Patent ID: 7845200

Claim:
Clothes washing machines comprising: a perforated rotating drum holding the clothes to be washed, a stationary washing tub containing said rotating drum, a drain manifold arranged underneath said washing tub for letting off the liquid flowing in from said tub and accommodating a drain pump, said pump being provided with a rotating shaft extending into said drain manifold, and with an impeller comprising a rounded central hub having a largest radius and vanes radially extending from the rounded central hub, said vanes having a radial height greater than the largest radius of the central hub and being arranged at an angle relative to each other on respective planes passing through an axis of said rotating shaft, said vanes having only an end thereof, at the side of the axis, connected to the outer surface rounded central hub of the impeller so that said vanes are circumferentially separated one from each other, said drain manifold being provided with a substantially planar inner wall, from which said rotating shaft extends to enter said drain manifold, an outlet pipe connected at an end portion thereof to said drain manifold and adapted to convey outside the liquid being pushed by the action of said pump, an outflow aperture adapted to connect the inner volume of said drain manifold with said outlet pipe, provided in a position that is substantially parallel to the axis of said rotating shaft and situated laterally relative to said shaft so that the liquid exiting the drain manifold is adapted to flow along a direction substantially orthogonal to said axis, a first inflow aperture arranged in front of said vanes in a position that is parallel to the plane extending orthogonally to said axis so that the liquid entering the drain manifold is adapted to flow along a direction substantially parallel to said axis, a sleeve connecting an aperture in the bottom of said washing tub with said drain manifold, a hollow space or separating gap is provided between said vanes of the pump impeller and said planar inner wall of said drain manifold, characterized in that in said hollow space or separating gap there are arranged a plurality of planar members provided integral with said impeller and co-planar with the respective vanes of said impeller so that the planar members and the vanes are provided integral in a unitary-piece construction, said planar members have a radial height that is smaller than the radial height of said vanes, but greater than the largest radius of the central hub of the impeller.