US3347068A - Wringer with rotary guard means - Google Patents

Description

Oct 1967 R. A. BRENNER ETAL 3,347,968

WRINGER WITH ROTARY GUARD MEANS Filed Dec. 15, 1964 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VEN TOR. /05[r/4 ZEZ L /V/VL P Marae h/ Cars Bier m 'vw MW ATTORNEYS l3 1967 R. A. BRENNER ETAL 3,34

WRINGER WITH ROTARY GUARD MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 15, 1964 INVENTOR. 9055974 525710144? Marae W Car/45597 W ATTORNEYS United States Patent Ofifice 3,347,068 Patented Oct. 17, 1967 3,347,068 WRINGER WITH ROTARY GUARD MEANS Robert A. Brenner, St. Joseph, and Victor W. Cuthbert,

Sodus, Mich, assignors to Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Dec. 15, 1964, Ser. No. 418,499 7 Claims. (Cl. 68-266) This invention relates to improvements in a wringer with rotary guard means, and more particularly to a wringer having wringer rolls under pressure and provided with rotary means to give the operator a gentle and painless warning that there is danger of the operators fingers becoming engaged between the pressure rolls, the invention being highly desirable for use on wringers associated with household clothes washing machines, although the invention will have other uses and purposes as will be apparent to one skilled in the art.

As is known to those skilled in the art, in the past many and various mechanisms have been provided for quickly releasing the pressure between wringer rolls in the event a foreign object such as fingers or a hand entered between the rolls. These mechanisms operated in response to pressing, pushing, or pulling a handle or bar by the operator in some cases; in other cases, by way of an instinctive movement on the part of the operator in response to sudden pain; and in still other instances to excess roll separation caused by the entry of a finger or hand between the rolls. It is at once apparent that while such devices are highly desirable on a wringer, as a safety medium they are only effective after some injury has occurred to the operator, a child, or some other party unfortunately having a finger or hand caught between the rolls.

With the foregoing in mind, it is an important object of the instant invention to provide means on a wringer assembly for giving the operator gentle and painless warning that her fingers are too closely approaching the nip between the pressure rolls.

Also a feature of this invention is the provision of means associated with the wringer assembly to warn the operator by way of rolling contact, uninjurious pressure, or both, that her hand is dangerously close to the pressure rolls.

A further object of this invention is to provide in a wringer assembly additional means or an added element which performs the dual function of warning the operator that her hand is too near the nip of the pressure rolls and also to aid in feeding clothing or other material to the pressure rolls.

It is also a desideratum of this invention to provide in a wringer assembly including a pair of pressure rolls an added roller which forms an additional nip with the drainboard means or one of the wringer rolls to assist in feeding clothing or other material to the nip of the pressure rolls.

Still a further object of this invention resides in the provision of a wringer assembly having a pair of pressure rolls and an additional roll which establishes a nip with a part of the assembly to assist in feeding clothes or other material to the nip with the pressure rolls, the arrangement being such that reversal of the rolls automatically causes reversal of position of the added roll.

While some of the more salient features, characteristics and advantages of the instant invention have been above pointed out, others will become apparent from the following disclosures, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary front view, in modest perspective, of a wringer assembly embodying principles of the instant invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view of the structure of FIGURE 1 with the upper shroud removed;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line III-III of FIGURE 1, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary View similar in character to FIGURE 1 showing a modified form of the instant invention;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view taken substantially as indicated by the line VV of FIGURE 4, with the shroud removed from the wringer assembly; and

FIGURE 6 is a view similar in character to FIGURE 3, but showing a still different form of the invention.

As shown on the drawings:

Since the general construction of a conventional washing machine wringer is Well known to those skilled in the art, parts of the illustrations are in diagrammatic form rather than detailed.

In the illustrated embodiment of the instant invention, as seen in FIGURES 1, 2 and 3, a conventional wringer is shown comprising a frame 1 in the general, configuration of a shroud and shaped to provide drainboards 2 and 3 on opposite sides of superposed pressurized wringer rolls 4 and 5 mounted on shafts 6 and 7 respectively. The upper part of the wringer may be enclosed with any suitable form of shrouding as indicated at 8 in FIGURE 1. The upper portion of the wringer assembly is provided with the usual pressure release bar 9, a pull or push on which by the operator will release the pressure between the rolls 4 and 5 in a well known manner.

Pivoted, one to each end of the upper roll shaft 6, is a pair of links 10 and 11, the pivotal connection with the shaft being at one end of each link. The other ends of the links receive the ends of a shaft 12 which carries a feeder and guard roll 13.

The wringer rolls 4 and 5 and the feeder roll 13 are composed of friction material such as rubber or the like. Between the upper wringer roll 4 and feeder roll 13 at each end of the rolls, a friction gear 16 mounted on a stud shaft 17 is disposed, the stub shaft being rotatively m0unted in an intermediate portion of the respective link 10 or 11. Each link and its connections with the respective shafts 6 and 12 and the stub shaft 17 is preferably covered with a small shroud 18 to protect the operator. The links, feeder roll, shroud and friction gears comprise the feeder roll assembly.

The wringer roll 4 or the roll 5 as the case may be is driven in a well known manner by a wringer head containing forward and reverse gears. The other wringer roll is driven by virtue of contact with the first roll. The feeder roll 13 is positively driven from the wringer roll 4 by way of the friction gears 16.

The feeder roll assembly may be likened to a gear train and is biased in the direction of rotation of the driving wringer roll 4 due to friction within the bearings of the feeder roll assembly. In FIGURE 3 wringer roll 4 is shown rotating in a clockwise direction and the feeder roll assembly is shown in its solid line position on the right side of the wringer rolls and being driven downwardly. A stop member 14 is mounted on drainboard 3 and engages shroud 18 to stop the downwardly biased movement of the feeder roll assembly and to provide the desired nip size illustrated at 19. The downward force exerted by the feeder roll assembly is regulated by control of bearing friction within the feeder roll assembly. The greater the friction of the bearings, the greater will be the downward force of the feeder roll assembly. It is desibarle as hereinafter explained that the force be insufficient to injure the fingers of the user. However, with the embodiment of FIGURE 3 the force must be greater than the weight of thefeeder roll assembly so that upon reversing the direction of rotation of wringer roll 4 the feeder roll assembly will be carried over or walk to the opposite side of the wringer rolls.

The operation of the assembly is simple and effective. As diagrammatically illustrated in FIGURE 3, the operator feeds clothing 20 or the like up the drainboard 3 and is aided in so feeding the clothes by the rotation of the feeder roll 13. Should the operators finger 21 enter the nip 19 between the feeder roll andthe drainboard, the operator is at once conscious of the rotary movement of the feeder roll against her finger and also of a slight pressure on the finger, squeezing it between the feeder roll 13 and the drainboard, warning the operator that her finger is dangerously close to the nip between the wringer rolls 4 and 5 and permitting the oeprator to quickly withdraw her finger. Upon the entry of clothing or the finger of an operator beneath the feeder roll 13, the feeder roll is elevated from the full line position of FIGURE 3 to the dotted line position, above the drainboard 3 and the operators finger is not injured but the effecvtive warning is given.

If the wringer rolls 4 and 5 are reversed in direction, the links and 11, the friction gear 16-16, and the feeder roll 13 will, in effect, walk around the upper wringer roll 4 and assume the dotted line position on the left-hand side of FIGURE 3 over the drainboard 2, as previously explained. Anip 22 is thereby established between the feeder roll 13 and the drainboard 2, a stop again regulating the size of the nip.

The eperators fingers or hand are effectively prevented from entering between the upper wringer roll 4 and the feeder roll 13 by means of a guard 23 which is preferably in the form of a transparent plastic strip fixedly mounted between the two small shrouds 1818.

In FIGURES 4 and 5, we have illustrated a different form of the instant invention. In this case, the wringer frame, drainboard and pressure rolls are the same as previously described.

In this instance, however, a link 24 is connected to each end of the upper wringer roll shaft 6 by means of an elongated slot 25 in an end of the link. The shaft is received in the slot, and a spring 26 secured to the link 24 at one end, with the other end bearing against the shaft 6, is disposed in the slot and tends to urge one end of the slot against the shaft. .In the other end of the links the ends of a shaft27 carrying a feeder roll 28 are rotatively mounted. The springs 26 thereupon urge the feeder. roll 28 against the upper wringer roll 4 to establish a nip therebetween. The spring pressure, while sufiicient to cause rotation of the feeder roll 28 and to cause clothing indicated at 29 to be fed between the feeder roll and upper wringer roll to the nip between the two wringer rolls 4 and 5,-is not sufficient to cause injury to. the finger 30 of the operator should it enter between the feeder roll and upper wringer roll. In that event, the upper wringer roll along with the links 24 will move from the full line position on the righthand side of FIGURE 5 to the dotted line position, against the force of the springs. Here, again, the operator is effectively warned that her finger is dangerously close to the nip between the wringer rolls by rolling contact and squeezing pressure, enabling the operator to Withdraw her finger before it is injured.

Should the wringer rolls be reversed, the links 24 and feeder roll 28 will assume the dotted line position on the left-hand side of FIGURES. The pressure release bar 9, if positioned where shown must extend outwardly sufi'i ciently far to permit such changeover movement of the feeder roll. Any suitable stop mechanism, such as a pair of studs 31 projecting from the shroud or frame into position to contact the links 24 may be utilized to prevent the feeder roll from ever contacting the lower wringer roll 5.

Should it be desired for any reason to have a feeder roll on each side of the wringer rolls 4 and 5 over the respective drainboards 2 and 3, this may be done as shown 4 in FIGURE 6, wherein the structure above described in connection with FIGURES 1, 2 and 3 is shown in the right-hand side of the figure, and an identical arrangement as indicated by the numerals 11a, 12a, 13a, 18a and 23a, is provided on the left-hand side of the figure. Stop pins 32 and 33 projecting from the shroud or frame may be mounted in position to contact the respective links and prevent the feeder roll on one side from moving over to the opposite side when the wringer rolls are reversed.

From the foregoing, it is apparent that we have pro vided a wringer assembly embodying simple means for performing the double function of aiding the feeding of clothes to the wringer rolls and providing a warning by way of movement and non-injurious squeezing pressure against the finger of an operator to warn the operator that her fingers and hand are dangerously close to the wringer pressure rolls. The mechanism is simple, highly durable,

and economical to install.

It will be understood that modifications and variations may be effected without departing from the scope of the novel concepts of the present invention.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows:

We claim:

I. In a wringer assembly,

a frame,

a pair of pressure rolls mounted in said frame to provide a nip between said rolls and forming a first part,

a first and second drainboard means leading away from opposite sides of said rolls and forming a second part,

a feeder roll,v

mounting means pivotally connected in said frame to swing about the axis of one. of said pressure rolls and carrying said feeder roll in position to form a variable nip between the feeder roll and one of said parts in position to be driven by one of said pressure rolls and overlie one of said drainboard means, and

the pivotal connection of said mounting means being sufficiently tight for the same to automatically carry the feeder roll over the other drainboard means when the direction of rotation of said pressure rolls is reversed.

2. In a wringer assembly,

a frame,

a pair of pressure rolls in said frame forming a nip therebetween,

drainboard means projecting away from said rolls,

a shaft for one of said rolls,

a link pivoted to each end of said shaft,

a feeder roll rotatively carried by said links and positioned to form a nip with the drainboard means,

a friction gear rotatively carried by each link to drive the feeder roll from said one pressure roll and in the.

same direction, and the pivotal connections between said links and said shaft being sufficiently tight to cause said feeder roll to form a nip with said drainboard means capable of assisting in feeding material to the nip of said pressure rolls but insufficiently tight to injure a finger entering the nip between the feeder roll and drainboard means. 3. In a wringer assembly, a frame, upper and lower pressure rollers each having a shaft mounted-in said frame and said rollers together providing a pressure nip, first and second drainboard means leading away from opposite sides of said pressure nip, and rotary guard means comprising,

linkage means pivotally connected to said shaft of said upper pressure roller for pivotal movement about the axis of said upper pressure roller,

roller means journalled in said linkage means and disposed to overlie said drainboard means, and means to form a variable nip between said roller means and an underlying one of said drainboard means comprising friction gear means rotatably carried by said linkage means and interposed between said upper pressure roller and said roller means, whereby said roller means will advance articles introduced into said variable nip towards said pressure nip and said linkage means will yield pivotally upwardly. 4. In a wringer assembly as defined in claim 3, said rotary guard means constituting a separate linkage means and roller means on each side of said pressure nip. 5. In a wringer assembly, a frame, upper and lower pressure rollers each having a shaft mounted in said frame and said roller together providing a pressure nip, first and second drainboard means leading away from opposite sides of said pressure nip, and rotary guard means comprising a pair of links connected to said shaft of said upper pressure roller at opposite ends thereof and extending away from said pressure rollers, a roller journalled in said links and spaced closely adjacent an adjoining drainboard means to form a nip therewith which will yieldably enlarge by pivotal movement of said links, and friction roller means carried by each of said links and interposed between said roller and said upper pressure roller to drive said roller rotatably,

said links having a pivotal connection with said shaft so that said rotary guard means will pivotally swing from one side to the other in response to the rotational direction of the pressure rollers. 6. In a wringer assembly, a frame, upper and lower pressure rollers each having a shaft mounted in said frame and said rollers together providing a pressure nip, first and second drainboard means leading way from opposite sides of said pressure nip, and rotary guard means comprising a pair of links connected to said shaft of said upper pressure roller at opposite ends thereof,

each said link having a slot in which said shaft is received, and a spring in each slot biasing said shaft towards one end of said slot, and a feeder-guard roller journalled in said links and spaced closely adjacent said upper pressure roller to form a nip therewith enlargeable against the bias of said springs within the limits of said slots to prevent injury while forming a guard in front of said pressure nip, said pair of links being swingable about the axis of said upper pressure roller and carrying said feederguard roller from a position superjacent one of said first and second drainboard means to a position superjacent the other of said first and second drainboard means in response to the rotational direction of said upper and lower pressure rollers. 7. In a wringer assembly, a frame, upper and lower pressure rollers mounted in said frame and together with one another providing a pressure P, first and second drainboard means leading away from opposite sides of said pressure nip, and rotary guard means comprising linkage means pivotally connected for pivotal movement about the axis of said upper pressure roller, roller means journalled in said linkage means and disposed to overlie said drainboard means in nip-forming relation with said drainboard means, and means connecting said roller means for corotation with said upper pressure roller and in the same rotational direction therewith so that materials introduced into the nip between said roller means and said drainboard means will be directed thereby towards the pressure nip.

References Cited UNlTED STATES PATENTS 1,737,714 12/1929 Gildea 68-266 1,746,053 2/ 1930 Rice.

1,841,057 1/1932 Roberts 68-266 X 1,915,702 6/1933 Tinkham 68-266 1,960,755 5/1934 Schuda 68-266 2,102,827 12/1937 Andre 68-266 2,207,436 7/1940 Lundstrom 68-266 LOUIS O, MASSEL, Primary Ex'amz'ner,

Claims (1)

1. 3. IN A WRINGER ASSEMBLY, A FRAME, UPPER AND LOWER PRESSURE ROLLERS EACH HAVING A SHAFT MOUNTED IN SAID FRAME AND SAID ROLLERS TOGETHER PROVIDING A PRESSURE NIP, FIRST AND SECOND DRAINBOARD MEANS LEADING AWAY FROM OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID PRESSURE NIP, AND ROTARY GUARD MEANS COMPRISING, LINKAGE MEANS PIVOTALLY CONNECTED TO SAID SHAFT OF SAID UPPER PRESSURE ROLLER FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT THE AXIS OF SAID UPPER PRESSURE ROLLER, ROLLER MEANS JOURNALLED IN SAID LINKAGE MEANS AND DISPOSED TO OVERLIE SAID DRAINBOARD MEANS, AND MEANS TO FORM A VARIABLE NIP BETWEEN SAID ROLLER MEANS AND AN UNDERLYING ONE OF SAID DRAINBOARD MEANS COMPRISING FRICTION GEAR MEANS ROTATABLY CARRIED BY SAID LINKAGE MEANS AND INTERPOSED BETWEEN SAID UPPER PRESSURE ROLLER AND SAID ROLLER MEANS, WHEREBY SAID ROLLER MEANS WILL ADVANCE ARTICLES INTRODUCED INTO SAID VARIABLE NIP TOWARDS SAID PRESSURE NIP AND SAID LINKAGE MEANS WILL YIELD PIVOTALLY UPWARDLY.

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