Dishwasher spray system

Abstract

There is disclosed a spray system for spraying water generally vertically downwardly onto a silverware basket in a dishwasher. The spray system is physically located in the dishwasher door in association with a system for venting the wash chamber during the dry cycle. The path of water movement passes through a vent guard. The vent guard includes a one way baffle which acts to deflect water emitting from the spray system toward the silverware basket.

Description

Presently available dishwashers are commonly equipped with a silverware basket which is designed to accommodate a large number of vertically disposed knives, forks, spoons and kitchen implements. Since such silverware is closely spaced in the basket, food particles tend to accumulate or be trapped between adjacent silverware pieces. Accordingly, a housewife may open the dishwasher and find food particles lodged between silverware pieces. The natural tendency is to close the dishwasher door and manipulate the timer to rewash the load in the dishwasher. This is obviously disconcerting as well as wasteful.

In accordance with this invention, there is provided a spray system for directing a quantity of wash water downwardly into a silverware basket in order to dislodge food particles trapped between adjacent silverware pieces. Food particles so dislodged will fall into the bottom of the dishwasher for removal along with a batch of water circulated in the dishwasher.

The provision of a downward spray in a dishwasher is found in each of U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,624,356; 2,704,084; 3,064,661 and 3,330,288.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved spray system for dishwashers incorporating a downwardly directed spray onto a silverware receiver.

In summary, this invention comprises a dishwasher including means providing a wash chamber including a door having an inner apertured panel exposed to the wash chamber and an outer panel providing therebetween a door compartment; means including a pump for spraying liquid into the wash chamber; a silverware receiver in the wash chamber below an inner panel aperture; means for circulating air through the wash chamber and door compartment during a dry cycle including the panel aperture, a flow director in the door compartment having an opening in fluid communication with the panel aperture and a vent guard in the wash chamber adjacent the panel aperture for preventing liquid entry into the door compartment; and means for spraying liquid downwardly on the silverware receiver during the wash or rinse cycle including a conduit having an opening defining a spray path directed at the vent guard, the vent guard including a one-way baffle for passing liquid spray from the opening into the wash chamber and preventing liquid spray from passing from the wash chamber past the vent guard, and means for delivering pressurized liquid from the pump to the conduit.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a partial vertical cross sectional view of a dishwasher equipped with a spray system of this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the spray system of this invention; and

FIG. 3 is a partial vertical cross sectional view, similar to FIG. 1, illustrating a different embodiment of the invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, there is illustrated a dishwasher 10 comprising as major components a cabinet 12 including a door 14, a tub 16 providing with the door 14 a wash chamber 18, an upper rack 20 and one or more lower racks 22, 24 for receiving articles to be washed, means 26 for spraying washing liquid upwardly into the chamber 18 for washing the articles, means 28 for spraying washing liquid downwardly into a silverware basket or receiver 30 carried by the lower rack 22, means 32 for drying the articles and a timer mechanism 34 for controlling operation of the dishwasher 10 and providing one or more wash/rinse cycles and a dry cycle.

The cabinet 12, door 14 and tub 16 may be of any suitable design. The door 14 is conveniently movably mounted by a pivot pin 36 adjacent the lower end thereof and includes inner and outer panels 38, 40 spaced apart to provide a door compartment 42. The rack 20 is mounted by any suitable means, for example a guide-roller arrangement 44 for movement into and at least partially out of the wash chamber 18 for loading and unloading articles. The lowermost rack 24 is supported by ledges 46 on the tub 16 and tracks (not shown) provided by the inner door panel 38 to allow movement of the rack 24 in and out of the wash chamber 18. The lower rack 22 is supported, in the tub 16, by a ledge (not shown) therein. One or more wheels 48 on the rack 22 are lowered during outward movement of the rack 22 into load supported engagement with a rail 50 carried by the lowermost rack 24. Accordingly, the racks 22, 24 are mounted for movement into and at least partially out of the tub 16 as disclosed more fully in copending application Ser. No. 320,618, filed Jan. 2, 1973, now U.S. Pat. No. 3,861,769 and assigned to the assignee of this invention. It is clear that any suitable means may be employed to movably mount the rack 22.

The spray means 26 may be of any suitable type and conveniently includes a spray arm 52 mounted for rotation about a central axis (not shown) in fluid communication with a pump 54 driven by a suitable motor 56. The pump 54 and motor 56 are conveniently sealed against the tub bottom 58 by a boot 60 and annular clamping ring 62. A shield 64 may be provided for protecting the boot 60. Operation of the motor 56 is controlled by the timer 34 in any suitable manner.

The silverware basket 30 may be of any suitable type, e.g. plastic mesh as illustrated in FIG. 1. Typically, the basket 30 has internal dividers acting to hold silverware pieces generally vertical. Since silverware pieces are closely spaced in the basket 30, the lodging of food particles therebetween can readily occur.

The drying means 32 conveniently includes a resistive heating element 66 as is now customary. Enerization of the heating element 66 is likewise controlled by the timer 34 in any convenient manner.

The dishwasher 10 includes a vent system 68 for removing moisture laden air from the wash chamber 18 during the dry cycle in order to facilitate the evaporation of water from articles in the racks 20, 22, 24 thereby accelerating the drying process. The vent system 68 conveniently includes an air inlet 70 on the lower part of the door 14, an aperture 72 in the door panel 38 near the bottom of the wash chamber 18, an aperture 74 in the door panel 38 near the upper end of the wash chamber 18, a vent guard 76 for preventing liquid spray from the arm 52 entering the door compartment 42, a flow director or vent 78 in the door compartment 42 in fluid communication with the aperture 74 and an outlet opening 80 through the outer door panel 36.

During the drying cycle, the heating element 66 is energized thereby heating air in the wash chamber 18. Heated air flows convectionally upwardly through the wash chamber 18, through the vent 78 and the outlet opening 80 to exhaust into the room in which the dishwasher 10 is placed. Cool relatively dry replacement air passes through the inlet 70 and the aperture 72 into the wash chamber 18. The convectional current created by the heating element 66 continues until the wash chamber 18 cools off following termination of the dry cycle. It will accordingly be seen that there is provided means for circulating air through the wash chamber 18 and the door compartment 42 during the dry cycle.

The downward spraying system 28 of this invention is physically associated with the vent guard 76 and the vent 78 which have been modified to accommodate the downward spraying system 28. The flow director or vent 78 comprises an upwardly facing conduit 82 of suitable cross sectional shape having an inlet 84 disposed below an outlet 86 as dictated by convectional flow in the vent system 58. Adjacent the inlet 84 is a reentrant groove 88 in the vent 78 for receiving and substantially sealing a curled edge of the door panel 38 which provides the aperture 74. The vent 78 also provides an opening 90 having a grommet 92 therein for sealing against a flexible hose 94 leading from a fitting 96 on the pump 54 to a spray conduit 98. The spray conduit 98 includes an inlet 100 secured to the hose 94 by a suitable clamp 102. The conduit 98 includes an outlet 104 and sidewalls 106 divergent there toward. The sidewalls 106 accordingly define a path of water movement 108.

The vent guard 76 comprises a generally rectangular segment 110 fixed to the door panel 38 by suitable braces 112. The sidewalls 106 of the conduit 98 merge with the stationary segment 110 so that the conduit 98, the stationary segment 110 and the braces 112 may conveniently comprise a single piece of molded plastic. A door or one-way baffle 114 is mounted on the segment 110 by a pivot connection 116. The door 114 includes an extension 118 for abutting the segment 110 and establishing a limit of movement in the counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 2.

Water passing through the conduit 98 impinges on the door 114 thereby swinging the door 114 in a counterclockwise direction toward the position illustrated in FIG. 2. As water ceases to pass through the conduit 98, the door 114 moves by gravity in a clockwise direction to close the conduit outlet 104.

It will be apparent that the inclination of the baffle 114 in the position illustrated in FIG. 2 has a substantial bearing on the orientation of a spray path 120 emitting from the spray system 28. As the baffle 114 is inclined further from the vertical, the spray path 120 becomes broader while an axis 122 thereof becomes less vertical. The width of the spray path 120 at its juncture with articles in the silverware basket 30 preferably covers all or a substantial part of the basket 30 with the axis 122 being as nearly vertical as practicable. Accordingly, spray from the conduit 98 acts to dislodge food particles tending to be trapped between adjacent pieces of silverware in the basket 30.

It is apparent that the provision of the spray means 28 does not substantially affect operation of the vent system 68 since the inlet 84 is of sufficient size to provide an adequate flow area. It will be apparent that spray from the main spray arm 52 cannot enter the vent 78 since the inlet 84 thereof is adequately masked by the vent guard 76.

Referring to FIG. 3, there is illustrated a spray system 124 constituting another embodiment of this invention. As in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the dishwasher door 126 provides inner and outer door panels 128, 130 defining therebetween a door compartment 132 housing a timer 134 and a vent or flow director 136. The vent 136 is of the timer controlled type such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,092,122. For present purposes it will suffice to say that the vent 136 is provided with a closure 138 operatively connected to a control arm 140 of the timer 134. The timer 134 acts during the dry cycle to open the closure 138 for allowing air to circulate through the wash chamber.

As in the embodiment of FIG. 1, the inner door panel 128 provides an aperture therethrough receiving an inlet 142 of the vent 136. A vent guard 144 includes a stationary segment 146 secured to the door 126 by suitable braces 148. The stationary segment 146 provides an opening or passage 150 therethrough closed by a pivotally mounted door or baffle 152 which swings to the open position illustrated in FIG. 3 upon delivery of water through a spray conduit 154. The spray conduit 154 extends through a suitable sealed opening in the vent 136 and connects to a hose 156 (not shown) leading to the dishwasher pump (not shown).

As in the embodiment of FIGS. 1 and 2, the orientation of the open baffle 152 controls the direction and divergence of a spray path 158 directed toward the silverware basket. The open baffle 152 acts to deflect the generally horizontal spray from the conduit 154 into the generally vertical spray path 158.

A major distinction between the embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 3 is that the spray conduit 154 terminates short of the vent guard 144. It would seem that the embodiment of FIG. 3 would allow water entry into the door compartment 132 from the main spray arm (not shown) during concurrent operation of the main spray arm and the spray system 124 since the baffle 152 is open. In fact, this does not occur since the closure 138 is closed against the vent 136 when the dishwasher is operating in the wash/rinse cycle. Accordingly, even if water were to enter the vent 136 from the main spray arm, the vertical extent of the vent 136 and the closure 138 act effectively to prevent water entry into the door compartment 132.

The spray systems 28, 124 may be operated concurrently with the main spray arm during the entire wash/rinse cycle or may be operated intermittently, as by the timer controlling a valve in the pump fitting 96.

It will accordingly be apparent that the baffles 114, 152 act to deflect the horizontal or slightly inclined spray path of the conduits 98, 154 into the nearly vertical spray paths 120, 158 in order to dislodge food particles from between silverware pieces in the basket 30. By associating the spray systems 28, 124 with the vents 78, 136 respectively, no additional opening in the dishwasher door is required. From FIG. 1 it will be seen that there are few positions in a conventional dishwasher for mounting a spray conduit for simple downward spraying into the basket 30.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A dishwasher having a wash/rinse cycle and a dry cycle, comprising

means providing a wash chamber including a door having an inner apertured panel exposed to the wash chamber and an outer panel providing therebetween a door compartment;

means including a pump for spraying liquid into the wash chamber;

a silverware receiver in the wash chamber below the inner panel aperture;

means for circulating air through the wash chamber and door compartment during the dry cycle including the panel aperture, a vent in the door compartment having an opening in fluid communication with the panel aperture and a vent guard in the wash chamber, said vent guard comprising a stationary segment having a passage therethrough and means mounting said stationary segment to said door, thereby masking the panel aperture; and

means for spraying liquid downwardly on the silverware receiver during the wash/rinse cycle including a conduit residing at least partially in said vent and having an opening defining a spray path directed at the vent guard, the vent guard further including a one-way baffle mounted on said stationary segment for movement between positions opening and closing the passage for passing liquid spray from the opening into the wash chamber toward the silverware receiver and preventing liquid spray from passing from the wash chamber past the vent guard, and means for delivering pressurized liquid from the pump to the conduit.

2. The dishwasher of claim 1 wherein the conduit merges with the stationary segment.

3. The dishwasher of claim 1 wherein the conduit opening is spaced from the vent guard.

4. The dishwasher of claim 1 further comprising means mounting the baffle for swinging movement between a generally vertical position and an inclined position, the conduit opening being directed at the baffle for swinging the baffle to an inclined position.

5. A dishwasher having a wash/rinse cycle and a dry cycle, comprising

means providing a wash chamber including a door having an inner apertured panel exposed to the wash chamber and an outer panel providing therebetween a door compartment;

means including a pump for spraying liquid into the wash chamber;

a silverware receiver in the wash chamber below the inner panel aperture; and

means for spraying liquid downwardly on the silverware receiver during the wash/rinse cycle including a conduit having an opening defining a generally horizontal path of water movement through the inner panel aperture, a baffle disposed across the path of water movement, means mounting the baffle for swinging movement from a generally vertical position toward an inclined position under impact of water emitting from the opening for diverting the path of water movement generally vertically toward the silverware receiver, and means for delivering water from the pump to the conduit.

6. The dishwasher of claim 5 wherein the last mentioned spray means comprises a stop for preventing swinging movement of the baffle past the inclined position.