Patent GB-657731-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in and relating to clothes washing and drying machines
IPC: D06F37/40
Filed: 1949-03-17
Abstract: 657,731. Washing and drying machines. BRITISH THOMSON-HOUSTON CO., Ltd. March 17, 1949, No. 7338. Convention date, March 19, 1948. [Class 138 (ii)] [Also in Group II] A clothes washing machine of the type wherein washing is performed by an agitator 5 in a basket which is afterwards rotated to extract the water centrifugally from the clothes, comprises gearing carried by a rotatably mounted gear cage 31, brake means for holding the gear cage from turning, lever means for releasing the brake means, a clutch face on the lever means, a clutch member connected with the motor shaft, and means for moving the clutch member into engagement with the clutch face to move the lever means to release the brake means. The machine is driven by an electric motor whose shaft 22 carries an integral pinion 26 meshing with a gear wheel 27 rotatably mounted on a shaft 28 carried by the gear cage 31. An eccentric 32 formed integral with the gear-wheel 27 is surrounded by an eccentric strap 33 provided with an arm 34 connected to an arm 35 integral with a sleeve 36 fixed on a shaft 37. The lower end of shaft 37 is closed by a plug 38 and rests on the upper surface of pinion 26. The upper end of shaft 37 is threaded to receive a nut 43 having a triangular tapered outer surface which engages a similarly shaped opening in the upper end of a vertical agitator post 46. A stationary brake ring 52 fixed to a diaphragm 24 mounted in the casing, is adapted to be engaged by brake facings 53 on the downturned ends 54 of a pair of sliding brake arms 55. The brake arms 55 are U-shaped and slide in grooves provided by plates (not shown) attached to the bottom of the gear cage 31. The brake facings 53 are pressed against the brake ring 52 by springs 60 attached at their ends to ears 62 depending from the arms 55. They are moved away from the brake ring 52 by short levers 63 having narrow ends 64 (see Fig. 4) which are pivoted in openings 65 in the ears 62. The levers 63 are biassed to the positions shown in Fig. 2 by springs 66, and are arranged to be turned on their pivots to move brake facings 53 away from ring 52 by a sliding clutch collar 67 having a curved outer face adapted to engage similarly curved clutch pads 68 fixed to the free ends of levers 63. The clutch collar 67 slides on the motor shaft 22, being connected thereto by a pin 69 which extends through an elongated slot 70 in the shaft 22. The collar 67 is biassed upwardly by a spring 71 in a socket 72 in the shaft 22, the spring pressing against a plug 73 having an opening through which the pin 69 passes. The collar 67 is actuated by a rod 74 which may be moved up and down by means of a nut 75 attached to the end of the rod and engaging threads on the top of the agitator post 46. Operation.-With the clutch collar 67 out of engagement with the clutch levers 63, and brake facings 53 held in engagement with the brake ring 52, as shown in Fig. 2, gear cage 31 is held stationary and the agitator will be driven by the motor through pinion 26, gear 27 and eccentric 32. There is a pin-and-slot connection 81, 82 between the agitator and basket, and during washing the pin 81 moves back and forth in the slot 82 which is slightly longer than the agitator stroke. The basket remains stationary due to inertia and water friction or means may be provided for holding it stationary. To change over to spin drying the nut 75 is screwed down so that the rod 74 forces clutch collar 67 to engage clutch facings 68 on the levers 63 and turn the levers on their pivots in the ears 62, Fig. 3 (not shown). The plates 55 are thus moved radially outwards and the brake facings 53 moved out of engagement with the brake ring 52. The clutch collar 67 now connects the motor shaft 22 to the gear cage 31 and this and the gearing therein rotate as a unit. As the shaft 37 begins to rotate, a sleeve 83 on the pin 82 engages an end of the slot 81 and the agitator and spin basket rotate as a unit. Instead of a single shaft 37, separate shafts may be provided for the agitator and basket, the shafts being arranged concentrically in known manner.