Pressure Type Clothes Washing And Drying Machine

Abstract

A clothes washing and drying machine in which clothes and other materials are washed without the use of rotary or other mechanical agitators which frictionally and abrasively contact the machine contents, comprising a water and detergent reservoir containing materials to be washed constructed to intermittently pressurize the contents and thereby exert squeezing and agitating action on the clothes and other materials. The reservoir has flexible side walls capable of expansion and compression, whereby the contents are alternately pressurized and relieved, causing turbulence of the water and detergents and thorough cleansing of the materials being washed. The compression and expansion of the reservoir side walls are produced by a motor driven cam which transmits bearing pressure on the reservoir bottom to impart bellows-like movement to the said walls.

Description

This invention relates to a clothes washing and drying machine in which clothes and other materials are subjected to pressure agitation for thoroughly scrubbing and cleansing the machine contents without the use of rotary or other type agitators which frictionally and abrasively contact the clothes.

The main object of the invention is to provide a washing reservoir constructed to cause tubulence of the water and detergents therein, and to exert squeezing and agitating action on the materials being washed by intermittently pressurizing the reservoir contents.

Another object of the invention is to provide means for sterilizing and drying the washed materials.

Another object is to provide the washing, drying and sterilizing means in an exceptionally compact machine utilizing mechanism having few mechanically movable parts.

In the drawing:

The FIGURE is a transverse vertical sectional view, partly in elevation, of a clothes washing and drying machine embodying my invention.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in the drawing, the housing 10 may be rectangular or circular in horizontal cross section, its bottom 11 resting on adjustable legs 12, and its top closed by a cover 13 provided with an opening closed by a hinged lid 14. The lid can be locked during operation of the machine to prevent raising thereof. A back panel 15 rises from the cover 13 and encloses the conventional control means for controlling speed, volume and temperature, with exposed manually operable knobs or buttons 16 and an on-off dial 17 which may bear Braille indicia as well as conventional identifying means.

Within the housing 10 is a water reservoir preferably consisting of cylindrical side walls 20 and a closed rigid bottom 21 connected to said sides 20. The side walls 20 are made of hard rubber or plastic formed to provide horizontally disposed flanges or ribs 22 and intermediate grooves or channels 23, opposite surfaces being generally complemental to each other. The material of which the walls 20 are made is sufficiently flexible to have imparted thereto alternate compression and expansion action, as hereinafter explained. The upper edge of the side wall 20 is sealingly attached at 24 to the cover 13 and the lower edge is similarly attached at 25 to the bottom 21.

Mechanism 30 for actuating the reservoir enclosed by the wall 20, bottom 21 and cover-lid 13-14 comprises a box-form housing 31 and cover 32, the housing having a bottom provided with an opening 33. The housing 31 contains a coiled spring 34 bearing at its lower end on a plate 35 and at its upper end on the cover 32. The cover 32 bears on the rigid bottom 21 of the reservoir. The plate 35 has a centrally located downwardly extending ear 36 pivotally connected to the upper end of a lever 37 as indicated at 38. The lower end of the lever 37 is pivotally connected at 39 to a cam 40 mounted on the rotated motor shaft 41 of the motor 42.

A water pump 45 controls the water supply to the reservoir.

Ultra violet and infra red lamps 46 depend from the lid 14 for sterilizing and drying the washed materials in the reservoir.

The operation of the machine is as follows:

The motor driven shaft 41 actuates the cam 40 to alternately raise and lower the lever 37. On its up stroke the lever 37 raises the plate 35 and compresses the spring 34, thereby raising the housing 31 and the bottom 21 of the reservoir. Raising of the bottom 21 compresses the side walls 20 of the reservoir and imparts a bellows-like movement to the flanges or ribs 22, diminishing the width of the channels 23 between them and the depth of the reservoir, thereby compressing the water and other contents of the reservoir. On the down stroke of the lever 37, pressure on the reservoir bottom is relieved, and the side walls 20 resume the form shown in the drawing. This alternate compression and expansion produces pressure agitation and squeezing of the tub contents without frictional or abrasive contact such as results from agitation produced by rotary and other mechanical agitators.

After the washing has been completed, the wash water is replaced by rinse water, and after the rinsing has been completed and water drained out of the reservoir, the alternate compression and expansion of the side walls 20 squeezes water out of the washed and rinsed contents of the reservoir during the drying cycle.

Claims

I claim:

1. A clothes washing and drying machine free of rotary or other mechanical agitators comprising

a a housing having a top, bottom and side walls,

b a water reservoir in the housing for containing materials to be washed, said reservoir having a bottom and side walls connected to the reservoir bottom and to the top of the housing, said reservoir side walls being made of flexible material capable of compression and expansion, and

c means in the housing bearing on the reservoir and intermittently compressing and expanding said side walls to thereby pressurize the contents of the reservoir and cause squeezing and agitation of the materials being washed therein, said means intermittently compressing and expanding the side walls of the reservoir comprising a motor actuated cam, a lever pivotally connected at one end to the cam, a plate pivotally connected to the other end of the lever, a coiled spring bearing at one end on the plate, and at the other end on the bottom of the reservoir, to alternately raise said bottom to compress the side walls and lower said bottom to expand said side walls.