The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Sep. 29, 1992
Filed:
Jun. 04, 1991
Fisher & Paykel Limited, Auckland, NZ;
Abstract
A close washing machine includes a cabinet (2), a stationary water container (3) mounted in the cabinet and having a base and a side wall, downwardly extending ribs (4a, 5) on the base, a bearing tube (6) on the base supported by the ribs, vertically spaced bearings (20, 21) mounted on the bearing tube and having a vertical shaft (13) rotatably mounted therein, a seal between the shaft and bearing tube mounted above the bearing, an agitator (7) mounted on the shaft for rotation therewith, a perforated spin tub (4) within the container supported by bearings mounted on the shaft for rotatably supporting the spin tub, an electric motor type drive system having a stator (31) and a rotor and driving the vertical shaft (13) to rotatably oscillate the agitator or rotate the spin tub and agitator together in one direction. The stator is fixed to the container (3) and the rotor is fixed to the shaft (13) so that the bearings (20, 21) provide relative rotation of the stator and rotor. An interconnecting device between the spin tub and agitator is adapted to be operated to interconnect the spin tub and agitator for rotation together in one direction by the shaft to produce a spin action and to disconnect the spin tub from the agitator so that only the agitator is rotatable in an oscillating manner by rotary oscillation of the rotor to produce a washing action.