US3442397A - Dishwasher rack - Google Patents

Description

y 6,1969 R. D. JAFFEE ET AL 3,442,397

DISHWASHER RACK Original Filed May 10, 1966 Y Sheet of 2 [2 ROBERT D wxF 'l 10d F164 IRVING L. MARK DARRELL L. DOWNER W m W 7 ATTORNEYS May 6, 1969 R. o. JAFFEE ET AL DISHWASHER RACK Original Filed May 10, 1966 Sheetiof-Z F IGZ l8 I6 20 I uni N. W. 35 E I? z 28 29 29 12 INVENTORS ROBERT D. JAFFEE FIG?) mvme 1.. MARK DARRELL DOWNER BY ATTORNEYS.

United States Patent 3,442,397 DISHWASHER RACK Robert D. Jatfee, Skokie, Irving L. Mark, Chicago, and Darrell L. Downer, Park Ridge, Ill., assignors to Amco Wire Products Corp., Chicago, 11]., a corporation of Illinois Continuation of application Ser. No. 548,928, May 10, 1966. This application June 4, 1968, Ser. No. 740,781 Int. Cl. A47] 15/50 US. Cl. 211--71 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dishwasher rack for cups or glasses includes compartments for individual vessels with a support extending at least partially across the compartment adjacent its bottom to support the vessel in an inverted and tilted position. Preferably, opposing portions of the lip of the inverted vessel are supported so that it will rock back and forth in response to the washing spray.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 548,928, filed May 10, 1966, now abandoned.

Restaurants and other quantity users of eating utensils commonly have dishwashers with a powered drive to transport racks of dishes through a dishwashing machine. The items in the rack are subjected to a spray of washing and rinsing liquids and are then stacked for drying by retained heat. Such racks are often designed to carry only particular utensils, in order to permit proper washing of a reasonable number of items without undue danger of breakage.

Items such as cups and glasses are generally inverted in a rack so that they can be washed in a stable position and so that they will not retain washing liquid within them. However, the outside bottoms of cups and glasses are often somewhat dish-shaped, forming what is called a well, so that washing liquids could be retained therein to later run onto part of the vessel where it may be tasted by a user. Such a residue can also carry bacteria, or the like, to a user of the utensil. This difficulty is accentuated in the case of plastic racks which do not hold the drying heat as well as metal racks so that there is greater likelihood of liquid retention, due to poorer evaporation in the well of a vessel when it is out of the washer and ready for storage. Liquid retained in the wells can, of course, be spilled during handling to undesirably dampen surroundings.

Cups or glasses placed in a rack in a regular pattern, particularly those in which the rims or lips of the vessels are in a horizontal position, will generally cause the spray within the washing machine to deflect in a relatively uniform pattern and outwardly away from the items to be washed. This can decrease effectiveness of the washing and rinsing liquids and may also cause considerable loss of the washing liquid which can carry over to the rinse section of the machine. Loss of washing liquid to the rinse compartment may also be sensed in some types of machines to operate automatic soap dispensing equipment resulting in an increase in soap consumption.

An object hereof is to improve the efiectiveness of washing and rinsing spray cups or glasses in a rack within a dishwasher.

Another object is to reduce or eliminate retention of liquid in the wells of vessels in a dishwashing rack, especially a rack constructed of plastic.

In a particular form the invention comprises a rack having a base with open grill work and upstanding sides with partitions extending between opposite sides to define compartments each for receiving a single cup or glass. There is further means extending into the compartments Patented May 6, 1969 and engageable with the lip of a cup or glass to support it in tilted position with respect to the base. In this way, there is reduced tendency for retaining liquid in the well of a cup or glass, and furthermore the vessels, in random positions, tend to move or rock as they are struck by the spray from the washing machine so that the spray is better dispersed about the items to be washed. In the case of a cup rack, a fin-like member may project from one corner of a cup compartment and part Way across the diagonal to engage and support one side of the lip of the cup so that it is held at a suitable angle. In the case of a rack for washing glass Stemware, or the like, a rodlike member may extend across the bottom of each glass compartment. This member is positioned somewhat off center Within the compartment so that any inverted glass resting thereon is at an angle with respect to the rack.

In the drawings FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cup rack with a number of cups positioned therein;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the cup rack of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an elevational view of the cup rack of FIG. 2 with a part broken away along the line 33 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a view like that of FIG. 3 but of a rack modified to be used for glasses, or the like; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective representation of a portion of a glass rack of FIG. 4.

In FIG. 1 the rack or tray 10 for holding cups or other similar vessels includes a rack base 12 and a separable upper riser or frame 14 which extends around the periphery of the base 12 and provides upstanding sides on the base. The partitions 16 extend between two opposing sides 14 and the partitions 18 extend between the two remaining sides in order to define a number of compartments each of which is for receiving one of the cups 20. The rack 10 may be formed of suitably molded plastic for lightweight and durability with the parts bolted together. Openings 22 in the opposite sides of the riser 14 form handles to facilitate carrying by the user. Two corners of the base 12 have a color coded identification strip 24 so that if a number of the racks 10 are stacked, the ones having certain partitioning within them, and therefore being useful with particular types of utensils, can be identified without breaking the stack.

The sixteen rectangular cup receiving compartments defined by the partitions 16 and 18 are clearly visible in the plan view FIG. 2. The partitions 16 and 18 extend upwardly from the base 12 are integral with frame 14. These partitions extend upward somewhat short of the upper rim of the sides 14. An also seen in FIG. 2 the base 12 includes an open grill work within the entire region defined by the sides 14. This grill work is composed of perpendicular struts 28 and diagonal members 29 to form a bottom for supporting the vessels to be washed, but at the same time to permit the passage of washing and rinsing liquids and drying air up through the bottom.

Base 12 also has a series of index strips 32 adjacent each of a pair of the sides and also centrally of the base so that the rack may be engaged by the power driven mechanism of a dishwashing machine to move it through the machine. As seen FIG. 3 the riser frame 14 fits on the base 12 since the lower periphery of the frame 14 is grooved and the upper periphery of the base 12 is reduced in cross section at 35. Suitable fasteners 38 (FIG. 2) secure the rack parts 12 and 14 together.

Each of the cup compartments formed by intersecting partitions 16 and 18 and/or the riser sides 14 includes a fin-like projection 40 extending from the corner of the partition and about half the diagonal distance thereacross. The fins 40 extend upwardly from the base 12 by a distance somewhat less than the height of the partitions 16 and 18. As best seen in FIG. 2 the fins 40 are preferably formed at the junction of partitions 16 and 18 such that they extend in opposite directions from a partition intersection to extend into four different cup compartments.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, cups 20 are individually positioned in a compartment defined by the partitions 16 and 18 and one location of the lip of the cup rests on the top of the tilt fin 40 while the opposite portion of the lip of the cup rests on the grill work of the base 12. In this position the cup will be washed by spray coming up through the bottom of the tray as well as spray coming down from the top. Furthermore the well, or dish-shaped bottom, 20a (FG. 1) of a cup will be tilted with respect to the base 12 so that it will not retain liquid, of any substantial amount, when the tray of cups passes beyond the spraying compartment of a dishwashing machine. It should also be noted that cups 20 are supported at two limited areas on their lips so that force of the spray in a washing machine will tend to rock the cups somewhat within their individual compartments and thus cause the spray deflected from them to disperse in a varying pattern to promote better washing and rinsing. The random positions of the cups and the rocking action varies the wash and rinse sprays in a changing pattern for greatly improved washing effectiveness and economy.

Cups of the type carried in the rack 10 generally have handles. As evident in FIG. 1, the cups can be placed in the rack in an inverted position with the handles oriented in any direction. As the tray is transported, the handles will naturally tend to orient themselves toward a corner of the compartment, and there is no need for the rack user to give his attention to any particular orientation of the handles as he is loading the tray.

A modified form of the rack shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 is for washing vessels such as a glass 50 or a sherbet glass 52. The reck 100 includes partitions 16a and 18a extending between the sides 14 to define a number of compartments for individual glasses. Since a glass may often be of considerable heighth compared to cups it may be desirable to extend the partitions 16a and 18a upwardly from the base farther than normal so that two riser and partition sets (14, 18a, 16a) can be fastened in a mated relation atop the base.

A rod-like member 60 extends across each compartment and somewhat oif center thereof, at the level of the top of the base 12 of the rack a. The member 60 engages the lip of a glass to tilt the vessel somewhat and reduce the retention of liquid in the well thereof. Member 60 is preferably positioned so that the glass 50 may tend to rock back and forth as it is sprayed, thereby promoting better dispersing of the spray within the washing compartment. It may be seen that the member 60 will engage the lip of the glass at two points and that the glass will be further supported by the base at an opposite point of its rim.

With the described construction of a dishwashing rack it is therefore possible to improve washing and rinsing action due to slight movement of the cups, glasses, or other vessels washed in the tray. Furthermore possible retention of washing liquid in the wells of the items being handled is reduced due to the fact that these are supported at an angle with respect to the base. This is a particular advantage in the case of a plastic rack since, as has been pointed out previously, the heat rention of such racks is less than that of other racks, for example those made of metal which hold heat and accelerate evaporation, and therefore the drying of the liquid in the wells is less likely to take place with plastic racks. Liquid retained in the well is, of course, undesirable since the vessels will be wet to handle or washing liquid may be deposited where it can be tasted or found to be unsanitary upon use of the vessel. Furthermore it can be seen that the described rack provides individual compartments for the cups or glasses thereby minimizing breakage, but yet the rack can be loaded in an expedient manner since it is unnecessary to orient the items in a particular way to be washed.

We claim:

1. A rack for carrying vessels such as cups and glasses in a dishwashing machine to pass both through a washing spray and a drying cycle while said rack is loaded, including in combination, a base for said rack of open grill-like form to pass washing liquids therethrough, four upstanding sides on said base to define a five-sided rack therewith, said rack further having partitions extending between both of the opposing pairs of said sides to define compartments each for receiving a single vessel, and an elongated support member extending along the top of said base and inwardly of said partitions defining said compartments, said support member extending in spaced relation from all of said partitions along the length of said support member so that said base is exposed on opposite sides thereof, said support member positioned on said base and extending upwardly therefrom thereby to be engageable with the lower edge of a vessel therein with such edge supported both on said support member and on the top of said base for retaining such vessel in an inverted and tilted position with respect to said base.

2. The rack of claim 1 in which said support member is a rod-like member positioned across and integral with the bottoms of said compartments to engage two portions of the edge of a vessel, and a substantially opposite portion of the edge of such vessel contacting said base of said rack.

3. The rack of claim 1 in which said support member is a fin-like member in each of said compartments, said finlike member extending outwardly from said partitions defining each compartment and extending across a portion of each of said compartments at a height upwardly from said base to engage one portion of the edge of an inverted vessel so that an opposite portion of such edge may rest upon the base and the vessel may tilt from side to side in response to the force of a washing spray.

4. The rack of claim 3 in which said compartments are rectangular and said fin-like member extends from one corner of each compartment and diagonally across a portion thereof.

5. The rack of claim 1 in which said support member extends diagonally across at least a portion of said compartments and is integral with the bottoms thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,439,823 12/ 1922 Kaufman 134-57 XR 1,714,629 5/1929 Rodin. 1,833,949 12/1931 Lion 217-69 2,082,004 6/1937 Hull 134-58 X 2,155,868 4/ 1939 Pauly 134-57 2,342,742 2/1944 Loeb 134-58 X 2,378,628 6/1945 Gray 22021 2,691,986 10/1954 Kirby 211-41 X 3,200,988 8/ 1965 Chelbor 220-21 X 3,217,890 11/1965 Maslow 211-41 3,245,548 4/1966 Kesilman 211-41 X 3,306,463 2/1967 Maslow 211-41 XR FOREIGN PATENTS 639,518 4/1962 Canada. 123,186 11/1948 Sweden.

110,074 5/1925 Switzerland.

CHANCELLOR E. HARRIS, Primary Examiner.

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