US3477747A

US3477747A - Support means for a food waste disposer

Info

Publication number: US3477747A
Application number: US680369A
Authority: US
Inventors: Francis J Clements
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1967-11-03
Filing date: 1967-11-03
Publication date: 1969-11-11
Anticipated expiration: 1986-11-11
Also published as: BR6803628D0

Description

Nov. 11, 1969 F. J. CLEMENTS SUPPORT MEANS FOR A FOOD WASTE DISPOSER Filed Nov. 5. Y 1967 INVENTOR. F'RANC! S 3'. CLEMENTS ms ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,477,747 SUPPORT MEANS FOR A FOOD WASTE DISPOSER Francis J. Clements, Anchorage, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Nov. 3, 1967, Ser. No. 680,369 Int. Cl. F16l 3/00 US. Cl. 285-158 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Means for supporting a food waste disposer having a housing with an open upper end on a sink or the like basin. The support means include a sleeve supported by the sink and terminating in an open lower end, a support ring carried by the sleeve above its open lower end and a resilient annular boot surrounding the open upper end edge of the disposer housing. The boot has an inner surface that is slidable over the sleeve lower end and an outer surface extending radially outward from the outside of the housing upper end. The disposer is connected to the support ring by a substantially rigid mounting ring and suitable connector means. The mounting ring has an inner diameter greater than the outside diameter of the housing upper end and smaller than the outside diameter of the boot outer surface, and the connector means are arranged to align and connect the mounting ring to the support ring with the inner edge of the mounting ring wholly spaced radially outward from the outside of the housing upper end and underlying the boot outer surface, and with the rings inner edges vertically spaced from one another to permit vertical sliding movement between the boot inner surface and the sleeve. With this arrangement, the mounting ring is solidly connected to the sleeve; however, the disposer housing and the resilient boot surrounding its upper end can move vertically to absorb vibrations which occur during operation of the disposer.

Background of the invention The present invention relates generally to food waste disposers and more particularly to means for supporting a food waste disposer on a sink or like basin.

Food waste disposers usually include a housing having an open upper end that is connected to the drain opening of a kitchen sink and serves as an ingress opening for the admission of waste material and water to motorpowered comminuting means contained within the housing. Operation of the comminuting means frequently causes vibrations which would be transmitted to the sink if the disposer housing were rigidly mounted thereto.

In order to eliminate or reduce the transmission of the vibrations to the sink, various prior art means have been devised for resiliently mounting the disposer housing to the sink. A typical form of such prior-art resilient mounting means is illustrated in US. Patent No. 3,108,- 755, issued Oct. 29, 1963 to Johnny W. Yartz and the present inventor, and assigned to the General Electric Company, assignee of the present invention. While such prior-art resilient mountings have produced satisfactory results, they require a plurality of rather expensive heattreated resilient hooks for connecting the upper end of the disposer housing to a support ring which is carried by a sleeve that is mounted in the sink drain opening.

Food waste disposers are mass produced and, therefore, even the smallest cost reduction per unit results in significant savings to the manufacturer during the course of the year. Thus, support means which will reduce parts and cost but still provide satisfactory vibration damping are desirable not only from the standpoint of the manufacturenbut also from that of the consumer, since the cost savings will eventually pass to the consumer.

Summary of the invention The present invention provides simplified, lower cost vibration-absorbing means for mounting a food waste disposer having a housing with an open upper end to the drain opening of the sink or like basin. Briefly described, in one presently preferred form, the present in vention comprises: (A) a hollow tubular sleeve supported by the sink within its drain opening and terminating in an open lower end; (B) a substantially rigid support ring carried by the sleeve above its open lower end; (C) a resilient annular boot surrounding the open upper end of the disposer housing and having an inner surface slidable over the sleeve lower end and an outer surface extending radially outward from the outside of the housing open upper end; (D) a substantially rigid mounting ring having an inner diameter greater than the outside diameter of the housing upper end but smaller than the outside diameter of the boot outer surface; and (E) means for aligning and connecting the mounting ring with the support ring with the inner edge of the mounting ring wholly spaced radially outward from the outside of the housing upper end and underlying the boot outer surface and with the inner edges of the rings vertically spaced from one another to permit vertical sliding movement between the boot inner surface and the sleeve.

Brief description of the drawing The present invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view of a food waste disposer incorporating one presently preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a partly broken fragmentary sectional view taken along line 22 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary perspective view of the mounting ring of FIGURES 1 and 2.

Description of the preferred embodiments Referring now to the drawing, and particularly to FIG- URE 1, there is shown a food waste disposer 10 having a hollow generally cylindrical open-ended housing or hopper 11 defining a comminuting chamber 12. The open upper end of the housing 11 is supported from the bottom wall'of a sink 13, or like basin, by support means, generally indicated at 14, which will be described in detail hereinafter.

Secured to the lower end of the housing 11 by means of an annular clamp 15 is a casing 16. Encapsulated within the casing 16 is an electric motor 17 having. an upwardly extending rotary output shaft 18 supported in a bearing 19. The upper end of the shaft 18 extends into the comminuting chamber 12 and is connected to a comminuting assembly generally indicated at 20. The comminuting assembly 20 includes a flywheel 21 which is fixed by a nut 22 to the threaded upper end of the shaft 18 for rotation therewith. At least one impeller 23 is pivotally mounted on the flywheel 21 by means of a pin 24. Secured to the inner wall ofthe housing 10 in radially spaced relationship with the impeller 23 is at least one grinding pad 25 which cooperates with the impeller 23" to effect a comminuting action within the chamber 12. As is well known in the food waste disposer art, the motor 25 rotates the shaft 18 and drives the comminuting assembly 20. The impeller 23 is pivoted radially outwardly as the flywheel 21 rotates and each time that the impeller 23 passes the grinding pad 25, food waste within the chamber 12 is comminuted.

The open upper end of the housing 11 constitutes an ingress opening through which the waste material and water are supplied to the comminuting chamber 12 from a drain opening 28 in the bottom wall of the sink 13.

In accordance with the present invention, the support means 14 serve both to support the disposer 10 from the sink bottom wall 13 and also to connect the upper end of the disposer housing 11 in a liquid-tight relationship with the drain opening 28.

In the form of the present invention illustrated in FIG- URES 1-3, the support means 14 include a hollow tubular sleeve 29 which has an open lower end arranged to be inserted downward through the sink drain opening 28. The open upper end in the sleeve 29 is provided with an outwardly extending circular flange 30 adapted to overlie the annular marginal edge 31 of the drain opening 28. As shown in FIGURE 1, the annular marginal edge 31 is preferably slightly depressed from the sink bottom wall 13.

The sleeve 29 not only serves to feed the waste material and water from the sink drain opening 28 to the open upper end of the disposer housing 11 but also supports the housing 10 and its attached motor casing 16. A substantially rigid annular metal support ring 32 encircles the depending portion of the sleeve 29 and is provided with a plurality of circumferentially spaced bosses 33, with long set screws 34 threadedly engaged in the respective bosses. Preferably, the bosses 33 and the associated set screws 34 will be spaced at uniform intervals around the circumference of the support ring 32 (three being provided in the form of the invention illustrated, spaced 120 apart). The support ring 32 lies in a substantial horizontal plane normal to the axis of the sleeve 29 and of the housing 11. The support ring 32 with the set screws 34 is supported from the sleeve 29 by means of a snap ring 35 or the like which is pressed against an outwardly facing circular groove 36 formed in the sleeve at a point spaced above its lower end. The set screws 34 function to clamp the sleeve flange 30 to the bottom wall of the sink 13 by means of a substantially rigid metallic clamping ring 37 encircling the sleeve 29 above the support ring 32, it being understood that when the set screws 34 are screwed upwardly they will clamp the marginal edge 31 of the sink opening 28 tightly between the sleeve flange 30 and the clamping ring 37. Preferably, a vibration-damping gasket 38 will be positioned between the bottom of the sink 13 and the clamping ring 37.

The housing 11 may be conveniently formed of sheet metal, and the upper edge of its open upper end is surrounded by or embedded in a generally annular shaped resilient boot 39, which may be formed of vibration-absorbing elastomeric material. The boot 39 has an inner surface, including axially-spaced inwardly directed annular ridges 40, adapted to be slipped over the open lower end of the sleeve 29 in a liquid-tight relationship therewith, and an outer surface 39a which extends radially outward from the outer periphery of the upper end of the housing 11. The boot 39 may be secured to the upper end of the housing 11 by suitable fastening means, such as by a circumferentially extending band 42.

The support ring 32 and set screws 34 not only function to secure the sleeve 29 to the sink bottom wall 13, but also cooperate with a substantially rigid metallic mounting ring 43 to connect the disposer 10 to the sleeve 29. As best illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2, the mounting ring 43 has an inner diameter that is greater than the outer diameter of the upper end of the housing 11 but smaller than the outside diameter of the boot outer surface 39a, and is adapted to be slipped over the open upper end of the housing 11 before the boot 39 is placed thereon. The outer diameter of the mounting ring 43 is substantially the same as that of the support ring 32 and the mounting ring 43 is provided with apertures 44 which are adapted to be slipped over the lower ends of the long set screws 34 to align its inner edge beneath the boot outer surface 39a but wholly radially spaced from the outer periphery of the upper end of the housing 11 such that a circumjacent gap 41 is defined between the inner edge of the mounting ring 43 and the upper end of the housing 11. Connector means, such as nuts 45, can be threaded over the lower ends of a long set screw 34 to connect the support and mounting

rings

32 and 43 together, with the mounting ring 43 aligned by its apertures 44 as described above.

As shown in FIGURES 1 and 3, the mounting ring 43 has an upturned outer edge 46 which is engaged with the downturned outer edge 47 on the support ring 32, when the

rings

32 and 43 are connected together as described above. The vertical dimensions of the

edges

46 and 47 are made such that there is sufficient vertical space between the inner edges of the

rings

32 and 43 to permit vertical sliding movement of the boot 39 relative to the lower end of the sleeve 29.

Hence, with the mounting means 14 of the present invention, vibrations which occur in the disposer 10 during operation of the motor 17 are isolated from the sink bottom wall 13 by the resilient boot 39, since the only contact between the disposer 10 and the sink bottom wall 13 is through the boot inner surface ridges 40, which slidably engage the lower end of the sleeve 29, and the boot outer surface 41, which overlies the inner edge of the sleeve-connected mounting ring 43.

In the form of the present invention illustrated in FIGURES 1-3, transmission of vibrations from the disposer 10 to the sink bottom wall 13 is further limited by reducing the contact area between the boot outer surface 39a and the underlying inner edge of the mounting ring 43. As illustrated, this is accomplished by providing the inner edge of the mounting ring 43 with a plurality of circumferentially spaced upstanding projections or tabs 48. The tabs '48 have a convex upper edge 49 and are circumferentially aligned with and equal in number to the apertures 44 and thus provide a three-point suspension for the boot outer surface 41, which they underlie when the support and mounting

rings

32 and 43 are connected together as described above. The convex upper edges 49 of the tabs 48 further reduce the contact area between the boot outer surface 39a and also dig into the same and thereby inhibit rotary movement of the boot 39 relative to the sleeve 29.

It will be understood that in assembling the apparatus in the field, the sleeve 29 will be inserted downwardly into the sink drain opening 28 and its flange 30 seated in the marginal edge 31 of the opening 28. The gasket 38 and clamping ring 37 will be elevated over the sleeve lower end to their positions under the sink bottom wall 13. The support ring 32 will be elevated over the sleeve lower end and the snap ring 35 engaged in the groove 36 to hold the support ring, inner edge spaced above the lower end of the sleeve 29. After all of this, the sleeve 29 will be clamped to the sink bottom wall 13 by threading the long set screws 34 upwardly through the bosses 33 and into engagement with the bottom of the clamping ring 37.

It will also be understood that the mounting ring 43 will have been first slipped over the upper end of the disposer housing 11 and the boot 39 then installed over the upper edge of the housing 11 and secured thereto by the clamping ring 42 at the factory.

Now, in the field, the disposer 10 is elevated and the annular ridges 40 on the .inner surface of the housingattached boot- 39 are slipped over the lower end of the sleeve 29. The mounting ring apertures 44 are aligned with and slipped over the lower ends of the long set screws 34 and the nuts 45 are threaded over the lower ends of the set screws 34 to connect the support and mounting

rings

32 and 43 together, engaging the

outer edges

46 and 47 with one another.

Thus, it can be seen from the foregoing description, that the present invention provides a simplified means for mounting a food waste disposer to a sink or like basin As will be evident from the foregoing description, certain aspects of the present invention are not limited to the particular details of the construction of the example illustrated, and it is contemplated that various other modifications or applications will occur to those skilled in the art. It is therefore intended that the appended claims shall cover such modifications and applications as do not depart from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

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

1. Means for supporting a food waste disposer having a housing with an open upper end to a sink or like basin, comprising:

(a) a tubular sleeve supported by the sink and terminating in an open lower end;

(b) a support ring carried by said sleeve above said open end;

(0) a resilient generally annular boot surrounding the upper edge of the housing open upper end;

(d) said boot having an inner surface slidable over said sleeve lower end and an outer surface extending radially outward from the outside of the housing open upper end;

(e) a mounting ring having an inner diameter greater than the outside diameter of the housing upper end and smaller than the outside diameter of said boot outer surface, said mounting ring engaging said boot outer surface to support said boot;

(f) screw means for aligning and connecting said mounting ring with said support ring with the inner edge of said mounting ring wholly spaced radially outward from the outside of the housing upper end and underlying said 'boot outer surface and with the inner edges of said rings vertically spaced from one another to permit vertical sliding movement between said boot inner surface and said sleeve; and

(g) said screw means also serving as a means of fastening said sleeve to the sink.

2. The invention of claim 1, wherein said mounting ring and said means for aligning and connecting are substantially rigid.

3. The invention of claim 1, further including means for attaching said boot to the housing upper end.

4. The invention of claim 1, wherein:

(a) said screw means are threaded into said support ring; and

(b) said mounting ring has apertures which can be slipped over said screw means to align said mounting ring with its inner edge wholly radially spaced from the housing upper end.

5. The invention of claim 1, further including means for attaching said boot to the housing upper end.

6. Means for supporting a food waste disposer having a housing with an open upper end to a sink or like basin, comprising:

(b) a support ring carried by said sleeve above said open lower end;

(c) a resilient generally annular boot surrounding the upper edge of the housing open upper end;

(d) said boot having an inner surface slidable over said sleeve lower end and an outer surface extending radially outward from the outside of the housing open end;

(e) a mounting ring having an inner diameter greater than the outside diameter of the housing upper end and smaller than the outside diameter of said boot outer surface; and

(f) said mounting ring having a plurality of circumferentially spaced upstanding projections on its inner edge for engaging the bottom of said boot outer surface to thereby reduce the contact area between the outer surface of said boot and inner edge of said mounting ring and to inhibit the rotary movement of said boot relative to said sleeve.

7. The invention of claim 6, further including means for aligning and connecting said mounting ring with said support ring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,159,354 12/1964 Yartz et a1 241-100.5 3,198,443 8/1965 Guth et al. 241-1005 3,246,132 4/1966 Jordan et al. 285-458 DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner WAYNE L. SHEDD, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.'R. 241-1005