Patent ID: 11920273
Assignee: LG ELECTRONICS INC.
Field: Other consumer goods (Other fields)
Classification: CPC D | IPC D

Claim 0:
1. A laundry treating apparatus comprising:
a cabinet having a top face for supporting an object thereon and a front face having a front opening defined therein communicating an interior of the cabinet with an outside thereof;
a drawer extendable from the cabinet through the front opening;
a tub disposed inside the drawer and having a water storage space defined therein;
a drum rotatably disposed in the tub to receive therein laundry;
a laundry inlet defined in a top face of the tub to receive laundry to be input into the drum;
a lever having a fixed end pivotably coupled to the cabinet and a free end positioned between a top face of the cabinet and a top face of the drawer;
a magnetic field generator fixed to one of the free end of the lever and the drawer to generate a magnetic field;
a magnetic field sensor disposed on the other of the free end of the lever and the drawer, wherein the magnetic field sensor is configured to sense a magnetic field from the magnetic field generator when the drawer is inserted into the cabinet to a reference position;
a lever actuator configured:
when an object is seated on the top face of the cabinet, to allow the free end of the lever to move toward the drawer to keep a distance between the magnetic field generator and the magnetic field sensor to be a value smaller than or equal to a reference distance; or
when the object does not rest on the top face of the cabinet, to allow the free end of the lever to pivot away from the drawer such that the distance between the magnetic field generator and the magnetic field sensor is larger than the reference distance; and

a door pivotally disposed at a top face of the drawer or a top face of the tub to open and close the laundry inlet, wherein when the door opens the laundry inlet inside the cabinet, the lever actuator is configured to pivot the free end of the lever away from the drawer such that the distance between the magnetic field generator and the magnetic field sensor is larger than the reference distance.