Patent Grant
8732975
The present invention is directed to a household appliance, and more particularly, to a household appliance including a pivotally-deployable work surface, and more particularly, to a pivotally-deployable work surface having a deployable hanger rod.
A household appliance, such as a front-loading clothes washer, includes a housing having a door that provides access to a washing unit in the interior of the appliance housing. The washing unit includes a tub having a cylindrical washing drum rotatably mounted inside the tub. In operation, clothes or laundry are inserted into the washer through the door and placed in the rotating washing drum inside the tub. The household appliance wets the laundry to be washed with washing liquid and mechanically moves the laundry to release contaminants from the laundry. A drive system rotates the washing drum inside the tub about an axis of the drum. Similarly, a dryer includes a housing having a door that provides access to a drying unit in the interior of the appliance housing. In operation, the dryer dries the laundry in the drying unit.
A conventional translatably-deployable drawer or work surface may be stacked between (i.e., sandwiched between) laundry machines in a vertically stacked configuration, such as a stacked washer and dryer. The conventional translatably-deployable drawer or work surface commonly is a pull-out drawer (i.e., translatable drawer) that is mounted on conventional side rails. The pull-out drawer can be stored within the work surface and withdrawn from the work surface to provide additional surface area or storage of lightweight and compact items.
The conventional pull-out drawer or work surface commonly uses conventional side rails and mounting hardware to enable the drawer or work surface to be translatably deployable from a housing.
The exemplary embodiments of the present invention recognize that the conventional pull-out drawer or work surface may interfere with an available area for a consumer to access the household appliance or limit the area in front of the household appliance. Additionally, the conventional pull-out drawer provides limited flexibility to the consumer. Furthermore, the conventional pull-out drawer commonly requires multiple side rails and mounting hardware that may result in an increase material and labor costs.
These problems and others are addressed by the present invention, a first exemplary embodiment of which comprises a pivotally-deployable work surface for a household appliance, such as a laundry appliance. The exemplary work surface can be stored within a housing of a work surface for a top of a household appliance, within a housing of a stacking kit for stacking household appliances, or within the housing of the household appliance itself.
The pivotally-deployable work surface can be rotated from a stored position within the housing of the stacking kit, work surface, or appliance to a deployed position outside of the housing to provide a work surface, for example, for a consumer to fold clothing. For example, the pivotally-deployable work surface can be deployed by pivoting or rotating the work surface forward from within the housing about a pivot point that is located near a forward or front panel of the household appliance. The pivot point can be located near the forward upper corner of the household appliance, or alternatively, the pivot point can be located near the forward upper central area of the household appliance. In other embodiments, the pivot point can be located adjacent to a side edge of the household appliance.
By pivotally-deploying the work surfaces from the work surface housing, the work surfaces can provide additional work surface area while minimizing the interference with the central area in front of the laundry appliance, thereby increasing the work surface area of the appliance while providing access to the central area of the appliance for the consumer to add or remove laundry through the door of the appliance, or to fold laundry, etc.
The work surface may be shaped as a quarter of a circle when viewed from above in order to be capable of being rotated in and out of the housing of the stacking kit, work surface, or appliance. Alternatively, the work surface may be shaped as a half of a circle when viewed from above in order to be capable of being rotated in and out of the housing of the stacking kit, work surface, or appliance. The curved shape of the work surfaces can increase an amount of access area in the central portion between the work surfaces, which may improve access to the laundry appliance by the consumer.
The pivotally-deployable work surface and/or the housing of the work surface can include a deployable feature, such as a rod, bar, or the like for hanging clothes, hangers, etc., or an integrated feature, such as openings, slots, etc. for hanging clothes hangers. In this manner, the deployable or integrated feature can be stored along with the work surface when the work surface is in the stored position within the housing. When the work surface is deployed but the consumer does not need to hang laundry hangers, the deployable feature and/or the integral feature will not interfere with the consumer's access to the laundry appliance. When the work surface is deployed and the consumer desires to hang laundry hangers, the deployable feature and/or the integral feature can permit the consumer to hang laundry and/or laundry hangers from the housing or the work surfaces while minimizing or preventing interference with the use of the laundry appliance by the consumer.
An exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a work surface device for a domestic household appliance, the work surface device including a housing having a cavity accessible by an opening formed in a sidewall of the housing, and a pivotally-deployable work surface supported by the housing at a pivot point, wherein the pivotally-deployable work surface is movable about the pivot point from a stored position within the cavity to a deployed position outside of the housing, and wherein the pivotally-deployable work surface has a planar upper support surface. In an exemplary embodiment, the pivotally-deployable work surface includes a deployable feature for hanging items.
In another exemplary embodiment of the invention, the pivotally-deployable work surface includes a deployable feature for hanging items and/or an integral stationary feature for hanging items. The deployable feature can include an opening and/or a notch for receiving an end of a laundry hanger. The deployable feature can include an end cap for preventing one of laundry items and a laundry hanger from sliding off of the deployable feature.
Another exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a work surface device for a domestic household appliance, the work surface device including a housing having a cavity accessible by an opening formed in a sidewall of the housing, a pivotally-deployable work surface supported by the housing at a pivot point, wherein the pivotally-deployable work surface is movable about the pivot point from a stored position within the cavity to a deployed position outside of the housing, and wherein the pivotally-deployable work surface has a planar upper support surface, and a second pivotally-deployable work surface supported by the housing at a second pivot point, wherein the second pivotally-deployable work surface has a planar upper support surface.
Yet another exemplary embodiment of the invention includes a domestic household appliance including a housing having a door for accessing an interior of the housing, and a work surface device including a housing having a cavity accessible by an opening formed in a sidewall of the housing, and a pivotally-deployable work surface supported by the housing at a pivot point, wherein the pivotally-deployable work surface is movable about the pivot point from a stored position within the cavity to a deployed position outside of the housing, and wherein the pivotally-deployable work surface has a planar upper support surface. The domestic household appliance can include a second pivotally-deployable work surface supported by the housing at a second pivot point, wherein the second pivotally-deployable work surface has a planar upper support surface.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the following detailed description and drawings.
These and other aspects and features of embodiments of the present invention will be better understood after a reading of the following detailed description, together with the attached drawings, wherein:
The present invention now is described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
Referring now to the drawings,
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In a single appliance configuration, as illustrated in
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With reference to
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The work surface housing 14 and/or the work surfaces 16A, 16B can include one or more securing devices, such as a latch device, lock device, or clamp device that secures the work surfaces 16A, 16B in the deployed position, thereby improving the stability of the work surface 16A, 16B and preventing the work surfaces from pivoting back into the stored position or into a partially stored position. The work surfaces 16A, 16B can be configured to be securely positioned in a fully deployed position or a fully stored position. In other embodiments, the work surfaces 16A, 16B can be configured to be securely positioned in one or more intermediary, partially deployed/stored positions, or an infinite number of partially deployed/stored positions between the fully deployed position and the fully stored position, thereby providing a consumer with the ability to choose from a variety of positions and configurations.
The work surface housing 14 is not limited to the illustrated embodiments and can include other arrangements, such as an arrangement with a single work surface or an arrangement of three or more pivotally-deployable work surfaces. The work surfaces 16A, 16B can be pivotally-deployable from one or more sides of the housing 14. The work surfaces 16A, 16B are not limited to the illustrated embodiments and can include other shapes and sizes. For example, the work surfaces 16A, 16B can have a quarter-circle shape when viewed from above, or a half-circle shape when viewed from above. Other shapes also are contemplated. Each of the work surfaces 16A, 16B can be configured to have a different shape or the same shape. Each of the work surfaces 16A, 16B can be configured to have a different size or the same size.
The pivot points 18A, 18B between the housing 14 and the work surfaces 16A, 16B can be formed by conventional hinges, axles, pins, etc. that permit the work surfaces 16A, 16B to rotate or pivot from within to the housing 14 to the outside of the housing 14, and vice versa. The housing 14 and the work surfaces 16A, 16B can be formed from suitable materials, such as plastic, metal, coated metal, etc. The housing 14 and the work surfaces 16A, 16B can include a reinforcing framework or reinforcing ribs formed from the same or different material to provide additional strength and load capacity. The reinforcing framework or ribs can be formed throughout the work surface 16A, 16B or only in areas adjacent to the pivot points.
The work surface housing 14 and/or the work surfaces 16A-16E can include a one or more stop devices that prevent the work surfaces from over-rotating, limit an amount of rotation of the work surfaces, limit or restrict a direction of rotation for deploying the work surface from the housing, or limit or restrict a direction of rotation for returning the work surface to the stored position within the housing, to predetermined directions (e.g. clockwise or counterclockwise when viewed from above). The work surfaces 16A, 16B can rotate or pivot in the same direction or in different directions.
The work surfaces 16A, 16B can have a solid surface or a perforated surface for reducing a weight of the work surfaces. The work surfaces 16A, 16B can include smooth or textured surfaces. One or more surfaces or sides of the work surfaces 16A, 16B can include one or more openings, such as slots, perforations, etc., one or more notches or grooves, or one or more deployable features, such as on-board deployable devices that pivotally or translatably deploy from the work surfaces 16A, 16B, for example, for directly hanging laundry thereon or for hanging hangers for supporting laundry.
The work surface 16A, 16B can include an integral handle, for example formed in a front face of the work surface 16A, 16B when the work surface is in the stored position, such that the consumer can grasp the handle to deploy the work surface. Alternatively, the consumer can apply a pushing force on only one side of the front face of the work surface 16A, 16B when the work surface is in the stored position, such that the work surface pivots about the pivot point and deploys from within the housing. In yet another embodiment, the work surface 16A, 16B can include a push release, or push to release, mechanism, such as a spring loaded push release mechanism. In this case, the consumer can press or push inward on the front face of the work surface 16A, 16B when the work surface is in the stored position within the housing 14, thereby disengaging the push release and causing the work surface to deploy from the stored position.
Other exemplary embodiments of the work surface housing 14 and work surface 16A, 16B will be described with reference to
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For example, as shown in
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The work surface housing 14 and/or the work surfaces 16A-16E can include a stop device 19 that prevents the work surfaces from over-rotating, limits an amount of rotation of the work surfaces, limits or restricts a direction of rotation for deploying the work surface from the housing, or limits or restricts a direction of rotation for returning the work surface to the stored position within the housing, to predetermined directions (e.g. clockwise or counterclockwise when viewed from above).
As shown in
The pivot points 18A, 18B between the housing 14 and the work surfaces 16A, 16B can be formed by conventional hinges, axles, pins, etc. that permit the work surfaces 16A, 16B to rotate or pivot from within the housing 14 to the outside of the housing 14, and vice versa.
With reference
The pivotally-deployable work surface 16A, 16B can include one or more means for hanging laundry or hangers. For example, the means for hanging laundry or hangers can include one or more deployable features, such as deployable rods, bars, or the like for hanging clothes, hangers, etc. As shown in
For example,
The rod 22 is illustrated as being pivoted into a deployed position that is horizontal to the upper surface of the work surface 16A, 16B. However, in other embodiments, the rod 22 can be deployed into various positions that are not parallel to the upper surface of the work surface 16A, 16B.
In other exemplary embodiments, the rod 22 can be pivotally deployed from a lower surface of the work surface 16A, 16B. In this case, the work surface 16A, 16B and/or the rod 22 can include a securing feature for locking the rod 22 in position.
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As shown for example in
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With reference again to
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With reference again to
The rod 22 also can be configured to be pivotably deployable directly from the housing 14. For example, a first portion of the front of the housing 14 can include a pivotably-deployable work surface 16A, 16B, and a second portion of the front of the housing 14 can include a pivotably-deployable rod 22.
The present invention has been described herein in terms of several preferred embodiments. However, modifications and additions to these embodiments will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a reading of the foregoing description. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout. In the figures, the thickness of certain lines, layers, components, elements or features may be exaggerated for clarity.
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