US2648213A - Washing machine with fluid drive - Google Patents

Description

Aug. 11, 1953 G. P. CASTNER 2,643,213

WASHING MACHINE WITH FLUID DRIVE 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 12, 1947 44 FIE /36 f zs 34 z2- 19 30 H 30 H 3/ 3 I Hi III 31 I J I ,54 46 w 7.42 I 7/ I 40 27 ll .28

J az l5 GEORGE P. CASTNER Aug. 11, 1953 P, CASTNER 2,648,213

WASHING MACHINE WITH FLUID DRIVE Filed April 12, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Aug. 11, 1953 G. P. CASTNER 2,543,213

WASHING MACHINE WITH FLUID DRIVE Filed April 12, 1947 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 swam tom GEORGE P. CAST/VER 3G 4 a aki 47km Aug 11, 1953 Filed April 12, 1947 FIE E G. P. CASTNER WASHING MACHINE WITH FLUID DRIVE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 GEORGE CASTNER @MLJW/O a 61 Patented Aug. 11, 1953 WASHING MACHINE WITH FLUID DRIVE George P. Castner, Webster City, Iowa, assignor to Solar Corporation, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Delaware Application April 12, 1947, Serial No. 741,083

4 Claims.

This invention relates generally to improvements in clothes washing machines of the socalled automatic type wherein the clothes are washed, rinsed and centrifugally wet dried in sequence, and more particularly the present invention relates to improvements in drive or actuating means for the washing and extracting elements of such machines.

The primary object of the invention is to provide improved and novel fluid drive means for transmitting power from the primary power source to the clothes receptacle or spin tub, and optionally to the agitator or washing element all in such manner as to materially improve the operation of these elements and overcome many of the problems well known to the industry in connection with this type of equipment, all as will be hereinafter pointed out.

A further object of this invention is to provide specific improvements in fluid drive units enabling such units to operate with efiectiveness on an upright aXis with improved results for my purpose and for most convenient belting or driving connection to the proper parts of the washing machine.

These and other important objects of this invention will be made apparent in the course of the following specification wherein reference is had to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view partially in elevation and showing automatic washing machine embodying drive mechanism in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the fluid drive mechanism and associated parts alone.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of certain parts of the drive mechanism, showing all the belting between parts.

Fig. dis a detail and schematic view somewhat similar to Fig. 2 but showing a modified type of fiuid drive arrangement for both the agitator and clothes receptacle.

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing drive mechanism like that of Fig. 4, and showing a fluid drive unit in cross section.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing a fluid drive unit of modified construction.

It may be noted at this point that this application discloses certain improvements over the washing machine disclosed in the co-pending washing machine application No. 690,532, filed August 14, 1948 now Patent No. 2,513,844, issued July 4, 1950, and in which prior application and patent I am a joint inventor. The

. washing machine, per se, disclosed in Fig. 1 of 2 the accompanying drawings is, in fact, largely identical with that disclosed in the above identified application and will be described herein in only such detail as necessary for the adequate disclosure of my present improvements.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawing, the washing machine disclosed therein comprises a stationary housing 10 divided into upper and lower chambers ll and I 2 by a partition plate 13 having at its center an upstanding sleeve I l. The chamber H is the washing chamber and is designed to contain Water during certain parts of the washing operation as will later appear. The lower chamber i2 is designed to accommodate various operating and riving mechanisms and is closed by a bottom plate I5. This housing structure is supported by adjustable floor jacks designated generally at l6, and resilient pads l 1, upon the floor as clearly show in the drawing.

Positioned within the upper chamber II is a clothes receptacle or tub designated generally at H! which includes an axial center sleeve 19 terminating at its lower end in a conical section 20 which is adapted to be secured by cap screws 2| to the top of a tubular spindle 22. This spindle 22 is supported in bearings in a tubular support member 23 which projects upwardly through the aforesaid sleeve [4 from a frame plate 24. This plate 24 is positioned in the lower chamber I2 and is secured in superimposed relation by connecting posts 25 to a lower plate 26 which in turn is secured to a U-shaped member 21 having a single bearing at its bottom in the base plate of 15 of the housing, as designated at 28. This frame assembly is yieldably held in a centered position upon the bearing by means of a series of radial springs, indicated at 29, stretched between posts 32 upon the upper plate 24 and eye bolts 3| which are attached by means of brackets 32 to adjacent sides of the housing Ill. These springs, of course, serve to yieldably center the frame assembly and all parts supported therein in the housing, but since the purpose of this mounting, as well as other details thereof are not pertinent to the present invention, they will not be further described herein.

The base portion of the aforesaid conical element 2D has an elliptical sediment trap 33 and secured to the margin of this trap is the lower annular edge 34 of the receptacle wall 35. The wall 35 flares slightly in an upward direction and secured around its upper edge is a balancing ring 36 wherein are formed a series of openings 31 from which the water in the tub may be delivered by centrifugal action when the receptacle is spun, as will later appear. From opposite points on the major axis of the elliptical sediment trap 33 there extend sediment tubes 33 which project upwardly alongside the tub wall 35 and in operation, water and sediment which has settled into the trap are flushed from these tubes 38 at their upper ends by centrifugal action during the spinning of the tub.

Positioned within this tub I8 is an agitator designated generally at 39, which while being of itself of some novelty in construction aspointed out in application No. 690,532, nevertheless operates in more or less conventional manner with an oscillating action to agitate and cleanse the clothes within the tub. So far as material to the present invention, the agitator may be described as having a downwardly flaring or skirted central sleeve 43 which is secured to the upper end of a vertical shaft 4! which extends down through the tubular part if) of the tub and through the tubular drive spindle 22 therefor. The agitator further, of course, includesradial vanes 42 for agitating the water and clothes.

Water is supplied to the tub 35 for washing and rinsing in any suitable manner, and as here shown through a spray cap "13 which is supported by a pipe 44 over the center of the receptacle and.

to which the water is led through a supply pipe 45 leading out through one side of the housing as indicated at 46.

At its lower end, the agitator shaft M is selec tively connectible by means of a conventional jaw clutch ii to the power output shaft of a conventional transmission unit indicated generally at 58 1 which is secured beneath the lower frame plate -26. This transmission-unit 33113.5 as its purpose the translation of rotary movement to an oscillating movement and may be of any well known type such as, for example, that shown in Patent No. 1,964,440. She drive shaft for transmission unit 48 is provided with a drive pulley-5ii which-is operated by a V-belt 5% from -an 'electric-motor 52 having a driving pulley 53 I on its shaft 54. The motor 52 is hung from the lower frame plate 25 with its shaft 56 extended upwardly through the plate. Also mounted on the motor shaft is a pulley 55 over which runs a V-belt 56 to a pulley 5! on the upper end of the drive shaft for a water pump 58 which is hung from hearing 53 below frame plate 26. The intake of the pump 58 is connected by a hose E5 to a drain outlet (it in the plate :13 to deliver. water from the upper chamber l l and a discharge pipe 62 from the pump extends out through the side of the machine to deliver the water to a drain or other disposal means (not shown). During certain parts of the washing and rinsing operations,

water is quickly discharged from the upper cham- .-ber. .l l .by the pump, preventing the waterfrom reaching the level of the upper end of sleeve M.

The aforesaid jaw clutch 51' is operated by a bell crank shifter fork 63 actuated by a solenoid 64 and is operated automatically at predetermined times during the washing cycle to complete the driving connection to the agitator 39 causing the 4 the same motor 52 for operating both the agita tor and tub. To thus support and operate the fluid drive unit, I provide a vertical countershaft 66 which is supported in a bearing 61 and bearing bracket 68 attached to the lower frame plate 26. On this countershaft there is loosely mounted a pulley 69 over which runs a \/belt 10 to a drive pulley H (Fig. 1) on the motor shaft 54. A conventional jaw clutch i2 is provided for selectively connecting the pulley 69 to the countershaft and this clutch is opened and closed by a bell crank-shifter fork l3 actuated by a solenoid and the-water is ejected from the M. The fluid drive unit has a pulley l5 which is rotated by the unit and is connected by a V- belt 16 to alarge pulley Tl secured on the lower end of the tubular spindle 22 and driving the In the operation of the machine as thus far described the clothes and water are placed in the receptacle or tub l8 and the agitator 39 is set in motion to wash the clothes, at the completion of which operation the agitator is stopped and the tub is rapidly rotated to extract the water. In the latter operationthe water and sedimentin the trap 33 are flushed out through the tubes 33 receptacle through the openings 3?. Rinse water is then admitted and any desired cycle of rinses carried out, with a final rotation of the tubtoextract the water, leaving the clothes wet dried at the completion of the operation. The precise cycle of washing and rinsing actions is, of course, immaterial to my present invention.

Various problems, however, arise in the operation of machines of this kind and chief of these with which I am-here concerned, are'those caused by the effect of the eccentric load represented by the wet clothes in the tub as it is spun. As will be readily appreciated, the clothes are often irregularly disposed about the center of the tub when washing is completed and thus, as the tub is started up to spin the clothes dry, this eccentric or unbalanced load causes a wabbling tendency which sets up a terrific vibration and has many undesirable effects. Then too, the clothes and water in the tub or receptacle represent a very considerable initial load to set in motion with the result that the strain is great and the electricalload, as represented by the current drawn bythe-niotor which-spins the tub receptacle, is initially very high. I have found that the use of my fluid drive to the tub absolutely cures both of these undesirable conditions as will now be described in detail,

It will first be understood that the fluid drive unit 65, being of the turbine type, has a vaned impeller or driving rotor and a vaned driven element or rotor, the power transfer between which isaccomplished by fluid actuated by the vanes. As best seen in Fig. 2 the unit thus has an outer shell or housing T8 wherein is mounted an im peller rotor 19 having radial vanes 85 operating above corresponding vanes 8! around the lower part of the housing. The construction will be described in more detail hereinafter, along with somenovel and. advantageous features thereof,

but it is suflicient at this point to state that the impeller rotor 19 is driven by the countershaft .66 while the housing I8, which carries the aforesaid pulley 15, is free with respect to the countershaft. The lower part of the housing 18 is filled with fluid to a point such that, when the unit isidle, .the-fluidiwill standjust below the-level .lof thelower edgesof the impeller vanes 89. -To

then setthe fluid in motion as the impeller starts to rotate narrow splash or pick-up vanes or paddles 82 are secured to the impeller and depend therefrom down onto the liquid pool, inwardly of the vanes. It will then be understood that as the impeller starts up these vanes 82 will pick up and set the body of fluid in motion so that it will travel outwardly and climb or vortex until the impeller vanes 80 obtain a bite on the fluid and complete the fluid driving connection between impeller and driven elements.

It will now be evident that by virtue of the initial high slippage factor, which occurs as the fluid drive unit is first started up and as the fluid is being set in motion, the load represented by the tub or receptacle [8 and contained clothes and water will be quite gradually applied to the motor 52. As a result I completely eliminate or at the least greatly reduce the high starting electrical load, which is common to other machines using mechanical clutches and the like between motor and receptacle or spin tub, and which load sometimes requires special wiring for the machine and at best causes frequent fuse burnouts. For example, and from actual tests with a ten ampere ammeter in the load circuit to the motor, in my machine the starting load as the spinning operation begins may run at about three amperes, whereas in another machine of well known make, the corresponding starting load will cause the ammeter needle to fly completely off scale. The importance of this feature of my machine, achieved through use of the fluid drive for the receptacle, can well be appreciated.

This cushioned electrical load has the further, very desirable feature of permitting the starting switch of the motor to throw out immediately so that the motor starts off at practically full speed. In other machines to my knowledge using mechanical clutching, or even if such machines used a fluid clutch without my high slippage factor, the load builds up so rapidly that the starting switch sometimes fails to throw out and the motor sometimes burns out.

Also of great importance to the successful operation of the machine is the automatic accommodation of the fluid drive to varying eccentric loads and the regulation of the tub or receptacle speed accordin to load conditions. In this connection it will be noted that the impeller and riven vanes 8c and 8| are comparatively short radially, as compared to the usual fluid drive or clutch, and that the fluid drive unit is but partially filled with fluid. These characteristics, plus the obvious tendency of the fluid to settle as the unit slows down, due to its being mounted upon a vertical axis, all contribute to determine the normal slippage factor of the drive unit. Thus, there is an initial slip-,

page, even with no load on the unit, which is substantially and desiredly greater than present in the usual fluid coupling, used in the usual way. And as the load increases a proportional increase in slippage results. It follows then that, if the clothes are eccentrically disposed about the axis of the tub or receptacle as it is set in motion, slippage of a magnitude dependent on such eccentric load will occur in the fluid drive and the receptacle will run comparatively slow until the unbalanced load condition corrects itself, which it tends to do as the spinning proceeds and the water is centrifuged from the clothes.

t will now be evident that since the speed of the tub or receptacle I8 is proportional to the eccentric load, the vibration will be very greatly reduced to thus overcome one of the chief problems in this type of machine and it will be further understood that if the machine is started up with a considerable eccentric load, its comparatively low speed under that load will increase gradually as the magnitude of the load itself decreases. In other words, as the water is expelled from the clothes, the eccentric load represented by the wet clothes will radually decrease and the rotating speed of the tub will pick up so that the final extraction speed will be high enough to insure complete extraction. In other machines with which I am familiar, it is necessary to set a maximum speed limit for the tub which is low enough to permit operation under the worst expected eccentric load conditions and as a result the extraction time is increased unnecessarily. In such a machine the receptacle speed is ordinarily in the vicinity of 500 to 575 R. P. M. so that the vibration will not be excessive with the greatest expected load unbalance and it will be readily appreciated that this places a definite limitation upon the completeness and speed of the extraction process.

The initial high slippage factor of the fluid drive unit and resulting gradual acceleration of the tub speed also has operational advantages other than cushioning the electrical load. The chief advantage lies in the action of the clothes at the start of the extraction process which may be described as follows: When the machine has reached the time in its operation for extraction of the water, the clothes are, of course, floating about upon and in the water and now as the tub is set in motion the slow acceleration will cause the water and clothes to vortex but before there is any pronounced tendency for the clothes to climb upward toward the rim of the receptacle, they will have settled outwardly and downwardly into a mass as indicated in Fig. 1 around the re-- ceptacle wall. As the water then proceeds tospill upwardly and outwardly from the receptacle through the openings 31 it will carry along its surface accumulation of suds and similar materials and will expel such materials before it has a chance to settle upon the clothes. This action, of course, leaves the clothes much cleaner and in practice is found to be a considerable advantage. It will also be understood that the gradual acceleration of the tub speed will allow the sediment to remain trapped in the sediment trap 33 Without any tendency to flush out with the water and into the clothes with the result that this sediment is delivered through the tubes 38 without any possibility of coming in contact with the clean clothes.

Referring now more particularly to Fig. 2 of the drawing, it will be seen that the impeller unit or rotor 19 of the fluid drive unit is formed with a mounting sleeve 83 which is threaded at 84 upon the countershaft 66 in order to anchor the fluid drive unit upon the shaft. The housing 18 is composed of half sections 85 and 86 which, when the assembly of the unit is completed, are welded together around their edges at 81 and the housing further has a mounting sleeve 88 which is rotatably mounted upon bushings 89 around the aforesaid sleeve 83. Thus, the housing 18 is mounted to rotate entirely independently of the impeller rotor and countershaft. The impeller 19 is further lockedupon the countershaft by a diametrical key 90 which stands in spaced relation to a removable plug 9| which is screwed in the center of the top of the housing 18. This plug is primarily for the purpose of filling the unit with fluid as will be '7 apparent. For thetbestnoperation; of theifluid drive unitfor my purpose, I find that the fit of the housinguponthe bushings, 89 should not .be too tight so thatno binding will result which would interfere with the properutilization of the high slippage factor of the unit. This is particularly true since as, the unit operates it has some tendency to heat and the resulting expansion would so increase the binding effect as to cause a gradual reduction in the speed of the tub. I, therefore, sormachine the parts that sufficient play is present to prevent this undesirable result but this in turn brings about a tendency toward end play of the parts causing a chattering noise tobe set up while the unit is running. To overcome this, I provide a resilient automatic end play take-up. which is here shown in the form ofa ball 92 which bears in a recess in the aforesaid lock key. 90 and is pressed yieldably thereagainst by a spring 93 placed-in the plug SI and bearing upon the ball. This device then operates to urge the housing I8 upwardly with respect to the impeller I9 and automatically take up end play as it occurs and I have found that it completely overcomes this chattering problem.

It is, of course, possible to utilize the fluid drive unit 65 to drive not only the tub or receptacle but also the agitator 30 and I show, for example, a drive mechanism set up for this purpose in Figs. 4 and 5. Such drive arrangement may, in fact, be found to be preferable to direct mechanical drive of the agitator since I am thus enabled to use the slippage factor of the fiuiddrive unit to cushionthe end of the agitator strokeswith the result of further reducing vibration and wearand tear upon the parts, as willbe understood. Referring now to Fig. 4 I show an electric motor 94 which is supported by a bracket 95 upon a lower plate 20 with the mo- 1 tor shaft 88 extended upwardly. In this case the fluid drive unit 165, which may be identical to that just described, .is mounted upon the upper end of the motorv shaft 90 and is directly driven thereby. Thepulley I5 upon the fluid drive unit operates the-large pulley II for driving the receptacle I8 bymeans of a belt I6 exactly as ;the.lower face of the pulley I5 and over this run a, V.b.elt -.,98 .to the drive pulley 50 for the transmission unit .48. As bestseen in Fig. 5 the pulley. 9T clears the motor shaft Biand thus it will be. evident that the transmission unit. is powered only through the fluid drive unit 65. The drive for the. water pump 58, which doesnot appear in Fig...4,.may be taken from a pulley 09 upon the drive shaft 49 of the transmission unit or directly off themotor shaftas maybe desired.

It will thus be seen that since thefluiddrive unit operatesboth the agitator and the tub or receptacle the cushioning effect willbe applied to both with a further rnaterial reduction in vibration. lnprder however, to take. advantage of the high initial slippage factor of the fluid drive unit, for-gradually .accelerating the tub, it is no .v necessaryto startand stopthemotor 94. Thus at the; completion of the washing cycle the .-motor ,will;be.;st.0pped and then:start ed up I again to carry out-;theextraction cycle and, bring ,abquttheinitialhi h slippa e in the flui driv .uMtasi de ired f ;my;p rp0s I i fu r -necessary to ;provide a conventional, jaw, clutch -a .ind ca edat I80 f electively, establi hin the, drive connection between the pulley II and tubular drive shaft 22 for the tub I8 so that .the

. viously described is also used and I have indicated diagrammatically an electric circuit for controlling the motor 94 and the respective clutch actuating solenoids 64 and I02. This circuit will, of course, vary with the type of automatic timing switch used in the machine and as here shown the switch is of the commutator type operated -by a switch motor I03 and with separate switch between the vanes.

and scope of the appended claims. therefore fully illustrated and described my insegments I04, I05 and I06 for controlling a circuit from one side of the power line I01 to con- The redirectly to these elements to complete the circuit. By proper arrangement of the switch segments it will be possible to start and stop the motor and actuate the solenoids in any desired sequence to control the action of the agitator and of the tub and to stop the motor before the clutch I09 is engaged so that the gradua1 acceleration of the tub will take place. Since the electrical circuit of itself forms no part of my present invention, it will not be described in further detail herein.

Referring to Fig. 5 I show a fluid drive unit G5 which embodies a slight modification over that of Fig. 2. However, the construction is basically the same and corresponding parts throughout are given the previously used reference numerals. In this drive unit of Fig. 5, however, the splash vanes 82 are not used and instead I run the fluid level at least, as indicated at II2, slightly above the lower edges of the impeller vanes 80. Thus, it will be seen that when the unit is set in operation these impeller vanes will have a limited bite in the fluid sufficient to set it in motion to establish and complete the driving connection To then introduce the necessary high slippage factor in the drive unit, I considerably shorten the impeller vanes and driven vanes 8 I, in comparison to the corresponding vanes in the drive unit of Fig. 2, and find that by so shortening the vanes, and by selection of a fluid of proper viscosity I ,am able to obtain the desired slippage factor previously described.

I'further show another modification of the drive unit in'Fig. 6 and here again the corresponding parts are given the similar reference numerals. In this case, however, the impeller vanes 80 angle inwardly and downwardly at their lower edges while the driven unit vanes 8I are reduced in height and angle in the same direction as clearly shown. Thus, I form acute corner portions H3 at the inner ends of the impeller ends 80 which may dip into the fluid pool when the unit is at rest and which will then serve to set the fluid in motion when the unit is started up. Here again, I find that proper selection of the fluid type and level and angle of the respective vanes enables me to obtain the desired slippage in the drive unit.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit Having now 9 vention, what I claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. For a clothes washing machine having a rotary clothes receptacle and a motor for rotating the receptacle, a fluid coupling comprising upper and lower fluid coupling elements operatively supported for rotation about a generally upright axis and connected, respectively, to the motor and receptacle, the upper coupling element having an annular series of depending vanes and the lower element having a similar series of vanes in opposed positions with respect to the vanes of the upper coupling element, means supporting a fixed charge of fluid in cooperative relationship with the coupling elements for establishing a variable slip fluid drive connection between the motor and receptacle, the said fixed charge of fluid being such that it will stand at a level below the major areas of the vanes in the upper coupling element when the coupling elements are at rest butthese vanes having lower portions of comparatively minor areas depending into the fluid for engaging and gradually actuating the fluid into full transmission contact with the vanes.

2. For a clothes washing machine having a rotary clothes receptacle and a motor for rotating the receptacle, a fluid coupling comprising upper and lower fluid coupling elements operatively supported for rotation about a generally upright axis and connected, respectively, to the motor and receptacle, the upper coupling element having an annular series of depending vanes and the lower element having a similar series of vanes in opposed positions with respect to the vanes of the upper coupling element, means supporting a fixed charge of fluid in cooperative relationship with the coupling elements for establishing a variable slip fluid drive connection between the motor and receptacle, the said fixed charge of fluid being such that it will stand at substantially the level of the vanes of the lower coupling element when the coup-ling elements are at rest, and the vanes on the upper coupling element having corner portions dipping into the fluid at rest and thereby engaging the fluid to gradually actuate it into transmission contact with the vanes of the upper coupling element.

3. For use in a washing machine, a first mem- 10 ber to be oscillated and a transmission device connected thereto and of the type converting rotary motion to oscillating motion, a second member to be rotated, a fluid coupling having cooperating vaned driving and driven elements and means forming a sealed chamber thereabout containing fluid in an amount less than the total capacity of the chamber whereby slippage will accompany the transmission of torque through the coupling, an electric motor and means operatively connecting the same to the driving element, and separate selectively operative means connecting the driven element respectively tothe first member through the transmission device and to the second member.

4. For use in a washing machine, a first member to be oscillated and a transmission device connected thereto and of the type converting rotary motion to oscillating motion, a second member to be rotated, a fluid coupling having driving and driven elements and of a type characterized by having a high initial slippage factor, an electric motor, means connecting the motor to the driving element of the fluid coupling, and separate clutches operatively arranged to selectively connect the driven element of the coupling to the transmission device to oscillate the first member and to the second member to rotate the same.

GEORGE; P. CAS'INER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,932,246 Kirby Oct. 24, 1933 1,940,918 Petroni et a1 Dec. 20, 1933 1,957,124 Yahn May 1, 1934 1,968,692 Krauss July 31,, 1934 2,294,994 Maze Sept. 8, 1942 2,380,595 I-Iertrich July 31, 1945 2,422,545 Hanson June 17, 1947 2,513,845 Castner July 4, 1950 2,538,246 Holm-Hansen Jan. 16, 1951 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 231,763 Great Britain Apr. 9, 1925 607,615 Germany Jan. 3, 1935

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