Patent Publication Number: US-7584915-B2

Title: Food waste disposer antivibration system

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
     The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/625,258 filed Nov. 5, 2004, the contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     The present disclosure relates generally to food waste disposers, and more specifically, to a vibration isolation mount system for a food waste disposer. 
     Known domestic food waste disposers typically are rigidly coupled to a sink flange through a highly compressed rubber-mounting gasket. This gasket serves as the primary seal between the sink and the disposer and thus, must be highly compressed to ensure that no leakage occurs during operation. The disposer itself is inherently a vibration source both from the motor operation and from the impacts of food waste against the grind mechanism and the housing. These two sources result in a broad frequency spectrum vibration that is transmitted into the sink, countertop, and cabinet through the connection of the disposer with the sink. While the vibration itself may be annoying, it is also a source of structural noise that can be quite objectionable. This is particularly evident in installations with relatively thin stainless steel sinks, which are excellent resonators 
     The noise produced by food waste disposers during the course of normal operation is often caused by operation of the motor in combination with the impacting of food waste against the housing of the disposer. Consequently, and in response to these concerns, a number of approaches to the problems of vibration-associated noise in conjunction with normal food waste disposer operation have been attempted. 
     A flexible coupling between the disposer and the sink can reduce the transmission of the vibration from the disposer into the sink, countertop, cabinet walls and pipes. This in turn can result in noticeable noise reduction. Prior vibration isolation mounts have typically used rubber couplings in conjunction with mechanical means, such as springs. However, not only do these mounts change the plumbing dimensions, but the added components make the installation of the disposer more difficult. Further, the use of rubber in a tension environment can result in the accelerated degradation of the rubber over time, due to creep as well as chemical and aging effects. 
     Thus, there exists a need for an anti-vibration mount for use in association with a food waste disposer that reduces vibration and associated noise of the food waste disposer during the course of normal operation, retains the original plumbing profile of the food waste disposer, and allows for simple installation. 
     SUMMARY 
     In accordance with certain aspects of the present application, a vibration isolation system for a food waste disposer is disclosed. The food waste disposer includes a housing defining an inlet opening and a grinding mechanism driven by a motor for grinding food waste received into the housing through the inlet opening. An annular retaining collar has first and second ends. The first end is adjacent the inlet opening and the second end connects to a sink opening, via a standard sink mount, for example. In some embodiments, the first end is received in the inlet opening. An annular elastomeric coupler is situated about the first end of the annular retaining collar and is connected to the housing for vibrationally isolating the annular retaining collar from the housing. The primary loading on the elastomeric material is in shear. Elastomeric materials in shear are particularly effective in absorbing both vibration and shock loads. 
     In certain exemplary embodiments, the annular elastomeric coupler is positioned inside the housing. In other words, the coupler is below the top cover of the housing and does not extend outside of the housing, minimizing the necessity for plumbing changes as compared to disposers without the disclosed anti-vibration system. In further embodiments, an annular connection member is connected to the housing and surrounds the annular elastomeric coupler such that the annular elastomeric coupler is between the annular retaining collar and the annular connection member. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       The following figures form part of the present specification and are included to further demonstrate certain aspects of the present invention. The invention may be better understood by reference to one or more of these figures in combination with the detailed description of specific embodiments presented herein. 
         FIG. 1  illustrates a partial cross-sectional view of a food waste disposer in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a detailed cross-sectional view of an aspect of an anti-vibration system in accordance with the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a sectional, cross-sectional view of portions of the anti-vibration system of  FIG. 2 . 
         FIG. 4  illustrates a detailed cross-sectional view of an alternative anti-vibration system in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a detailed cross-sectional view of a further anti-vibration system in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a detailed cross-sectional view of another alternative anti-vibration system in accordance with an aspect of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers&#39; specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. 
     Turning to the figures,  FIG. 1  illustrates an exemplary food waste disposer in accordance with aspects of the present disclosure. The disposer  10  includes an upper food conveying section  12 , a lower motor section  16 , and a central grinding section  14  disposed between the food conveying section  12  and the motor section  16 . The food conveying section  12  includes a housing  18  having a top cover  112  defining an inlet opening  20  therethrough. The housing  18  and top cover  112  are made of stainless steel in exemplary embodiments. A vibration isolation, or “anti-vibration,” mounting system  100  is received by the inlet opening  20 . The food conveying section  12  conveys the food waste to the central grinding section  14 . The motor section  16  includes a motor  22  imparting rotational movement to a motor shaft  24 . The motor  22  is enclosed within a motor housing  26 . The grinding section  14  includes a grinding mechanism having lugs, a rotating plate, and a stationary shredder ring. 
     In operation, the food waste delivered to the grinding section by the food conveying section  12  is forced by the grinding lugs against teeth  42  of the shredder ring. The edges of teeth  42  grind the food waste into particulate matter sufficiently small so as to pass from the space above the grind plate to the space below the grind plate via gaps between the teeth  42  outside the periphery of the plate. Due to both gravity and water flow, the particulate matter that passes through the gaps between teeth  42  drops onto base frame  28  and, along with water injected into the disposer via the faucet associated with the sink, is discharged through a discharge outlet  44 . 
       FIG. 2  is a detailed view of the upper sections of the food waste disposer illustrated in  FIG. 1 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , and in accordance with conventional food waste disposers, a sink mounting assembly  40  includes a sink collar  53 , a backup flange  51 , a mounting flange  60 , and a support flange  70 . Sink collar  53  is positioned within drain opening  50  of sink  30 , leaving drain flange  52  to rest around the drain opening  50  as shown. During typical assembly, a fiber washer  54  and the backup flange  51  are slipped onto the sink collar  53  which extends through sink  30  and extends below the underside of sink  30 . The mounting flange  60  is then slipped onto the collar  53 , and a snap ring  62  is seated within an annular recess on the sink collar  53 . Studs  66  are then threaded through holes  64  in the mounting flange  60  until they contact the underside of a projecting surface of the backup flange  51 , thus pressing the fiber washer  54  between the backup flange  51  and the sink  30 . While not shown in the figures herein, three or more studs  66  are typically used, but only one is illustrated for the sake of clarity in the cross-sectional view. The mounting flange  60  has inclined flanges  68  onto which the remainder of the disposer, and the anti-vibration mounting assembly  100 , can be attached to affix the disposer into position underneath the sink. This will be explained in further detail below. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates the anti-vibration mounting assembly  100  of  FIG. 2  in more detail. As shown therein, mounting assembly  100  includes an annular retaining collar  110  with its lower part positioned in the inlet opening  20  of the top cover  112  such that a portion of the lower part of the collar  110  is within the housing  18 . The upper portion of the collar  110  includes an outwardly extending lip  109 , and extends upwardly from the top cover  112  for connection to the sink mounting assembly  40 . An annular elastomeric coupler  114  is situated about the lower portion of the annular retaining collar  110  and is connected to the top cover  112  of the housing  18 . 
     The elastomeric coupler  114  absorbs vibrations generated by the disposer  10 , isolating the collar  110 , and in turn the mounting assembly  40  and sink, from the vibrations generated by the disposer  10 . As such, the elastomeric coupler  114  provides the connection between the retaining collar  110  and the top cover  112  of the housing  18 . In certain embodiments, the assembly is insert molded, wherein the collar  110  and the top container covering  112 , are inserted into a mold and the elastomeric material is molded around them to form the coupler  114 . The retaining collar  110  is made of any suitably rigid material, such as glass-filled nylon, plastic or stainless steel. Suitable materials for the elastomeric coupler  114  include halobutyl rubber (e.g., chlorobutyl rubber (CIIR)) or nitrile rubber (e.g., NBR). 
     Returning now to the assembly referenced in detail in  FIG. 2 , with the anti-vibration mount assembly  100  affixed to the housing  18  of the food waste disposer via the elastomeric coupler  114  molded or otherwise affixed to the top covering  112  of the food waste disposer housing  18 , the disposer can be affixed to the mounting flange  60  already supported under the sink, as described above. The support flange  70  is positioned on the collar  110  of the assembly  100 , and a mounting gasket  80  is press fit onto the outwardly extending lip  109  of the collar  110  to hold the support flange  70  in place. As shown, the support flange  70  contains inwardly bent tabs  78 . 
     When the disposer and anti-vibration mount assembly  100  (with the support flange  70  in place) is to be affixed to the mounting flange  60  (already supported under the sink  30  ), the tabs  78  are positioned so as to meet with the inclining flanges  68  on the mounting flange  60 . As a result of inclining flanges  68  being inclined, the tabs  78  can be twisted with respect to the flanges  68 , thereby screwing the disposer onto the mounting flange  60  so as to position the disposer in place beneath sink  30 . To facilitate turning the support flange  70 , the support flange  70  is preferably formed with finger pads  76  (only one is shown for reasons of clarity). As the support flange  70  is twisted into place, it is brought closer to the mounting flange  60  due to the incline flanges  68 , thereby compressing the mounting gasket  80 . 
     As shown in  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the connection between the elastomeric coupler  114  and the collar  110  is actually situated inside the container body  18 —it does not substantially extend beyond the top cover  112 . In the illustrated embodiment, the primary loading on the elastomeric material is in shear. Elastomeric materials in shear are particularly effective in absorbing both vibration and shock loads. The compressive load upon the material due to the weight of the disposer is low and avoids the undesirable stiffening of the material that can occur under high compression. 
     By situating the elastomeric coupler  114  into the container body, the overall height of the unit doesn&#39;t change in comparison to units without such an anti-vibration mount. Having the same height as existing disposers eliminates plumbing rework required in replacement installations. 
     A rubber coupler in tension between the mounting assembly and container body may be somewhat effective in reducing vibration transmission and the accompanying noise. However, rubber in tension may suffer degradation over time due to creep as well as chemical and aging effects. Thus it is desirable to isolate the disposer from the sink using elastomeric material in either compression or shear. 
     The anti-vibration mount assembly  100  disclosed herein absorbs vibration and shock loads through shear loading of elastomeric material and is effective at reducing vibration transmission. In the illustrated embodiment, the primary load path for the shock loads and vibration absorption is through shearing of the elastomeric material. Moreover, the construction is such that even if the elastomeric coupler were to fail due to long term chemical and aging effects, the disposer would remain functional. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , another embodiment of an anti-vibration mounting assembly  200  for a food waste disposer is illustrated in partial cross-sectional view. Similar to the aspects described above, the anti-vibration mounting assembly  200  is molded onto a portion of the disposer&#39;s housing, and is preferably mounted onto a top container cover  220  of the housing  18  of the disposer. More specifically, assembly  200  includes an annular retaining collar  210 , an annular connection member  214  connected to the top cover  220 , and annular elastomeric coupler  212 . The coupler  212  illustrated defines a generally circular cross-section, though other cross-sectional shapes could be used, such as a polygon-shaped cross-section. 
     Turning now to  FIG. 5 , another alternative embodiment is shown. Herein, anti-vibration mounting assembly  230  comprises a collar  234  and an elastomeric coupler  232 . Assembly  230  further comprises top container covering  240  that forms a first internal recess  242 . The collar  234  defines a second internal recess  244 . The coupler  232  fits within the containment area formed by the first and second internal recesses  242 , 244  as shown in  FIG. 5 . As described previously, coupler  232  can be made of any suitable elastomeric material. As illustrated, the coupler  232  defines a generally circular cross-section, though other shapes could be used. 
       FIG. 6  illustrates another aspect of the present invention, showing an anti-vibration mounting assembly  250  comprising an annular retaining collar  260  and an annular, elastomeric coupler  262 . Annular collar  260  defines an annular recess  261 , and the elastomeric coupler  262  is mounted within recess  261  of mounting collar  260 . Elastomeric coupler  262  is further attached to top container cover  220  . The elastomeric coupler  262  can be molded onto the top cover  220 , for example. Elastomeric coupler  262  has a polygon cross-section as can be seen in  FIG. 6 . 
     The invention has been described in the context of preferred and other embodiments and not every embodiment of the invention has been described. Obvious modifications and alterations to the described embodiments are available to those of ordinary skill in the art. The disclosed and undisclosed embodiments are not intended to limit or restrict the scope or applicability of the invention conceived of by the Applicants, but rather, in conformity with the patent laws, the Applicants intend to protect all such modifications and improvements to the full extent that such falls within the scope or range of equivalent of the following claims.