Fisher & Paykel Appliances Limited

Andy Alexander Hilgers

Russell Joseph Jackson

Hugh Griffith Johnson

Allen James Guinibert

Geoffrey Simon Frazerhurst

Daryl Leonard Hirst

Bruce Reginald Frank McGregor

Daniel Keith Raphael Pitt

Bradley Clive Abraham

Olaf Adrian Hojland Eskildsen

Radu Gramada

Armando Morles Velandia

Olaf Adrian Hojland Eekildsen

Bruce Reginald Frank Mcgregor

A laundry appliance includes a cabinet or surround structure with an attachment for a removable front panel and a removable front panel for attachment to the cabinet. The appliance is a drum and a drum support structure supporting the drum for rotation. There is a movement interface between the drum support structure and the cabinet or surround structure, allowing the drum support structure to move between an operating condition within the cabinet and a maintenance condition wherein the drum and drum support structure are at least substantially disposed outside the envelope defined by the cabinet. In the operating condition the drum and support structure are hidden behind the removable front panel. They may be moved out to the maintenance condition after removal of the front panel.

Laundry appliance

A laundry drying machine includes a cabinet and a laundry holding drum rotatably supported within said cabinet for rotation about a horizontal axis. The drum includes a cylindrical wall and a pair of ends. A drum hatch comprises a section of the cylindrical wall. A motor is connected to drive rotation of the drum via a drive belt. A hatch engaging member is actuable to grasp and hold the drum hatch relative to the cabinet. A controller operatively connected with the motor, is configured to operate the machine through each of:

A drum hatch engaging mechanism is for inclusion in a laundry appliance having a cabinet and a drum rotatable within the cabinet. The mechanism includes a drum hatch engaging member connected with the cabinet with the connection providing for movement of the member between non-engagement and engagement positions. An actuator is provided to selectively move the drum hatch engaging member between the positions. A catch member is connected with a sliding hatch of the drum. The connection between the catch member and the sliding hatch provides for movement of the catch member between a position adjacent the skin of the drum and an outwardly displaced position. The drum hatch engaging member includes a ramped abutment to engage and lift the catch member to the outer position through movement of the catch member toward the abutment during an opening rotation of the drum. The hatch engaging member includes a closing abutment facing the ramped abutment. The closing abutment butts against the catch member during a closing rotation of the drum. There is a catch member support surface on the drum which tracks the circumference of the drum skin at a level to cooperate with the drum hatch engaging member. The support surface and the drum hatch engaging member cooperate to entrap the catch member in the outward position during opening and closing rotations of the drum. With a single actuator the mechanism can reliably open and close the drum without stopping the drum to engage and/or disengage from the drum hatch.

Growing community of inventors

Auckland, New Zealand

Andy Alexander Hilgers