arrows in Figure 1, but also a very positive pulsating, generally upward and downward displacement of fabrics by the wobbling agitator and the concurrently rising and falling portions of flexible sealing member 75.

By contrast, the correspond- In the machine illustrated, the said agitating operations-normally applied in consecutive washing and rinsing cyclescan be followed by a spinning and extracting operation, wherein tubular shaft 48 rapidly rotates basket 30. At such times the agitator and the sealing member are at rest relative to the spinning basket. This extracting operation, as well as the preceding agitation, is improved by the new construction and its mode of operation and particularly by the absence of a clothes pinching or snagging efiect. As the basket begins to spin, a desirably uniform distribution of articles of fabric around the basket is promoted by this feature, and dangerous dynamic unbalance and vibration are thus effectively minimized.

Although I have herein shown and described only a single preferred embodiment of my invention, manifestly such embodiment is capable of modification and re-arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. I do not therefore wish to be understood as limiting this invention except to such embodiments as are defined by the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a laundering machine, a tub adapted to contain clothes to be washed, the bottom of the tub having a relatively large depressed area surrounded by an upwardly extending side wall, an opening in the depressed area; agitator drive connections extending upwardly through said opening and comprising an upright rotatable shaft and a crank head mounted on the upper end of the shaft; an agitator mounting member connected to said crank head and disposed in a plane at an acute angle to horizontal, with a portion of its periphery at all times extending down into the depressed portion of the tub bottom; an agitator mounted on said mounting member; whereby rotation of said upright shaft imparts an orbital wobbling movement to said mounting member and agi tator; and an annular flexible sealing member connected at its inner marginal edge in sealing engagement with the entire marginal edge of said mounting member and its outer marginal edge being connected to the bottom of said tub.

2. in a laundering machine, a tub adapted to contain clothes to be washed, the bottom of the tub having a relatively large depressed area surrounded by an upwardly extending side wall, an opening in the depressed area; agitator drive connections extending upwardly through said opening and comprising an upright rotatable shaft and a crank head mounted on the upper end of the shaft; an agitator mounting member connected to said crank head and disposed in a plane at an acute angle to horizontal, with a portion of its periphery at all times extending down into the depressed portion of the tub bottom; an agitator mounted on said mounting member; whereby rotation of said upright shaft imparts an orbital wobbling movement to said mounting member and agitator; and an annular flexible sealing member connected at its inner marginal edge in sealing engagement with the entire marginal edge of said mounting member and its outer marginal edge being connected to the upwardly extending side wall surrounding the depressed area of the bottom of the tub.

3. in a laundering machine, a tub adapted to contain clothes to be washed, the bottom of the tub having a relatively large depressed area surrounded by an upwardly extending side wall, an opening in the depressed area; agitator drive connections extending upwardly through said opening and comprising an upright rotatable shaft and a crank head mounted on the upper end of the shaft; an agitator mounting member connected to said crank head and disposed in a plane at an acute angle to horizontal, with a portion of its periphery at all times extending down into the depressed portion of the tub bottom; an agitator mounted on said mounting member; whereby rotation of said upright shaft imparts an orbital wobbling movement to said mounting member and agitator; and an annular flexible sealing member connected at its inner marginal edge in sealing engagement with the entire marginal edge of said mounting member and its outer marginal edge being connected to the bottom of said tub, said mounting member being mounted at a height and in a relation to said tub bottom, such that the vertical limits of movement of any point of connection with the sealing member lie below and above respectively that portion of the tub bottom surrounding said depressed area.

4. In a laundering machine, a tub adapted to contain clothes to be washed, the bottom of the tub having a relatively large depressed area surrounded by an upwardly extending side wall, an opening in the depressed area; agitator drive connections extending upwardly through said opening and comprising an upright rotatable shaft and a crank head mounted on the upper end of the shaft; an agitator mounting member connected to said crank head and disposed in a plane at an acute angle to horizontal, with a portion of its periphery at all times extending down into the depressed portion of the tub bottom; an agitator mounted on said mounting member; whereby rotation of said upright shaft imparts an orbital wobbling movement to said mounting member and agitator; and an annular flexible sealing member connected at its inner marginal edge in sealing engagement with the entire marginal edge of said mounting member and its outer marginal edge being connected to the bottom of said tub, said mounting member being mounted at a height and in a relation to said tub bottom, such that the vertical limits of movement of any point of connection with the sealing member lie below and above respectively that portion of the tub bottom surrounding said depressed area, the transverse dimension of said sealing member being such that it remains untensioned at all times irrespective of the vertical position of any point of connection to said mounting member with relation to any point of connection to said tub.

5. In a laundering machine, a tub adapted to contain clothes to be washed, the bottom of the tub having a relatively large depressed area surrounded by an upwardly extending side wall, an opening in the depressed area; agitator drive connections extending upwardly through said opening and comprising an upright rotatable shaft and a crank head mounted on the upper end of the shaft; an agitator mounting member connected to said crank head and disposed in a plane at an acute angle to horizontal, with a portion of its periphery at all times extending down into the depressed portion of the tub bottom; an agitator mounted on said mounting member; whereby rotation of said upright shaft imparts an orbital wobbling movement to said mounting member and agitator; an annular flexible sealing member; fastening means connecting the inner marginal edge of the flexible member in sealing relation to the entire marginal edge of said mounting member; said agitator having a depending skirt terminating in close relation to said mounting member and enclosing said fastening means; and second fastening means connecting the outer marginal edge of the flexible member to said side wall surrounding the depressed area of the tub bottom with said flexible member positioned to extend over and enclose said second fastening means.

6. In a laundry machine: a basket having apertured bottom structure and having side wall structure surrounding the same, one of said structures providing an annular, outer seal mounting area coaxial with the aperture of said bottom structure, said area having an edge generally disposed in a horizontal plane; an upright, rotatable agitator drive shaft extending through said aperature; support means carried by said drive shaft in said basket and defining an axis inclined to the vertical; an agitator body mounted on said support means, for rotation relative thereto about said axis, said agitator body providing an annular, inner seal mounting area which has an edge generally disposed in a plane normal to said inclined axis, said latter edge being generally concentric with said support means and being spaced inwardly from said outer seal mounting area and closely above the bottom structure in such manner that said latter edge passes through said horizontal plane, at two points of intersection; and an annular, flexible sealing member, having outer and inner rims secured respectively to the outer and inner seal mounting areas, and having a body forming a narrow sheet therebetween, said narrow sheet extending from one to the other of said edges along lines which approximately directly interconnect said edges at points peripherally spaced from said points of intersection, and along slightly curved lines adjacent the points of intersection.

7. A laundry machine as described in claim 6 wherein said edge of the inner seal mounting area, provided by the agitator body, is so spaced above the bottom structure that said points of intersection divide symmetrical portions of said latter edge, one from the other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Johnson May 29, 1951