Textiles: fluid treating apparatus – Machines – Impulsing
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-22
2001-05-08
Coe, Philip R. (Department: 1746)
Textiles: fluid treating apparatus
Machines
Impulsing
Reexamination Certificate
active
06227014
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved agitator structure, having flexible vanes and slide bars, that enhances clothes washability while minimizing fabric abrasion and vane breakage.
2. Description of the Related Art
The general construction of clothes washers is well known in the art. A common type of clothes washing machine is the vertical axis washer having an agitator and incorporating a submersion process. An imperforate tub is mounted in a perforated wash basket for receiving clothing and the tub is filled with a wash liquid of detergent and water. An oscillating or unidirectional agitator is positioned within the wash basket and imparts mechanical energy to the submerged clothing.
Many agitators have fins, or vanes, extending radially from the bottom portion of the agitator, just above the wash plate, similar to those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,651,278 (Pinkowski) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,919 (Brenner et al.), assigned to the assignee of the present application, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein. The vanes help push the clothes in a circular direction around the center agitator post, or barrel, and impart mechanical energy to the swirling wash liquid. As will be appreciated, there must be a balance between the strength and the flexibility of the vanes because it is desired to have vanes that do not break but also ones that reduce fabric abrasion.
Stress is exerted on vanes as they circulate water and push clothes in a circular direction. The vanes must flex in multiple directions to absorb the stress caused by circulating water and moving clothes without breaking off during the wash process. One method employed to provide flexibility is the use of a tapered vane where the vane has a thicker cross-section at the juncture with the center barrel portion of the agitator and a gradually thinner cross-section as it tapers toward the tip. It is also known to provide a vane that has not just one planar surface on each side, but multiple planar surfaces on each side. A popular agitator used today employs three planar surfaces on each side as the vane transitions from the center post to the tip. For the same stress, the use of three planes allows more deflection at the vane tip than the one plane, tapered vane. However, there is still stress exerted on the vane, especially in a twisting fashion, and it is desired to have the greatest deflection possible for a given amount of stress.
Additionally, it is necessary to have clothes turn over as the agitator rotates them so they do not get stuck next to the center barrel of the agitator. Therefore, many agitators in the prior art slope gradually from the center barrel to the skirt area to provide a means for rolling clothes outward. However, this construction requires a vane to be mounted above the slope so it is provided on the center barrel at a great vertical distance from the skirt, resulting in the mounted area of the vane absorbing a lot of the load. The loading in the bottom of the vane, below the connection point of the vane, is absorbed at the bottom connection point. Therefore, it would be an improvement to provide an agitator construction with a vane mounted closer to the skirt, thus lowering the bottom connection point of the vane, resulting in higher deflection for the same stress level.
The ability of a vane to absorb stress is also dependent upon the thickness of the vane. If other means of reducing stress, besides varying the thickness of the vane, can be achieved, then the thickness of the vane can be reduced. This increases flexibility of the vane. Often, to provide reliability against breakage, vanes are at least 2 mm thick.
For clothes washers having an agitator with vanes, it is desirable to have vanes that have superior tip deflection and slides between the vanes for rolling clothes outward, thus enhancing washability while minimizing vane breakage.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an agitator having vanes and slides. The agitator can be found vertically oriented in a wash tub of a clothes washing machine. The agitator has a skirt area with a substantially circular outer perimeter and a center ring area. The center ring has a substantially circular inner and outer perimeter and a center barrel extends upwardly from the center ring inner perimeter. At least two vanes are provided on the agitator of the present invention and they extend radially from the center barrel, thus dividing the skirt area into at least two substantially equal sections. The vanes have a right side and a left side and each side has at least two surfaces, or planes. A slide member is positioned within each of the sections for moving clothes from near the center barrel toward the skirt outer perimeter.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an agitator having no more than five vanes that are integrally molded to the barrel and with at least three planar surfaces on each side of the vanes.
It is an object of the invention to provide an agitator with a skirt center ring that slopes from the inner perimeter toward the outer perimeter at a first slope that is greater than a second slope from the center ring to the skirt outer perimeter.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an agitator having slide members with a first end integrally molded with the center barrel, a second end integrally molded with the skirt and a middle portion therebetween. The slide member slopes from the first end toward second end at a third slope that is less than the first slope of the center ring. The difference in the slopes causes the middle portion of the slide member to extend radially outward beyond the center ring.
It is an object of the invention to provide an agitator where the third slope of the slide member is greater than the second slope of the skirt area causing clothing to slide toward the outer perimeter of the skirt for a rollover action.
It is a further object of the invention to provide agitator vanes with a top edge, a bottom edge, a tip portion and a base portion, where the tip portion is thinner than the base portion. The base portion is mounted vertically to the barrel and along the slope of the center ring from the inner to the outer perimeter, and the bottom edge and the tip portion of the vane are positioned above the skirt area. Additionally, the base portion and the bottom edge meet to form a bottom point, or connection point, and the bottom point is positioned at a first vertical height. The tip portion and the bottom edge meet to form a tip point area and the tip point area is positioned at a second vertical height. The first height is not substantially greater than the second height causing a small difference between the vertical heights of the connection point and the tip area of the vane.
Another object of the invention is to provide an agitator with a section formed by two vanes and an arcuate length being defined by the length between the bottom points of the two vanes. The width of the middle portion of the slide is at least one-fifth the arcuate length.
Further, it is an object of the invention to provide an agitator where the bottom point of the vanes intersects the outer perimeter of the center ring and is attached to the skirt.
It is also an object of the invention to have the inner perimeter of the center ring positioned at a third vertical height, the outer perimeter of the center ring positioned at a fourth vertical height and the outer perimeter of the skirt positioned at a fifth vertical height such that the third height is greater than the fourth height and the fourth height is greater than the fifth height.
Further, it is an object of the invention to provide an agitator for an automatic washer for washing clothes where the agitator has a center barrel extending upwardly and surrounded by a skirt area having an outer circular perimeter. Vanes extend radially from the center barrel and divide the skirt area into at least three substantially equal sections. The vanes have a right side and
Euler John W.
Hunnell John Michael
Pinkowski Robert J.
Andrea Powers Denklau
Coe Philip R.
Rice Robert O.
Roth Thomas J.
Whirlpool Corporation
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