US2943740A - Clothes retaining arrangement for washing machines - Google Patents

Description

y 1960 P. H. HOUSER ETAL 2,943,740

CLOTHES RETAINING ARRANGEMENT FOR WASHING MACHINES Filed Feb. 2, 1959 W T 3: 2 23 mmmu me E 27 f i l A 1 so i I e l i r F l I i E l i i E g l i l I II n '3 K iil4- i I l6 INVENTORS PHILIP H. uousza r & HARLAN F? aasss wwaw THE\R ATTORNEY ilnitcdi States Filed Feb. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 790,536

6'Claims. (Cl. 210-382) This invention relates to automatic clothes washing machines, and more particularly to clothes retaining arrangements for preventing articles of clothing from floating out of the clothes basket of such machines.

Automatic clothes washing machines customarily proceed through a sequence of operations in order to wash, rinse and dry the clothes. The sequence ordinarily includes a washing operation, a first extraction operation in which the wash water is removed from the clothes by spinning the clothes receptacle at a centrifugal liquid extraction speed, a rinsing operation in which the clothes are rinsed in clean water, and a final centrifugal liquid extraction operation in which the rinse water is removed from the clothes. In one comrnonly provided type of washing machine, the.clothes basket is rotatable on a vertical axis within a non-rotatable tub; in such machines there is, of course, a tendency for the .water to sweep upand overthe edge of the basket during centrifugal extraction and in so doing to carry along with it articles of clothing. Unless this tendency is restrained, such articles of clothing thus pass out of the basket and into the outer tub where they are, to some extent, inaccessible:

without some degree of dismantling of the machine, It is therefore important to have in the basket of such machinesan effective clothes retaining arrangement which, while it prevents the clothes from passing out of the basket, permits water to pass freely through it so that the extraction operation is in no way impaired.

It istherefor an object of this invention to provide an improved clothes retaining arrangement, simple in construction and economical to manufacture and assemble, yet which retains the clothes effectively without adversely affecting the liquid extraction process.

A further objectof the invention is to provide this effect by the addition of a single apertured member which is positioned in such relationship to the basket that the desired results set forth above are insured.

In one aspect of my invention, I provide a washing machine of the type which has an open clothes basket,

rotatable on a vertical axis, with a plurality of relatively 1 small openings formed adjacent the upper edge but otherwise substantially imperforate. An annular apertured clothes retaining member is secured to this basket so as toextend inwardly and upwardly from the sides of the basket. Theiouter edge of the retainingmember joins the basket below the level of at least a substantialnum: berof the small openings; the inner edge is'formed above the level ofa substantial'number of the small openings atent C by any suitable means (not shown).

2,943,740 Patented July 5, 1960- ice from any adjacent part of the basket, clothes cannot plaster themselves along the retaining member and between the retaining member.-and the basket so as to dam the water in the basket and prevent it from getting to the basket openings. Instead, with the inner edge of the retaining means inwardly spaced from any adjacent part of the basket, but below the upper edge of the basket, the highest the-water can riseis, of course, to the upper edge of the clothes retainer, and this isv insufficient to provide the overflow condition in which the clothes tend to be carried out of the basket.

The features of the invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to organization and the method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing, the single figure is a side elevational view of a clothes washing machine including my improved clothes retaining arrangement, the view being partially broken away and partially in section to show details.

Referring now to the drawings, I have shown therein an agitator-type washing machine 1 having a clothes basket 2 disposed within an outer imperforate tub or casing 3. Tub 3 is mounted within an appearance cabinet 4 which includes an appropriate cover (not shown) for providing access to the clothes basket. At the center, of basket 2 there is provided a vertical axis agitator5' which includes a center post 6 and a plurality of radially extending vanes 7. The agitator. is further provided with an outwardly and downwardly flared skirt 8 to which the, 'vanes are joined at their lower ends.

Both the clothes basket 2 and the agitator 5 are rotatably mounted. The basket is mounted on a flange 9 of a rotatable hub 10 and the agitator is mounted on a shaft (not shown) which extends upwardly through hub 10 and center post 6. The agitator is secured to the shaft During the cycle of operation of the machine 1, the agitator is'first oscillated back and forth within the basket 2 to wash the clothes therein. Then, after a predetermined period of this washing action, the basket 2 is rotated at high speed to extract centrifugally the washing liquid and discharge it into the outer tub 3 through appropriate small openings in basket 2 as shown at 11, which in the usual construction extend in a horizontal line around adjacent the top of the basket. Following this extraction operation, a supply of clean liquid is introducedinto the wash basket for rinsing the clothes as the agitator is again oscillated. Finally, the basket is once more rotated at high speed to extract the rinse water and discharge it into the outer tub.

The basket 2, and agitator 5 may be driven by any suitable means as the drive means forms no part of the present invention. However, by way of examplel have shown them as driven from a reversible motor 12 which drives the basket and agitator through a drive including a clutch 13 mounted on the motor shaft. Clutch 13 allows the motor to start without load and then picks. up the load as it comes up to speed. A suitable belt 14 transmits power to transmission assembly 15 through pulley 16; thus, depending upon the direction of motor rotation pulley 16 of transmission 15 is driven in opposite directions. a

The transmission 15 is so arranged that it supports and drives both the agitator drive shaft and the basket mounting hub 10. When motor 12 is rotated in one direction the transmission causes the agitator 5 to oscillate within the basket 2. Conversely, when the motor 12 is driven in the opposite direction, the transmission drives the wash basket 2 and the agitator 5 together at high speed asaarao for centrifugal extraction. While the drive means forms no part of the invention, reference is made to Patent 2,844,225 issued on July 22,4958 to James R. Hubbard et al. and owned by the General Electric Company, assignee'of the present'inve'ntion. That patent discloses in detail the structural characteristics of a transmission assembly suitable for use in the illustrated machine.

In order to introduce washing and rinsing liquid into basket 2, a suitable conduit 17 is provided having an outlet opening over the basket so that water introduced into conduit 17 flows into the basket. The water is supplied in the usual manner well known in the art,- and will not be further described herein.

In addition to operating transmission 15 as described, motor 12 drives a pump 18"thr ough a flexible coupling 19 which connects themotor shaft and the pump shaft. During washing and rinsing operations, pump 18 discharges into a conduit 20 which leads to a nozzle 21 positioned above basket 2' so that liquid overflowed through openings 11 may be recirculated through a suitable filter (not shown) in order to clean and filter the liquid during the operation. The system constantly circulates the washing liquid from tub 3 through conduit 20 and nozzle 21 back into basket 2 where it overflows through openings 11 into tub 3 to repeat the cycle. This recirculation systemforms no part of the present invention, but is briefly described in order to complete the description of the machine. At the end of the washing and rinsing portions of the cycle, and in response to a reverse direction of rotation of motor 12, pump 18 discharges into a conduit 22 which is adapted for discharge to a stationary tub or drain line so that the pump is efiectiveto drain tub 3. While any suitable pump may be used for draining purposes, I prefer to use the one just now described; it is described in detail and claimed in copending application S;N. 468,460, now Patent No. 2,883,843, .filed November 12, 1954 by John Bochan and owned by the General Electric Company.

- Itwill be observed that to help balance the basket 2 during its high speed rotation for centrifugal liquid extraction purposes, a balance ring 23, either solid, or, as shown, filled with heavy particulate material 24, is secured to the inwardly turned top flange 25 of basket 2. I prefer to secure this balance ring to the top flange of the basket by welding the outer flange 26 of thebalance ring to flange 25 of the clothes retaining portion of the basket at spaced intervals, as shown at 27 for instance. In between welded spots 27, I prefer to have flanges 25 and 26 slightly spaced from each other so as to provide openings 28.

An annular clothes retaining member 29 has its outer edge either contiguous or closely adjacent the side walls 30 of basket 2. In the preferred construction, member 29 is formed'of a plurality of generally coaxial loops of wire 31 (the loops being either separate and continuous, as shown, or formed in spiral fashion) which 'are' secured in position by radially extending wires 32 extending above the loops 31. The radially extending wires may further have their ends formed as hooks 33 at the top of Vertically extending portions 34, so that the hooks 33 may be caused to extend through a few of the openings 11 so as to secure the clothes retainer member 29 in'positio'n' in basket 2. It will be observed that when the clothes retainer member 29 is so secured, the outer edge thereof which is adjacent or contiguous to wall 30' of basket 2 is located below openings 11, and that the inner edge 35' of the member 29 is substantially'above-the'openings- 11 but below the overflow edge 36 of basket 2 as a whole, i.e., including both the main clothes containing portion thereof and the rigidly secured balance ring 23. In addition, in my preferred construction I cause the innermost lower edge 37 of balance ring 23 to be engaged by the radial wires 32;. With this construction, the member 29 is automatically secured in the desired positionpalso, it will be observed that a small but positive space 38 is provided between the inner lower edge of the balance ring and the coaxial wires 31-, the contact between the balance ring and the clothes retainer member 29 occurring only where the radially extending wires'32 are provided.

To complete the general description of the machine, it

will further be observed that while basket 2 is substantially irnperforate except for openings 11 and 28 adjacent the top thereof, special small openings may be provided in other locations without affecting the general imperforate nature thereof; thus, a small opening 39 for the removal of sand and other heavy particles may be provided beneath the agitator 5 without affecting the substantially imperforate nature of basket 2.

During washing and rinsing sequences, the clothes within basket 2 are continually being moved around by agitator 5, and thus there is no tendency for the clothes in basket 2 to block openings 11 and prevent the water from flowing out of those openings. However, when the machine starts tos'pi'n basket 2 at high speed to effect centrifugal liquid extraction from the clothes, there is a tendency for the clothes to be thrown outwardly and upwardly so as to block the openings 11. If there is no safeguard at all, the water, in order to get out of basket 2, must then flow up over edge 36 where there is no restraint at all on small pieces of clothing in the water floating over the edge 36 and into tub 3 where they may foul pump 18. Perhaps even more frequently encountered hazard results from the fact that, in the rinse following the wash water extraction, the water mayfiow over the top of the basket because the clothes which were thrown against openings 11 during the spin step remain there as the basket fills with rinse water. 7

However, with the constructiondescribed hereabove, this result is positively prevented, that is, the construction prevents clothesbeing floated over the edge 36 while at the same time it insures that openings 11 and 28 will be caused to remain open. By virtue of starting at its outer edge below the level of openings 11- and finishing at its upper edge above the level of those openings, member 29 insures that the'clothes will have no opportunity to be flung against the openings themselves so as to block them.

The possibility does remain that despite the relatively large area of member 29, the clothes may substantially plaster themselves against it" thus forcing the water to take the only escape route left-up over the inner edge of member 29. However,- even in this remote contingency, there will be no danger of the clothes passing out of basket 2. In the first place, the inner edge of member 29 is substantially below the level of upper edge 36 of the basket so that water flowing up over the upper inner edge 35 of member 29 will flow out through openings 38 between balance'ring- 23 and wires 31, and then out through the unimpeded openings 11- (and openings 28, should the level rise: that high). In addition, the fact that the inner edge 35' of member 29 is not only substantially below basket edge 36, but also substantially inwardly spaced from any adjacent part of the basket, means that regardless of circumstances the clothes cannot build up a dam between the inner edge of member 29 and an adjacent part of the basket. Instead, liquid can freely flow over the inner edge of the clothes retainer member Z9- -in the unlikely event that clothes should be blocking its surface area so thoroughly that the liquid does not flow out inthe ordinary manner between the wires-and thenthrough openings 38 to openings 11 and 28.

It will thus be seen that by providing, in a substantially imperfora te rotatable basket, an apertured member which has its outer edge adjacent the tub below most of the openings and its inner edge below the upper edge of the tub but above the major part of the openings, the desired effect of retaining the clothes within the basket without any adverse efiect' on the centrifugal extraction of liquid from the clothes is achieved.

While in accordance with the patent statutes we have described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be obviousv to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and we therefore aim in the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention.

What we claim as new and desire to swure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In a washing machine, an open clothes basket rotatable on a vertical axis, said basket having a plurality of relatively small openings formed therein adjacent its upper edge and being otherwise substantially imperforate, annular apentured clothes retaining means secured to said basket extending inwardly and upwardly from the sides thereof, the outer edge of said retaining means being adjacent said basket below the level of a substantial number of said small openings, the inner edge of said retaining means being formed above the level of a substantial number of said small openings, below the level of the upper edge of said basket, and inwardly spaced from any adjacent part of said basket.

2. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said annular apertured clothes retaining means is comprised of connected wires.

3. The apparatus defined in claim 1 wherein said plurality of relatively small openings is provided in a substantially horizontal row extending around the periphery of said basket adjacent the upper edge thereof.

4. In a washing machine, an open clothes basket rotatable on a vertical axis, said basket having a plurality of relatively small openings formed therein adjacent its upper edge and being otherwise substantially imperforate, said basket further having an annular inwardly extending portion adjacent but below the upper edge thereof, and a wire clothes retaining member secured to said basket extending inwardly and upwardly from the sides thereof, said retaining member being formed of a plurality of coaxial loops of wire and a plurality of generally radially extending lengths of wire secured to and positioned over said loops of wire to form said loops of wire into said retaining member, the outer edge of said retaining member being adjacent said basket below the level of a substantial number of said small openings, the inner edge of said retaining member being formed above the level of a substantial number of said small openings, below the level of the upper edge of said basket, and inwardly spaced from any adjacent part of said basket, said annular inwardly extending portion of said basket engaging said radial wires thereby to provide a passage between the top of said loops of wire and said inwardly extending basket portion for the flow of liquid.

5. The apparatus defined in claim 4 wherein each of said loops is separate and continuous.

6. The apparatus defined in claim 4 wherein a relatively heavy balance ring comprises the upper part of said basket, said ring having a lower surface constituting said annular inwardly extending portion of said basket.

References Cited in the file of patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,823,534 Loehle Feb. 18, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 742,410 Great Britain Dec. 3, 1955

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