Patent Grant
9139990
The present disclosure relates generally to food waste disposers, and more particularly, to a mounting assembly for food waste disposers that has a lower mounting flange with features preventing mis-installation.
Food waste disposers are used to comminute food scraps into particles small enough to safely pass through household drain plumbing. A conventional food waste disposer of the type for under sink mounting that is mounted to a sink, such as a kitchen sink, includes a food conveying section, a motor section, and a grinding section disposed between the food conveying section and the motor section. The food conveying section includes a housing that forms an inlet for receiving food waste and water. The food conveying section conveys the food waste to the grinding section, and the motor section includes a motor imparting rotational movement to a motor shaft to operate the grinding mechanism.
The grinding section in which comminution occurs typically has a rotating shredder plate with lugs and a stationary grind ring received in a housing of the grinding section. The motor turns the rotating shredder plate and the lugs force the food waste against the grind ring where it is broken down into small pieces. Once the particles are small enough to pass out of the grinding mechanism, they are flushed out into the household plumbing. Size control is primarily achieved through controlling the size of the gap through which the food particles must pass. In some cases, the housing of the grinding section and the housing of the food conveying section are integrally formed as a single housing. In other cases, they are not. Such a prior art food waste disposer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,006, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. The food waste disposer may be mounted in a well-known manner in the drain opening of a sink using mounting members of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,025,007, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The food conveying section 102 conveys the food waste to the central grinding section 104. The food conveying section 102 includes an inlet housing 108 and a conveying housing 110. The inlet housing 108 forms an inlet 109 at the upper end of the food waste disposer 100 for receiving food waste and water. The inlet housing 108 is attached to the conveying housing 110. A rubber o-ring 112 may be used between the inlet housing 108 and conveying housing 110 to prevent external leaks. A sealant bead may also be used instead of the rubber o-ring 112. The sealant bead is preferably composed of a tacky, malleable material that fills any voids between the inlet housing 108 and the conveying housing 110 and tempers any irregularities in the opposing surfaces of the housings. Some suitable malleable materials for the sealant bead include butyl sealant, silicone sealant, and epoxy.
The conveying housing 110 has an opening 114 to receive a dishwasher inlet 116. The dishwasher inlet 116 is used to pass water from a dishwasher (not shown). The inlet housing 108 and conveying housing 110 may be made of metal or injection-molded plastic. Alternatively, inlet housing 108 and conveying housing 110 may be one unitary piece.
The central grinding section 104 includes a grinding mechanism having a shredder plate assembly 118 and a stationary shredder ring 120. In one embodiment, the shredder plate assembly 118 may include an upper rotating plate 122 and a lower lug support plate 124. The upper rotating plate 122 and lower lug support plate 124 are mounted to a rotatable shaft 126 of a motor 180 of motor section 106, such as by a bolt 190. A portion of the conveying housing 110 encompasses the grinding mechanism. The grinding mechanism shown in
The shredder ring 120, which includes a plurality of spaced teeth 128, is fixedly attached to an inner surface of the conveying housing 110 by an interference fit and is preferably composed of stainless steel but may be made of other metallic material such as galvanized steel. As shown in
In the operation of the food waste disposer 100, the food waste delivered by the food conveying section 102 to the grinding section 104 is forced by lugs 142 on the shredder plate assembly 118 against teeth 128 of the shredder ring 120. Shredder plate assembly 118 may also include tumbling spikes 144. The sharp edges of the teeth 128 grind or comminute the food waste into particulate matter sufficiently small to pass from above the upper rotating plate 122 to below the plate via gaps between the teeth 128 outside the periphery of the plate 122. Due to gravity and water flow, the particulate matter that passes through the gaps between the teeth 128 drops onto a plastic liner 160 and, along with water entering into the disposer 100 via the inlet to the inlet housing 108, is discharged through a discharge outlet 162 into a tailpipe or drainpipe (not shown). To direct the mixture of particulate matter and water toward the discharge outlet 162, the plastic liner 160 is sloped downward toward the periphery side next to the discharge outlet 162. The discharge outlet 162 may be formed as part of a die-cast upper end bell 164. Alternatively, the discharge outlet 162 may be separately formed from plastic as part of the outer housing of the disposer.
An upper end bell 164 separates the central grinding section 104 and the motor section 106. The motor section 106 is housed inside a housing 174 and a lower end frame 176. The housing 174 may be formed from sheet metal and the lower end frame 176 may be formed from stamped metal. The housing 174 and lower end frame 176 are attached to the upper end bell 164 by screws or bolts 178.
The motor section 106 includes motor 180 having a stator 182 and a rotor 184. Stator 182 includes windings 186. The rotor imparts rotational movement to the rotatable shaft 126. The motor 180 is enclosed within the housing 174 extending between the upper and lower end frames 164 and 176. The motor 180 may be a variable speed motor and controlled by a controller 192. Alternatively, a brushless permanent magnet motor or controlled induction motor could be used.
The upper end bell 164, which may dissipate the heat generated by the motor 180, prevents particulate matter and water from contacting the motor 180, and directs the mixture of particulate matter and water to the discharge outlet 162.
The plastic liner 160 is attached to the die-cast upper end bell 164 by screws or bolts 166. The upper end bell 164 is attached to the conveying housing 110 by screws or bolts 168. To prevent external leaks, a ring bracket 170 and o-ring or sealer 172 may be used to secure the connection between the conveying housing 110 and the upper end bell 164.
With reference to
The installation of a food waste disposer, due to the weight of the disposer as well as the location and space constraints (below a sink in an enclosed sink cabinet), can be difficult and awkward. The ideal disposer installation would have the axis of the disposer and mounting components parallel and co-linear to the axis of the sink flange assembly attached to the sink. In real practice, the disposer is usually held at some angle to the sink flange assembly and if the lower mounting flange is lifted up off the disposer and closer to the upper mounting flange in order to engage the ramps, then it is positioned at yet another angle. If the combination of angles is too great it is then possible to engage only two of the three mounting tabs 220 on the lower mounting flange 218, with the third mounting tab 220 being positioned below a corresponding mounting ramp 222 on the upper mounting flange 210. Engaging only two mounting tabs 220 as well as interference between the mounting gasket 216/upper mounting flange210/lower mounting flange 218/disposer 100 creates sufficient retention to minimally secure the disposer 100 to the sink flange assembly 202. The disengaged mounting tab 220 below the mounting ramp 222 is usually located toward the back of the sink cabinet where it is not easily seen and creates minimal compression on the mounting gasket 216 at that tab location. Under normal use, vibration from the disposer 100 and/or temperature variations cause by hot and cold water are sometimes sufficient to result in water leaking in the mounting gasket area of minimal compression within a relatively short period after installation.
A mounting assembly for a food waste disposer in accordance with an aspect of the present disclosure includes a lower mounting flange having mounting tabs that engage with mounting ramps of an upper mounting flange. The lower mounting flange is rotated with its mounting tabs riding on the mounting ramps of the upper mounting flange to bring the upper and lower mounting flanges securely together. The lower mounting flange includes mis-installation prevention features that if all the mounting tabs of the lower mounting flange are not properly engaged with corresponding mounting ramps of the upper mounting flange, at least one of the mis-installation prevention features will interfere with one of the mounting ramps and prevent the lower mounting flange from being rotated.
In an aspect, the mis-installation prevention features include projections that extend radially inwardly from a circumferential wall of the lower mounting flange. In an aspect, the projections include V-shaped members extending radially inwardly from a circumferential wall of the lower mounting flange. In an aspect, the V-shaped members have opposed walls that angle toward each other as they extend radially inwardly from the circumferential. In an aspect, the V-shaped members are formed as stamped indentations in the circumferential wall of the lower mounting flange.
In an aspect, the mis-installation features include projections that extend upwardly from a bottom flange of the lower mounting flange. In an aspect, the projections are vertical members. In an aspect, the vertical members are screws or posts.
In an aspect, a food waste disposer includes a lower mounting flange with the mis-installation features.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:
a and 4b are perspective views showing how the mis-installation features of the lower mounting flange of
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.
Illustrative embodiments of the invention are described below. In the interest of clarity, not all features of an actual implementation are described in this specification. It will of course be appreciated that in the development of any such actual embodiment, numerous implementation-specific decisions must be made to achieve the developers' specific goals, such as compliance with system-related and business-related constraints, which will vary from one implementation to another. Moreover, it will be appreciated that such a development effort might be complex and time-consuming, but would nevertheless be a routine undertaking for those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
With reference to
V-shaped members 302 function such that if only two mounting tabs 220 are correctly engaged with mounting ramps 222 of upper mounting flange 210, then the V shaped member opposite the mis-installed mounting tab 220 will interfere with the mounting ramp 222 of upper mounting flange 210 immediately above the V-shaped member 302 and prevent the lower mounting flange 218 from rotating.
With reference to
It should be understood that the mis-installation prevention features of lower mounting flange 300 can be other than V-shaped members. As shown in
The particular embodiments disclosed above are illustrative only, as the invention may be modified and practiced in different but equivalent manners apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings herein. Furthermore, no limitations are intended to the details of construction or design herein shown, other than as described in the claims below. It is therefore evident that the particular embodiments disclosed above may be altered or modified and all such variations are considered within the scope and spirit of the invention.
This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 13/079,224 filed Apr. 18, 2011. U.S. Ser. No. 13/079,224 claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/325,414, filed on Apr. 19, 2010. The entire disclosures of the above applications are incorporated herein by reference.
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|---|---|---|---|
| 3025007 | Wieczorek | Mar 1962 | A |
| 3246132 | Jordan | Apr 1966 | A |
| 3684199 | Bebinger | Aug 1972 | A |
| 3797764 | Guth | Mar 1974 | A |
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| 6142460 | Irwin | Nov 2000 | A |
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| 20020063178 | Strutz et al. | May 2002 | A1 |
| 20070170990 | Park | Jul 2007 | A1 |
| Entry |
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| Written Opinion of the International Searching Authority for International Application No. PCT/US2011/031375, mailed Jun. 29, 2011. |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20120256025 A1 | Oct 2012 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61325414 | Apr 2010 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 13079224 | Apr 2011 | US |
| Child | 13251332 | US |
