US3490254A - Laundry appliance having scrubber means - Google Patents

Description

Jan. 20, 1970 A. MASON 3,490,254

LAUNDRY APPLIANCE HAVING SGRUBBER MEANS Filed May 28, 1968 INVENTOR.

AA/n/a/vy MAJ a/V y ATTORNEY-K United States Patent O 3,490,254 LAUNDRY APPLIANCE HAVING SCRUBBER MEANS Anthony Mason, Benton Harbor, Mich., assignor to Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed May 28, 1968, Ser. No. 732,752 Int. Cl. D06f 29/00 U.S. C]. 6814 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Laundry appliance including a scrubber means for scrubbing particularly soiled fabrics, the scrubbing means including a flexible diaphragm having a scrubbing surface thereon and being supplied with recirculating laundry liquid from the applicance, the scrubbing means also including a valve operated by pressure on the diaphragm to provide laundry liquid at the scrubbing surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention is in the field of laundry appliances and more particularly relates to automatic washing machines wherein a scrubber is embodied in the machine and receives pressurized laundry liquid at its surface by applying pressure to the scrubber means.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART Hughes U.S. Patent No. 2,979,932 describes an automatic washing machine which employs a scrubber attachment on the agitator thereof for pretreating particularly soiled garments. A stream of water having a rela- Shelton U.S. Patent No. 3,209,560 describes still another type of washing machine with a scrubber attachment, the scrubber being part of a separate receptacle which is placed in the opening of the tub which is supplied with some of the recirculating laundry liquid.

The present invention represents an improvement over machines of this type in that the user does not have to scrub the articles on the surface of an oscillating memtively high concentration of detergent is passed through the fabric during the scrubbing operation.

ber, and has complete control over the amount of laundry liquid which is employed for the scrubbing operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In the laundry appliance of the present invention, there is provided scrubbing means for pretreating areas of scrubbing surface, In the preferred form of the invention, Y I

the scrubbing means takes the form of a diaphragm made of flexible resilient material such as rubber and having a scrubbing surface formed thereon, the diaphragm being perforated so as to communicate with a reservoir located immediately behind the diaphragm. Recirculating laundry liquid under the positive pressure of the reversible pump employed in the laundry machine supplies laundry liquid to the reservoir under the control of a check valve which is operated by pressure on the scrubbing surface. Consequently, the operator has complete control over the amount of washing liquid diverted to the scrubbing surface. Furthermore, the laundry liquid dispensed through the surface of the scrubber contains precisely the right concentration of washing agents since it is the same laundry liquid which is used during the main washing 3,490,254 Patented Jan. 20, 1970 ice operation. This prevents the operator from concentrating too much washing agent on the soiled areas prior to the scrubbing operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Turning to the drawings, reference numeral 10 has been applied to a cabinet of the type normally employed in automatic washing machines, and being provided with a hinged lid 11. The lid 11 serves to close off a well 12 having a centrally disposed opening 13 which provides access to the interior of a rotatable perforatebasket 14 in which the fabrics to be laundered are inserted. Agitation of the laundry liquid and the fabrics is accomplished by means of a conventional vertical agitator 15 disposed at the center of the basket 14.

The improved scrubbing unit of the present invention is identified generally at reference numeral 16 in FIG- URE l. Conveniently, the scrubbing assembly 16 is located at a corner of the well 12 where it is readily accessible to the operator, and from which the excess laundry liquid can conveniently drain back into the tub 14.

As best illustrated in FIGURE 2, the agitator 15 is driven in oscillatory fashion from a transmission 17 by means of a motor 18. The same motor drives a reversible pump 19 as by means of a belt 20.

The perforate basket 14 is located within a stationary imperforate tub 21. The laundry liquid is applied to the tub 21 by means of a conduit 22 controlled by an electrically actuated valve 23. The constantly circulating laundry liquid during the washing operation is filtered by passing the same through a filter 24 having a check valve 25 in series therewith.

As is well understood in the art, the various cycles of an automatic washing machine are controlled by timer means (not shown) which initiate the sequence of filling the tub with laundry liquid, agitating, draining, rinsing and spin drying.

At the outset of the washing cycle, the fabrics to be laundered are placed within the perforate basket and the electrically actuated valve 23 opens to allow laundry liquid to pass through the conduit 22 into the tub 21. When the liquid level in the tub reaches a predetermined height, the valve 23 is deenergized by suitable control means (not shown) thereby terminating further admission of laundry liquid. Then, the motor 18 is energized and the agitator 15 is thereby driven in an oscillatory fashion by means of the transmission 17. The motor 18 also drives the reversible pump 19, and water is drawn from the tub through a conduit 26, the check valve 25, the filter 24, and a conduit 27 which connects the filter 24 with the pump 19. In this phase of the operation, the laundry liquid is discharged by the pump 19 through a conduit 28 which delivers it to a button trap 29 before the liquid is again introduced into the tub 21.

At the completion of the laundering operation, the reversible pump 19 is driven in the reverse direction causing liquid to be drawn from the tub 21 through the button trap 29 and into the conduit 28. The pump delivers the liquid through the conduit 27, the filter 24 and a check valve 30 whereupon it is discharged through an outlet conduit 31. During this phase of the operation, any sediment collected by the filter 24 is flushed by backwashing and is discharged through the drain conduit 31. The check valve 25 prevents any recirculation of the liquid back into the tub 21.

An auxiliary line 32 extends from the conduit 28, and is provided with a check valve 33 which permits flow of the liquid into a conduit 34 which feeds the scrubber assembly 16. The presence of the check valve 33 insures that the laundry liquid will be supplied through the scrubber assembly 16 only during the recirculation of the laundry liquid, and not during draining of the liquid from the tub.

The scrubbing assembly is shown in detail in FIGURE 3 of the drawings. The scrubbing element itself consists of a flexible diaphragm 35 composed of rubber or the like and being provided with corrugations 36 at its upper surface against which the severely soiled fabrics can be rubbed. The outer periphery of the diaphragm 35 is provided with a grommet type flange 37 which has a head portion 38 engaging the periphery of the opening in the well 12 in sealing relation. The grommet type flange 37 also tightly engages the peripheral end portion 39 of a cup-like member 40, thereby providing a liquid reservoir 41 between the cup-like member and the diaphragm 35. The cup-like member 40 also has a centrally disposed aperture providing a valve seat 42. A hose connector 43 embraces a collar 44 of the cup-shaped member 40 and receives the end of the hose 34 thereon.

The valve element illustrated in FIGURE 3 has an end portion 45 embedded in the diaphragm 35, and has an enlarged end portion including a seating face 46 arranged to be normally seated against the valve seat 42. The natural resilience of the diaphragm 35 seats the valve element in the valve seat under normal operating conditions. If a non-resilient diaphragm is employed, a biasing spring will be provided to urge the valve element against its seat.

The diaphragm 35 is also provided with a plurality of apertures 47 which permit the laundry liquidto flow to the corrugations 36 when the diaphragm is depressed sufficiently to unseat the seating face 46 from against its seat 42. Upon opening of the valve, therefore, recirculating laundry liquid is forced by the pump 19 through the conduit 32, the check valve 33 and the conduit 34 into the reservoir 41. The laundry liquid then appears at the scrubbing surface by passing through the apertures 47 in the diaphragm 35. The amount of pressure applied to the valve element determines the amount of laundry liquid appearing at the surface, so that the operator has complete control of the amount of liquid used for scrubbing. The concentration of washing agents in the liquid used for scrubbing is the same as that used in the main laundering operation, so that there is no possibility of providing an over concentration of washing agents in the highly soiled spots. At the completion of the scrubbing operation, when pressure is released from against the diaphragm 35, any excess laundry liquid will drain down the Well 12 and back into the tub 21.

"'The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1.- A laundry appliance comprising:

a housing,

a tub supported in said housing,

means for supplying laundry liquid to said tub,

reversible pump means for withdrawing laundry liquidl from said tub and recirculating it thereto,

a scrubber means mounted on said housing,

conduit means connecting said scrubber means to said pump means to thereby delivery pressurized laundry liquid to said scrubber means during such recirculation,

and valve means in said scrubber means for delivering laundry liquid to the surface of said scrubber means. 2. The appliance of claim 1 wherein said scrubber means includes a perforate resilient diaphragm having a scrubbing surface, and said valve means is operated by pressure on said diaphragm.

3. The appliance of claim 2 in which said scrubber means includes apertured wall means defining a reservoir positioned behind said diaphragm and said valve means is positioned to close ofi the aperture in said wall means 4. The appliance of claim 3 in which said valve means has one end portion embedded in said diaphragm and said valve means is urged into seating relationship with said wall means by the resilience of said diaphragm.

5. In a laundry appliance having a tub and circulating means for periodically circulating laundry liquid in a confined flow path into and out of said tub, the improvement which comprises:

a resilient scrubber means, means for withdrawing a portion of the circulating laundry liquid and delivering it to said scrubber means,

and valve means operated by deflection of said scrubber means to introduce laundry liquid to the surface of said scrubber means.

6. The appliance of claim 2 which includes:

a rigid wall means forming a reservoir at the rear of said diaphragm,

means for connecting the periphery of said diaphragm to the peripheral edge of said wall means in sealing relation,

said wall means including a valve seat therein, and

said valve extending between said diaphragm and said valve seat,

and having a seating surface arranged to be received in said valve seat.

7. The appliance of claim 2 in which said scrubber means is located in close proximity to said tub so that liqglid may drain from said scrubber means back into said ill References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,979,932 4/ 1961 Hughes 6854 X 3,209,560 10/ 1965 Shelton 68-14 X FOREIGN PATENTS 945,683 7/ 1956 Germany.

WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.Rt

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