Patent ID: 6880192

Claim:
A washing machine comprising: a drive motor; a water reservoir tub for containing wash water to be supplied in a washing operation; a wash tub received in the water reservoir tub; a pulsator rotatably mounted to the bottom of the wash tub; a hollow spin-drying shaft for rotating the wash tub in accordance with a rotating force from the drive motor; a wash shaft extending through the spin-drying shaft while being fixedly connected at an upper end thereof to a wash shaft coupling member coupled to the pulsator and at a lower end thereof to the drive motor so as to normally and reversely rotate the pulsator in accordance with the rotating force from the drive motor; a transmission including a plurality of bearings adapted to the spin-drying shaft and serving to efficiently transmit the rotating force from the drive motor to the wash tub and the pulsator; a float type clutch including a float having a floating portion adapted to move upwardly or downwardly in accordance with whether or not wash water is present, a hollow cylindrical central portion provided at an upper end of an inner surface thereof with a float gear, and a “U”-shaped connecting portion integrally connecting the floating portion and the central portion, a spin-drying shaft gear provided at the upper end of the spin-drying shaft while having the same shape as the float gear so that it is selectively engagable with the float gear in accordance with a vertical movement of the float; and a barrier formed at a lower end of the wash shaft coupling member so that it is integral with the wash shaft coupling member, and inserted into the connecting portion of the float.