Patent Application
20070131808
The present disclosure relates generally to food waste disposers.
Food waste disposers are used to comminute food scraps into particles small enough to safely pass through household drain plumbing. A conventional disposer includes a food conveying section, a motor section, and a grinding mechanism 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 mechanism, and the motor section includes a motor imparting rotational movement to a motor shaft to operate the grinding mechanism.
The grind mechanism that accomplishes the comminution is typically composed of a rotating shredder plate with lugs and a stationary grind ring. 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.
In the operation of the food waste disposer, the food waste delivered by the food conveying section to the grinding mechanism 10 is forced by the swivel lugs 14 against the teeth 21 of the grind ring 16. The edges of the teeth 21 grind the food waste into particulate matter sufficiently small to pass from above the grinding plate 12 to below the grinding plate 12 via gaps between the rotating and stationary members. Due to gravity, the particulate matter that passes through the gaps between the teeth 21 drops onto the upper end frame 24 and, along with water injected into the disposer, is discharged through a discharge outlet 26.
During the grinding process, waste particles can adhere to the surfaces of the grind mechanism components and to the interior of the grind section housing. In a typical kitchen application, the faucet is opened so that water runs into the disposer inlet to rinse and carry food waste through the grind mechanism during the grinding of food waste. Inadequate rinsing, however, can cause food build up and odor to occur. This can result in odors and even reduced grind performance if water passages in the disposer are plugged.
The present application addresses shortcomings associated with the prior art.
A shredder plate assembly for a food waste disposer includes a disk with one or more water slinging devices attached, so that water flowing into the disposer flows over the water slinging device and against the inside of the disposer housing as the disk rotates.
In accordance with certain aspects of the disclosure, the water slinging device defines an opening therethrough. A fastener has first and second ends with a shoulder therebetween. The shoulder extends through the opening and the second end is fixed to the disk such that the water slinging device is rotatable about the shoulder. The shoulder defines a tapered portion and the opening defines a correspondingly tapered portion. The tapered portion of the shoulder and the tapered portion of the opening interact when the disk rotates to force the water slinging device against the disk.
In accordance with further aspects of the disclosure, a fixed water slinging device is attached to the disk, either in place of, or in addition to, the rotatable device. The fixed water slinging device defines a sloped surface over which water flows. To attach the fixed water slinging device to the disk, it defines a mounting tab extending therefrom and the disk defines an opening receiving the mounting tab in exemplary embodiments.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the drawings in which:
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.
The illustrated water slinging devices 210 include a web portion 211 that extends radially on the plate 200. The sloped surface 220 is oriented generally perpendicular to the web 211, so that water running into the disposer's inlet flows up the sloped surface 220 and against the inside of the disposer housing.
With known rotatable disposer lugs, the distance between the bottom of the rivet head and the top of the shredder plate is such that when the shredder plate rotates, the lug lifts so there is clearance between the bottom of the lug and the top of the shredder plate. Providing this tolerance insures that the lug can rotate freely about the fastener, but also allows water to flow under the lug. With prior art disposers, this wasn't recognized as a problem since the only purpose of the lug was to force food against the grind ring. In accordance with the teachings disclosed herein, it is desirable to prevent water from flowing under the lug 230, so that the water flows over the lug 230 and its sloped surface 220 to sling the water against the inner surfaces of the grind mechanism 110 and food conveying section 102.
Hence, the shoulder 240 of the fastener 232 defines a tapered portion 236, which corresponds to a tapered portion 234 defined by the opening 244 in the lug 230. When the lug 230 rotates about the shoulder 240, the tapered surfaces 234, 236 interact to create a hold-down force, holding the lug 220 against the plate 200, allowing less water to wash under the lug 230. This results in more water flowing over the lug 230 and up the sloped surfaces 220 to clean out the grind mechanism. In one exemplary embodiment, the tapered portion defines an angle of about 5° relative to the axis of the fastener 232.
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. Accordingly, the protection sought herein is as set forth in the claims below.
