EP3137671B1

EP3137671B1 - Laundry treatment appliance having a mechanically strengthened front door opening mechanism

Info

Publication number: EP3137671B1
Application number: EP14720155.2A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Salih YILDIRIM
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2014-04-30
Filing date: 2014-04-30
Publication date: 2019-03-06
Anticipated expiration: 2034-04-30
Also published as: TR201722573T3; EP3137671A1; WO2015165521A1

Description

The present invention relates to a laundry washing and/or drying appliance comprising a front door having a mechanically strengthened front door opening mechanism.
The laundry treatment appliances such as for instance washing machines, drying machines and combo washing/drying machines comprise a rotary drum in which cloth items are placeable and accessible via a front door, a water tub in which the rotary drum is rotatable and a motor providing the rotary drum to be driven by means of a pulley mechanism, the latter being disposed outside the tub. To this end, laundry treatment appliances have front doors typically allowing access into the rotary drum for loading and unloading the laundry to be processed.
A front door opening mechanism typically functions in the manner that a handle associated with a handle lever is rotatable to drive a hook lever, the latter being actuable to lock or unlock the front door. The handle lever and the hook lever therefore cooperate to initiate the proper positioning of the mechanical components such that an engagement end of the hook lever is displaced a certain distance to be released from a locking slot.
A problem associated with the above-described mechanical design lies in that while a given user reaches for a handle cover to unlock the front door of the laundry treatment appliance by way of retracting the handle lever relative to the handle cover, he/she may deform and damage the handle cover such that the latter is forced in the direction of the operating opening of the handle lever. In other words, one may push the handle cover towards the handle lever in spite of the fact that while the handle cover is a fixedly attached element and the component that is movable is the handle lever. This situation may lead to breaking of the handle cover or may in the least narrow the operating opening of the handle lever to the extent that the rotation thereof is obstructed.
The present invention therefore proposes an arrangement according to which the handle cover is supported and strengthened without narrowing the operating opening of the handle lever, because a mechanical reinforcement by which the handle cover is replaced with a corresponding more robust component having a larger thickness so as to withstand any external forces applied by the user will also occupy some space in the operating opening of the handle lever and will therefore obstruct its operation.
A prior art publication in the technical field of the present invention may be referred to as EP0349494 among others, the document disclosing a door lock for front-loading washing machines, comprising a support body associated with the structure of the machine and a lever articulated to the body and having an end opposite the articulated end which is connected to a flexible operating cable. A slide is articulated to the lever and has a lateral edge surface situated adjacent an aperture in the body, which is provided for the passage of a catch member connected to the door of the machine. The lateral edge surface of the slide also has a cut-out portion for enabling the catch member to be released, and consequently the door to be opened, when the slide slides.
FR 2 756 575 A1 shows a laundry treatment appliance according to the preamble of claim 1.
The present invention provides an arrangement in relation to laundry treatment appliances having a front door opening mechanism, the mechanism involving a handle cover whose structure is reinforced without affecting the dimensions of the operating opening of the handle lever as defined by the characterizing features in Claim 1.
Primary object of the present invention is hence to provide a laundry treatment appliance having a reinforced handle cover that is yet non-space-filling and non-multilevel form.
The present invention proposes a laundry treatment appliance having a lock mechanism for locking and unlocking the front door thereof. A handle having a handle cover operates a hook lever in mechanical engagement whereby a locking member is rotated. The handle transfers rotational movement to the hook lever by a contact surface such that they remain in mechanical contact during locking and unlocking of the front door.
A support plate is secured to the handle cover for rendering the same mechanically more robust. The support plate is a sheet element mounted to the internal surface of the handle cover facing the handle. The connection between the two can be effected by a tight fit or by way of heat treatment. In the case of heat treatment, a certain number of bosses on the inner surface of the handle cover are heated to be deformable and reshapable to establish a shape-based connection with the support plate so as to be able to retain it in a fixedly attached manner.
In the case of a tight-fit, the two edges of the support plate are press-fitted into the claws of the handle cover upon which the support plate is stretched out to form a flat shape and extends in parallel adjacent relationship with the handle cover.
Accompanying drawings are given solely for the purpose of exemplifying a laundry treatment appliance, whose advantages over prior art were outlined above and will be explained in brief hereinafter.
The drawings are not meant to delimit the scope of protection as identified in the claims nor should they be referred to alone in an effort to interpret the scope identified in said claims without recourse to the technical disclosure in the description of the present invention.

Fig. 1 demonstrates a general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance with a front door.
Fig. 2 demonstrates a general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance front door.
Fig. 3 demonstrates a general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance front door according to the present invention in an unassembled manner.
Fig. 4 demonstrates a general perspective view of a laundry treatment appliance front door according to the present invention
Fig. 5 demonstrates a front view of a laundry treatment appliance front door according to the present invention
Fig. 6 demonstrates a cross-sectional side view of the lock mechanism in a first position along lines A-A as indicated in Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
Fig. 7 demonstrates a cross-sectional side view of the lock mechanism in a second position along lines A-A as indicated in Fig. 5 according to the present invention.
Fig. 8a demonstrates an inner front view of a portion of the handle cover showing the support plate before being assembled according to the present invention. Fig. 8b demonstrates a cross-sectional side view of the handle cover along lines B-B as indicated in Fig. 8a and Fig. 8c demonstrates an enlarged view of detail A of Fig. 8b.
Fig. 9a demonstrates an inner front view of a portion of the handle cover showing the support plate after being assembled according to the present invention. Fig. 9b demonstrates a cross-sectional side view of the handle cover along lines C-C as indicated in Fig. 9a and Fig. 9c demonstrates an enlarged view of detail A of Fig. 9b.
Fig. 10a demonstrates a front view of the handle cover and Fig. 10b demonstrates a cross-sectional side view of the handle cover along lines D-D as indicated in Fig. 10a, the support plate being assembled with the handle cover according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The following numerals are used in the detailed description of the invention:

1. Laundry treatment appliance
2. Access opening
3. Front door
4. Main body
5. Door hinge
6. Lock mechanism
7. Handle
8. Handle cover
9. Handle pivot pin
10. Hook lever
11. Hook pivot pin
12. Contact surface
13. Engagement end
14. Skirt portion
15. Support plate
16. Boss
17. Treatment means
18. Claw

The present invention relates to a laundry treatment appliance (1) comprising a water tub, a rotary drum, in which the laundry is to be placed and an electric motor rotating the drum. A front door (3) typically allows access into the drum for loading or unloading laundry through an access opening (2). The front door (3) of the laundry treatment appliance (1) is conventionally openable around a door hinge (5) and a lock mechanism (6) releasably secures an engagement end (13) part to a locking slot.
According to the present invention, a handle (7) is provided such that rotation thereof around a handle pivot pin (9) drives a hook lever (10), the latter being rotatable around a hook pivot pin (11) and actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3). The handle (7) and the hook lever (10) therefore cooperate to effect locking and unlocking of the front door (3).
The handle (7) maintains a contact surface (12) with the hook lever (10) such that the two parts remain in mechanical engagement with each other during locking and unlocking of the front door (3). Rotational movement imparted to the handle (7) by the user is therefore transferred to the hook lever (10).
While the handle (7) displaces relative to a handle cover (8), the latter being fixedly attached to a main body (4) of the front door (3) in the manner to be covering the handle (7) so that the handle (7) as well as the lock mechanism (6) is not directly seen by the users, a more attractive appearance is obtained whereby the lock mechanism (6) is concealed also with the help of a skirt portion (14) with a certain length (L₁). To this end, while a given user tries to retract the handle (7) relative to the handle cover (8) by inserting his/her fingers through a handling opening (L₃), he/she may inadvertently deform and damage the handle cover (8) such that the latter may be forced in the direction of the operating opening (L₂) of the handle (7).
This might particularly occur if one persistently applies pressure to the handle cover (8) under the mistaken impression that the movable component is the handle cover (8) instead of the handle (7), although the handle cover (8) is fixedly attached to the main body (4) of the front door (3), and the handle (7) itself is rotatable. This situation may lead to breaking of the handle cover (8) or may in the least narrow the operating opening (L₂) of the handle (7) to the extent that the rotation thereof is obstructed. If the amount of displacement of the handle (7) or the angle swept by the same is decreased by the deformation of the handle cover (8), the amount of rotation of the hook lever (10) may be insufficient to ensure engagement and disengagement of the locking member, i.e. the engagement end (13) in a proper manner.
To this end, the present invention provides that a support plate (15) as a non-space-filling element in the form of a sheet-like planar element is mounted to the inner surface of said handle cover (8) facing the handle (7) in the manner to reinforce and support the same to withstand bending forces applied by the users. To fulfill this function, the support plate (15) must be an element requiring no mechanical elements for effecting connection with the handle cover (8) as the very limited space in between the handle cover (8) and the handle (7) is used as the operating opening (L₂) by the handle (7) during the completion of its predetermined amount of rotation. In this regard, no additional connection means or fastening members are envisaged and the support plate (15) is assembled with the handle cover (8) so as to be facing the handle (7) either by way of heat treatment as demonstrated in the Figures 8 and 9 or by a tight-fit by means of claws (18) as demonstrated in Fig. 10.
One manner by which a reliable connection is established between the handle cover (8) and the support plate (15) according to the embodiment of Fig. 10 can be by a connection such as a friction-fit or tight-fit between the claws (18) of the handle cover (8) and the two edges of the support plate (15). In this case, the two edges of the support plate (15) are press-fitted into the claws (18) such that the support plate (15) and the handle cover (8) extend in parallel adjacent relationship.
According to the embodiment of Figures 8 and 9, the support plate (15) is assembled with the handle cover (8) by way of heat treatment such that a plurality of bosses (16) are heated to be deformable and reshapable by a treatment means (17) to establish a shape-based connection between the handle cover (8) and the support plate (15) by means of said reshaped bosses (16). This method also involves no additional mechanical fastening members occupying space so as to interfere with the operating opening (L ₂) of the handle (7) and as such affords an effective non-space-filling solution to the above-discussed problems.
In a nutshell, the present invention proposes a laundry treatment appliance (1) comprising a rotary drum in which the laundry is placeable, an electric motor rotating the rotary drum and a front door (3) allowing access into the rotary drum for loading or unloading laundry through an access opening (2), the front door (3) being openable around a door hinge (5) in the manner that a lock mechanism (6) releasably secures an engagement end (13) such that the front door (3) is lockable and unlockable, the lock mechanism (6) comprising a handle (7) covered by a handle cover (8) and in mechanical communication with a hook lever (10) that is drivable by the handle (7), whereby the engagement end (13) is actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3).
A support plate (15) is provided in the form of a sheet-like planar element to be mounted to a surface of the handle cover (8) facing the handle (7) whereby the handle cover (8) is reinforced and supported against external forces.
In accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, the support plate (15) is assembled with the handle cover (8) by way of heat treatment such that a plurality of bosses (16) of the handle cover (8) are heated to be deformable and reshapable to establish a shape-based connection between the handle cover (8) and the support plate (15) by means of the reshaped bosses (16).
In accordance with a further embodiment of the present invention, the support plate (15) is assembled with the handle cover (8) by a tight-fit between claws (18) of the handle cover (8) and two edges of the support plate (15).
In accordance with a still further embodiment of the present invention, the tight-fit is established such that the two edges of the support plate (15) are press-fitted into the claws (18) upon which the support plate (15) and the handle cover (8) extend in parallel adjacent relationship.
In accordance with a yet still further embodiment of the present invention, the handle (7) is rotatable around a first axis of rotation in mechanical communication with the hook lever (10) that is drivable by the handle (7), the hook lever (10) being rotatable around a separate second axis of rotation whereby the engagement end (13) is actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3).
In accordance with a yet still further embodiment of the present invention, the handle (7) is rotatable around a handle pivot pin (9) and the hook lever (10) is rotatable around a hook pivot pin (11).
In accordance with a yet still further embodiment of the present invention, the handle (7) and the hook lever (10) maintain a contact surface (12) with each other such that they remain in mechanical engagement during locking and unlocking of the front door (3).
Therefore, while a given user reaches for the handle cover (8) to unlock the front door (3) of the laundry treatment appliance (1) by way of retracting the handle (7) relative to the handle cover (8), a reinforced handle cover (8) having a non-space-filling and non-multilevel form withstands forces applied by the user such that rotation of the handle (7) is not obstructed by the deformed structure or any additional fastening members of the handle cover (8).

Claims

A laundry treatment appliance (1) comprising a rotary drum in which the laundry is placeable, an electric motor rotating the rotary drum and a front door (3) allowing access into the rotary drum for loading or unloading laundry through an access opening (2), the front door (3) being openable around a door hinge (5) in the manner that a lock mechanism (6) releasably secures an engagement end (13) such that the front door (3) is lockable and unlockable, the lock mechanism (6) comprising a handle (7) covered by a handle cover (8) and in mechanical communication with a hook lever (10) that is drivable by the handle (7), whereby the engagement end (13) is actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3) characterized in that;
- a support plate (15) is provided in the form of a sheet-like planar element to be mounted to a surface of the handle cover (8) facing the handle (7) whereby the handle cover (8) is reinforced and supported against external forces.
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 1, characterized in that the support plate (15) is assembled with the handle cover (8) by way of heat treatment such that a plurality of bosses (16) of the handle cover (8) are heated to be deformable and reshapable to establish a shape-based connection between the handle cover (8) and the support plate (15) by means of the reshaped bosses (16).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 1, characterized in that the support plate (15) is assembled with the handle cover (8) by a tight-fit between claws (18) of the handle cover (8) and two edges of the support plate (15).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 3, characterized in that the tight-fit is established such that the two edges of the support plate (15) are press-fitted into the claws (18) upon which the support plate (15) and the handle cover (8) extend in parallel adjacent relationship.
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 2, 3 or 4 characterized in that the handle (7) is rotatable around a first axis of rotation in mechanical communication with the hook lever (10) that is drivable by the handle (7), the hook lever (10) being rotatable around a separate second axis of rotation whereby the engagement end (13) is actuable to lock or unlock the front door (3).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 5, characterized in that the handle (7) is rotatable around a handle pivot pin (9) and the hook lever (10) is rotatable around a hook pivot pin (11).
A laundry treatment appliance (1) as in Claim 5 or 6, characterized in that the handle (7) and the hook lever (10) maintain a contact surface (12) with each other such that they remain in mechanical engagement during locking and unlocking of the front door (3).