GB586422A - Improved clothes washing machine - Google Patents

Abstract

586,422. Washing-machines. CONSTANTINE, W. W. (General Motors Corporation). Feb. 24, 1945, No. 4669. [Class 138 (ii)] [Also in Group II] In a washing machine comprising a basket 10 rotatable about a vertical axis, limited lateral movement of the basket, due to an eccentric load, is counterbalanced by weights 16 rotatable with the basket and each pivoted on an axis parallel to the axis of rotation. As shown, a rubber or like collar 12 supports both the basket and a casing 11 containing the driving mechanism which is free to oscillate on the collar 12 and comprises a motor 20 adapted to drive, through transmission mechanism 23, a reciprocable and rotatable agitator shaft 14 and a rotatable shaft 24 carrying the basket. The weights 16 are pivotally secured by pins 18 to a ring 17 fixed to the shaft 24. Preferably, the bottom of the casing 11 is anchored by a flexible snubber 31 to the main frame 30 of the machine which consists of a casing having a central partition forming a trough 32. In operation, the clothes are placed in the basket 10 with detergent and water and the motor is operated to reciprocate the shaft 14 and thus the agitator 13. Thereafter, the motor is reversed to rotate the basket causing the water to be discharged centrifugally through openings 33, 34, into the outer cup 35 of the basket and over the lip 36 into the trough 32, from which it flows through a hose 37 to a pump 38 driven from the motor 20 and is discharged therefrom through a hose 39 into a drainage receptacle. Rinsing water is then introduced into the basket 10 and the agitating and rotational operations repeated, any unbalanced load produced by uneven distribution of the clothes being counterbalanced by the weights 16. The weights may be flexibly pivoted on the pins 18 by means of interposed rubber or like sleeves or may be connected to the ring 17 by light springs, and stops 17a are provided to limit their movements.