Patent GB-783940-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to washing machines
IPC: D06F33/02
Filed: 1955-11-21
Abstract: 783,940. Washing-machines. WHIRLPOOLSEEGER CORPORATION. Nov. 21, 1955 [Nov. 30, 1954], No. 33289/55. Class 138 (2). A washing-machine has a reversible pump 14 arranged to pump liquid from a treatment zone for articles to be laundered to storage when operating in one direction and from storage to the treatment zone when operating in the other direction. General arrangement.- An agitator 25, mounted on a drive-shaft 27, is oscillated for washing in a clothes container 15 which is rotatably mounted for spin drying within a tub 12. The tub 12 is mounted on a base 16 suspended in a cabinet 11 by links 17 encased in rubber at their ends which are carried in sockets 19. A drive motor 43 is suspended from the base 16 on a bracket 44, and a gear casing 23 is secured by bolts 20 threaded into studs 21 welded to the base 16. Drive mechanism. A pulley 35 (Fig. 10) is freely mounted on the lower end of a sleeve 31 carrying the container 15 and is adapted to drive the sleeve 31 through a clutch 36. An annular friction surface 37 of this clutch is engaged with the upper face of the pulley 35 by a tension spring 42 connected with a clutch yoke 39 operated by a solenoid-controlled rectilinearly movable shifting bar 41. A drive belt 47 (Fig. 4) extends around the pulley 35, around a pulley 46 on the shaft of the motor 43, and around a pulley 49 on a shaft 50. A pinion 51 on the shaft 50 meshes with a gear 53 having a crank 54 connected by a link 55 with a gear sector 56. The sector 56 is secured to a vertical shaft 57 (Fig. 9) on which is mounted a carrier 59 for two solenoids 60 and 61 which are selectively energizable to operate either the shifting bar 41 for the clutch 36 or a shifter bar 63. A shifting pin 77 (Fig. 9) carries a roller 76 adapted to ride on a recessed cam face 75 formed on the shifter bar 63. A yoke 79 secured to the pin 77 engages a collar 80 formed integral with a pinion 64 freely mounted on the shaft 27. A spring 81 biases the pin 77 downwardly to effect engagement of the pinion 64 with a clutch pin 65 on the shaft 27. Vertical movement of pin 77 is effected by horizontal movement of bar 63, the latter being effected by a pin 72 engaging in one of two slots 83, 84 in the bar 63 according to whether the solenoid 61 is energized or not. The pin 72 is carried by the armature of solenoid 61 which is mounted on the oscillating shaft 57. In the position shown in Fig. 9 solenoid 61 is energized and oscillating movement of the carrier 59 causes the pin 72 to reciprocate idly in the slot 83. When the solenoid 61 is de-energized the pin 72 will drop into slot 84 and engage the left-hand end thereof so as to move the bar 63 to the left. Return movement of the bar 63 is not effected until the solenoid 61 is again energized so as to return the pin 72 to the slot 83, thereby re-connecting the oscillating drive to the agitator. The shifter bar 41 is operated in a similar manner to the bar 63 and has a cam face 73 (Fig. 4) engaged by an operating rod 74 for the clutch yoke 39. Liquid supply and discharge.-Tho pump 14 is pivotally mounted at 90 (Fig. 8) so as to enable a pulley 104 on the impeller shaft of the pump to be driven in one direction by engagement with the belt 47 or in the opposite direction by engagement with the pulley 49. The pulley 104 has a wide cylindrical drive face 129 extending below its grooved portion and adapted to engage with a resilient drive face 130 formed on the pulley 49. Two oppositely extending ducts 111, 112 lead from the pump casing 100 generally tangentially to the periphery of the pump impeller. A conduit 113 connects the duct 111 with a sump in the bottom of the tub 12, while the duct 112 is connected by a conduit 115 with a solenoid energized two-way valve 116 (Fig. 1) having two flexible conduits 119 and 120 leading therefrom. Conduit 119 is connected to a storage tub while conduit 120 leads to a drain. The initial supply of water for washing and the supply of water for rinsing are controlled by hot and mixed water control solenoids. An over-centre toggle linkage including springs 139 (Fig. 4) is provided for yieldably holding the pump pulley 104 in its two driven positions. Change-over from one position to the other is effected by the shifter bar 63 which is provided with a slot 135 (Fig. 9) into which extends an arm 134 forming part of the pump toggle linkage. Operation,.-Fig. 11 (not shown) illustrates a control circuit for the machine and includes timer and float operated switches. The machine is filled with hot or mixed water according to'the setting of a temperature control switch. When a predetermined level has been reached the float-operated switch stops the supply of water and energizes a timer motor, the motor 43, and the agitator control solenoid 61. The pin 72 (Fig. 9) will engage the right-hand end of slot 83 and move the bar 63 to the right so as to allow the roller 76 to move downwardly along the cam face 75 to engage the clutch to drive the agitator shaft 27 from the pinion 64. At the same time the arm 134 will be engaged by the left-hand end of slot 135 to move the pump 14 from the dotted line to the full line position in Fig. 8. Pulley 104 will then be driven by the friction surface 130 to drive the pump impeller in a counter-clockwise direction and pump from the valve 116 to the tube 12. At this time the valve solenoid is de-energized and the valve 116 is open to the drain conduit 120 so that no pumping will occur. At the end of the washing time set by the operator the solenoid 61 is automatically de-energized but the drive motor 43 and timer motor continue to operate. The pin 72 drops into the slot 84 to engage with the left hand end thereof to shift the cam bar 63 to the left and disengage pinion 64 from clutch pin 65 to stop the agitator. The bar 63 also moves the arm 134 to return the pump to the dotted line position in Fig. 8 so that the pump pulley 104 is driven by the belt 47. The solenoid of valve 116 is now energized so that liquid is pumped from the tub 12 through the conduit 119 to the storage tub. This wash water may subsequently be pumped back into the tub 12 for reuse in a later washing operation. Upon the continued advance of the timer and pumping of water from the tub for storage, float and timer switches come into operation to energize the solenoid 60 to move the cam bar 41 to the position seen in Fig. 5 (not shown) to effect engagement of the clutch 36 and effect spin drying of the clothes in the container 15. After, e.g., two minutes of spin drying the two-way valve 116 is changed over so that the remaining water is pumped to drain. During this period intermittent spraying of the clothes with mixed water is automatically provided. This is followed by rinsing in warm water with agitation, and by further spin drying with intermittent spraying at the beginning of the extraction period. Specification 615,708 is referred to.