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:
May. 04, 1993
Filed:
Nov. 19, 1991
Tomeo Fuse, Shizuoka, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Showa Seisakusho, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A damper assembly is disposed between a washing machine frame and a washing container suspended in the frame and housing a rotatable drum as a source of vibration. The damper assembly includes a damper having a cylinder filled with working oil, a piston slidably disposed in the cylinder and having a damping force generating mechanism, and a piston rod having an end coupled to the piston and an opposite end extending out of the cylinder, a vibration transmission cutoff mechanism activatable for disabling the damping force generating mechanism to substantially cut off the transmission of vibration between the washing container and the frame, and a selective actuator for selectively activating and inactivating the vibration transmission cutoff mechanism depending on the magnitude of vibration of the washing container. The vibration transmission cutoff mechanism comprises a support structure for supporting the washing container or the frame and the cylinder or the piston rod for relative movement with respect to each other, and a locking mechanism for unlockably locking the members supported by the support structure. The selective actuator actuates the locking mechanism to unlock the members supported by the support structure from each other thereby activating the vibration transmission cutoff mechanism when the magnitude of vibration of the washing container is smaller than a predetermined value.