Access door with an apparatus for the selection of washing programs in a washing appliance

Abstract: A device for the selection of washing programs for a washing appliance comprising an access door (3) to a washing tank (2) that is hinged at its lower edge to a frame (1) of said washing appliance, comprising a cursor (9) mounted on an upper edge (7) of said door (3) and slideable longitudinally to said upper edge (7). Said cursor (9) controls a programmer (12) mounted within said frame (1) that, in accordance with a setting of said cursor (9), determines the execution of a respective predetermined washing program.

Description: The present invention refers to a device for the selection of washing programs for a washing appliance, in particular, though not exclusively, for an integrally built-in dishwasher. Dishwashers of the so called "integrally built-in" type, that must be embedded in unit type kitchen furniture, are usually provided with a frontal covering, generally consisting of a full height covering panel for the access door of the washing tank which has homogeneous aesthetic features with the rest of the kitchen furniture. In these dishwashers it is therefore not possible to locate the control panel (which typically includes a device for the selection of the operating program) on the frontal face of the appliance door. Such problem has been solved by locating controls on the upper edge of the door (that as known is hinged to the appliance at lower edge); said upper edge, when the door is closed, gets covered by a frontal projection of the appliance or, more often, by the continuous worktop which is part of the kitchen furniture in which the dishwasher is embedded. In other words, since it is not possible to create a control panel on the door front, which has to be coated by the covering panel, a control panel is located on the upper edge of the door. Obviously in this way the dishwasher control can be reached only when the door is at least partially open. In a known solution according to GB-A-2 269 002, the selection of the washing programs is made by means of a knurled dial with axis orthogonal to the door front face. A window in the upper edge of the door allows to reach by hand the cylindrical outer surface of the dial, which bears numerical and symbolic references allowing to visualise the selection being made. In another known solution, two windows are provided, one on the upper edge of the door and another one located on the side edge of the door. The knurled dial can be manoeuvred through the window on the side edge of the door, and the selection being made is visualised through the window on the upper edge of the door. In both cases, due to the reduced depth of the door, it is critical to house the electromechanical timer inside the control panel. DE-A-3705010 discloses a device for selecting operating programs which is allocated on the frontal face of an electric household appliance. The device comprises a hole mask LM mechanically coupled to a cursor B. The hole mask LM is allocated between a light source LQ and an analyse device AT comprising opto-electronic elements. The device AT is connected with an electronic valuation device AW connected in turn with a voltage source UV of an electric appliance V (for example an electric heating appliance for an electric oven). An user acting on the cursor B by a movement parallel at the external front of the electric household appliance, allows the translation movement of the hole mask LM. The light passing through the holes of the mask LM hits on the device AT sensitive to the light intensity; the last sends voltage signals to the device AW that emits different output signals corresponding to the number given by the combinations of the holes and not holes of the mask LM. In view of the state of the art described above, object of the present invention is to provide for a device for the selection of washing programs for an integrally built-in washing appliance, in particular for an integrally built-in dishwasher with a control panel created on the upper edge of the door, that would not give the problems encountered with the aforementioned devices. According to the present invention, such object is attained by means of an access door with an apparatus for the selection of washing programs for a washing appliance as defined in claim 1. Preferred embodiments are defined in the dependent claims 2 to 10. Features and advantages of the present invention will become evident by reading the following detailed description of some embodiments thereof, that are illustrated as non-limiting examples in the enclosed drawings, where: Figure 1 is a schematic perspective view of a dishwasher with a device for the selection of washing programs according to the present invention, with a loading door partially open; Figure 2 is an enlarged top view of an upper edge of the dishwasher door depicted in Figure 1 showing the device for the selection of washing programs according to the present invention; Figure 3 is a sectional view of the dishwasher door showing a device for the selection of washing programs according to a first embodiment of the present invention; Figure 4 is a sectional view analogous to that of Figure 3 showing a device for the selection of washing programs according to a second embodiment of the present invention; Figure 5 is a sectional view according to line V-V in Figure 4; Figure 6 is an enlarged top view of the upper edge of the door showing the device for the selection of washing programs of figure 4; Figure 7 is a sectional view analogous to that in Figure 3 showing a device for the selection of washing programs according to a third embodiment of the present invention; Figure 8 is an enlarged top view of the upper edge of the door showing the device for the selection of washing programs of figure 7; Figure 9 is a sectional view according to line IX-IX in Figure 7; Figure 10 is a sectional view according to line X-X in Figure 7. With reference to Figure 1, there is shown in a schematic way an integrated built-in type dishwasher. The dishwasher comprises a frame 1 to be embedded in a space provided for by a kitchen furniture. Inside frame 1 a washing tank 2 is housed. Frame 1 and washing tank 2 have a front opening providing the access to the same washing tank. Said front opening is closed by means of a door 3 hinged to the frame 1 in correspondence of its lower edge 4. The door 3 is frontally coated with a full height covering panel 5. Above the frame 1 lays a worktop 6 belonging to the kitchen furniture. The worktop 6 abuts frontally with respect to the frame 1, in such a way that when the door 3 is close, its upper edge 7 gets totally covered by the worktop 6. Within the upper edge 7 of the door 3 there is provided a control panel comprising a device 8 for the selection of the dishwasher washing programs. According to the present invention the device for the selection washing programs 8 comprises a cursor 9 that can slide longitudinally to the upper edge 7 in such a way as to allow selection of the requested washing program. Obviously, the cursor 9 can be reached only when the door 3 is at least partially open. The selection device 8 controls a programmer 12 that, unlike in the known solutions, is not located within the door 3, but in a more spacious zone of the dishwasher, namely inside the frame 1 under the washing tank 2. The program selection made by means of the cursor 9 is conveyed to the programmer 12, that governs the dishwasher operation. In Figure 1 a switch is schematically shown comprising a first connection 10 placed on a frontal upper edge of the frame 1 and a second connection 11 placed on an inside wall of the door 3 in correspondence of the upper edge 7. When the door 3 is open, the connections 10 and 11 are kept at a distance and the dishwasher cannot operate. When the door 3, after having selected the requested program by means of the cursor 9, gets closed, the switch 10, 11 also gets closed and the dishwasher starts working according to the program selected by means of the cursor 9. Figure 2 shows a top view of the region of the upper edge 7 of the door where the device for the selection of the washing programs is housed. For example it provides for a jig 13 comprising indexes 14 which detect the positions where the cursor 9 has to be moved to, in order to select various washing programs. A central index 15 identifies the "STOP" position. Figure 3 refers to a first embodiment of the present invention. It consists of a sectional view of the door 3 according to a plane parallel to the front wall of the same. The device 8 consists of a potentiometric slider, for example of the kind produced and marketed by the firm MOLVENO COMETTI, that, as the position of the cursor 9 changes, varies the resistance between the two power terminals 16, 17 to which the programmer 12 is connected, by means of conducting wires. The latter consists of an electronic circuit capable to detect the resistance between the two terminals 16, 17 and to activate accordingly one of the possible predefined washing programs. Figures 4, 5 and 6 refer to a second embodiment of the present invention. In particular, Figure 4 is a sectional view of the door 3 according to a plane parallel to the frontal wall of the same. The device 8 comprises a rack 18, sliding together with the cursor 9, which engages a toothed wheel 19, revolving around an axis 20 that is instead fixedly mounted to the door 3. The toothed wheel 19 is held by a flange 28 extending from a support 29 fixed on the inside surface of the upper edge 7 of the door 3. As shown in Figure 5, the toothed wheel 19 is mortised in a shaft 21 of a rotary selector 22, known per se, as for example the "resistive switch" produced and marketed by REMCO. The rotary selector 22 is fixed to the flange 28. The rotary selector 22 has power terminals 25 and 26 that are connected, by means of conductive wires 23, 24, to the programmer 12 housed for example in frame 1, under the washing tank 2 (Figure 1). In this case the programmer 12 can be electronic, as in the case of Figure 3, or a traditional electromechanical programmer, for example of the kind known on the market as EATON model ECR, or ELBI series 5000 or CROUZET model TMX. In Figure 5 two small balls 27 are also visible that are revolvingly housed in respective seats inside the support 29, and that are engaged with respective longitudinal grooves 30 of the rack 18 so as to reduce the sliding friction of the unit comprising the cursor 9 and the rack 18 during the operation of selection of the washing program. Moving the cursor 9 longitudinally to the upper edge of the door 3 produces a rotation of the toothed wheel 19 around its axis, which as a consequence produces a rotation of the shaft 21 that controls the rotary selector 22. The position of the latter is detected by the programmer 12, which therefore controls the activation of a particular washing program. Preferably, as shown in Figure 4, a bracket 31 is fixedly mounted to and extends beyond the rack 18 on both sides. The bracket 31 supports, on each side of the rack 18, a lamp 32 (in Figure 4 as a simplification, only the lamp on the left side of the rack 18 is shown), whose lightening is controlled for example by the controller 12. The upper edge 7 of the door 3 provides for windows 33 placed in a regular sequence along the same upper edge 7, in such a way that when the cursor 9 is displaced in one direction or the other, the positions being reached corresponding to the various washing programs is indicated to the user by the lightening of the lamp 32 that gleams through the windows 33. This ensures that the cursor 9 is not left in an intermediate position, which would determine a situation of uncertainty about the washing program to be activated. Figures 7, 8, 9 and 10 refer to a third embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, the cursor 9 is fixedly mounted to a bracket 34 at both ends of which two levers 35 are hinged that are stressed by respective springs 36 against two abutments 37 integral with the bracket 34. A wheel 38 is revolvingly held by a supporting flange 39 fixed to the door 3. As shown in Figures 9 and 10, the wheel 38 is mortised on a shaft 40 of a rotary selector 22 of the same type as shown in Figure 5. The shaft extends to engage revolvingly in a hollow extension 41 of the flange 39. On said extension 41 a spring 42 is wound that has an extension 43 which goes to engage in a recess created on the cursor 9. The spring 42 stresses the cursor 9 to move to the median position shown in Figure 8. Peripherally to the wheel 38 there is a circumferencial sequence of pegs 44, which extent in the direction of the axis of the wheel 38, so as to being able to engage with the levers 35. As in the case of Figure 5. small balls 27 revolvingly housed in respective seats inside the supporting flange 39 reduce the sliding friction of the cursor 9 and bracket 34 assembly with respect to the flange 39. The displacement in one direction or the other of the cursor 9 produces the rotation, by means of either one of the levers 35 that acts on one of the pegs 44, of the wheel 38 in one direction or the other. For example, with reference to Figure 7, the displacement of the cursor 9 towards the right causes the clockwise rotation of the wheel 38. Indeed, the lever 35 on the left, hinged in the bracket 34 but kept in a substantially vertical position by the abutment, moves toward the right and acting on the peg 44 drives the wheel 38 in rotation. When the cursor 9 is released, the spring 42 brings it back to the median position, and the lever 35 returns to the position shown in Figure 7. As a consequence of the rotation of the wheel 38, a new peg 44 is brought in the position previously occupied by the peg that now occupies a higher position. During its return path, the lever 35 5 hits with its outer surface the peg 44, the lever 35 rotates under the action of the peg 44 in such a way as to go over it, and after having passed over it reaching the position shown in Figure 7, the spring 36 brings the lever 35 back against the abutment 37. On the outside cylindrical surface of the wheel 38 there can be provided some graphical signs that the user can read through a window located on the upper edge 7 of the door serving the purpose to recognise which of the washing program has been selected.

Claims: Access door (3) for an integrally built-in washing appliance comprising an apparatus for the selection of washing programs the access door (3) intended for providing access to a washing tank (2) of the appliance and being hingeable at its lower edge to a frame (1) of said washing appliance, said apparatus comprising a cursor (9) which controls a program selector (12) mountable within said frame (1) which, in accordance with a setting of said cursor (9), enables the execution of a selected one of a plurality of predetermined washing programs, wherein said cursor (9) is mounted on the top surface of the upper edge (7) of the door (3) and is slideable longitudinally along said upper edge (7), said top surface of the upper edge (7) being perpendicular to the outer face of the door (3). Access door according to claim 1, characterised in that said cursor (9) controls variable output resistance means having an output resistance variable with the position of said cursor (9), and in that said program selector (12) is an electronic programmer comprising means for detecting the output resistance of said variable output resistance means. Access door according to claim 1, characterised in that said cursor (9) controls a rack (18) which meshes with a toothed wheel (19) mortised on a shaft (21) of a rotary selector (22), the latter being electrically connected to said program selector (12). Access door according to claim 3, characterised in that said program selector (12) is an electromechanical programmer. Access door according to claim 3, characterised in that said shaft (21) of the rotary selector (22) is orthogonal to a front wall of said door (3). Access door according to claim 1, characterised in that said cursor (9) controls a shaft (34) provided with at least one lever unit (35) that engages one of a cincumferencial sequence of projecting elements (44) of a wheel (38) mortised on a shaft (21) of a rotary selector (22), the latter being electrically connected to said program selector (12), so that the sliding of said cursor (9) determines the sliding of said shaft (34) and said at least one lever unit (35), by acting upon one of said projecting elements (44), determines the rotation of said wheel (38). Access door according to claim 6, characterised in that said at least one lever unit (35) comprises a pair of levers hinged to the two ends of said shaft (34). Access door according to claim 7, characterised in that the apparatus comprises first elastic means (36) that bias said levers (35) in a position substantially orthogonal to said shaft (34). Access door according to claim 8, characterised in that the apparatus comprises second elastic means (42, 43) that bias said cursor in a median position with respect to its sliding path. Access door according to claim 9, characterised in that said shaft (21) of the rotary selector (22) is orthogonal to the outer face of said door (3).

Inventors: FUMAGALLI SILVANO, FUMAGALLI, SILVANO
Applicants: CANDY SPA, CANDY S.P.A.
Application year: 1997
Main classification: A47L15
IPC codes: A47L15, D06F39