Rotary spray manifold

A rotatable spray manifold especially designed for a commercial dishwasher and in which the ends of the two hollow arms are closed by cleanout-caps, each cap being carried by a pair of rods that straddle the sides of each elongated arm and are pivotally secured thereto. The pair of rods form a frame that can swing the cap from closing the open end of the hollow arm into uncovering it, thus permitting access to the interior of each arm for cleaning the spray manifold. The cap is adjustably carried by the swingable frame so as to be movable into a water tight contact with the open end of the spray arm. No tools are necessary to be used in the opening or closing movement of the cleanout-cap and the cap cannot accidentally become lost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
An object of my invention is to provide a rotatable spray manifold having 
radially extending hollow arms whose open ends are closed by removable 
cleanout caps. Each cap is adjustably supported by a pair of rods forming 
a swingable frame which in turn is pivotally connected to the arms so that 
the frame can swing the cap from open position, where it uncovers the open 
end of the hollow arm, into closed position where the cap can be adjusted 
for closing the open end of the arm. 
A further object of my invention is to provide a rotatable spray manifold 
whose central rotatable support includes a sleeve whose axis coincides 
with the axis of rotation. The sleeve is fixed to the center of the spray 
manifold and rotates about a cylindrical bearing. Both the bearing and 
sleeve have openings in their cylindrical walls that successively register 
with each other as the sleeve rotates about the bearing. This arrangement 
will give a pulsating effect to the hot water as it flows from the 
interior of the hollow bearing and through the openings in the bearing and 
sleeve and into the hollow spray arms. The result is a pulsating flow of 
water which issues from the spray jets mounted on the spray arms and 
communicating with the water in the spray arms. The spray jets have their 
outlet orifices inclined from the vertical about 18.degree. in order to 
impart a rotating motion to the spray manifold as the pulsating hot water 
issues from the spray jets.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
In carrying out my invention, I provide a rotatable spray manifold, 
indicated generally at A in FIGS. 1 and 6, and formed from two stamped out 
parts, an upper part B, and a lower part C, see also FIG. 2. The upper 
part B has laterally extending side flanges 1 and 2 while the lower part C 
has two laterally extending flanges 3 and 4. The flanges 1 and 3 are 
brought into abutting relation and spot welded together and also the 
flanges 2 and 4 are brought into abutting relation and spot welded so as 
to form two diametrically opposed and radially extending hollow arms with 
open ends. The open end 5 of one of the hollow arms is shown in FIGS. 2 
and 6. 
The central portion of the spray manifold A is enlarged slightly and the 
upper and lower parts B, and C, thereof have aligned openings 6 and 7, 
respectively, see FIG. 3, whose axes coincide with the axis of rotation 
for the spray manifold. A sleeve D, is press fitted in the aligned 
openings 6 and 7 in the manifold A so as to make a liquid tight fit. The 
sleeve will rotate as a unit with the manifold. It will be seen from FIG. 
3, that the top of the sleeve D extends a slight distance above the top of 
the upper part B of the spray manifold and the sleeve bottom extends a 
slight distance below the bottom part C. Also, the sleeve has a plurality 
of openings 8 in its cylindrical wall that open into the interior of the 
rotatable spray manifold. 
The means for delivering hot water into the interior of the spray manifold 
A, is shown in FIGS. 3 and 7. A hot water inlet pipe E for the dishwasher 
is illustrated in the exploded view of FIG. 7. This pipe has a closed top 
9, shown in section in FIG. 3, and the outer surface of this closed top 
has a central rounded knob 10 that rotatably supports the spray manifold 
in a manner now to be described. FIGS. 1, 6 and 7, show a cover F for the 
top of the sleeve D, and this cover has an annular flange 11, contacting 
the top of the upper spray manifold part B. The cover also has 
diametrically extending projections 12 that are secured to the upper part 
B, by upstanding threaded studs 13, integral with the upper part B, and 
nuts 14. The center of the cover F, contacts the knob 10 and the spray 
manifold A, is rotatably supported in this manner. The weight of the 
manifold is sufficient to overcome any lifting force exerted by the flow 
of hot water from the inlet pipe E, and into the interior of the manifold. 
The hot water inlet pipe E has a cylindrical portion functioning as a 
bearing and a plurality of openings 15 are provided in the bearing wall 
which intermittently register with the openings 8 in the rotating sleeve 
D, as the spray manifold A, rotates, see FIG. 3. The manifold has four 
spray jets G, in the left hand arm in FIG. 1, and three spray jets H. The 
spray jets G have their outlet orifices inclined about 18.degree. from 
vertical and the jets H, have their orifices inclined about 18.degree. 
from the vertical and in an opposite direction from the jets G. The result 
is that the pulsating hot water, caused by the openings 8 in the rotating 
sleeve D, passing through the openings 15 in the inlet pipe E, will rotate 
the spray manifold in a clockwise direction when looking at FIG. 1, see 
also FIG. 2. 
I will now set forth a very important feature of the rotatable spray 
manifold A, and that is the novel way of providing a removable cleanout 
cap J, adjustably mounted on a swingable frame K, that cannot be removed 
from the spray arm, see FIGS. 1, 5 and 6. The frame K, is formed by a pair 
of spaced apart rods 16 that are interconnected at their outer ends by a 
strap 17 and are interconnected near their inner ends by a U-shaped member 
18 that also functions as a stop when the cleanout cap J registers with 
the adjacent open end of the spray manifold arm. The inner ends of the 
pair of rods 16 are bent at 19 and are pivotally received in openings 20 
formed in the laterally extending flanges of the spray arms. The bent ends 
19 of the rods 16 permit the swinging of the frame K from closed position, 
shown at the left hand end of FIG. 6, into open position as shown at the 
right hand end of the same Figure. When the frame K reaches its closed 
position, the U-shaped cross member 18 will contact the top of the 
manifold A and will stop any further swinging movement of the frame in the 
same direction. 
The cleanout cap J, preferably has a non-circular periphery so that it may 
be manually gripped and rotated about its center. FIG. 5, shows the cap 
with a centrally disposed threaded stud 21 that is received in a center 
threaded opening 22 in the strap 17. The cap can be manually rotated for 
rotating the stud in the threaded opening 22 for moving the cap toward or 
away from the adjacent open end of the manifold arm when the frame K is in 
closed position as indicated at the left hand end of FIG. 6. In actual 
practice, when the operator wishes to uncover an end of the manifold arm 
for cleaning the manifold interior, he first rotates the cap J to free it 
from its closed position and for clearing the adjacent open end of the 
manifold arm and then swings the frame K, upwardly into an inoperative 
position. The two frames K are identical and a description of one will 
suffice for both and like reference characters will be applied to 
corresponding parts. 
The sleeve D, has a pair of longitudinally extending wiping grooves 23 
formed on its inner cylindrical surface, see FIG. 7. A top plan view of 
the sleeve D, is shown in FIG. 11 where the grooves 23 are clearly shown. 
The bent ends 19 of the rods 16 permit the frame K to be swung from closed 
to open position and vice versa, but prevent the frame from being entirely 
removed from the spray manifold. This prevents the cleanout cap J from 
becoming misplaced or lost. 
The same rotary spray manifold A can also be used as an upper spray 
manifold in a commercial dishwasher and I show such an arrangement in 
FIGS. 8 to 11, inclusive. In order to save in a further description of the 
spray manifold, which I have already described, like reference characters 
will be applied to similar parts and I will only show and describe the 
different structure to make the rotary spray manifold A adaptable to 
function as an overhead spray manifold. 
FIG. 8 shows the rotary spray manifold A turned upside down so that the 
spray jets G, and H, are pointing downwardly instead of upwardly. The 
frames K with their cleanout caps J, are swung downwardly to remove the 
caps from the ends of the spray manifold A so that the interior of the 
manifold may be cleaned. 
FIG. 9 illustrates how the upper spray manifold A with its sleeve D is 
rotatably connected to a hot water pipe L, in a commercial dishwasher. The 
top of the dishwashing compartment is indicated by a portion of a 
horizontal wall M. A cylindrical bearing N has an open top, see FIG. 10, 
and a closed bottom 25. This bearing has a plurality of openings 26 in its 
cylindrical wall. The sleeve D for the upper spray manifold A, telescopes 
over the bearing N so that its openings 8 will successively register with 
the openings 26 in the bearing as the spray manifold and sleeve rotate 
about the bearing as clearly indicated in FIG. 9. 
The bearing N and the sleeve D of the upper spray manifold A are supported 
by an anti-friction gasket P, as shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. The gasket rests 
on a disc 27 which in turn has a rectangular strip 28 welded to its 
undersurface. A threaded central opening 28 extends through both disc 27 
and through strip 28, and also through the anti-friction gasket P. The 
bottom 25 of the bearing N also has a threaded opening 30 which is aligned 
with the threaded opening 29 so that a spray arm supporting rod 31 has its 
threaded lower end received in the aligned threaded openings 30 and 29. 
Then the upper threaded end of the rod 31 is received in a threaded 
opening 32 provided in the top wall or plate M. The rod 31 extends through 
a large outlet opening 33 in the hot water inlet pipe L. 
It will be seen from this arrangement of parts that the lower threaded end 
of the rod 31 can be secured to the bottom 25 of the bearing 30 and the 
anti-friction gasket P can be brought up tight against the bottom 25 and 
will rotatably support the sleeve D with its spray manifold A. The disc 27 
and the strip 28 function as a lock nut for holding the gasket P, in 
place. The length of the bearing N is slightly longer than the length of 
the sleeve D so when the top of the bearing abuts the underside of the hot 
water inlet pipe L, in order to make a liquid tight connection between the 
two, there will be no binding action on the ends of the sleeve D, and 
therefore the sleeve will be free to rotate about the bearing and the 
sleeve will ride on the anti-friction gasket P. The threaded top of the 
rod 31 that extends above the threaded opening 32 in the wall M may have a 
lock nut 34 threaded thereon to secure the rod to the top wall. I have 
described one manner of rotatably supporting the spray manifold A so as to 
function as a top spray manifold. 
The operation of the upper spray manifold A will be the same as for the 
lower spray manifold. The hot water will flow from the inlet pipe L, and 
will enter the interior of the cylindrical bearing N. From here the hot 
water will flow through the holes 26 and out through the holes 8 in the 
sleeve D as the latter register therewith. The hot water will issue as a 
spray from the jets G, and H, in a pulsating manner because as the spray 
manifold A revolves around the bearing N, the openings 8 in the sleeve 8 
will successively register with the stationary openings 26 in the bearing. 
The hot water will therefore intermittently flow from the bearing interior 
into the manifold interior and will cause a pulsating hot water spray to 
issue from the jets.