Whirlpool Corporation

Meredith A Wagner

Robert C Williams

Bradley D Morrow

Nicholas C Fugal

Christine L Strain

Prabhath Kv

Jason S Sabel

Joseph C O'Connor

Christopher A Jones

Sarah Galea

Thomas Dell Spicer

Aaron A Linden

A laundry appliance includes a rotating drum that receives laundry to be treated. A motor rotates a drive shaft about a vertical axis and engages the rotating drum at a base. A coupler is disposed within an upper portion of the base and that rests upon the drive shaft to transfer rotational forces from the drive shaft to the drum. A lower portion of the base engages an outer surface of the shaft to resist moment forces that are exerted against the drive shaft in an off-axis direction relative to the vertical axis.

Structural block for supporting a rotating drum within a laundry appliance

A laundry treating appliance for treating laundry according to a cycle of operation includes a rotatable basket defining a laundry treating space and having a bottom wall and a side wall. The bottom wall of the rotatable basket includes at least one drain hole. A centrifugally actuated valve comprising a weighted ball is positioned to selectively open and close the at least one drain hole as the basket rotates.

Laundry treating appliance for limiting water usage in small loads

Growing community of inventors

St. Joseph, MI, United States of America

Meredith A Wagner