The present invention relates to a lid body. It particularly related to a lid body removable from a disposer apparatus main body, which is provided with a washing-agent-reception portion along a pathway in the lid body when water water-supplied during a crushing operation of the disposer apparatus main body is supplied to the disposer apparatus main body through the lid body as the pathway.
In recent years, a disposer apparatus which crushes garbage such as raw garbage and the like generated in general households, restaurants and the like, and discharges it to drainage has been widely utilized. For a crushing system of a disposer apparatus, there has been widely employed a hammermill system one or a grinder type one in which a crushing unit stacked with a plurality of crushing blades is provided within a hopper of a disposer apparatus detachably.
A crushing unit rotates during a crushing operation of a disposer apparatus, so that a diameter of a garbage throw-in port of the disposer apparatus of hammermill system has been often designed so as to be small-sized (for example, 82 mm) for forbidding a user from touching the crushing unit directly. For that reason, it has been difficult to clean any residual substance remained in the inside of hopper after termination of crushing treatment. As a result thereof, the residual substance remained in the inside of hopper might decay so that slime or the like can be generated, which causes a bad smell.
Consequently, in order to clean the inside of hopper easily, a disposer apparatus of hammermill system in which a diameter of the throw-in port of the disposer apparatus is designed so as to be large-sized (for example, 130 mm) has been developed. On the other hand, also in a disposer apparatus of grinder type, while a diameter of the throw-in port thereof is large-sized, the throw-in port of the hopper is blocked by a lid body during a crushing operation of the disposer apparatus in order to prevent the user from touching the crushing unit directly.
However, also in these kinds of disposer apparatuses, it has not been able to resolve a problem such that the crushed residual substance easily remains at a bottom plate for guiding the crushed substance which has been crushed to a drainage port or a connection portion between the hopper and the drainage pipe in addition to an inner wall surface of the hopper, and for that reason, even if the diameter of the throw-in port of the disposer apparatus is large-sized, it has not been able to solve a problem such that the residual substance is removed perfectly.
Consequently, in order to remove the residual substance at the bottom plate or the like of the disposer apparatus as mentioned above, a disposer apparatus has been disclosed in which a crushing unit is constituted so as to be detachably from the hopper (see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-298809).
However, in the disposer apparatus disclosed in the above-mentioned publication, there is a problem such that the user himself must detach the crushing unit from the kitchen sink and clean the crushing unit and the inside of hopper when cleaning the inside of hopper or the like after the crushing treatment, to require a lot of effort and/or time. Also, when the user himself executes the washing, the connection portion between the hopper and the drainage pipe or the like is a place that is hard to clean, so that it has been difficult to remove the slime or the bad smell perfectly.
The present invention has been invented in view of the above-mentioned problems and the object thereof is to provide a lid body for a disposer apparatus in which it is possible to keep the inside of disposer apparatus clean.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the present invention is characterized by a lid main body which is constituted so as to be removable from a throw-in port of a disposer apparatus main body for throwing-in garbage and changes over the disposer apparatus main body to an operation thereof for crushing the thrown-in garbage together with water to be supplied, wherein the water to be supplied is supplied to the disposer apparatus main body through the lid main body as a pathway, and a washing-agent-reception portion is provided at least at a portion of the pathway of the lid main body.
When the disposer apparatus main body is changed over to a crushing operation thereof for crushing the garbage, water supply to the inside of the disposer apparatus main body starts together with the crush of the garbage by the crushing means. This supplied water is supplied to the inside of the disposer apparatus main body through the lid body as the pathway. In the present invention, the washing-agent-reception portion is provided on the pathway of the supplied water of the lid main body. For that reason, the supplied water is supplied to the disposer apparatus main body with it dissolving the washing agent when passing through the lid main body, and washing liquid in which the washing agent is dissolved in the water is supplied to the inside of the disposer apparatus main body. Consequently, washing treatment of the inside of the disposer apparatus is executed concurrently with the crushing treatment of the garbage.
A general neutral detergent, an enzyme decomposing oil content, one removing the slime, or one having a function of sterilization, disinfection, aroma, mold prevention, repression of microbe generation or the like may be used as the washing agent. Also, the washing agent may be any one of solid state, gel state and liquid state types, but the sold state type one is preferable.
Also, the lid body of the present invention is characterized in that an operation lid which is provided by covering the lid main body and is mounted so as to be able to rotate relatively with respect to the lid main body, a first opening which becomes a pathway of the water from the lid main body to the disposer apparatus main body is perforated in the lid main body, a second opening is perforated in the operation lid at a position with it being superposed on the first opening, when the disposer apparatus main body is in a crushing operation, a third opening which becomes a pathway of the water is constituted owing to superposition of the first opening on the second opening by rotating at least one of the lid main body and the operation lid to a superposed position of the first opening and the second opening and the washing-agent-reception portion is provided at a portion of the pathway of the water, and when the disposer apparatus main body is not in a crushing operation, a blocking portion for blocking the pathway of the water is constituted by rotating at least one of the lid main body and the operation lid to a position at which the first opening is not superposed on the second opening.
Although it is assumed that the lid body of the disposer apparatus is used so that it is removed from the disposer apparatus main body in a case excluding the crushing treatment, for example, when washing dishes, there may be also many cases in which the lid body is used so that it is mounted on the disposer apparatus main body. In such cases, if the washing agent remains at the reception in the lid body, the washing agent of the lid body is dissolved by the water used when washing the dishes, so that the washing agent is consumed in a short period of time, which causes an exchange frequency of the washing agent to be increased.
On the other hand, in the present invention, the third opening is constituted by superposing the first opening of the lid main body on the second opening of the operation lid only during the crushing treatment. Consequently, the lid body is constituted so that the washing agent can contact the water through the third opening only during the crushing treatment, by which the supply of the washing agent starts. Thus, the washing agent is prevented from being used during a period of time excluding the crushing treatment time and it is possible to repress unintentional consumption of the washing agent.
According to the present invention, the washing liquid is supplied during the crushing operation, so that washing of the inside of the disposer apparatus can be carried out concurrently with the crushing treatment. Consequently, it is possible to keep the inside of the disposer apparatus clean in a state in which the crushing unit is mounted on the disposer apparatus main body without being detached therefrom.
The following will describe the present invention based on embodiments thereof with reference to drawings. In each drawing used for the following explanation, a scale of each member is changed appropriately in order to allow a size of each member to be recognized. In the following explanation, a disposer apparatus of so-called manual water supply type in which the water is water-supplied manually during the crushing treatment of a disposer apparatus will be explained.
For the sake of the explanation, a disposer apparatus to which a lid body relating to this invention is applied will be first explained.
A crushing unit 4 is mounted in the inside of the hopper 3 with it being detachably with respect to the hopper 3. The crushing unit 4 has a third rotary crushing blade 16 at the bottom stage and a fitting portion 37 provided at a lower surface of a hub thereof is fitted with a driving shaft 10 of a deceleration unit which is not shown. A lower portion of the hopper 3 which is an apparatus main body is formed to be a housing (case) for mounting-fixation with respect to the kitchen sink S and a drive motor and the deceleration unit as a driving means are installed in the inside thereof, which is not shown. The drive motor drives the rotary crushing blades of the crushing unit 4 through the deceleration unit and rotates them. Although the detail is not shown, the driving shaft 10 for transmitting a driving force to the crushing unit 4 and the fitting portion 37 with respect to the crushing unit 4 are formed as square shaft shapes, splined shaft shapes or the like.
The hopper 3 is a cylinder body having approximately a perpendicular cylindrical shape and on the inner periphery surface thereof, a pair of fitting portions (groove portions in this example) 3a which are extended from a side of the throw-in opening portion 7 toward the lower side thereof is formed at positions apart from each other at 180° in this example. The crushing unit 4 may be inserted into the throw-in opening portion 7 and pulled out thereof and is detachable with respect to the hopper 3. The detail thereof will be mentioned later.
A drainage pipe connection port 8 is provided at a lower end of a periphery surface of the hopper 3. A bottom plate 9 which is inclined toward this drainage pipe connection port 8 is provided in the inside of the hopper 3 and a center portion of the bottom plate 9 constitutes a bearing unit for receiving the driving shaft 10 of the deceleration unit.
A lid body (shown by chained lines) 11 is removably mounted on the inside of the hopper 3 corresponding to the throw-in opening portion 7. When using the disposer apparatus 1, the throw-in opening portion 7 is blocked by the lid body 11, which prevents a hand or the like from being inserted into the hopper 3 carelessly during the crushing treatment of the raw garbage and hinders the crushed raw garbage from being spattered onto a side of the kitchen sink S.
It is constituted such that the drive motor starts up in cooperation with the attaching-detaching and blocking operations of the lid body 11. For that reason, detection means (magnetic sensor 232, magnet 69 (see
Now, the hopper 3 in which such a crushing unit 4 is mounted is attached and fixed on the kitchen sink S through the attaching means 2. This attaching means 2 has a sink flange 50 as one example, this sink flange 50 is attached and fixed on the kitchen sink S, and the hopper 3 is fixed on the kitchen sink S through this sink flange 50.
As shown in
As shown in
A handle portion 212 which is projected from the upper surface is provided approximately at a center portion of this upper surface of the lid body 11. The handle portion 212 has a cuboid that is approximately a rectangular shape seen from a plane thereof, both longitudinal sides of which are curved inward, thereby constituting a shape by which a user is easy to grasp it. Also, a hollow portion 212a (concave portion) is formed on a side of the rear surface of the handle portion 212 projected from the upper surface of the lid body 11. This hollow portion 212a is constituted to have approximately the same depth as the height of the handle portion 212 and the handle portion 212 has approximately the same thickness as that of the top surface plate 60.
Here, the disposer apparatus 1 of the present embodiment executes the rotary drive of the crushing unit 4 and the crushing treatment while water-supplying the water during the crushing treatment. In case of the manual water supply, the water to be supplied is supplied from a faucet provided on an upper side of the disposer apparatus 1 and is supplied into the inside of the hopper 3 through the lid body 11. In more detail, the water to be supplied flows into the through-holes 108, 109 for water injection provided on the top surface plate 60 from the upper surface of the lid body 11, and is supplied into the inside of the hopper 3 by way of the side of the rear surface of the top surface plate 60 and the inner periphery surface of the body portion 67. In the present embodiment, a reception portion 300 of a washing agent 206 is provided on the upper surface, the rear surface or the like of the lid body 11 which constitutes a pathway of the water to be supplied.
The example of
The washing agent package 200 is, as shown in
As the washing agent 206 which is received in the inside of the circular containers 198a, 198b, for example, a general neutral detergent, an enzyme decomposing the oil content, one removing the slime, or one having a function of sterilization, disinfection, aroma, mold prevention, repression of microbe generation or the like, which is dissolved moderately with respect to the water and forms a solid state shape (powder is included) to have approximately a disk shape as shown in
In this manner, by receiving the washing agent 206 in the circular containers 198a, 198b, even if the washing agent 206 is dissolved by the water-supply and becomes smaller gradually, the sizes of the circular containers 198a, 198b remain unchanged, so that it is possible to prevent the washing agent 206 from dropping from the side of the rear surface of the lid body 11 to the inside of the hopper 3. This enables the washing agent 206 to be used until the end thereof, thereby allowing reduction in cost therefor to be attempted.
It should be noted that the washing agent 206 is not limited to the washing agent package 200 in which the washing agent 206 is received in the circular containers 198a, 198b. For example, it is also possible to use one in which the washing agent surface is covered by a transparent film or the like. In this case, it is enough if there are provided a plurality of openings for passing the water to be supplied through the film and the washing agent package. Also, it is also allowed to employ a constitution in which protrusions are provided on the inner periphery surface of the bottom portion of the circular container 198b such that a space which becomes a flow path of the water can be formed between the washing agent 206 received in the circular containers 198a, 198b and the circular container 198b.
The following will describe a modified example of the washing-agent-reception portion 300.
As shown in
In an area of the top surface plate 60 of the lid body 11 excluding the through-hole area for water injection, there are formed, as shown in
As shown in
It is needless to say that the washing agent 206 received in the inside of the circular containers 198a, 198b has a ring-shaped body corresponding to the shapes of the circular containers 198a, 198b.
In order to receive and fix such a washing agent package 200 in the washing-agent-reception portion 300, similarly as the above-mentioned example, first, the pair of position fixing portions 214, 214 on the side of the upper surface of the lid body 11 and the concave portions 204, 204 of the washing agent package 200 are fitted-in (pushed down) with them being faced mutually. Thereafter, the washing agent package 200 is rotated in a predetermined direction (an arrow direction in
Meanwhile, as shown in
The following will describe a configuration of the crushing unit 4 which is applicable to the disposer apparatus 1 using the above-mentioned lid body 11.
The crushing unit 4 is a unit of a grinder system, is constituted by a plurality of crushing blades and is constituted by stacking five crushing blades in this example. In other words, as shown in
The first rotary crushing blade 12, the first fixed crushing blade 13, the second rotary crushing blade 14, the second fixed crushing blade 15 and the third rotary crushing blade 16 are set in size so as to overlap in a state in which there is little upper or lower space and when the crushed raw garbage is entered into upper and lower gaps between the crushing blades, it does not remain in the crushing unit 4.
The pushing surfaces 20a are inclined surfaces (tapered surfaces) which are inclined in a direction in which an upper end is projected with respect to a lower end on both of the side surfaces of the stirring arm 20. By forming the pushing surfaces 20a on both of the side surfaces of the stirring arm 20, the first rotary crushing blade 12 can add a pressing force downward with respect to the raw garbage which is contacted with the pushing surfaces 20a by the rotating operations in both directions of the forward rotation direction and the reverse rotation direction. Thus, the first rotary crushing blade 12 takes in the raw garbage by the rotating operations thereof and presses it down to the crushing blades of the lower stages.
The first rotary crushing blade 12 is formed so that edges 20b are formed on sides of the lower ends of both of the side surfaces of the pushing surface 20a, and functions as a crushing blade for crushing the raw garbage roughly in cooperation with the first fixed crushing blade 13 shown in
In the first rotary crushing blade 12, a handle 21 is formed on the upper surface of the stirring arm 20. The handle 21 is provided at a position apart by 90° from the stirring arm 20 so as to extend only by the same lengths for the left and right sides from the bearing unit 19. The handle 21 functions as a grasp unit (handle) when pulling up the crushing unit 4.
In order to use the grasp unit, the handle 21 is selected so as to have a length of such a degree that a finger can be placed. On the bearing unit 19, a through-hole 19a is perforated through which a shaft head portion (fastening portion) of a rotation driving shaft 36 (see
A tab 24 which functions as rotation blocking means is provided at each tip of each arm 23. The tab 24 is an arm which extends in upward and downward directions so as to extend in the longitudinal direction of the hopper 3 and restricts the rotation of the first fixed crushing blade 13 by fitting this tab 24 in the fitting groove 3a (see
The reason why the long tab 24 is employed is, first, that the rotation restriction with respect to the first fixed crushing blade 13 is reliably executed. Second, the fitting groove 3a is filled by the tab 24 so that the vacant spot of the fitting groove 3a is reduced as much as possible. For that reason, a tab 24a provided by being extended upward is selected so as to become longer as much as several times than a tab 24b provided downward with respect to the arm 23, which causes a fitting length with respect to the fitting groove 3a to be lengthened.
Also, by forming the upper side tab 24a to be long in this manner, the vacant spot from a side of the throw-in opening portion 7 to the tip of the upper side tab 24a is reduced when the hopper 3 is mounted with the crushing unit 4 as shown in
As shown in
The lower side tab 24b is provided so that a gap of a predetermined height is formed when the second rotary crushing blade 14 intervenes between the first fixed crushing blade 13 and the second fixed crushing blade 15. For that reason, in this example, the length of the lower side tab 24b is selected to be approximately a half of the length of the second rotary crushing blade 14 until a blade tip thereof.
A diameter of an inner opening 23a of the hub 22 is larger than a diameter of the shaft portion of the second rotary crushing blade 14 shown in
The second rotary crushing blade 14 is provided with three pieces of arms 28 extending radially from a hub 27 with an interval by 120°. Each arm 28 is constituted to have a slightly shorter radius than the inner diameter of the hopper 3 so as not to contact with the inner wall of the hopper 3. For each arm 28, a comb-like portion 28a having a predetermined pitch is formed on the bottom surface thereof.
An engagement opening 27a is perforated at a center portion of the hub 27 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 and is fitted with the rotation driving shaft 36 (see
The second fixed crushing blade 15 has a shape in which eight pieces of arms 31 extending radially from a hub 30 in the tangent line direction with equal distances are surrounded by a ring 33. A pair of tabs 33a is formed in the outer circumference of the ring 33 with an interval by 180°. The pair of tabs 33a functions as rotation blocking means for fixing the second fixed crushing blade 15 on the hopper 3. For that reason, the pair of tabs 33a is formed as plate bodies each having a slightly narrower width than the width of each of the fitting grooves 3a formed on the inner wall of the hopper 3 so as to be able to be fitted thereinto. This width is approximately the same as the width of the tab 24b of the first fixed crushing blade 13. The rotation of the second fixed crushing blade 15 is restricted by attaching and fitting the tabs 33a in the fitting grooves 3a.
Each of these tabs 33a has a predetermined height and is selected to have a size so that when the lower side tabs 24b of the first fixed crushing blade 13 contacts the upper surfaces of the tabs 33a, a gap of a predetermined height is formed between the first fixed crushing blade 13 and the second fixed crushing blade 15 and the second rotary crushing blade 14 is precisely engaged. A center opening 30a of the hub 30 is constituted so as to have a size which does not interfere in the rotation driving shaft 36.
In the second fixed crushing blade 15, the six pieces of arms 31 among the eight pieces of arms 31 are formed with their upper surfaces being comb-like portions 31a. Each of the comb-like portions 31a of the second fixed crushing blade 15 has such a pitch that the comb-like portion 28a of the second rotary crushing blade 14 shown in
Thus, the comb-like portions 31a of the second fixed crushing blade 15 crush the raw garbage fed-in from the crushing blades of the upper stages in cooperation with the comb-like portions 28a of the second rotary crushing blade 14.
As mentioned above, since the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 are three pieces and the arms 31 of second fixed crushing blade 15 are eight pieces, the space between the arms 31 are narrow with respect to the space between the arms 28.
Consequently, when all of the eight pieces of the arms 31 are provided with the comb-like portions 31a, it becomes a state in which the comb-like portions 31a of the second fixed crushing blade 15 exist among the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 for every case and when a block shaped garbage with a certain size is thrown-in, a situation is assumed in which the raw garbage does not enter the space between the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14, which is difficult to crush it.
Consequently, by providing no comb-like portion 31a for, for example, two pieces of arms 32 among the eight pieces of arms 31 in the second fixed crushing blade 15, it is configured that a wide space is formed in the circumferential direction if the arm 31 without being provided with the comb-like portion 31a of the second fixed crushing blade 15 is positioned between the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 during the rotating operation of the second rotary crushing blade 14.
Thus, even if the block shaped raw garbage having a certain extent of size is thrown-in, the raw garbage enters into the space between the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 so that the raw garbage is crushed by the rotating operation of the second rotary crushing blade 14 in cooperation with the comb-like portion 28a and the comb-like portion 31a of another arm 31 of the second fixed crushing blade 15.
It should be noted that since the crushing ability is lowered when the number of the arms 31 without being provided with the comb-like portion 31a are large in the second fixed crushing blade 15, it is preferable that, as shown in the drawing, around two pieces of arms 32 without being provided with the comb-like portion 31a are employed when, for example, eight pieces of arms 31 are provided.
Based on a fact that each arm 32 is extended radially along the tangent line direction of the hub 30, when the second rotary crushing blade 14 rotates, peak repression of the crushing load and planarization of the load are attempted by deviating crushing points with respect to the second fixed crushing blade 15 toward the circumferential direction thereof.
The second fixed crushing blade 15 is formed, as shown in
The third rotary crushing blade 16 is configured as a disk 35 and arranges a plurality of slits 35a on the whole surface of the disk 35 excluding a hub 36 at the center thereof. In the third rotary crushing blade 16 of the present example, plural groups of slits are formed and the neighboring slits 35a are arranged, in each slit group, so as to be approximately in parallel to each other.
An upper surface of the third rotary crushing blade 16 is a plane and rotates while contacting with a bottom surface of each of the arms 31 of the second fixed crushing blade 15 shown in
The upper surface of the third rotary crushing blade 16 executes a rotating operation while frictionally engaging with the bottom surfaces of the arms 31 of the second fixed crushing blade 15 and since the wave surfaces 31b, 32a inclined toward the bottom surface side are formed on the one surface of each of the arms 31 and 32 of the second fixed crushing blade 15, it is possible to add a force pressed to this third rotary crushing blade 16 with respect to the raw garbage (crushed until a size to a certain degree) contacting with the wave surface 31b, 32a by a rotating operation of the third rotary crushing blade 16.
The raw garbage, which is crushed by means of the comb-like portions 28a of the second rotary crushing blade 14 (
It should be noted with since each of the slits 35a is formed so that an opening portion (or opening step portion) thereof become wider toward a side of the bottom surface thereof, the raw garbage pressed down into each of the slits 35a is easy to drop.
At the center portion of the third rotary crushing blade 16, the rotation driving shaft 36 is molded integrally with the disk 35. The rotation driving shaft 36 is formed to have a shape such that it can be rotationally integral with the first and second rotary crushing blades 12 and 14 and can be rotationally free with respect to the first and second fixed crushing blades 13 and 15. For that reason, the rotation driving shaft 36 corresponding to the first and second rotary crushing blades 12 and 14 is formed as a square shaft portion (fitting shaft portion) and the portion excluding that is formed as a round shaft. Then, a screw portion is formed at a shaft head portion thereof and is constituted so as to function as a fastening portion 36a.
A fitting portion 37 which functions as a portion of the rotation driving shaft 36 is provided on the lower surface of the disk 35 and is constituted so as to be engaged with the driving shaft 10 of the above-mentioned deceleration unit and to be driven and rotated. The fitting portion 37 is made so that inner hole 37a (see
The first rotary crushing blade 12, the first fixed crushing blade 13, the second rotary crushing blade 14, the second fixed crushing blade 15 and the third rotary crushing blade 16 which are constituted in this manner are aligned in this order and are stacked one another by passing therethrough the rotation driving shaft 36 provided at the third rotary crushing blade 16. Then, as shown in
Then, the crushing unit 4 is moved downward in the hopper 3 along the fitting grooves 3a while fitting the tabs 24 and 33a along the fitting grooves 3a. At that time, the crushing unit 4 is moved downward by utilizing the grasp unit 21. When the crushing unit 4 is moved downward until the bottom surface portion of the hopper 3, the fitting portion 37 provided at the third rotary crushing blade 16 is fitted with the driving shaft 10 of the deceleration unit shown in
Here, both the tabs 24, 33a of the crushing unit 4 are simply mounted in the fitting grooves 3a and it is not necessary to fix the tabs 24 and 33a at the hopper 3 by screws or the like. This is because the crushing unit 4 can be held on the hopper 3 stably by using the long tabs 24 and the relatively short tabs 33a. Extending the tab 24 comparatively long in this manner allows the fixation of the crushing unit 4 in the hopper 3 to be realized reliably in a state in which the rotation thereof is blocked. The crushing unit 4 is only simply fitted with the hopper 3, so that it is possible to pull up the crushing unit 4 easily. For that reason, it is possible to execute the cleaning of the hopper 3, the crushing unit 4 and the like readily.
The crushing unit 4 has such a structure that it is fixed directly on the hopper 3, but it may have such a structure that housing is prepared and the crushing unit is fixed in this housing.
Since the crushing unit 4 is fitted with the driving shaft 10 depending on the self weight thereof, it never happens that the rotation driving shaft 36 is dropped-off from this driving shaft 10 during an operation of the apparatus.
The crushing treatment using the above-mentioned crushing unit 4 is as follows:
Raw garbage is thrown-in from the throw-in opening portion 7 and when the throw-in opening portion 7 is closed by the lid body 11, the control means detects that the lid body 11 has been closed and allows the drive motor to rotate. Specifically, there is executed a rotating operation in which operations of the forward rotation and the reverse rotation are repeated for every few seconds, for example, for every five seconds. For the motor rotation speed, it is set to be around 100 rpm, which restrains noises or vibrations from being generated.
A plurality of through-holes for water injection (which will be mentioned later) is formed at the lid body 11 and it is constituted such that water supply into the hopper 3 is available even if the throw-in opening portion 7 is closed by the lid body 11. During the crushing treatment of the raw garbage, water supply into the inside of the hopper 3 is executed by flowing water into the kitchen sink S or the like.
When the drive motor rotates, the crushing unit 4 rotates with the first rotary crushing blade 12, the second rotary crushing blade 14 and the third rotary crushing blade 16 rotating together. On the other hand, owing to the actions of the tabs 24, 33a, any one of the first fixed crushing blade 13 and the second fixed crushing blade 15 does not rotate.
The raw garbage thrown-in into the hopper 3 from the throw-in opening portion 7 is stirred by the stirring arm 20 of the first rotary crushing blade 12 and is crushed roughly in cooperation with the arms 23 of the first fixed crushing blade 13 of the lower stage and at the same time, the crushed raw garbage is fed into the space between the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14.
The crushed raw garbage which has been fed into the space between the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 is finely crushed by the engagement of the comb-like portion 28a of each of the arms 28 and the comb-like portion 31a of each of the arms 31 of the second fixed crushing blade 15 of the lower stage owing to the rotation of the second rotary crushing blade 14.
The second fixed crushing blade 15 is provided with the arms 32 having no comb-like portion 31a among the plurality of arms 31, so that when each of the arms 32 having no comb-like portion 31a is positioned between the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 on the rotation of the second rotary crushing blade 14, a large space can be formed in the circumferential direction. Thus, even large raw garbage of a block shape or the like enters into the space between the arms 28 of the second rotary crushing blade 14 and is finely crushed by the engagement of the comb-like portion 28a thereof and the comb-like portion 31a of another arm 31 of the second fixed crushing blade 15 owing to the rotation of the second rotary crushing blade 14. Thus, it is possible to crush raw garbage in which various sized ones are mixed depending on a combination of a small number of fixed crushing blades and rotary crushing blades.
The raw garbage crushed in cooperation with the second rotary crushing blade 14 and the second fixed crushing blade 15 is discharged from the slits 35a by a cooperation of each arm 31 of the second fixed crushing blade 15 and the third rotary crushing blade 16.
When the raw garbage contacts the wave surfaces 31b, 32a of the arms 31 and 32 of the upper stage side by the rotation of the third rotary crushing blade 16, the raw garbage receives a force for pressing it downward, which is the direction of the third rotary crushing blade 16, depending on an inclination angle of each of the wave surfaces 31b, 32a.
Thus, the raw garbage is pressed into the slits 35a by the wave surfaces 31b, 32a depending on the rotation of the third rotary crushing blade 16, further pushed down by the wave surfaces 31b, 32a while being crushed by the edges of the opening edge portions of the slits 35a at the upper surface side thereof, and drops downward by passing through the slits 35a.
As mentioned above, each of the slits 35a has a step in which the opening of a side of the bottom surface thereof becomes large, so that the raw garbage pushed down into the slits 35a drops downward without being clogged in the slits 35a. It should be noted that the crushing unit 4 crushes the raw garbage while repeating the forward rotation and the reverse rotation.
As explained above, in the present embodiment, when the disposer apparatus 1 is changed over to the crushing mode, the water supply to the inside of the disposer apparatus 1 is started together with the crush of the garbage by the crushing unit 4. This water to be supplied is supplied to the inside of the disposer apparatus 1 by making the lid body 11 as the pathway. Here, as mentioned above, the lid body 11 is provided with the washing-agent-reception portion 300 on the pathway of the water to be supplied in the lid body 11 at the regions such as the rear surface side thereof, the front surface side thereof and the rear side of the handle portion 212. For that reason, the water to be supplied is supplied to the inside of the hopper 3 while dissolving the washing agent 206 when passing through the lid body 11. Namely, the washing liquid in which the washing agent 206 is dissolved in the water is supplied to the inside of the hopper 3. Thus, concurrently with the crushing treatment of the garbage, the washing in the inside of the hopper 3 is executed. Consequently, it is possible to keep the inside of the hopper 3 clean in a state in which the crushing unit 4 is mounted on the hopper 3 without being detached therefrom.
It should be noted that although the example has been explained in the above-mentioned explanation in which the separate region such as the rear surface side of the lid body 11, the front surface side thereof or the rear surface side of the handle portion 212 is made as the washing-agent-reception portions 300 and the washing agent 206 is provided therein, it is allowed to combine them and provide the washing agents 206, for example, in two places of washing-agent-reception portions 300 of the rear surface side and the front surface side of the lid body 11 respectively or it is also allowed to provide the washing agents 206 in all three places. Also, the present invention is also applicable to a disposer apparatus of an automatic water supply type by which water is supplied from an electric faucet. In brief, it can be applied widely to the disposer apparatus 1 of the system which executes water-supply in the inside of the hopper 3 by way of the lid body 11 from the upper surface side of the lid body 11.
Although the disposer apparatus 1 of a manual water supply type or of a type which executes water-supply from the electric faucet has been described in the first embodiment, a disposer apparatus 1 of an automatic water supply type will be described in the present embodiment. It should be noted that other configuration of the disposer apparatus 1 is similar as that of the first embodiment, so that the same reference numerals are put on the common components and the detail explanation thereof will be omitted.
A supply port 92 of the tap water is provided at the upper periphery surface of the hopper 3 and this supply port 92 is coupled to a connection pipe (hose) 90 through an opening and closing valve (for example, solenoid valve) 55.
A lid body 82 includes an upper lid 82a and a middle lid 82b, which are used by being integrated by means of screws (not shown) or the like. An inner space which is formed by the upper lid 82a and the middle lid 82b functions as a storage portion 72 of the water, and a water supply port 88 for supplying the tap water, as shown in the drawing, is provided at a predetermined position of an outer wall of the middle lid 82b. The supply port 92 is positioned at a position facing the water supply port 88.
The guiding water dispersion unit 80 is provided in order to disperse the water into the middle lid 82b after collecting it in the center portion of the lid body 82. Consequently, the guiding partition portion 80B functions as a member which is used for dispersing the water to the middle lid 82b side by collecting it in the center portion of the lid body 82.
For that reason, this guiding partition portion 80B is constituted by a water-guiding path 81a whose one end side is opened and a convergent path 81b which is communicated with this water-guiding path 81a. As shown in
Also, as shown in
The following will describe a pathway of the water to be supplied in the lid body 82 with reference to
As shown in
Now, in the present embodiment, the washing-agent-reception portion 300 is provided in the lid body 82 which executes the automatic supply. Specifically, the space in the middle lid 82b is used as the washing-agent-reception portion 300. Namely, the washing agent package 200 as shown in
A plurality of protrusion shaped support members 205 is formed in a non-sprinkler port area of the bottom portion 77a of the middle lid 82b. These support members 205 are ones allowing for arranging the washing agent package 200 apart from the bottom portion 77a of the middle lid 82b. Thus, the space surrounded by the washing agent package 200 and the support members 205 becomes the pathway of the water, it becomes easy to flow the washing liquid passing through the inside of washing agent package 200 and the supplied water smoothly and to flow them into the sprinkler ports 86 on a side of the bottom portion 77a of the middle lid 82b.
It should be noted that although a case in which the washing agent package 200 containing the washing agent 206 in the container 198 thereof is received in the washing-agent-reception portion 300 in the middle lid 82b has been explained in the present embodiment, the washing agent 206 may be received in the washing-agent-reception portion 300 in the middle lid 82b as it is without using the container 198. This is because the middle lid 82b constituting the lid body 82 includes the bottom portion 77a and includes a tube shaped side wall 77b which is standingly provided upward from the periphery of this bottom portion 77a, so that even if the washing agent 206 is dissolved by the supplied water, it is held by the bottom portion 77a and the side wall 77b of the middle lid 82b and does not drop.
Also, although the C-shaped package has been used for the washing agent package 200 and has been arranged at the periphery of the center portion of the inside of the middle lid 82b in the present embodiment, it is not limited to this. For example, by using a place just beneath the convergent portion 81b of the middle lid 82b as the washing-agent-reception portion 300, the washing agent 206 may be received therein, and by using the concave portion 76 of the rear surface side of the grasp unit 74 of the upper lid 82a as the washing-agent-reception portion 300, the washing agent 206 may be received therein. In this case, it is preferable for the thickness of the washing agent package 200 to be selected so as to be spaced by a constant distance with respect to the side wall lower end of the convergent portion 81b in order not to disturb the function of the guiding water dispersion unit 80.
Also in a case of the disposer apparatus 1 of the automatic water supply type in the present embodiment, similarly as the above-mentioned first embodiment, the washing agent 206 is provided in the inside of the lid body 82, so that the washing liquid is supplied to the hopper 3 by the water supply during the crushing treatment. Thus, the washing operation of the inside of the disposer apparatus 1 is executed concurrently with the crushing treatment of the garbage. Consequently, it is possible to keep the inside of the hopper 3 clean in a state in which the crushing unit 4 is mounted without being detached from the hopper 3.
In the first embodiment, even if the driving mode of the disposer apparatus 1 is other mode than the crushing mode, the washing agent 206 is exposed to the water and is dissolved when the water from the faucet is used in a state in which the lid body 11 is mounted on the disposer apparatus 1. On the other hand, the present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in a configuration such that the washing agent 206 is exposed to the water only when the driving mode of the disposer apparatus 1 remains in a period of crushing mode time. It should be noted that other configurations of the disposer apparatus 1 are similar to those of the first embodiment, so that the same reference numerals are put on the common components and the detail explanation thereof will be omitted.
As shown in
At approximately a center portion of the upper surface of the lid main body 234, a handle portion 222 having a conical trapezoid shape which is projected from this upper surface is provided. On the side surface of the handle portion 222, a groove portion 228 is provided along a circumferential direction of this side surface (see
The operation lid 220 is formed as a shape covering approximately a whole surface of the top surface plate 60 of the lid main body 234 and the handle portion 222, and includes a handle portion 223 with a conical trapezoid shape which is provided at a center portion of the top surface plate 60. On an inner periphery surface of the handle portion 223 of the operation lid 220, as shown in
Also, guide holes 224 (second holes) for guiding the water to be supplied to the inside of the lid main body 234 are formed at positions of the operation lid 220 facing the through-holes 108 for water injection which are formed on the lid main body 234.
The following will describe an operation of the lid body 11 during the crushing mode and an operation of the lid body 11 during other mode than the crushing mode.
As shown in
The following will describe a moment of the crushing mode.
First, from the state shown in
According to the present embodiment, the washing agent 206 is contacted with the water through the guide holes 236 only during the crushing mode, so that the washing agent 206 is blocked from being used during a moment of other mode than the crushing mode, which enables the waste of the washing agent 206 to be eliminated.
Also, according to the present embodiment, the rotation direction of the operation lid 220 when constituting the guide holes 236 and the rotation direction of the lid main body 234 when changing over the driving of the disposer apparatus to the crushing mode become the same direction. Consequently, it is possible to execute the changeover to the crushing mode and supply changeover of the washing agent 206 by a minimum operation. Also, if the operation of the operation lid 220 is not executed after the position of the mark 75 is matched with the “ON” position from the “OFF” position by rotating only the lid main body 234 clockwise, the water cannot be supplied to the washing agent 206, so that the supply of the washing liquid to the inside of the hopper 3 is not executed. On the other hand, the water supply from the through-holes 109 for injection to the inside of the hopper 3 is executed, so that it is possible to use the disposer apparatus 1 similarly as a conventional disposer apparatus 1, which enables the consumption of the washing agent 206, which is undesired by a user, to be repressed. In addition, when executing the washing of dishes and the like while executing water feed from the faucet of the kitchen sink S, by getting a state in which the guide holes 236 (third holes) are constituted by rotating the operation lid 220 clockwise under a state in which the mark 75 of the lid main body 234 is matched with the “OFF” position beforehand, it is possible to execute the washing of the inside of the disposer apparatus 1 by using the drainage when washing dishes or the like even if the disposer apparatus 1 is not used.
It should be noted that the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments and includes scopes in which various modifications are added to the above-mentioned embodiments without departing from the gist of the present invention.
For example, although this invention has been applied to the disposer apparatus of the grinder type and with a detachable system in the above-mentioned embodiments, it can be easily understood that this invention can be applied to a disposer apparatus of the hammermill type or a chain-mill type starting with a disposer apparatus with non-detachable system and also can be applied to the lid bodies which are used for these disposer apparatuses.
This invention can be used for a kitchen of general households such as an apartment house and a one-unit house, or that of a restaurant and the like.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2006-188409 | Jul 2006 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
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PCT/JP2007/063379 | 7/4/2007 | WO | 00 | 1/6/2009 |