WO1999045188A1

WO1999045188A1 - Washing machine having a cabinet of improved construction

Info

Publication number: WO1999045188A1
Application number: PCT/EP1999/000254
Authority: WO
Inventors: Piero Durazzani; Fabio Poloni
Original assignee: Electrolux Zanussi S.P.A.
Priority date: 1998-03-02
Filing date: 1999-01-18
Publication date: 1999-09-10
Also published as: ITPN980017A0; IT1305665B1; AU2828299A; AR018299A1; ITPN980017A1; ID23641A; TW436553B

Abstract

In a washing machine with an outer cabinet (1) comprising an upper part (11), a lower part (25) and a middle part (35), which consists of a wrapper (36) and a rear panel (42), the said upper and lower parts (11, 25) consist of hulls made of plastics which are provided with vertical channels (17) on at least a pair of opposed sides (14, 15; 29, 30). Corresponding peripheral portions (47) of the wrapper (36) are adapted to be received into the vertical channels (17) so as to realize a plurality of tongue-and-groove joints. Use: Domestic machines for washing and/or drying clothes and dishes. Advantages: Simple and easy to manufacture. Low production costs.

Description

WASHING MACHINE HAVING A CABINET OF IMPROVED

CONSTRUCTION

DESCRIPTION

The present invention refers to a washing machine having a cabinet of improved construction. Herebelow, denomination of washing machine also includes other appliances for washing and/or drying clothes as well as for washing dishes which are intended for the use in a domestic environment or alike.

In a washing machine the so-called cabinet, which encloses the washing unit and operational components (pumps, vibration dampers, suspension springs of the washing unit, etc.), substantially consists of a box-like structure having a door for loading resp. unloading the articles to be treated.

In a known construction of a machine for washing and/or drying clothes - see document EP-A-0 168 585 - the cabinet comprises : a front metal shell section, which accommodates the control devices and supports a porthole door, and a rear metal shell section, the said shell sections being adapted to be joined to one another in an interchangeable manner; a cross-bracket, adapted to connect to one another the said shell sections and to retain an end of the suspension springs of the washing unit; a bottom member on which the vibration dampers and at least a majority of the operational components are mounted; an upper worktop. Since joining together the various parts of the cabinet requires the use of many screw means, whose location is sometimes uneasy to reach, the aforementioned construction is only suitable, from a technical and an economical point of view, for a highly automated factory, while it is scarcely meaningful in case of labour intensive production lines, especially when the manpower is not yet fully trained for the job.

A laundry washing machine of the so-called "American style" is also known where the rotary clothes basket, which is a part of a washing unit to which all operational components are attached, has a vertical axis and the cabinet consists of the following parts : a casing of steel sheet in the form of a substantially rectangular tube; a first and a second frame-like members of plastics attached to the upper and lower ends of the casing; and an upper cover element - see document US-A-4 423 608. The first member is provided with fixation points of suspension springs for the washing unit and is enclosed in the said cover element, which includes the seat of the door hinges and the control panel of the machine in its rear zone. The second member is only a base for the machine to rest on the floor. To join the various parts of the cabinet together many vertically mounted screw means have to be used also in this construction, and the above referred limitations are therefore still present. This is apart from the fact that such a cabinet is not suitable for the most popular of today's washing machines, in which the rotary clothes basket has a horizontal axis, in consideration of the machine layout (complexity of the base member, provision of a front control panel) and external appearance (lack of a socle in the front lowest zone of the cabinet).

It is therefore an object of the present invention to disclose a washing machine in which the cabinet is of convenient and low cost construction, meets all requirements and is free of the above referred drawbacks.

The said and other aims are reached in a washing machine whose cabinet has the herebelow claimed characteristics. The characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become more clearly evident from the following description of a preferred, though not exclusive, embodiment with reference to the accompanying drawing where :

- FIG. I is a front view of a clothes washing machine according to the invention;

- FIG. 2 is a rear view of the same machine;

- FIG. 3 is a side view of the same machine, the rear wall being illustrated separately from the remaining parts of the cabinet for better clarity; - FIG. 4 is a greater scale cross sectional view of the details encircled in the circle A of FIG. 3.

In a well-known manner, as shown in FIG. I , a clothes washing machine comprises : an outer cabinet I , having a substantially parallelepiped shape, the details of which (constituting the essence of the present invention) are described further on; a washing unit 2, comprising a tub 3, enclosing a drum (not shown) which is adapted to be rotatably driven about a horizontal axis by a motor 4 and elastically connected to the cabinet I through suspension springs 5 and vibration dampers 6; a plurality of electrical and hydraulic components, globally designated by reference numeral 7; a drawer 8 to feed the washing agents into a dispenser (not shown); various devices, globally designated by reference numeral 9, for programming, controlling and supervising the washing process, which are accessible by the user and are accommodated in the uppermost front zone of the cabinet I , above a porthole door 10 for loading the clothes into the drum, respectively unloading them therefrom.

More in detail, according to the invention, cabinet I consists of an upper part I I , a lower part 25 and an middle part 35.

The upper part I I of cabinet I , made of a plastic material such as polypropylene filled with calcium carbonate, has a shell configuration, its front wall 12 being curved toward the rear side of the machine and the other faces 13, 14, 15 and 16 being substantially plane, although duly rounded up in the zones interfacing other parts of the cabinet - as shown in FIGS. I and 3. The upper face 13 is the worktop of the washing machine. The front face 12 is either integrally made with or carries a panel with actuators 90 of the control devices 9 and the drawer 8 of the washing agents. The lower end of side walls 14, 15 of upper part 1 1 of the cabinet, preferably also of front face 12 and rear face 16 thereof, is channelled vertically. As an example, FIG. 4 shows the channelled end 17 of side wall 14, the channel being of a substantially rectangular cross-section with an open side 18 and a bottom side formed between an inner wall 19 and an outer wall 20. Along inner wall 19 of channelled end 17 a plurality of undercut portions 21 are integrally provided to the purpose to be clarified herebelow.

The lower part 25 of cabinet I is the base of the machine (as demonstrated by the levelling feet 33 secured to its bottom surface 3 1 ) as well as the support of operational components 7 and the lower end of vibration dampers 6; furthermore it is provided with one or more apertures for the circulation of air required for cooling the operational components 7 and the washing unit 2. Also the said lower part 25 is made of an injection-moulded plastic material such as polypropylene filled with calcium carbonate and has a shell configuration, its front wall 26 being curved toward the rear side of the machine. The upper end of side walls 29, 30 of the lower part 25 (the rear portion of which is undercut to allow for a so-called "technical room", well known to those skilled in the art, at the rear of the cabinet, as shown in FIG. 3), and preferably also of front face 26, is channelled vertically in a way not shown, but fully symmetrical, if not identical to the previously described channelled end 17 on the upper part I I , as shown in FIG. 4.

As it is well visible in FIGS. I and 3, the shell-like parts I I and 25 have together a total height which is approximately 30 to 50% of the overall height of the cabinet I , namely when the latter is of around 85-90 cm (in case of a "standard" washing machine) or around 60 cm (in case of the so-called "under-the-counter washing machine).

The middle part 35 of cabinet I consists of a metal wrapper 36, made from a sheet of steel, having a front face 37 supporting the porthole door 10, two side walls 38 and 39, stiffened by vertical ribs 34, two rear folded edges 40 and 41 and a rear panel 42. The peripheral upper zone 47 of wrapper 36, which is bent at an angle of at least 150°, preferably 175 to 180°, is adapted to be accommodated in the above described vertical channelled end 17 of the upper part 1 1 of cabinet I . In this manner, the free edge 48 of the peripheral upper zone 47 of wrapper 36 is retained by the already mentioned undercut portions 21 provided along the inner wall 19 - see FIG. I - so as to realize a tongue-and-groove joint between the upper part 1 1 and wrapper 36 of the middle part 25 of cabinet I .

The lower peripheral zone of wrapper 36 is bent in the same way as the upper peripheral zone 47 and is adapted to be accommodated in the above mentioned channelled end of the vertical faces of the lower part 25 so as to realize a tongue-and-groove joint between the lower part 25 and wrapper 36 of the middle part 25 of cabinet I . If necessary, a suitable sealing and/or adhesive material (such as a silicone material) can be filled into the channelled ends 17 to bond the associated peripheral zones 47 of wrapper 36 and make the tongue-and-groove joints stronger.

As it is shown in FIG. 3, the rear panel 42 (which can be made either from a plastic material or a steel sheet) of cabinet I is fixed through a few screws to the rear folded edges 40 and 41 of wrapper 36. The panel 42 is integrally formed with four circumvolutions 43, 44A, 44B and 45 that are adapted to retain the machine mains cable (not shown), the flexible hoses 50 resp. 5 1 for feeding the cold resp. hot water and the drain hose 52 of the washing machine in the period up to the installation of the washing machine in an user's house. The rear panel 42, which extends down to the bottom surface 3 1 of the lower part 25 of cabinet I , is also provided with apertures 53, 54 and 55, arranged in a triangular array, for the well- known threaded rods (not shown) which ensure, during the above mentioned period, the blockage of the washing unit 2 with respect to cabinet I , and the brackets 56, 57 and 58 for retaining the mains cable and main hoses 50, 5 1 and 52.

The advantages cf a washing machine according to the invention with respect to the state of art are clearly understandable from the previous description. Cabinet I consists of a relatively low number of parts I I , 25, 36, each of them fulfilling several duties and adapted to be assembled by simple and low-cost means, without requiring either a highly sophisticated equipment or a particularly well- trained manpower.

Even if the previous description is referred to a preferred embodiment, it is appreciated that the protection of this patent is extended to any variant of the invention that may be developed by those skilled in the art.

Claims

1. A washing machine having a washing unit (2), electrical and hydraulic functional components (7), control devices (9), a substantially parallelepiped outer cabinet (2) comprising an upper part ( I I ) and a lower part (25) which are at least prevailingly made of plastics, and a middle part (35), which consists of a wrapper (36) and a rear panel (42) and is attached to the said upper and lower parts ( I I , 25), characterized in that the said upper and lower parts ( I I , 25) are in the form of mutually facing hulls, the faces thereof being provided, on at least a pair of opposed sides ( 14, 15; 29, 30), with vertical channels ( 17) which are adapted to receive corresponding peripheral portions (47) of the wrapper (36), so as to realize a plurality of tongue-and-groove joints.

2. A washing machine according to claim I , characterized in that the said peripheral portions (47) of the wrapper (36) are folded at an angle for not less than 150┬░, preferably at an angle of 175 to 180┬░.

3. A washing machine according to claim I , characterized in that undercut zones (21 ) are integrally provided along the inner wall ( 19) of the said vertical channels ( 17) of the sides ( 14, 15; 29; 30) of the said upper and lower parts ( I I , 25) of the outer cabinet ( I ) so as to retain the free edges (48) of the said peripheral portions (47) of the wrapper (36) of the outer cabinet ( I ).

4. A washing machine according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that, into the said vertical channels ( 17) of panels ( 14, 15; 29; 30) of the said upper and lower parts ( I I , 25) of the outer cabinet ( I ), a sealing and/or adhesive material is provided so as to at least partially embed the said peripheral portions (47) of the wrapper (36) of the outer cabinet (I ).

5. A washing machine according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the wrapper (36) of the outer cabinet ( I ), having a front panel (37), side panels (38, 39), and a pair of rear edges (40, 41 ), is produced from a single sheet of steel and is attached to the said hull-shaped upper and lower parts ( 1 1 , 25) along its entire horizontal periphery.

6. A washing machine according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the total height of the said hull-shaped upper and lower parts ( I 1 , 25) is around 30 to 50% of the overall cabinet height.

7. A washing machine according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the rear panel (42) of the said middle part (25) of the outer cabinet ( I ) consists of a piece which is integrally provided by moulding with a plurality of circumvolutions (43, 44A, 44B, 45) which are adapted to receive the supply cord and/or at least one of the flexible hoses (50, 5 1 , 52) for feeding resp. draining water before the machine is installed in the field.

8. A washing machine according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the said lower part (25) of the outer cabinet ( I ) is not only the base thereof, provided with levelling feet (33), but also the support of at least a substantial amount of the functional components (7) and of the friction dampers (6) of the washing unit (2), and is furthermore provided with apertures for the cooling air of the said functional components (7) and/or of the washing unit (2).

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