Patent GB-650694-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to clothes washing machines
IPC: D06F33/04
Filed: 1947-06-19
Abstract: 650,694. Washing and drying machines. HORTON MANUFACTURING CO. June 19, 1947, Nos. 16194 and 16195. Convention dates, Jan. 18, 1945, and Jan. 4, 1946. [Class 138 (ii)] [Also in Groups XXIV and XXIX] An automatic clothes washing machine has a clothes receptacle mounted in a tub on a horizontal axis which is rotated at slow speed for washing first in one direction through a plurality of revolutions and then similarly in the other direction and for drying has high-speed means for uni-directionally rotating the receptacle, control means being arranged to bring the high speed means into operation at a time when the receptacle is rotating at slow speed in the same direction as it rotates at high speed. General features.-A casing, Fig. 2, is divided into two compartments 13, 14 by a vertical partition 12 to which is bolted the open end of a cylindrical tub 17 extending into the compartment 13 and the other end of which is supported by a plate 42. The tub has an opening 18 which coincides with an opening 19 in the top of compartment 13, a pivoted cover 20 with a glass observation panel 21 sealing both openings. The compartment 14 contains a driving motor 50 and water supply, drive and control means and has a removable access cover 22. Inside the tub is a cylindrical perforated clothes container 25 having a series of axially extending clothes lifters 26 and an opening 44 with a cover 45. The receptacle 25 is horizontally mounted on two bearings, one 40 in the partition 12 and the other 32 in the end wall of the tub, an access opening 34 with a cover 35 being provided for bearing 32 in the casing wall. For unloading, the clothes receptacle is turned automatically so that the cover 45 is underneath the cover 20 by means of an arm 227 connected to a shaft passing through the bearing 32, the arm being biassed by a spring 235 through a pivoted link 232. Driving mechanism.-The receptacle 25 is rotated alternately in opposite directions, at slow speed for washing and in one direction at high speed for centrifugal drying through a gear-box which is belt-driven by a motor 50. The gear-box 55 is shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, in which Figs. 3, 5 are cross-sectional views in plan and elevation and Fig. 4 is a cross-section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3. It comprises a casing 55 in which is mounted a shaft 54 which through a worm 57 and a gear 58 drives a reversing mechanism comprising a cross-shaft 59 mounting two freely rotatable bevel gears 63, 64 having dog teeth 67, 68 and in constant mesh with a crown-wheel 97. A slidable sleeve 71 is splined to shaft 59 and has dog teeth 72, 73, which when the sleeve is shifted axially by an eccentric 123 engage the bevels 63, 64 alternately and so drive the crown wheel 97 by sun- and-planet reduction gearing comprising connected pinions 104, 105 pivoted on the crown wheel 97 and meshing with a gear-wheel 114 fixed relative to the casing and a gear-wheel 121 fixed to the eccentric 123. The sleeve 71 is retained in either of its two bevel-wheel engaging positions by spring-pressed balls 76 located in a bore on the shaft 59 and engaging notches 75 in the sleeve 71. The eccentric 123 moves longitudinally a square member 125 which is held between flanges on a sleeve 82 surrounding the sleeve 71 and which moves the sleeve 71 through springs 87, 88 which bear on caps 85, 86. Each spring 87, 88 is slowly compressed in turn by the eccentric 123 and when its pressure overcomes that of the spring-loaded balls 76 on the notches 75, the sleeve 71 snaps over to engage the opposite bevel gear so reversing rotation of the crown-wheel 97. The change from slow speed oscillation to high speed rotation is effected by a slidable sleeve 132 which is splined on to a shaft 130 to which the clothes receptacle 25 is connected, the sleeve 132 being operated when the receptacle is moving at slow speed in the direction it will rotate at high speed by a control cam. Shaft 130 is coaxial with the crown-wheel 97 and the sleeve 132 has dog teeth 134 which are normally held in engagement by a spring 172 with corresponding teeth 101 on the crown-wheel 97 so oscillating the receptacle 25. Rotatably mounted on the shaft 130 is a gear-wheel 147 which is constantly driven by a pinion 176 on the drive shaft 54. This gear-wheel 147 carries a number of clutch rings 162 which mesh with similar rings 156 carried by a member 152 which is connected to a flange in the shaft 130. Thus, when the clutch is engaged by axial movement of the sleeve 132 the clothes receptacle 25 is rotated at high speed. The sleeve 132 carries a rotatable shifting sleeve 138, which, through balls 140 can bear against a flange 137 on a member 136 threaded on the sleeve 132. This flange contacts a spring disc 167 the outer edge of which is mounted in a ring 171 on the. gear-wheel 147 and which presses against a ring 165 by which the clutch-plates 156, 162 are urged together. The shaft 130 is resiliently connected to the clothes receptacle through two springs 183, 184, Fig. 17, coiled in opposite directions and each connected at one end to the clothes receptacle 25 and at the other end to a sleeve 181 splined to the shaft 130. In an alternative construction, Figs. 28 and 29, the means for oscillating the receptacle is generally similar comprising a drive shaft 1020 driven from the electric motor through a pulley 1019 and driving a cross-shaft 1027 on which are bevel-gears 1035, 1036 engaging a crown-wheel 1044 and clutched to the shaft 1027 by a sliding sleeve 1040. The sleeve is controlled by a cam shaft 1080 driven at slow speed from the shaft 1027. Rotatably and slidably mounted on the cam-shaft 1080 is a shell 1095 carrying an arm 1101 which engages the sleeve 1040 at one end and has a roller 1106 at its other end which engages a cam 1107 on the shaft 1080. To hold positively the sleeve 1040 in one or other of its positions the cam 1107 has two substantially semi-circular tracks joined by gaps and, when the roller 1106 reaches such a gap it is snapped through it to the other track by a spring 1124 also carried by the arm 1101 and stressed in an appropriate direction beforehand by two cams 1120, 1121. To overcome frictional resistance the movement is initiated by tapers in the tracks of cam 1107. The means for changing the receptacle drive from slow speed oscillation to high speed rotation comprises a cam-controlled sleeve 1051 having dog teeth 1049 which can engage similar teeth 1048 on the crown-wheel 1044 to oscillate the receptacle 25; at its other end the sleeve 1051 has dog teeth 1056 which can engage similar teeth 1057 on a gear-wheel 1059 which is continuously driven from the drive-shaft 1020 by a pinion 1060. The engagement of the sleeve 1051 and the gear-wheel 1059 is prevented except when the sleeve is turning in the same direction as the gear-wheel by means described below. The sleeve 1051 is splined to a shaft 1053 which is resiliently connected through a rubber bushing 1069 with a sleeve 1067 to which the receptacle 25 is connected. The driving pulley 1019 includes a clutch which slips if the torque is excessive and which comprises friction discs 1268, 1269, Fig. 49, engaging plates 1257, 1258 keyed to a hub 1250<SP>1</SP> and plates 1260, 1261 having an annular groove for the driving belt 1018 and held apart at their inner ends by a sleeve 1264. The friction discs are retained in position by tongues 1270, 1271 on the plates 1260, 1261 and are locked to the plates 1257, 1258 by tongues 1273. The degree of friction is adjustable by means of a nut 1277 on the hub 12501. Water supply and draining means.-Water is supplied to the tub through an assembly 244, Fig. 14, comprising thermostatically-controlled mixing valves and cam-operated valves controlling the duration of flow and also through a float-operated water-level valve 247, Fig. 21. The valve assembly 244 has two sections, one for supplying water at 140‹ F. and the other for water at 100‹ F. Cold water is delivered to two annular passages 276, 278 from a cold water line and hot water is similarly delivered to two annular passages 275, 277. Spring-loaded sliding valves 280, 288 regulate the mixture of the hot and cold water, valve 280 being controlled by a thermostat 284 set for 140‹ F. and valve 288 by a thermostat 289 set for 100‹ F. Water from valve 284 flows through a passage 298 to a valve comprising a resilient diaphragm 296 closed over an opening 293 by a spring- loaded pin 400 operated by a cam. A similar diaphragm 297 operated through a camcontrolled pin 401 controls the water from valve 288. The water from both diaphragm valves flows through a connection 245 and a pipe 246 to the water level valve 247, Fig. 21. This comprises a chamber 260 which is connected through a pipe 265 with the bottom of the tub so that the water-level in the tub can operate a float 261. The float carries at its other end a stem 262 which passes through a sealing gasket 264 and has a conical valve 263 at its upper end which closes an opening in a diaphragm 249 leading to an outlet pipe 255 going to the top of the tub. Water is drained from the tub through a pipe at its base which leads to a strainer 313, Fig. 24, and thence through a valve 335, Fig. 15, to a vane pump 317 from which it is discharged through a pipe 342. The pump is continuously driven from the motor 50 through a belt and pulleys and the valve 335 is normally closed by a spring 338 and opened by a cam. The strainer 313 comprises a casing 475 containing a perforated tubular member 480 which clips into a removable end wall 481 having an opening for the inlet pipe. A detachable cover clamps the members 480, 481 in place and consists of a disc 482 having a bayonet type engagement with the casing 475. The disc 482 has a bushing 484 at its centre into which a hand wheel 486 can screw. On the hand wheel shaft is a circular member 488 which when the hand wheel is screwed in compresses rubber sealing members 489, 491. Automatic