Electrolux Home Products, Inc.

Michelle Demers

Paul Stoufer

Kevin Carpenter

Thomas Josefsson

David A Clemens

A self-centering mechanism for an appliance knob includes a shaft member defining a central axis, and a rotatable member engaged and rotatable with the shaft member about the central axis. The rotatable member defines a first arcuate slot opposed to a second arcuate slot. A first stationary pin extends through the first arcuate slot and a second stationary pin extends through the second arcuate slot. A centering member is pivotably engaged with the rotatable member about a pivot location, and is configured to contact the first and second stationary pins with the rotatable member disposed in a centered rotational position. A biasing member is configured to bias the centering member about the pivot location toward the shaft member and the first and second stationary pins to urge the rotatable member to the centered rotational position.

Self-centering mechanism for an appliance knob

A self-centering mechanism for a rotatable shaft includes first and second centering members. Each centering member defines a first and second arcuate slot. A stationary pin extends through the first arcuate slots of the centering members. A rotatable shaft member extends through the centers of the centering members and is disposed between the first and second arcuate slots. A support member extends radially from and is fixed to the shaft member so as to be rotatable therewith. An actuating pin extends from the support member and through the second arcuate slots, and engages the second arcuate slots to rotate one of the first and second centering members. At least one biasing member is in communication with an anchoring structure and rotationally biases at least one of the first and second centering members to a registration position upon release of the rotatable shaft.

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Morrisville, NC, United States of America

Michelle Demers