Whirlpool Corporation

Robert C Williams

Nicholas C Fugal

Christine L Strain

Meredith A Wagner

Eric Kenneth Farrington

Bradley D Morrow

Steven Fricke

Philip R Thompson

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 having a tub defining an interior, a basket located within the interior and rotatably mounted within the tub and having an upper and lower basket base portion, a balance ring mounted to the upper edge of the basket peripheral wall, a clothes mover rotatably mounted within the basket, a drive system comprising a motor operably coupled to the basket and the clothes mover and configured to selectively oscillate or rotate the basket or the clothes mover and a first and second drive shaft, and a drive attachment mechanism configured to couple the basket to the second drive shaft, with the drive attachment mechanism comprising a bushing assembly.

Laundry treating appliance with drive attachment mechanism

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

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Benton Harbor, MI, United States of America

Robert C Williams