Whirlpool Corporation

Carl R Offutt

Roque Denis Marcade

Joseph E Thompson

Steven M Schatz

Franklin P Hayba

Howard R McGuire

A rack system for an oven wherein the oven includes an oven cavity having top, bottom, rear and side walls, the side walls including a plurality of support runners arranged as associated pairs on the side walls of the oven cavity. The oven cavity has an open frontal portion and an associated width defined by the lateral distance spanning the side walls. The rack system including a lower rack having a width substantially equal to the width of the oven cavity such that the upper rack may be supported by one of the runner pairs provided on the side wall of the oven cavity. An upper rack assembly is provided having a width substantially equal to the width of the oven cavity, the upper rack being supported on one of the runner pairs provided on the side wall of the oven cavity. The upper rack includes a main rack and an insert rack. The main rack has a width substantially equal to the width of the oven cavity and has a platform area and a cutout area. The insert rack has an area substantially equal to the cutout area and is adapted to removably attach to the main rack and fit within the cutout area. The insert rack may be removed from the main rack such that large items having a height greater than the vertical distance between the lower an upper rack may be accommodated.

Oven rack system having cutout area and insert rack

A seal for sealing a stirrer motor shaft in a microwave oven structure. The seal is provided by a bushing bearing journaling the motor shaft and receiving in a non-circular-hole in the wall of the cabinet defining the microwave oven cavity. The bushing is threaded and receives a threaded securing element cooperating with a shoulder on the bushing to clamp the bushing against the portion of the wall member of the cabinet defining the opening. The bushing is electrically connected to the wall member to define a ground for the motor shaft. The motor includes a housing secured to the bushing to be in spaced relationship to the cabinet wall.

Bushing mounted stirrer shaft

A microwave oven structure wherein a movable food support is selectively positionable in any one of a plurality of preselected different discrete positions. The support may be moved to the different positions during the cooking cycle as by a programmed timer. Alternatively, the support may be moved as a function of a sensed condition of the food being cooked, such as a temperature differential occurring therein. The movement of the support may be limited so as to permit the use of a probe inserted into the food being cooked without damage to the wires connecting the probe to the control of the oven. The support, in the illustrated embodiment, is a turntable which is controlledly rotated less than a full turn in repositioning the food being cooked.

Controlled movable support for microwave oven

A current limiting impedance network for a dryer control in which a controlled conduction device, such as an SCR, is connected to shunt an AC motor to selectively prevent operation of the motor, in which a current limiting, power dissipating resistor is replaced by a lower value and lower power rating resistor and a capacitor connected in series with the resistor. The capacitor has a capacitive reactance of a value approximately twice the inductive reactance of the motor to provide substantially the same magnitude of circuit impedance as with the current limiting power resistor and cause operation of the circuit with a leading rather than a lagging current phase angle.

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Marion, OH, United States of America

Carl R Offutt