Patent GB-1238990-A (GB)
IPC: F25C1/04
Filed: 1969-09-16
Abstract: 1,238,990. Ice making. EATON YALE & TOWNE Inc. 16 Sept., 1963 [26 Sept., 1968], No. 45622/69. Heading F4H. [Also in Division F2] An automatic ice maker comprises an ice block tray which is periodically coupled to a continuously running electric motor which turns and twists the tray to eject its ice blocks. Ejection and filling mechanism.-A motor pinion 26 (Figs. 5 and 10) drives, through intermediate gears, a gear 37 (Fig. 6) which acts as a timer for the operation of the ice maker. A gear 39 is connected via a shaft 73 with a remote end of the ice tray 11 in order to rotate the latter. During formation of the ice blocks, a toothless part 40 (Fig. 10) of the tray gear 39 is adjacent a constantly running motor driven gear 29. Once in each rotation of the timing gear 37, a projection on that gear acts on a projection of the tray gear 39 to nudge the latter into engagement with its driving gear 29. At the same time, a device 91 (Fig. 6) is operated by a cam track on the timing gear 37 to remove an abutment 99 from the path of a projection 100 on the tray gear 39 so that the latter is allowed to rotate. When it has rotated, along with the tray, through 360 degrees, the abutment and projection 99 and 100 re-engage so that the tray gear 39 stops with its toothless portion again adjacent the drive gear 29. During part of the rotation of the tray, a cam track 86a on the tray gear acts through a follower 86 (Fig. 5) to move an abutment 83 (Figs. 2 and 5) into the path of the rear edge 78 of the tray so that the latter is twisted to eject the ice blocks. After removal of the abutment 83, the tray is straightened by a spring 79 (Fig. 6). Following tray rotation, water is supplied to the tray through a valve which is controlled by a switch 152 (Figs. 5 and 10). The switch is operated by a lever 156 which follows a cam track in the timing gear. The filling operation may be adjusted by means of a screw 161 which pivots the switch bodily about an axis 153. Motor control.-If the temperature of the freezer compartment in which the ice maker is located becomes too high, or if a bin 17 into which the blocks are ejected becomes too full, the motor is stopped by depression of the button 108 of a switch 107 (Figs. 5 and 10). If the compartment temperature becomes too high, a thermally responsive element 122 pivots a lever 111 against the action of a spring 112 to move a member 116 so that its cam surface 118 depresses the button 108. A lever, Fig. 22 (not shown), whose end projects through the ice maker casing, may be depressed, for example during servicing, to prevent movement of the member 116 by the element 122 so that the motor runs continuously, regardless of the freezer compartment temperature. A feeler wire 18 is periodically swept across the bin 17 by the action of a timing gear cam track through a member 129 and a lever 133. The member 129 is coupled by a spring 138 to a further member 130 having a bracket 146. If the wire 18 encounters no obstruction, the members 129 and 130 move together radially of the timing gear so that the bracket 146 moves past the switch button 108 with a clearance. If, however, the wire 18 is obstructed by ice blocks, the reaction through the lever 133 causes relative pivoting movement between the members 129 and 130 so that the bracket 146 depresses the switch button 108 to stop the motor. The wire 18 may be manually lodged behind an abutment, Fig. 3 (not shown), to stop the motor. Timing gear drive.-The motor pinion 26 constantly engages and drives a gear 27 (Fig. 7) which is integral with the gear 29 and which, through a variable speed transmission 31 and other gears, drives the timing gear 37. The transmission 31 comprises a gear 30 integral with the gear 27 and constantly meshing with a gear 54. An output shaft 33 having splines 58 may be moved against a spring 48 so that the splines engage the gear 54 to provide a first transmission ratio to the output gear 32. The output shaft may be moved in the opposite direction so that its splines engage a gear 57 having two sets of teeth at different radii meshing with gears 52 and 53 which are engageable by splines 43 on an input shaft 41 to provide two further transmission ratios. The input shaft engages its input gear by means of splines 43a. The transmission ratios are selected by a cam member 59 (Figs. 5 and 7) which acts on the free ends of the shafts 33 and 41 and is actuated from outside the ice maker casing by a lever 61.