Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of agitating elements
for washing machines and provides an agitator accessory con-
sisting of a detachable vaned sleeve structure which cooperates
with the agitator vanes in forcinq the fabrics being washed
downwardly toward said agitator vanes as the agitator
oscillates.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
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It has been found that the most efficient means for
washing clothes within an automatic washing machine having a
vertical axis agitator is to provide a substantially continuous
cyclical rollover movement pattern of the clothes during
, washing which involves moving the clothes down along the agi-
tator barrel, then radially outwardly from the oscillating
, vanes, then upwardly along the wall of the washing basket and
inward to the barrel of the agitator, and so forth. Conven-
tional washing machines are reasonably proficient in achieving
; this type of rollover pattern when light loads are being
washed, but not with heavy loads. When the washing basket is
tightly packed with clothes the load crowds the agitator and
basket area. A conventional oscillating agitator has diffi-
culty in attaining any kind of a rollover to the clothes load
under these conditions. The conventional-type agitator may
merely scrub the bottom portion of a tightly-packed heavy
load, resulting in a very uneven uniformity of cleaning.
; There are a few examples in prior patents of agitators
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which move in separate paths during a washing operation. For
example, the Bryant Patent No. 1,834,936 suggests dual agi-
tator members which are reciprocated in opposite directions
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within the tub, the object being to create a violent water
action.
The Krolzick Patent No. 3,678,714 assigned to the same
assignee as the present invention describes a washing
machine assembly including a pair of agitators, the two
agitators being coupled together for mutual oscillation,
but having cam means or the like provided between the two
agitators to effect a vertical reciprocation of one with
respect to the other during such oscillation.
Dyer Patent No. 2,331,897 discloses a washing machine
having an agitator provided with a spiral vane on an upper
portion, the agitator rotating at motor speed during
washing.
Krolzick Patent Des. 196,194 assigned to the same
assignee as the present invention shows an agitator for a ~-
laundry machine wherein the ornamental design for the
agitator includes a spiral vane arrangement.
Geldhof Patent No. 2,734,367, assigned to a pre-
decessor of the assignée of the present invention, shows
an agitator for a laundry machine wherein the agitator
includes spiral vanes which extend in the form of radial
vanes on their lower edges, with radial projections or
vanes extending intermediate the sprial vanes.
Ref~rence is also made to our co-pending Canadian
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patent application Serial No. 213,500 which is closely
; related to the present invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION ~-
~ According to the invention there is provided an -~
- agitator for a washing machine having a driven oscillating ~-
shaft, said agitator comprising: a first agitator portion
capable of being mounted on said shaft by means of a
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locked, non-rotating connection and having an upper part,
and a lower part provided with outwardly extending sub-
stantially vertically oriented vanes; a second agitator
portion in the form of a sleeve having at least one
outwardly extending, inclined vane, said sleeve being
rotatably mounted on the upper part of the first agitator
portion and a one-way clutch located between the first
and second agitator portions, the first agitator portion
being adapted to drive said clutch and the second agitator
portion being adapted to be driven by said clutch so that
rotation of the first agitator portion gives a positive
rotation to the second agitator portion in only one
direction of rotation of the first agitator portion, said
inclined vane being inclined upwardly with respect to the
direction of positive rotation of the second agitator
portion, and at least the lower parts of said vertically
oriented vanes extending radially outwardly by a greater
amount than said at least one inclined vane.
The upward inclination of the inclined vane as men-
tioned above has the effect of moving adjacent articles of
' clothing and washing fluid downwardly during positive
rotation of the second agitator portion during use of the
washing machine.
In a preferred form of the invention, the upper end of
the sleeve may be provided with teeth which are arranged
to receive a ratchet ring which is detachably coupled to
the first agitator portion for oscillation therewith.
Upon oscillatory movement of the agitator the pawls of the
ratched drive the sleeve in one direction of agitator
rotation, but not in the other. The inclined vane on the
sleeve is configured to urge, deflect or auger clothes
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within the receptacle downwardly toward the lower-agitator
portion where they may be contacted by a set of generally
vertically-extending vanes preferably disposed about the
skirt portion of the agitator.. The agitator accessory
thereby acts to feed clothes downwardly along the barrel
of the agitator where they come under the influence of the
oscillating vertically-positioned agitator vanes on the
skirt portion of the agitator which direct the clothes
radially outwardly toward the periphery of the basket, and
eventually upwardly and back to the barrel of the upper
agitator, completing a rollover cycle which is extremely
: efficient for securing scrubbing contact with the wash .
. liquid.
: BRIEF DESC IPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other objects, features and advantages of the
-~ . invention will be readily apparent from the following
description of certain preferred embodiments thereof,
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taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,
: although variations and modifications may be effected
`.~ without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel
concepts of the disclosure and in which
Figure 1 is a view in perspective, partly broken away,
. of.a conventional type of automatic washing machine which
.: is provided with the improved agitator accessory of the
present invention;
Figure 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the
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machine during operation, and illustrates the type of rollover
pattern which can be achieved through the~use of the agitator
accessory of the present invention; ~~ ~-
Fig~re 3 is a fragmentary elevational view of theagitator accessory of the,present invention, partly broken
away, illustrating the means by which a unidirectional drive
is achieved in the accessory; and
Figure 4 is an exploded fragmentary view of the agitator
accessory and a portion of the agitator barrel.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
In Figure 1, reference numeral 10 indicates generally
a washing machine of the automatic type which includes a frame
11 carrying vertical panels 12 forming the sides, front an~
back of the machine. The machine 10 is supported by means of
threaded legs 13 extending from each of its corners.
The machine also includes a hinged lid 14 providing
access to the interior of the washing machine and a console
15 having a timer dial 16 and a program selector 17.
Within the cabinet formed by the vertical panels 12
there is an imperforate tub 18 which is supported within the
cabinet by means of a base plate 19. A plurality of suspension
rods 20 having resilient spherical end portions 21 and 22 are
positioned about the tub 18 to suspend the tub freely within
the interior of the cabinet.
A perforate washing basket 23 is positioned concen-
trically within the tub 18. The improved agitator accessory
of the present invention has been designated generally at
reference numeral 24a and is positioned with the agitator 24
centrally of the perforate basket 23.
Liquid is introduced into the washing machine by
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means of a solenoid-controlled inlet valve 25 which di~ects
the liquid through an intake conduit 26 and an anti-siphon
device 27 into the washing area. A filter 28 is positioned
along a ~ub ring 29 disposed between the tub 18 and the
basket 23 and delivers filtered wash water to the tub by
means of an outlet conduit 30 f'ed from the outlet port of a '~
pump 31. The inlet port of the pump 31 is in fluid communi-
cation with the tub 18 by means of an inlet conduit 30a,
thus forming a means for circulating washing liquid through
the filter 28 during the agitate cycle of machine operation.
The pump 31 as well a~ the other movable parts of the assembly
are driven by means of a motor 32 which operates through a
transmission 33. A clutch and brake assembly generally in-
dicated at reference numeral 34 is provided for energizing
the agitator 24 in an oscillatory fashion during washing, and
for disengaging the agitator and engaging means for spinning
~i the basket 23 during the liquid-extraction portion of the
washing cycle.
The arrangement shown in Figure 1 is conventional
' 20 in vertical-axis washing machines and has been shown for the
sake of comPleteness.
Referring now to Figure 2, it will be seen that the
agitator 24 which comprises a first unitary member has an upseanding -
center post or barrel portion 35 and a lower vaned portion or
~; skirt 36 about which are disposed a plurality of generally
ver,tically disposed agitator vanes 37. A splined drive shaft 38
extends through the agitator 24, as shown best in Figure 3-, and is
' secured at the top of the barrel portion 35 by means of a washer
39a and a threaded stud 39. The stud 39 has an integral
shoulder portion 39b which serves to hold the washer 39a and
therefore the agitator 24 in place, and the shoulder portion
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may have a hexagonal shape to facilitate tightening. The
top portion of the stud 39 is provided with threads to
hold the agitator cap 51 in place at the top of the
assembly. When the agitator cap 51 is made up tight on
threaded stud 39 the lower portion of the agitator cap
circumferentially contacts the top of the ratchet ring
45 and holds it in contact with the top of the sleeve
41, preventing any substantial vertical movement of the
ratchet ring or the sleeve with respect to the agitator
24 or with respect to each other.
The upper end of the barrel portion 35 has a reduced
diameter portion 40 which is co-axially received within
and is encompassed by a sleeve or vaned member 41, the
bottom of the sleeve 41 resting on a shoulder 42 of the
barrel portion 35. The sleeve 41 has radially outwardly
extending vane means or fabaric deflecting members asso-
ciated therewith, in the illustrated embodiment two
inclined helical vanes 43 extend from its outer periphery
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somewhat like an auger such that upon rotation of the
sleeve 41 in one direction, the vanes 43 tend to move or
auger the clothes downwardly toward the generally vertical
agitator vanes 37 as best illustrated in Figure 2.
One-way clutch means, which acts as means for drivingly
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interconnecting the sleeve 41 with the agitator 24, are -
provided to ca~se rotation of the agitator accessory 24a
in one direction only. In the illustrated embodiment the
one-way clutch means comprises a ratchet ring 45 and a
-~ series of teeth formed on sleeve 41. The upper end of
the sleeve 41 has a plurality of teeth 43a around its
periphery as best illustrated in the exploded view of
Figure 4. These teeth are arranged to engage pawls 44
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extending from ratchet ring 45. The pawls 44 may be
somewhat flexible. The upper portion 48 of the agitator
barrel is tapered and has vertical grooves 53 formed on
opposite sides of the periphery thereof which receive i-
inwardly-projecting
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tongue~ 52 of the ring 45. The ratchet ring 45 is thus
coupled to the agitator barrel 35 through this tongue and
groove arrangement and the two therefore oscillate together.
In operation, as the agitator barrel 35 is oscillated,
the flexible pawls 44 on the ratchet ring 45 engage the teeth
43a of the sleeve 41 to incrementally rotate the sleeve when
movement of the agitator is in the counterclockwise direction.
When the washing machine is loaded and the agitator i~ moved
in a clockwise direction, the flexible pawls 44 slip over the
teeth due to the frictional drag created on the sleeve 41 by
the action of the clothes against the inclined vanes. Thus,
as the agitator 24 oscillates the agitator accessory 24a
~ncluding the sleeve 41 and the attached inclined vanes 43
rotates intermittently in the counterclockwise direction.
,. That ls, as the agitator 24 oscillates, its counterclockwise
movement and only said counterclockwise movement is imparted to
the agitator accessory 24a. It has been found that this in-
~-. cremental rotation of the inclined vanes 43 tend to create a
~ generally toroidal rollover ~Y~e~e~-or pattern of the/type shown
in Figure 2, that is, the clothes adjacent to the agitator
~ accessory are forced downwardly toward the generally vertical
àgitator vanes 37 which in turn propel the clothes radially out-
. wardly and upwardly along the inner periphery of the basket 23 and
- bsck to the vicinity of the agitator accessory 24a. This creates a
- highly desirable rollover action which sub~ects the clothes to
; intimate contact with the washing liquid. ;
- The agitator accessory of the present invention is -
simple and easy to construct, as all the parts thereof can
be made of an easily molaable synthetic resin such as poly-
propylene. It should also be noted that the agitator
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'. accessory is easily removable from the agitator itself so that' the machine can be utilized with or without the accessory,
.~ depending upon the size of the load being washed.
, It will be evident that various modifications can
be made to the described embodiments without departing from
the scope of the present invention.
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