US3344626A

US3344626A - Washing apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3344626A
Application number: US482486A
Authority: US
Inventors: Spangler William Gilbert
Original assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Current assignee: Colgate Palmolive Co
Priority date: 1965-08-25
Filing date: 1965-08-25
Publication date: 1967-10-03
Anticipated expiration: 1984-10-03

Description

Ct- 3, 1967 w. G. SPANGLER 3,344,626

WASHING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 25, 1965 I INV ENTOR WILL/AM GILBERT SPANGLER 'United States Patent O 3,344,626 WASHING APPARATUS William Gilbert Spangler, Chatham, NJ., assignor to Colgate-Palmolive Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 25, 1965, Ser. No. 482,486 12 Claims. (Cl. 68-122) ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A manual washing machine comprises a support such as a post having on its lower end a releasable mounting arrangement such as a Suction cup, for uprght mounting in a container of water into which the clothes to be washed are placed, and a manually reciprocable agitator is vertically slidable mounted on the post, the agitator having a plurality of angularly related arms carrying downwardly open cups that work on the clothes being washed.

This invention relates to manual washing apparatus and particularly to a novel assembly of support and installed in any container by unskilled labor and requir- -ing virtually no skill or effort for operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a novel washing apparatus comprising a support such as an upright posthaving suitable means such as a Suction cup or a magnet or a combination of both for attachment to the bottom of a container, and an agitator reciprocably mounted on the post provided with downwardly open cups for washing action on the clothes or other articles being washed in the container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a novel washing apparatus wherein a vertical post slidably supporting a reciprocable agitator is flexibly mounted at its lower end for compensative tilting to accommodate for uneven clothes levels.

Further objectsV of the invention Will appear as the description proceeds in connection with the appended claims and the anneXed drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation partly broken away and in section showing details of apparatus according to a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a section on line 2--2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a bottom plan view of the agitator looking substantially along line 3 3 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 4 is an enlarged fragmentary section showing a preferred mode of mounting the washing action cups on the agitator spider.

The washing apparatus of the invention consists ef- 'fectively of two parts, a support 11 adapted for attachment to the bottom of a tub, pail, gasoline drum, conp l CC crete irrigation reservoir or other casual container Which also receives the clothes or other articles to be washed and the wash water, and an agitator 12 adapted to be reciprocably mounted on the support.

The support 11 preferably comprises a rubber or like flexible Suction cup 13 having a downwardly open cavity surrounded by a Smooth rim 14 that is adapted to engage the bottom surface 15 of the tub or like container 16. An upright post 17 is fixed upon the closed upper end of the Suction cup 13 and it serves in the assembly as a vertical slide guide for agitator 12.

Post 17 may be made of wood, metal or plastic and preferably it is an elongated Smooth'surfaced cylinder of hard rubber, plastic or some water and rust resistant material.

The support attaches itself to the container bottom by merely pushnig down on post 17 So that the Suction cup 13 grips the bottom. Where the container bottom surface 15 is metal and may not be Smooth enough for a good suction grip, I have found it advantageous to incorporate magnetic means with the cup 13 and this may take the form of distributed magnetized particles in the rubber itself at least around the area of the rim as shown at 18. Alternatively small permanent magnets may be imbedded in the rubber by molding around rim 14. This is quite effective as the usual container will probably be steel, and both holding actions are cumulative.

The agitator 12 comprises a sleeve section 19 having a relatively loose sliding fit upon post 17, an upper handle Section at 21, and a Spider section 22 at the lower end mounting a plurality of washing action cups 23.

Spider 22 comprises a central hollow hub 24 internally threaded at 25 to receive the threaded lower end of a hard rubber, metal or like cylindrical sleeve 19 and a plurality of radial arms 26 terminating at their outer ends in -cup mount bosses 27. As shown in FIGURE 4 each cup 23 has an upper socket 28 in which is fixed a pin 29 that projects into boss 27 where it is removably Secured on by set screw 31. The cups 23 are therefore removable for repair or replacement, and are vertically adjustable relative to the Spider. A suitable retainer nut 32 may be provided on the sleeve 19 below the Spider.

By removably threadedly mounting the spider hub on the sleeve an arrangernent is provided that facilitates packing and Shipping, as the separated sleeve 19 can be placed in a relatively flat package -containing the Spider and the support 11. For operation, the Spider is Secured upon the lower end of the sleeve 19 as shown in FIG- URE 1.

The Sliding fit between the sleeve 19 and post 17 can be relatively loose, with the attendant advantages that this allows free escape of air from the Spa-ce 33 during reciprocation of the agitator to make operation effortless, and it also permits water which is an excellent lubricating agent for hard rubber to enter between the sliding snrfaces and further promote eaSe of operation.

Suction cup 13 of the support has an annular readily flexib'le zone indicated at 3-4 in FIGURE 1. This permits slight -automatic tilting of the post 17 relative to the vertical when the opposed cups 23 of the Spider may encounter different clothes or like article levels in the container. This compensative tilting of the post 17 prevents binding and wear on the slide guide Surfaces, and it advantageously insures that .all of the cups 23 similarly act on the clothes in the container.

In normal use of the apparatus, support 11 is mounted by means of cup 13 upon the bottom of any suitable tor available container, either by the suction action, magnetic holding or a combination of both, with post 17 substantially vertical.

The -clothes to be washed are deposited within the container distributed -around support 11, and the water and soap Or detergent are added. Agitator 12 is now slipped over post 17 and the apparatus is ready for washing.

Agitator 12 is reciprocated up and down at any desired rhythm by an operator grasping handle 21. Preferably the agitator is lifted high enough to clear the water on each upstroke, since I find that this gives an Optimum washing action wherein trapped air and water are forced through the clothes under the cups On the downstroke, and the suction action of cups 23 lifts and rearrangcs the clothes in Optimum fashion during the next upstroke, so that an excellent working is obtained.

During reciprocation of agitator 12, it may be rotated angularly about the axis of post 17 to any new position so that increased uniform thorough washing action is possible. The force with Which cups 23 are urged against the clothes to be Washed is not particularly critical although up to a certain point increased effort promotes quicker cleaning action.

The flexible cup zone 34 at the lower end of the support provides for substantially universal compensative tilting of the post 17 in all directions during the washin-g action so that no particular care is needed in leveling the clothes within the container. While I have disclosed three equiangularly disposed arms 26 in the spider mounting three rubber type suction cups 23 at equal distances radially of the agitator, it Will be understood that any desired number of arms and cups may be provided, and that cups 23 may be relatively stifi and made of metal or rigid plastic instead of flexible rubber. If desired the entire spider including the hub, arms and cups may be an integrally molded unit of plastic or hard rubber. Arms 26 may be made adjustable in length but that is not essential because the apparatus may be used in any diameter container, and may even be moved around to different locations in a very large container.

The bottoms of cups 23 preferably lie in a plane at right angles to the direction of agitator movement, and the length of downstroke is preferably suflicient to enable the cups to almost touch bottom 15 if necessary.

Difficulty may be encountered in releasing the support from the tub bottom when washing is completed. FIG- URE 1 shows the suction cup rim as having a localized slit area 35 of small peripheral extent externally formed with a projection 36 which may be grasped and pulled out to break the vacuum within cup 13 to enable support 11 to be readily pulled out of the tub.

The released apparatus and the clothes may be removed to a second container of clear -water where the apparatus may be newly installed for rinsing the clothes, using the same action as washing. The apparatus may then be transferred back to the original container and wash water for Washing another batch of clothes.

During the washing and rinsing operations the hands of the operator need not enter the water, this being quite advantageous where the skin may be sensitive to some detergents.

In some arrangements I may secure a bar of solid detergent 37 to the side of sleeve 19 as by a strap 38 during washing as shown in 4FIGURE 1, thus providing automatic detergent introduction.

It has been found that apparatus of the foregoing character washes clothes, even with cold water, with remarkable speed and thoroughness and with minimum damage to fabrics. The washing action may be completed with only a few minutes of vigorous reciprocation of the agitator.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The present embodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects as illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and all changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed and desired to be Secured by Letters Patent is:

1. A manual washing machine comprising a support member having releasable attachment means on its lower end for firmly but removably mounting it on the bottom of a container adapted to receive water and clothing and like articles to be washed, an agitator member carrying a plurality of downwardly open cups on its lower end and having an Operating handle on its upper end, and cooperating slide guide means on said support and agitator members mounting said agitator member for substantially vertical reciprocation on said support member whereby repeated down and up movement of said agitator member causes operative engagement and disengagement respectively of said cups with said articles being washed.

2. The manual washing machine defined in claim 1 wherein the slide guide portion of said support member is flexibly connected to said mounting means at the lower end of said support member to permit compensative tilting of said members together during the washing operation to obtain uniform working even when there is an uneven level of articles in the container.

3. A manual washing machine comprising a support post having a suction c-up on its lower end for operative attachment to the bottom of a container adapted to receive water and the clothes or like articles to be washed, and an agitator comprising a sleeve vertically slidably mounted on said post, a washing cup mounting member extendng laterally from the lower end of said sleeve, a plurality of angularly distributed downwardly open washing cups mounted on said member radially outwardly of said sleeve adapted to work the articles being washed upon downward movement of said member and a manual Operating handle on the upper end of said sleeve.

4. The washing machine definedv in claim 3, wherein said suction cup has a flexible zone near its attachment to said post whereby engagement of said cups with an uneven level of articles in the container during the downstroke will result in compensative tilting Of the post and the agitator to obtain uniform application of the washing cups to said articles.

5. The manual washing machine defined in claim 3, wherein said washing cups are flexible.

6. The manual washing machine defined in claim 3, wherein said washing cups are rigid.

7. The manual washing machine defined in claim 3, wherein said post is a cylinder of hard plastic material.

8. A manual washing machine comprising a support post having a suction cup on its lower end for operative attachment to the bottom of a container adapted to receive water and the clothes or like articles to be washed, and an agitator comprising a sleeve vertically slidably mounted on said post, a Spider fixed on the lower end of said sleeve, a plurality of angularly distributed downwardly open cups on said spider disposed laterally outwardly of the sleeve and adapted to engage the articles being washed upon downward movement of said Spider, and a manual Operating handle on the upper end of said sleeve.

9. The washing machine defined in claim 8, wherein magnetic holding means is provided in said suction cup adjacent its lower end.

10. The washing machine defined in claim 48, wherein the suction cup has substantially universal joint connection to said post.

5 6 11. A manual Washing machine comprising a support 12. The Washing machine defined in claim 11, Wherein post having a suction cup on its lower end for operative the detached sleeve and spider of the agitator and said attachment to the bottom of a container adapted to repest are sgleh dimensions as to be Capable of relatively ceive water and the clothes or like articles to be washed, flflt Packagln and an agitator comprising a sleeve vertically slidably 5 References Cited mounted on said post, a Spider having a hub detachably UNITED STATES PATENTS threadedly connected to the lower end of said sleeve, a

plurality of angularly distributed arms on said spider, dde Water downwardly open cups mounted on said spider arms t 1 ers.

ada t d t ork th t. 1 b h d u d 10 2,073,68l 3/1937 Carpentlen 68-215 P e W e af es emg Was e Pon Own 2,97s,s93 4/1961 Harris \6s 213 Ward movement of said spider and a manual Operating handle on the upper end Of said sleeve. IRVING BUNEVICH, Primary Examner.

Claims

1. A MANUAL WASHING MACHINE COMPRISING A SUPPORT MEMBER HAVING RELEASABLE ATTACHMENT MEANS ON ITS LOWER END FOR FIRMLY BUT REMOVABLY MOUNTED IT ON THE BOTTOM OF A CONTAINER ADAPTED TO RECEIVE WATER AND CLOTHING AND LIKE ARTICLES TO BE WASHED, AN AGITATOR MEMBER CARRYING A PLURALITY OF DOWNWARDLY OPEN CUPS ON ITS LOWER END AND HAVING AN OPERATING HANDLE ON ITS UPPER END, AND COOPERATING SLIDE GUIDE MEANS ON SAID SUPPORT AND AGITATOR MEMBERS MOUNTING SAID AGITATOR MEMBER FOR SUBSTANTIALLY VERTICAL RECIPROCATION ON SAID SUPPORT MEMBER WHEREBY REPEATED DOWN AND UP MOVEMENT OF SAID AGITATOR MEMBER CAUSES OPERATIVE ENGAGEMENT AND DISENGAGEMENT RESPECTIVELY OF SAID CUPS WITH SAID ARTICLES BEING WASHED.