Patent ID: 7555924
Filing Date: 2009-07-07
Classification: D06F

Abstract:
1. A basket and tank unit for loading the laundry in a washing machine of the type comprising a washing tank for containing washing or rinsing liquid and a laundry loading basket rotatably housed within the tank, said basket and tank unit comprising a tank and a basket which is housed inside the tank and rotatable with respect to said tank about a basket rotation axis, said basket comprising an innerly hollow body with a longitudinal axis being said basket rotation axis, wherein said body has a rear wall fixed to a support structure of said basket and a front wall opposite to the rear wall, both rear and front walls being transversal to the longitudinal axis, as well as a side wall extending about the longitudinal axis and connected to said rear and front walls to form said hollow body, wherein the basket and tank unit defines a free and unobstructed clearance between said side wall of said rotatable basket and said washing tank, wherein the side wall comprises at least one shaped length the radial distance thereof from the longitudinal axis being increased towards the rear wall such that the barycenter of the inner volume defined by the hollow body is displaced towards the rear wall, wherein in the shaped length there are formed one or more steps extending along a circumferential direction to the longitudinal axis, each step providing an increase in the radial distance of the shaped length from the longitudinal axis and wherein said one or more steps define at least two portions of the side wall having a different radial distance from the longitudinal axis, wherein the basket and tank unit define a free and unobstructed clearance between said tank and said side wall of said rotatable basket, said free and unobstructed clearance being configured to allow oscillation movement of the rotatable basket relative to the washing tank, said basket and tank unit being further configured such that said free and unobstructed clearance can contain part of said washing liquid, said basket and tank unit being shaped such that said free and unobstructed clearance between said tank and said side wall of said rotatable basket increases from a rear part of said basket to a front part of said basket, and in which said steps in said shaped lengths of said basket side wall determine a stepwise increase of said free and unobstructed clearance.