Automatic clothes washing machines

A clothes washing machine has a cabinet with either a back panel or front panel integral with two side panels and a removable front back panel. A platform integral with or mounted on stiffening members is fixed to the cabinet intermediate of the height thereof by shear resistant fastenings and a lightweight outer container containing an inner perforated frame is mounted on the platform. The washing and spinning mechanism is also supported by the platform.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Top opening clothes washing machines as at present constructed tend to be 
bulky and expensive because a frame separate from a cabinet thereof is 
usually provided to support the tub the washing and spinning mechanism. 
Accordingly the invention consists in a clothes washing machine comprising 
a cabinet including two side panels a front panel and a back panel at 
least part of one of which is removable, the remaining parts of the 
cabinet being integral with each other, stiffening members arranged 
intermediate of the height of the fixed panels, said stiffening members 
supporting a clothes washing and spinning mechanism and a tub support 
platform intermediate of the height of the machine, the tub support 
platform in turn supporting a tub, an upper cover including a lid through 
which access to the tub is obtained, said tub comprising a leak proof 
outer container having walls the upper edge of which form a rim defining 
an opening thereto, a perforated rotatable bowl, also having walls the 
upper edge of which also define an opening forming a rim, part of said 
washing and spinning mechanism being within said bowl and part of said 
washing mechanism being mounted below said intermediate platform. 
To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes 
in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the 
invention will suggest themselves without departing from the scope of the 
invention as defined in the appended claims. The disclosures and the 
descriptions herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in 
any sense limiting.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION ACCORDING TO THE INVENTION 
Referring to the drawings a clothes washing machine is constructed as 
follows. 
The main part of a cabinet for a clothes washing machine comprises a sheet 
of prepainted sheet metal or sheet metal otherwise prefinished cut and 
folded to provide a back panel 1 (or if desired a front panel) and side 
panels 2, the side panels having inwardly folded flaps 3 (best shown in 
FIG. 4) whereby a removable front 4 (or if panel 1 is a front panel, then 
a back) is fixed to the side panels. The fixing of the front panel 4 (or 
back if appropriate) is effected at the lower end by a key hole slot 5 in 
each flap 3 the key hole engaging over a button 7 fixed to an inwardly 
turned flange 6 on the front panel 4 and the key hole 5 is placed over the 
button and to effect engagement the narrow portion 8 engaged over the 
narrow portion 9 of the button 7. If the removable panel is a back panel 
other fixings, e.g. self tapping screws may be used. 
To support a clothes washing outer bowl 25 which forms part of a clothes 
washing tub, stiffening members 10 and 10' for example of folded sheet 
metal are folded to angle formation. Member 10' is fixed at 11 by screws 
for example to the side flaps 3 and member 10 is fixed by clear resilient 
fastenings e.g. by screw fixings 12 to the panels 2. The details of the 
screw fixing 12 is shown in FIG. 3 in which one of the angle members 10 is 
shown in section together with a part of a section of a side 2 and in both 
cases a depression 13 is made in the angle member 10 with a corresponding 
depression 14 in the side 2, a screw 15 passing through the base of the 
depressions, the screw being either a self tapping screw or a hash nut or 
similar fastening device. It will therefore be seen that a screw itself 
does not take the shear force between the member 10 and the side 2 but 
such shear force is taken by engagement of the walls of the depressions 13 
and 14 one with the other. However alternatively or additionally other 
fixing means may be used including adhesives e.g. an epoxy adhesive or 
self piercing rivets. The use of adhesives assists in noise reduction. 
The actual clothes washing and spinning mechanism comprises a motor 20 
connected by a belt drive 21 to a gear box 22, the gear box 22 driving an 
agitator 23 within an inner bowl 24, the inner bowl 24 being perforated 
and fitting within the leak proof outer bowl 25. The washing mechanism 
spins the inner bowl 24 when appropriately actuated in the known way. 
The gear box 22 and motor 20 are suspended from a platform 26 mounted on or 
integral with the stiffening members 10 and 10'. The members 10 are folded 
normally to the plane of platform 26. The suspension is effected by four 
springs 27, the springs being enclosed in damping tubes 28 of a resilient 
material such as rubber or a plasticised polyvinylchloride or some other 
energy absorbing material to give some damping to the suspension resulting 
from vibration, due, for example, to spin drying. The gear box 22, inner 
bowl 24 and agitator 23 are of substantially orthodox design, the inner 
bowl 24 being rotated at high speed for spin drying, and the agitator 23 
being driven in a to and fro motion in the known way. The outer container 
25 is supported on the flat platform 26 and consequently this bowl may be 
a relatively lightweight and easily manufactured bowl, for example, of a 
suitable plastics material having a cylindrical form with a disc or 
annular bottom and the open top end as a simple circular form either with 
or without a reinforcing rim. The outer drum 25 is mounted on the platform 
as stated in a leak proof manner. 
The undersurface of the cabinet top 30 (FIG. 5) is provided with a 
downturned short cylindrical flange 31 which engages inside (as shown in 
FIG. 5) or outside the upper edge of the outer bowl 25 thus rigidifying 
not only the bowl 25 but also the whole cabinet. 
The cabinet top or upper cover 30 is fixed to the cabinet members by screws 
through a front brace 32 and by screws concealed by a control panel cover 
33 or if desired the cabinet top 30 may have a rear member (not shown) 
which is engaged through the back panel by screws. The front brace 32 also 
has screws 38 passing through holes 35 (FIG. 4) and these screws are 
concealed by a "snap in" insert 34 placed over the member 32. The upper 
member 30 is preferably made as a plastics moulding and includes an 
opening covered by a lid 36 through which access to the bowl 24 can be 
obtained. 
The construction above described has a major advantage in that the height 
of the washing machine can be reduced considerably and, for example, for a 
4 to 41/2 kg load of clothes the height can be reduced to about 780 mm. 
Accordingly, steps are taken to reduce the height of the gear box 
mechanism 22 as much as possible and to this end it is preferable that a 
separate electric pump (not shown) is provided rather than a pump on an 
upper part of the motor 20. In addition the motor clutch mechanism 41 
(which is at present used and is simply an overload or slipping clutch 
during certain cycles of the washing procedure) can be made smaller since 
with a separate electric pump the motor 20 can be stopped during pumping, 
unless of course spin drying is being carried out while the pump is 
running. 
The construction at least in the preferred form has the advantages of being 
more compact and therefore economical both in material and in space, it 
utilises prepainted cabinet material, there are alternative positions 43 
for a front control or 44 for rear mounted controls at the top. The 
rotating inner drum 24 may be provided with fluid filled balance rings, as 
described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,645,108. 
Because of the intermediate platform 26 fixed to or integral with the 
stiffeners 10 and 10', the construction is very rigid for a relatively 
small amount of material. Also the supporting of the outer bowl 25 on the 
platform 26 enables that outer bowl to be of light construction e.g. a 
flexible material such as a plastics moulding, again reducing cost. The 
flange 31 on the undersurface of the cabinet top 30 engaging the outer 
bowl 25 also assists in providing rigidity while yet using a small amount 
of material. 
Additionally the platform 26 provides a fire wall between the motor in 
particular below the platform and the combustible materials e.g. the 
plastics material of the outer container. Further fireproofing could be 
obtained by providing a floor (not shown) with appropriate ventilation to 
the lower compartment.