Patent Grant
10731284
Laundry treating appliances, such as vertical axis clothes washers, typically include a cabinet, a tub in the interior of the cabinet, and a rotatable wash basket mounted in the tub that receives laundry for treatment according to a cycle of operation. A clothes mover or agitator can be located within and rotatable relative to and/or with the wash basket. The agitator can be oscillated or rotated about its axis of rotation during a cycle of operation in order to provide movement to the fabric load contained within the laundry treating chamber.
One aspect of the present disclosure relates to a clothes washer having a tub at least partially defining a liquid chamber, a basket rotatably mounted within the liquid chamber and defining a treating chamber, a clothes mover located within the treating chamber and rotatable about a vertical axis and a cap removably mounted to the clothes mover. The cap includes a first treating chemistry reservoir defined by the cap, an outlet, and a manually-actuable valve selectively coupling the first treating chemistry to the outlet and having an actuator located on the exterior of the cap.
Another aspect of the invention relates to an agitator assembly for a clothes washer having a base, a barrel terminating in a top, and a cap removably mounted to the top. The cap includes a first treating chemistry reservoir defined by the cap, an outlet, and a manually-actuable valve selectively coupling the first treating chemistry to the outlet and having an actuator located on the exterior of the cap.
In the drawings:
The present disclosure sets forth a washing machine with a clothes mover having a cap with an integrated dispenser that is easily accessible to the user. The user can operate the dispenser to dispense treating chemistry directly and visibly onto a laundry load in the washing machine. This enables the user to receive instant visual feedback to the dispensing process and the remaining treating chemistry available within the reservoir.
By way of summary, the systems and components set forth in this disclosure enable a user, prior to initiation of a treatment cycle, to determine the amount of the treating chemistry to be used for the washing cycle. By pressing a valve actuator button on the cap, the user can visibly dispense treating chemistry onto the laundry load. The visible passing of the treating chemistry onto the laundry load provides confirmation to the user that the treating chemistry was dispensed and lets the user approximate by visual inspection the amount of treating chemistry that is dispensed. Moreover, the elevated and central location of the cap within the wash chamber provides a convenient location for the user to access.
In more detail,
The clothes washer 10 includes a cabinet or housing 12 and a tub 14 that defines an interior 16 of the clothes washer 10. The tub 14 is configured to hold liquids during the washing process. A drum or basket 20 is located within the interior 16 of the tub 14 and is rotatable relative to the tub 14. The basket 20 defines a laundry treating chamber 22 for receiving a laundry load for treatment according to an automatic cycle of operation. The top of the cabinet 12 can include a selectively openable lid 18 to provide access into the laundry treating chamber 22 through an open top of the basket 20.
The basket 20 can include a plurality of perforations or apertures 24 such that liquid supplied to the basket 20 can flow through the perforations 24 to the tub 14. While the embodiments are described in the context of a clothes washer having a rotatable basket located within a tub, it will be understood that the embodiments can also be used in a clothes washer which has an imperforate basket without a tub.
A clothes mover in the form of an agitator 26 can be located within the laundry treating chamber 22 and rotatable relative to and/or with the basket 20. While the clothes mover is illustrated as an agitator, the clothes mover can also be an impeller, pulsator, auger, etc., which is rotated within the basket to effect movement of liquid in the basket or directly impact the laundry to apply mechanical energy indirectly or directly to the laundry. The basket 20 and/or the agitator 26 can be driven by an electrical motor 28, which may or may not include a gear case, operably connected to the basket 20 and/or the clothes mover 26. The agitator 26 can be commonly oscillated or rotated about its axis of rotation during a cycle of operation in order to provide movement to the load contained within the laundry treating chamber 22. The basket 20 alone or in combination with the agitator 26 can be rotated at high speed to centrifugally extract liquid from the load and to discharge the extracted liquid from the basket 20.
A dispensing system 28 can be provided to the clothes washer 10 for supplying treating chemistry to the treating chamber 22. The dispensing system 28 can include a detergent dispenser 51, which can be a single use dispenser, a bulk dispenser or a combination of a single use and bulk dispenser. The detergent dispenser 51 can be disposed at the top of the agitator 26 as part of an agitator assembly 40 for providing one or more treating chemistries to the treating chamber 22. The treating chemistries can be provided in the form of at least one of liquid, powder, pod, compressed puck, or combination thereof.
Though this exemplary embodiment includes a detergent dispenser 51, non-limiting examples of treating chemistries that can be dispensed by the dispensing system 28 in similar fashion during a cycle of operation include one or more of the following: water, surfactants, enzymes, fragrances, stiffness/sizing agents, wrinkle releasers/reducers, softeners, antistatic or electrostatic agents, stain repellants, water repellants, energy reduction/extraction aids, antibacterial agents, medicinal agents, vitamins, moisturizers, shrinkage inhibitors, and color fidelity agents, and combinations thereof.
The agitator assembly 40 is illustrated in
The agitator assembly 40 has a removable cap 50, which is releaseably (e.g., threaded, snapped, pressed, bayonet, etc.) mounted to the upper portion of barrel 48. The cap 50 can include a detergent dispenser 51 that in this example allows for bulk storage and dispensing. Detergent dispenser 51 has a first reservoir 53 defined by the cap 50. The cap 50 can be made of transparent material to allow the user to monitor the amount of treating chemistry remaining. The reservoir 53 can be refillable with treating chemistry or is a prefilled consumable product. A dispensing outlet 55 can be provided on the sidewall of the barrel 48.
Referring to
The cap 50 includes a valve 36 with an actuator button 38 that controls fluid flow through an outlet opening 37. The outlet opening 37 fluidly couples the treating chemistry reservoir 53 to the dispensing outlet 55 molded to the sidewall of the barrel 48. The treating chemistry can be released by selectively actuating the valve 36 to open/close the opening 37 to the dispensing outlet 55. The valve actuator button 38 is accessible from the exterior of the cap 50 and controls the selective opening/closing of the valve 36. The actuator button 38 can be configured such that depressing of the actuator button 38 dispenses a predetermined amount of treating chemistry regardless of how long the actuator button 38 is depressed or it can continuously dispense treating chemistry as long as it is depressed. The valve actuator button 38 can be disposed in any place on the exterior of the cap 51 so as to be accessible by the user.
The cap 50 can be provided with a liquid pass through opening 39 that is fluidly coupled to the fluid passage 57 of the centrifugally actuated dispensing cup 52 cover member 56. The pass-through opening 39 allows for the direct filling of the second treating chemistry reservoir 54 without the need to remove the cap 50.
Prior to initiation of a treatment cycle, a user can determine the amount of the treating chemistry to be used for the washing cycle. By pressing the valve actuator button 38 on the exterior of cap 50 to actuate the valve 36, the user can visibly dispense the treating chemistry from the first reservoir 53, through the opening 37 and dispensing outlet 55 on the barrel 48. The visible passing of the treating chemistry through the dispensing outlet 55 provides confirmation to the user that the treating chemistry was dispensed and lets the user approximate by visual inspection the amount of treating chemistry that is dispensed.
Emission of the treating chemistry can be continued for as long as the valve actuator button 38 is actuated or alternatively, each depression of the actuator button 38 can dispense a predetermined amount of treating chemistry, and the user can depress the actuator button 38 as many times as needed to get the desired amount of treating chemistry.
In a non-limiting example, the cap 50 can be used to dispense a detergent as the first treating chemistry for use in the wash phase of the cycle of operation, and a liquid fabric softener can be the second treating chemistry located in reservoir 54, which is centrifugally dispensed during an extraction phase following the wash phase. Another exemplary agitator assembly 140 is illustrated in
A third exemplary agitator assembly 240 is illustrated in
In
The cap for all of the embodiments having an integrated dispenser is easily accessible to the user as it is integral to the agitator assembly located at the center point of the wash area. As the operation of the dispenser is managed by the user, the present invention provides instant visual feedback to the dispensing process and the remaining treating chemistry available within the reservoir. The aesthetic appearance of the dispenser that is integral to the agitator assembly will be a differentiating feature that is easily understood and contributes to the overall user satisfaction.
To the extent not already described, the different features and structures of the various embodiments may be used in combination with each other as desired. That one feature may not be illustrated in all of the embodiments is not meant to be construed that it may not be, but is done for brevity of description. Thus, the various features of the different embodiments may be mixed and matched as desired to form new embodiments, whether or not the new embodiments are expressly described. All combinations or permutations of features described herein are covered by this disclosure.
While the present disclosure has been set forth in connection with certain specific embodiments, it is to be understood that this is by way of illustration and not of limitation. Reasonable variation and modification are possible within the scope of the forgoing disclosure and drawings without departing from the spirit of the invention, which is defined in the appended claims.
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| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20180155864 A1 | Jun 2018 | US |
