US2959357A - Dishwasher - Google Patents

Description

H. GELLER Nov. 8, 1960 DISHWASHER Filed May 26, 1958 FIG. I

INVENTOR. HARRY GELLER BY 72 9 mi HIS ATTORNEY United States Patent 2,959,357 DISHWASHER Harry Geller, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Elec- Company, a corporation of New York Fi led May 26, 1958, Ser. No. 737,648, 3 Claims. (Cl. 239-220) This invention relates to dishwashers, and more particularly' to amachi'ne of this character having improved us for impelling or'sp r'a'yin'g water withint he washing mberl. .7 v, l general object of this invention is to provide a dish! washed-"including improved "means for circulating high velocity streams of water throughout the washing chamber bf therdishwasher; H. l 1 Another object'of the invention is to provide a dishwasher havingimproved means for spraying high velocity rotating sheets of water within the washing chamber. of the dishwasher. I i 1 Further objects and advantages of this invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointedout with particularity in the claims annexed to and. forming a part of this specification.

Briefly stated, in accordance with one aspect of this invention thereis provided a di shwatsher including a rotary impeller surrounded was freely rotatable 'cyl hdr ical bafiie having a'n'elongate d opening therein through which a sheet of water is discharged when the impeller is rotating, it being understood that the baffle is arranged to admit water at the rate at which it is discharged. Rotation of the impeller causes rotary movement of the body of water within the baffle, and this in turn induces relatively slow rotary movement of the baffle so that the sheet of water discharged therefrom moves in a rotating pattern, so that there is, in effect, a water coupling connecting the impeller and the baffie.

For a better understanding of this invention reference may be made to the following description and the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is an elevation view, partially in section, of a dishwasher embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken along the line 22 in Fig. 1, some of the parts being broken away.

Referring to the drawing, the dishwasher illustrated therein includes a washing chamber 1 defined by a top wall 2, a rear wall 3, side walls 4 and 5 and a generally concave bottom wall 6. Thus washing chamber 1 is generally rectangular in configuration, and includes a front opening provided with a peripheral sealing gasket 7 and a door 8 which is hinged or otherwise secured to the dishwasher frame so as to permit access through the door opening to chamber 1. Bottom wall 6 forms a sump in which the water impeller means of the present invention is located.

A dish holding rack 9 is arranged to be supported within washing chamber 1, and as illustrated in Fig. 1 the rack may be constructed so as to rest on bottom wall 6 and to support a number of dishes in the positions indicated by broken lines. Preferably, rack 9 is so arranged that the dishes are supported in such a way that their inner or top surfaces are directly exposed to streams of water impelled upwardly from the sump at the bottom of the washing chamber.

Mounted in the sump formed by the configuration of; bottom"wall 6 is an elongated impeller 19 w ch as shown in Fig. 1 i 'generally S -shaped in cross section. Impeller 10 is supported for rotation on a her t al axis generally parallel to the longitudinal arris of the sump by means of end shafts 11 and 12 which are fixedly secured to the ends of the impeller and are arranged to rotate in' suitable bearings secured in side walls and 5 of the washing chamber. Thus, as shown in F g. 2-, shaft 11 is supported in bearing 13 which is secured to side wall 5, and it will be understood that shaft 12' is supported in a similar manner. Secured to the end of shaft ll is a pulley 14 which cooperates with pulley secured' to the shaft of motor 1 6 and belt 17 to fortn a drive system forro tating impeller 10. lvlotor 1s mounted in a compa'rtnient below washing chamber 1, which is formed by 'a' 'fr ont wall 18, a rear wall 3, tom wall 19 andslde walls 20 and 21. In accordance with the present invention, impeller is surrounded by an elo'n gated cylindrical baffle 22 freely mounted forrotation'about the rotary axis of the intpellet. Thus the end portions of baffle 22 may be formed as illustrated in Fig. 2, so as to include an annular end 'wall 23 and a sleeve portion 24 arranged to engage the outer surface of bearing 1 3:. Baffle 22 is provided with a pair of diametrically opposing arrially aligned openings 25' and 26 which preferably extend along the entire length of: the baffle. As will presently be descr bed, openings 25 and 26 alternately function as entrance openings for admitting water to the area swept by 1n lc' it an e t spellings hrq sh w i a r a. 91.." polled from the battle into the washing chamber.

Water for washing operations may be supplied to washing chamber 1 byi'anyv suitable means sueh asa water inlet valve 27 connected in a' water supply line 28 which supplies water to an inlet nozzle 29. Similarly, suitable means for discharging water from washing chamber 1 are provided such as a drain pipe 30 connected to the bottom of the sump formed by bottom wall 6 and also to a drain valve 31. It will be understood that impeller 10 and baffle 22 are arranged to operate partially submerged in water as indicated by the water level shown in Fi 1.

In operation, after the dishes or other articles to be washed have been placed on rack 9 and door 8 moved to its closed position, water is admitted to washing chamber 1 through inlet nozzle 29 so as to supply sufiicient water to the chamber to partially submerge rotary bafiie 22. Motor 16 is then energized and by means of pulleys 14 and 15 and belt 17 drives impeller 10 at a relatively high speed (1700 r.p.m., for example) in the direction indicated by the arrow in Fig. 1. Rotation of the impeller 10 causes rotary movement of the water in the zone swept by the impeller, and the resulting movement of the water induces relatively slow rotation of bafile 22, it being understood that the rapidly rotating mass of water therein produces sufficient frictional force along the inner surface of the bafiie to cause rotation thereof. This effect may be described as a water coupling connecting the impeller and the baflie as distinguished from separate drive motors and link or gear drives mechanically connecting the impeller to the baffle. At the same time water within the baffle is expelled through either opening 25 or opening 26, depending upon which opening is above the water level. The opposite opening in battle 22 which is below the water level functions as an inlet opening through which water is admitted to the zone swept by impeller 10. In practice, it has been found that a high velocity sheet of water is discharged through the uppermost opening in bafiie 22 and that this sheet of water sweeps or rotates across the upper space within the washing chamber so that the articles supported on rack 9 are subjected to a constantly moving stream of water.

While I have shown and described a particular embodiment of my invention, I do not desire the invention to be limited to the particular construction disclosed, and I intend by the appended claims to cover all modifications within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim is:

1. In a dishwashing machine comprising a washing chamber, an elongated impeller adapted to be partially submerged in water in said chamber, means for rotating said impeller, and a cylindrical bafiie surrounding said impeller, said bafile having inlet openings that are positioned below the water level for admitting water into the zone swept by said impeller and outlet openings above the water level through which water is expelled during rotation of said impeller, said bafile being freely mounted for rotation about the rotary axis of said impeller, whereby rotary movement of water within said baffle induced by rotation of said impeller causes continuous rotation of said baffie at a speed substantially lower than the speed of rotation of said impeller so that there is in eflect a water coupling connecting the impeller and the bafiie, the baffle rotating in the water causing the openings to alternately pass through the water in the chamber, the opening above the water serving as an outlet opening while the opening below the water serves as an inlet opening, both the inlet and outlet openings extending for substantially the entire length of the bafile.

2. In a dishwashing machine comprising a washing chamber including a concave bottom wall forming a sump, an elongated rotary impeller mounted in said chamber for rotation partially submerged in water about an axis parallel to the longitudinal axis of said sump, means for rotating said impeller, and an elongated cylindrical baflie surrounding said impeller, said bafile having a pair of diametrically opposed openings therein which extend for substantially the entire length of the battle, said bafile being freely mounted for rotation about the rotary axis of said impeller, whereby rotation of said impeller causes the water to drive the bafile in the same direction as the impeller but at a relatively slow rate and it also discharges a moving stream of water from one of said openings which is above the water while the other opening is under water.

3. In a dishwashing machine comprising a washing chamber including a concave bottom wall member defining a sump, an elongated impeller mounted in said sump for rotation partially submerged in water on a horizontal axis generally parallel to the longitudinal axis of said sump, means for rotating said impeller, an elongated cylindrical baffie surrounding said impeller, said bafile having a pair of diametrically opposing axially aligned openings therein which extend for substantially the entire length of the baflie, each of said openings being defined by a first axially aligned edge portion of said bafile and a second axially aligned edge portion of said bafile, said first and second edge portions being swept by said impeller in the order just named, each of said first edge portions being bent outwardly from the cylindrical surface of said baffie, said baflle being freely mounted for rotation about the rotary axis of said impeller, whereby rotary movement of water within said bafiie induced by rotation of said impeller causes continuous rotation of said baflle at a speed substantially lower than the speed of rotation of said impeller and said impeller discharges a continuously moving sheet of water from one of said openings as it moves through an are above the water level in said sump.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,317,014 Yochem Apr. 20, 1943 2,353,368 Schulz July 11, 1944 2,710,617 James et al. June 14, 1955

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