DE20019480U1 - Dishwasher with a capacity that can be adapted to the items to be washed - Google Patents

Description

GRÜNECKER KINKELDEY^T.CK:T<l\tfklR.;& 'SthMANHÄUSSER

LAW FIRM

GKS ä S MAXiMIUANSTRASSE 58 D-80538 MUNICH GERMANY

YOUR REF.

LAWYERS PATENT ATTORNEYS PATENT ATTORNEYS LAVVYERS EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS EUROPEAN PATENT ATTORNEYS MUNICH MUNICH COLOGNE DR. HELMUT EICHMANN DR. HERMANN KINKELDEY DR. MARTIN DROPMANN GERHARD BARTH PETER H. JAKOB DR. ULRICH 8LUMENRÖDER. LLM. WOLFHARD MEISTER CHEMNITZ CHRISTA NIKLAS-FALTER HANS HILGERS MANFRED SCHNEIDER DR. MAXIMILIAN KINKELDEY, LLM. DR. HENNING MEYER-PLATH SONJA SCHAEFFLER ANNELIE EHNOLD BERLIN DR. KARSTEN BRANDT THOMAS SCHUSTER DIETER JANDER ANJA FRANKE, LL.M. DR. KLARA GOLDBACH UTE STEPHANI MARTIN AUFENANGER DR. BERND ALLEKOTTE, LLM. GOTTFRIED KLITSCH DR. HEIKE VOGELSANG-WENKE OF COUNSEL REINHARD KNAUER PATENT ATTORNEYS DIETMAR KUHL OR. FRANZ-JOSEF ZIMMER AUGUST GRÜNEECKER BETTINA K. REICHELT DR. GUNTER BEZOLD OR. ANTON K. PFAU DR. WALTER LANGHOFF DR. UDO WEIGELT RAINER BERTRAM JENS KOCH, M.S. (U of PA) M.S. BERND ROTHAEMEL DR. WILFRIED STOCKMAIR DR. DANIELA KINKELOEY (■1990) DR. EN / OUR REF. DATE .

G4386-80/kg

16.11.00

Electrolux Zanussi S.p.A. Via Giardini Cattaneo 33170 Pordenone ITALY

Dishwasher with a capacity that can be adjusted to the dishes to be washed

GRÜNECKER KINKELDEY STOCKMAIR & SCHWAN HÄUSSERl**. MAXIMILIANSTR. 58 '. ·

D-80538 MUNICH !.·*

GERMANY

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fiftp://www.grunecker.de e-mail; postmaster®grunecker.de

oiuTSCHE SANK MUNICH N». 17 51734 ÖL£«700 700 10 SWIFT: DEUT DE MM

Description of the utility model with the designation:

"Dishwasher with a capacity that can be adjusted to the items of crockery to be washed"

The present invention relates to a dishwasher which is used primarily, although not exclusively, for domestic use.

It is known that the official performance characteristics, including those shown on the energy label required by the European Union, are obtained according to the procedure prescribed by standard EN 50242, which is based on the use of so-called place settings. However, the composition and/or type of dishes to be washed during the use of a dishwasher in reality is often completely different from the standard version of a place setting. Therefore, any machine manufacturer wishing to satisfy end users is required to develop a machine of this type, particularly as regards the sliding elements (baskets) for storing the dishes to be washed, in order to take these requirements into account.

Among the already known solutions to the problem, the patent GB-A-1 227 799 comes closest to the present invention. It consists in dividing the upper basket into a right and a left basket part, which can be placed on a frame which is attached to the right and left walls of the washing compartment, whereby these basket parts can be pushed independently of each other and of the lower basket so that they can be pulled out to the front through the opening of the washing compartment.

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These racks with the respective basket parts can also be raised a few centimetres independently of each other and independently of the lower basket, so that larger items of crockery, such as trays or similar, can also be placed in the latter.

Although the parts of the upper basket can advantageously be removed from the machine, the respective racks cannot be removed as they are fixed to the corresponding walls of the washing chamber, and the practicality of the machine is therefore not satisfactory in this respect. Furthermore, it is doubtful whether the washing efficiency of the items of crockery contained in the upper basket parts is high as there is a not insignificant distance between the upper basket and the only spray arm which is located immediately above the floor of the washing chamber, namely under the lower basket in this machine.

Patent applications JP-A-11047065 and JP-A-11047065 also disclose a dishwasher whose upper basket can be pulled out at the same time as a lower basket, in order to facilitate loading and unloading the dishwasher with the dishes to be washed when these are outside the washing compartment. This upper basket, in addition to being less deep (which means that only relatively few dishes can be loaded), is also characterized in that it can be moved from a working position in which it is substantially parallel to the lower basket to a rest position by rotating it upwards by 90° so that it is parallel to the side wall of the washing compartment. However, in these circumstances, this is only possible if one does not use the upper basket and, in addition, makes do with a fixed spray arm instead of a conventional and efficient rotating spray arm for cleaning the dishes in the upper basket.

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A fundamental object of the present invention is to present a dishwasher whose capacity can be easily adapted to a different composition and/or type of dishes to be washed and which can ensure, in all cases, a high washing efficiency in accordance with the procedure of the above-mentioned standard EN 50242.

Thanks to the invention, these and other objects are achieved by a dishwasher having the characteristics of the following claims.

In order to better explain these characteristics and to illustrate the advantages offered by the present invention, a preferred embodiment is shown below with the aid of the accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1 shows the front of a dishwasher according to the invention;

Figure 2 shows a section along the vertical plane H-II of Figure 1 of the same dishwasher;

Figure 3 shows a section along the horizontal plane III-III of Figure 1, again of the same dishwasher;

Figure 4 is a front view of details of the dishwasher of the box marked with the letter A in Figure 1, on an enlarged scale;

Figure 5 is a view analogous to Figure 4, but relates to details of the dishwasher shown in the boxed area of Figure 1 marked with the letter B, the items of crockery to be washed which are visible in that figure being omitted.

It is stated in advance that in the accompanying drawings many details of the dishwasher have been intentionally omitted which have no close connection with the present invention and which are in themselves well known to skilled technicians.

With particular reference to Figures 1 to 3, a dishwasher comprises a housing 1 and a washing chamber 2, both of which have a

have an approximately square shape. The front appliance opening 3 to the washing compartment 2 is shown unlocked, but can be closed by a door (not shown) which can either be pivoted in the conventional manner along the underside of the appliance front 3 on the housing 1, or can be slid, as shown in Italian patent application no. PN99A000043, filed by the same applicant on June 1, 1999. Of the hydraulic circuit of the dishwasher, the attached drawing primarily shows the spray arm 4 which is attached to the dish basket 5. This dish basket 5 is in turn slidably mounted on corresponding guide rails (these are also not shown for reasons of simplicity) which are located in the lowest area of the side walls 6 and 7 of the washing compartment 2. The crockery basket 5, which can be made in the conventional way from steel wire covered with plastic, has first of all a frame for storing plates P of standard dimensions, but also trays V of particularly large dimensions - see figure 1 -, as will be explained in more detail below. According to a fundamental characteristic of the invention, the dishwasher comprises further devices for storing the crockery to be washed (for example for cups T and glasses G - see figures 1 and 3) consisting of two shelves 20 and 30, which are respectively fixed to the above-mentioned side walls 6 and 7 in the upper part of the washing chamber 2. Since these shelves are mirror-images, for the sake of simplicity the following description refers mostly only to shelf 20.
The mirror-like shelves 20 and 30 essentially consist of:

a first part 21, 31, which has the shape of a rectangular bowl made of molded plastic and has a flat bottom 22, 32, on which two spray arms 23, 33 and 24, 34 are arranged one behind the other. The washing liquid is fed to the spray arms 23 and 24, 33 and 34 of the respective dish racks 20, 30 through a pipe 25, 35 integrated in the respective part 21, 31. The pipe 25, 35 comprises a spout 25, 36 and two parallel branch lines 27 and 28, 37 and 38. Obviously, the space required diameter of the spray arms 23, 24, 33 and 34 is smaller than that of the spray arm 4 of the lower dish rack 5.

is attached. Openings 29, 39 are provided in the respective bases 22, 32 of the shelves 20, 30, which are arranged in such a way that the washing liquid dripping from the dishes B and T falls onto the drain pan 8 of the washing compartment 2 - see Figures 2 and 4, 3 and 5 respectively:

a second part 41, 51 consisting of a storage area for the dishes to be washed made of metal rods with a frame 42, 52 for attachment to the first parts 21, 31 of the shelves 20, 30 - see Figures 2 and 3.

The shelves 20,30 are fixed to the respective fixing brackets (of which in Figures 4 and 5 only those located on the side of the opening 3 towards the washing chamber and marked with the numbers 45, 55 are shown) by means of the corresponding pairs of pivots 46 and 47, 56 and 57 which slide in corresponding horizontal slots 48, 58 and vertical slots 49, 59. In this way, the positions of the shelves can be brought independently of one another, by a simple rotation of 90°, from a slightly inclined position in the horizontal (as can be seen in the framed field B in Figure 2) to a vertical position in which the loading of trays V and other items of large dimensions in the lower basket 4 of the dishwasher (as shown in the framed field A of the same Figure 2) is possible.
The fastening brackets 46, 56 can be moved together with the associated dish racks 20, 30 along the corresponding guides 61, 71 which are attached to the side walls 6, 7 of the washing chamber 2, so that at the rear end of the guide rail the already mentioned spouts 26, 36 are pushed onto the respective open branch lines 62, 72 (these are located on the rear wall 9 of the washing chamber 2 and are equipped with an associated and well-known unidirectional valve which is not shown for reasons of simplicity).
These branch lines 62, 72 belong to the same hydraulic circuit of the dishwasher that also supplies the lower spray arm 4 with rinsing liquid - see Figure 3.

The advantages of the present invention can be summarized as follows:

(a) the capacity of the dishwasher is essentially equivalent to that of a newer model with the same space requirements;

(b) since the position of the racks can be changed independently of each other, it is possible to adapt the capacity of the lower basket to actual needs, namely the actual quantity of trays V and other large items of crockery to be washed;

c) only when the dish racks are in the working position is it ensured that the spouts 26, 36 are pushed onto the branch lines 62, 72 and the spray arms 23, and 24, 33 and 34 of the dish racks 20, 30 are supplied with washing liquid;

d) the close arrangement of the spray arms enables very efficient washing of the dishes on the shelves, such as cups T and glasses G.

Although the above description refers to the currently preferred embodiment, it is obvious that skilled technicians can develop the machines in other ways, in accordance with the invention, without, however, departing from the scope protected by this patent.

Claims (5)

1. Dishwasher which has a substantially square washing chamber ( 2 ) and at least one rack shelf ( 20 , 30 ) as a holder for items of crockery (B, T) to be washed with relatively small dimensions, which rack shelf is located on a side wall ( 6 , 7 ) of the washing chamber ( 2 ) and can be pushed along this side wall, and which is characterized in that this rack shelf ( 20 , 30 ) comprises associated spray devices for the washing liquid and can be optionally brought from a working position in which the rack shelf points towards the middle of the washing chamber into a rest position in which it is parallel to the side wall ( 6 , 7 ) to which it is attached. 2. Dishwasher according to claim 1, characterized in that said rack ( 20 , 30 ) comprises a first part ( 21 , 31 ) which has the shape of a rectangular bowl, on the bottom of which at least one spray arm ( 22 , 23 , 33 , 34 ) is provided, and a second part ( 41 , 51 ) which serves as a storage surface for the dishes (B, T) to be washed and is mounted at a certain distance, parallel to the bottom ( 22 , 32 ) of the first part ( 21 , 31 ). 3. Dishwasher according to claim 2, characterized in that said first part of said rack ( 20 , 30 ), which has the shape of a bowl ( 21 , 31 ), is made from a single molded plastic piece, which also has pipes ( 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 35 , 26 , 27 , 38 ) which, when the rack ( 20 , 30 ) is in the working position, are suitable for being hydraulically connected to complementary devices ( 62 , 72 ) belonging to the hydraulic circuit for supplying washing liquid and which are arranged on the rear wall ( 9 ) of the washing chamber. 4. Dishwasher according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that openings ( 29 , 39 ) are provided on the bottom ( 22 , 32 ) of said first part ( 21 , 31 ) which has the shape of a bowl, so that the washing liquid dripping from the dishes located on the corresponding second part ( 41 , 51 ) of the rack shelf ( 20 , 30 ) can fall onto the drain pan ( 8 ) of the washing compartment. 5. Dishwasher according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said rack shelf ( 20 , 30 ) has means for bolting to a double pivot ( 46 , 47 , 56 , 57 ) located on supports ( 45 , 55 ) sliding along a guide ( 61 , 71 ) fixed to the corresponding side wall ( 6 , 7 ) of the washing chamber ( 2 ), so that the rack shelf remains fixed in one of the two interchangeable positions.