Patent ID: 7013517

Claim:
A washing machine comprising: a cabinet shell; an outer tub mounted within the cabinet shell; an inner tub rotatably mounted within the outer tub; an agitator positioned within a bottom portion of the inner tub; a motor driven drive shaft defining a rotational axis; and a tipping mechanism drivingly interconnecting the drive shaft and the inner tub to the agitator, said tipping mechanism including: a drive member mounted for co-rotation with the drive shaft, said drive member being adapted to provide rotational movement about the rotational axis; a tipping member interconnecting the drive member and the agitator, said tipping member being adapted to provide pivotal movement to the agitator about a pivotal axis; and a linking member having a first end pivotally mounted to the inner tub and a second end pivotally mounted to the tipping member, wherein rotation of the drive member about the rotational axis causes the agitator to both rotate about the rotational axis and pivot about the pivotal axis.