Abstract:
This solid bowl feeder and equipment tray assembly includes a bowl having an outer wall providing a seating rim and an inner wall defining a bowl, and an equipment tray having an outer wall providing an upper end attachable to the underside of the bowl. The bowl includes optional spray assembly mounting locations and the tray is adapted to receive various arrangements of the control equipment. The tray also includes a PC board cooperating with an accessible switch for selecting the duration of the spray.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates generally to a solid detergent bowl feeder for supplying diluted detergent to machines such as dishwashers and to a control equipment tray which is attached to the underside of the bowl. 
     Solid detergents used for dishwashers are conventionally placed in a bowl feeder, diluted by a water spray and fed into the machine or into a sink. The bowl feeder is typically mounted to the machine by the plumbing line fitting which is not a satisfactory solution since it results in the relatively heavy bowl containing a solid block of detergent being carried by a fitting of about one inch diameter. In addition, the faucet fitting supplying water to the bowl feeder is not always disposed on a convenient side of the feeder. 
     In most bowl feeder arrangements the control system, by which the adjustments are made to the feeder water and detergent concentrate supply, is separated from the bowl feeder in such a manner that access is not readily afforded to the controls for repair and replacement of parts or for resetting the duration of the spray. 
     The present bowl feeder and equipment tray assembly overcomes these and other disadvantages in a manner not revealed by the known prior art. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention provides a solid detergent bowl feeder having a seating arrangement which enhances the stability of the attachment to the washing machine or sink to which diluted detergent is supplied. In addition, the spray arm faucet fitting can conveniently be located optionally on either side of the bowl feeder and a float switch located on the other side of the bowl feeder. 
     The control equipment is provided in a tray which may be directly attached to the bowl feeder and is so arranged as to permit ready access to the tray control components and to facilitate a variable arrangement of control components. 
     This invention provides a solid bowl feeder comprising an outer wall including a lower rim providing a seating surface adapted to seat on a flat surface; and an inner wall spaced, at least in part, from the outer wall and defining a bowl including a first recessed portion having an upper seat adapted to receive a spray assembly. 
     It is an aspect of this invention to provide a spray assembly including a downspout portion and a radial arm portion communicating with downspout portion, the downspout portion including a upper seating portion seating on the recessed portion of the inner wall. 
     It is another aspect of this invention to provide that the inner wall includes a second recessed portion having an upper seat adapted to receive the spray assembly, said first and second seats providing optional seating locations for said spray assembly. 
     It is an aspect of this invention to provide a solid bowl feeder including an outer wall having a lower end and an inner wall defining a bowl; equipment tray including an outer wall having an upper end, and means for attaching the upper end of the tray to the lower end of the bowl. 
     It is yet another aspect of this invention to provide that the bowl outer wall includes a rim at the lower end; and the tray upper end includes a seating surface operatively seating the rim. 
     It is still another aspect of this invention to provide that the bowl outer wall and the tray outer wall are substantially in register. 
     It is another aspect of this invention to provide that the tray includes a cover and the bowl lower end seats on the cover. 
     It is an aspect of this invention to provide that the bowl includes an inner lower wall; the tray includes an inner upper wall; and the attachment means includes means connecting the inner lower wall of the bowl and the inner upper wall of the tray together. 
     It is still another aspect of this invention to provide that the bowl lower wall includes a spout; the tray upper wall includes an opening receiving the spout; and the attachment means includes a fitting connecting said spout to said tray. 
     It is yet another aspect of this invention to provide that the tray is adapted to receive a plurality of arrangements of control equipment. 
     It is an aspect of this invention to provide that the equipment tray includes interior programming means and accessible switching means cooperating to determine a selected spray period without accessing the interior of the equipment tray. 
     This solid bowl feeder and equipment tray assembly is relatively inexpensive to manufacture, easy to install and works well for its intended purpose. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective, exploded view of the solid bowl feeder and the equipment tray; 
     FIG. 2 is a plan view of the bowl feeder; 
     FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on Line  3 — 3  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken on Line  4 — 4  of FIG. 2; 
     FIG. 5 is a plan view of the equipment tray; 
     FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view taken on Line  6 — 6  of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view taken on Line  7 — 7  of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 8 is a plan view of the solid bowl feeder showing the spray arm and float switch; 
     FIG. 9 is a perspective exploded view of the spray arm assembly; 
     FIG. 10 is a perspective exploded view of the float switch assembly; 
     FIG. 11 is a cross sectional view through the combined bowl and equipment tray; 
     FIG. 12 is a plan view of the equipment tray showing one arrangement of the controls; 
     FIG. 13 is a plan view of the equipment tray showing a modified arrangement of the controls; and 
     FIG. 14 is a front elevational view of the equipment tray showing the valve assembly. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now by reference numerals to the drawings and first to FIG.  1 . It will be understood that, in the embodiment shown, a solid bowl feeder  10  has an equipment tray  100  removably attached to the underside of the bowl feeder  10 . Also, in the embodiment shown, the equipment tray  100  includes a cover  102 , which provides a seating surface for the bowl feeder. 
     More particularly, and as shown in FIGS. 2-4, the bowl feeder  10  includes an outer wall  12  having a generally D-shaped configuration providing combined front and side walls and a rear wall  14 , said walls being preferably unitarily molded from plastic. As shown, the combined wall  12  includes a lower seating rim  16  and the rear wall  14  includes a lower seating rim  18 . The seating rims  16  and  18  are preferably at the same elevation. The wall  14  includes an upper extension wall  20  having openings  22  for receiving fasteners (not shown) suitable for attaching the bowl feeder  10  to a vertical wall surface (not shown) where wall attachment is desired. 
     The solid bowl feeder  10  also includes an inner wall  30 , which has an upper generally bowl-shaped portion  32 , a lower cylindrical portion  34 , a converging portion  36  and a lower portion  38 . As shown, the inner wall cylindrical portion  34  is unitarily formed with the lower wall  38  by the converging wall  36 , said lower wall being formed into a spout  39 . In addition, the upper bowl portion  32  is connected to the outer wall portion  12  by an upper transverse wall  40 . The bowl feeder inner wall  30  and the upper wall  40  are formed into mirror image channels  42 , each of which is arranged to receive a spray arm assembly  50  or a float switch assembly  80  shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 respectively. To facilitate the mounting of the spray arm assembly  50  and the float switch assembly  80 , the channels  42  are provided at their upper end with a D-shaped seating ledge  44 . 
     The spray arm assembly  50 , best shown in FIG. 9, includes an L-shaped conduit  52  having an upper end seating flange  54 , a lower end set screw  53  and an inner end screen  56 , the screen being fitted with a spray nozzle  58  and a V-nozzle  60 . A safety paddle  62  is provided which seats and unseats a ball  66  by means of a flat  63  on the paddle shaft. The upper end also includes a threaded fitting  64  receiving the ball  66 , spring  68 , O-ring  70  and a top fitting  72  held in place by compression nuts  74  and  76 . The spray assembly  50  is held in place by a screw  55 . 
     The float switch assembly  80 , at its lower end, includes a level switch  82 , a level switch mounting  84  and an upper connection  86  having a seating flange  88 , a top fitting  92  with O-ring  90  and compression nuts  94  and  96 . The float switch assembly  80  is held in place by a screw  89 . The float switch assembly  80  is not generally used with combination feeder bowl and equipment tray. 
     The equipment tray  100  includes a D-shaped outer wall  102  having a front and side wall portions and a unitarily molded rear wall  104 . The front wall portion is molded to provide a flat face  106 . The equipment tray  100  also includes a generally rectangular inner wall  110 , a connecting lower wall  108 , and a unitarily formed upper wall  112  having an opening  114 . 
     As best shown in FIGS. 8 and 11, the bowl  10  and the equipment tray  100  may be connected together to provide the combined assembly. In the embodiment shown, the spout  39  of the bowl and the upper wall  112  of the equipment tray  100  are connected by a tubular fitting  120  which connects the bowl feeder spout  39  and the tray such that the bowl lower rim is firmly seated on the cover  102 . As shown in FIG. 1, the outer wall upper portion of the tray  100  may be provided at the corners with locating pins  101 , received by corresponding openings  103  provided in the cover  102 , to ensure that the tray  100  and the cover  102  are in register. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 11, the bowl spout  39  is received by the cover upper wall opening  104  and the tray upper wall opening  114 . The tray opening  114  is provided with a rim received by the cover opening  104  to facilitate alignment of the bowl  10  and the tray  100 . 
     As best shown in FIG. 11, the spray assembly  50  receives water from a water supply WS by way of a valve assembly VA, indicated by numeral  140 , and a syphon breaker SB. As shown in phantom outline in FIG. 11, the configuration of the bowl feeder bowl portion is arranged to receive a container C in upside down relation which contains dry chemical. The spray assembly  50  is arranged to direct water into the container such that the dilutant mix flows into the spout  39  and the sink S under gravity. In the embodiment shown, the container C engages the safety paddle  62 , which is normally closed to cut off water supply to the spray assembly and depresses the paddle into an open line condition permitting spray to be directed into the container C when it is in position. 
     As shown in FIGS. 12 and 13, the equipment tray  100  may be modified to receive a component arrangement which is AC operated or DC (battery) operated. FIG. 12 shows the AC arrangement in which tray  100  includes partitions suitable for installing AC operation components such as transformer, coil and timer. FIG. 13 shows the DC arrangement in which the tray  100  includes partitions suitable for installing DC operation components such as batteries, coil and timer. 
     More specifically, in the AC operation and the DC operation water is supplied to the spray assembly  50  from a valve assembly  140  having a mounting plate  141  attached to the underside of the equipment tray  100  by means of threaded inserts  142  and screws  143 . In both cases, a start/stop switch  146  is provided to control PC board  150  for opening the valve. An LED  148  indicates when the unit is active. 
     In the case of AC operation shown in FIG. 12, a transformer  152 , a solenoid  154  and a terminal strip  156  are provided, wiring omitted for clarity. 
     In the case of DC operation, a coil  160  and two battery holders  162  are provided, each battery holder  162  holding four C-cell batteries (not shown). 
     FIG. 14 shows the arrangement of the label on the recessed flat portion  108  having convenient access to the start/stop switch  146 . 
     The D.C. operation will now be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. As shown in FIG. 13, the PC board  150  is connected to the 12V DC energy source provided by the eight C-cell batteries. The PC board is also connected to the coil  160 , which is mounted inside the equipment tray  100  above the valve assembly  140 . The coil  160  operates in conjunction with a permanent magnet  164  and a tube assembly  166 . The tube assembly  166  includes a spring-loaded plunger  168  which maintains the valve assembly  114  in the normally closed position in which the water supply WS is cut off. 
     When the start/stop switch  146  is pushed in, the coil  160  is energized to cause the plunger  168  to move the valve assembly  140  into an open condition. When the start/stop switch is released, the plunger  168  is held in position by the attraction of the permanent magnet  164  and water flows through the valve assembly  140 . The water is directed onto the dry chemical such as detergent, indicated by detergent container C, shown in phantom outline in FIG. 11, and the diluted water/detergent mix passes through the spout  39  and fitting  120  into a location such as a sink S. 
     When the start/stop switch  146  is again pushed in the polarity of the spring-loaded plunger  168  reverses causing the plunger to be repelled by the permanent magnet to again close the valve assembly  140 , a position in which it is held by the spring-loading of the plunger. 
     It will be understood that this arrangement requires energy use from the batteries only during the opening and closing of the valve assembly  140 . The valve assembly is held in the open position by the permanent magnet  164  and in the closed position by the spring loading of the plunger  168 . 
     The use of a PC board as a timer provides that the valve assembly  140  can be held in an open position for a predetermined time by the following actions: 
     a) actuating the start/stop switch  146  into an “on” position; 
     b) maintaining the switch in the “on” position until the active LED indicator  148  starts to flash; 
     c) releasing the switch  146 , at which time the valve assembly  140  remains open; 
     d) actuating the start/stop switch  146  to close the valve assembly  140  after a selected time. 
     This procedure provides that when the start/stop switch  146  is again actuated into an open position, the valve assembly  140  will remain open for the same selected time during this and subsequent actuations of the start/stop switch  146 . 
     Prior to operation, the solid bowl feeder  10  and the equipment tray  100  are connected together, as shown in FIG. 11, with the cover  102  sandwiched therebetween. The connection is made by means of the fitting  120  attached to the threaded spout  39  at the lower end of the bowl feeder  10  and acting as a nut. When the connection is made, the combination bowl/equipment tray unit has the appearance of a single unit. 
     The equipment tray  100 , with valve assembly  140  attached, is provided with the necessary components for AC or DC operation as desired and the spray arm assembly  50  shown in FIG. 9 is installed in position and the combination unit attached to the sink S. 
     As will be apparent, by virtue of the use of the PC Board  150 , the timing for the spray period can readily be changed without access to the interior of the equipment tray  100 . In general, the float switch assembly  80  is not used with the combination unit. 
     Although the invention has been described by making detailed reference to the preferred embodiments, such detail is to be understood in an instructive rather than in any restrictive sense, many other variants being possible within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.