Automatic Dishwasher Indicator For Cleaned Or Soiled Dishes Therein

Abstract

A two-state fluid tilt or position indicator in which a casing is provided with a midwall to catch dishwasher fluid during the dishwashing operation, and discharges such fluid caught within a first chamber of the casing into a second chamber, and said second chamber of the casing discharging the dishwasher fluid into the dishwasher chamber, or other exhaust means, when the door of the dishwasher is opened and tilt sufficiently forward to evacuate the fluid from said first chamber. Also provided is a float in the first chamber, the float having a stem with a diversity indication of discs thereon, and an indicator window so that one disk is presented through the window when the one chamber is containing the dishwasher fluid and the other disk is presented through the indicator window when said one chamber has been discharged of said fluid.

Description

The invention relates to an improved indicator apparatus for showing that a dishwasher has been run to wash the dishes therein, and more particularly the invention relates to indicator means showing that the dishwashing cycle has been completed in a dishwasher, or that the cycle has not been completed.

Another object of the invention is to indicate by means whether the dishes in a dishwasher have been cleaned or are still soiled.

A further feature of the invention is to provide a casing and unit in which the device forms a two-state fluid tilt indicator that may be portably mounted on a dishwasher door.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon full consideration of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a dishwasher door showing the preferred embodiment of the invention, a portion of which is shown in cross section;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view similar to that of FIG. 1 and in which the door of the dishwasher has been tilted downwardly;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged detail view of the window indicator and the disks on the float stem thereof.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown a dishwasher 10 of conventional construction having a top 12 and a door 14, having a front wall 16 and a rear wall 18. Intermediate the top and bottom edges of the door 14 and in the rear or inner wall 18, there is a fluid-receiving opening 20 in which dishwasher fluid passes, as shown by the arrow 22, into a chamber 24 formed in the casing 28 and a midwall 30 therein. In the chamber 24, there is a float body 34 which rises upon the inflow of dishwasher fluid into the chamber 24. From the top of the float 34 is a stem arrangement 36 which may be of zigzag or bellcrank configuration, as shown, and which slides through convenient apertures 38, 40, 42.

There are provided on the uppermost portion of the stem, a pair of differentially indicated disks 48, 50; one may be red and the other may be green. In the front wall 16 of the door 14, there is provided a window indicator 54 in alignment with the disks 48 or 50 depending upon whether the float 34 is in the upper or the lowermost position in the chamber 24. For example, when there is no water in the chamber 24, indicating that the dishes have not been washed by the dishwasher fluid, then the float 34 is in the lowermost position as shown in FIG. 1.

When the water has been splashed into the opening 20, as shown by arrow 22, to fill the chamber 24, float 34 then rises to an upper predetermined position in the chamber 24 to raise the stem 36 so that the disk now is presented through the indicator window 54. This is shown in FIG. 2. When the door is tilted forward, also as shown in FIG. 2, water or the dishwasher fluid is poured out of the chamber 24 into the chamber 64, and when the door is returned to its upright position, water is flushed from the chamber 64 into the dishwasher.

Additional embodiments of the invention in this specification will occur to others and therefore it is intended that the true spirit of the invention be limited only by the appended claims and not by the embodiments described hereinabove. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims in determining the true spirit of the invention.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A dishwasher indicator, comprising a casing mounted within the dishwasher door and having a top passageway and a bottom passageway extending therefrom in fluid communication with the inside of the dishwasher, an aperture in the top wall thereof, a single chamber mounted against the inner wall of said casing between said passageways forming a space between the tops of said casing and said chamber, a float within said chamber, and a stem indicator extending from the top of said float through said aperture, said stem indicator being raised to a certain level above said casing only upon completion of the dishwashing operation due to the entrance of water into said chamber by means of said top passageway, the fluid in said chamber flowing into said casing when the door is tilted from the upright position and flowing from said casing into the dishwasher by means of said lower passageway when the door is swung back to the upright position.