GB2278128A

GB2278128A - Washing machine casing

Info

Publication number: GB2278128A
Application number: GB9317379A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Piero Durazzani
Original assignee: Zanussi Elettrodomestici SpA
Current assignee: Electrolux Zanussi Elettrodomestici SpA
Priority date: 1993-05-20
Filing date: 1993-08-20
Publication date: 1994-11-23
Anticipated expiration: 2013-08-20
Also published as: ES1026818Y; GB9317379D0; ES1026818U; IT231965Y1; DE9312613U1; ITPN930012V0; FR2705372A1; FR2705372B1; GB2278128B; ITPN930012U1

Abstract

A clothes washing, in particular a domestic clothes washing machine, is formed by a washing unit, and an external casing 1 comprising a front wall 4, a back 2, two side walls 5, 6 and a lower base portion 8. Said front wall and said side walls are made from a single strip of bent sheet and said back 2 and said strip are joined by means of screws fitted along the rear lateral edges of said bent strip. The casing may be fitted with an upper structure of X-shaped configuration which is preferably produced by moulding plastics material. The back 2, the upper structure 7, the base portion 8 and the bracket 12 for carrying the lower feet may all be connected to the strip of bent sheet by means of screws. A pair of adjustable feet may be provided at the front or rear of the machine. <IMAGE>

Description

WASHING MACHINE WITH IMPROVED CASING The invention concerns washing appliances, in particular for domestic use, which are provided with an improved casing of sheet or metallic material.

Washing machines, more especially of front-loading type, are known, whose casings, which also perform the function of carrying the washing unit contained therein, are produced in various ways and are formed in substance by a rigid structure comprising a front wall, a back wall, two side walls and an upper support surface.

Those elements are fitted together in various ways and are supported by a base portion of suitable feet which are fixed to the lower edge of the casing and which support the entire weight of the appliance since the casing also supports all the internal members of the machine.

The material which constitutes the casings is normally steel sheet which is treated to a greater or lesser degree using chemical or electrochemical processes to improve the anti-oxidisation characteristics thereof, and finally painted or in particular cases enamelled.

Casings which are produced in that way are normally satisfactory in regard to the characteristics required and consumer expectation, but the technology used for producing them, although well tried and tested and continually improved over decades, remains in essence the original technology of production and assembly by welding of pieces of sheet material, with the known technical and economic burdens that that involves, such as the use of substantial, complicated and expensive apparatuses for production of the sheet, for shaping of the casing including the elements for strengthening the points thereof carrying a very heavy static and dynamic loading, and for surface treatment.

Italian patent application no. 34060-B/84 discloses a front-loading washing machine whose casing of a parallelepipedic configuration is formed at the four sides by separate panel elements in which the two lateral panels can be positioned at a variable spacing from each other by means of two or more transverse members provided with adjustable fixing elements, in such a way as to afford a plurality of machines of different and variable overall dimensions, using in part common structural elements.

However that type of machine suffers from the disadvantage of requiring a separate operation for the production of each individual panel and complicated and burdensome assembly to form the casing.

European patent application no. 0168585 also discloses a clothes washing machine in which the casing is formed by at least a first and a second shell portion which can be fitted to each other and which are interchangeable with each other and in which an upper transverse member can be removably fixed in per se known manner to the upper part of the shells for connecting them together, and wherein the tub-drum unit is supported in the lower part by means of dampers or the like mounted on a base portion which supports the shells in the lower part.

That type of clothes washing machine affords the advantage of enjoying a high degree of accessibility to the internal functional members, but nonetheless in this case also the assembly operation to form the casing is rather complicated by virtue of the necessity to effect welding of the corresponding vertical edges of the shell portions.

Another interesting solution in regard to forming the casing of a front-loading washing machine is described in European patent no. 0104497. This document discloses a casing in which front and rear casing elements exclusively constitute the external cladding of the machine whereas the structural function is substantially supported by a rigid central load-bearing frame structure in the shape of an inverted U capable of supporting the washing unit and the casing elements.

The advantages of this type of construction are due to the fact that the casing elements can be produced using fairly thin sheet material, and thus with substantial economics of production, and also that, as it is possible to eliminate any welding of the casing elements, it is possible to supply the material of those elements when already in the state of pre-painted sheet material, which constitutes a further undoubted advantage in terms of simplification of production and overall economy in manufacture of the casing.

However this construction also involves a disadvantage: namely the provision of the inverted U-shaped load-bearing frame structure which has to carry a substantial static and dynamic loading is rather complicated from the point of view of production and rather burdensome from the economic point of view, to such a degree as to compromise a major part of the advantages that can be achieved.

In addition, in this case also the foregoing elements have to be welded.

French patent no. 2082075 also discloses a casing for a washing machine, which is composed of two side walls, a front structure and a lower support structure, said elements all being individually produced and joined together. Furthermore the lower support structure occupies the entire lower periphery of the casing.

British patent no. 2081311 discloses a casing for a domestic washing machine which is composed of two side walls connected by a rear structure in one piece, a back and the front wall, all those elements also being separate. In addition the complete structure of the lower base assembly is replaced by two separate base portions, one disposed under the front part and the other under the back.

Besides the plurality of parts of sheet material, this arrangement is also found to have conventional indentation portions on the side walls in order to strengthen them to resist deformation due to static and dynamic loads.

It would therefore be desirable, and this is the aim of the present invention, to provide a clothes washing machine, in particular for domestic use, provided with a casing which reduces or eliminates the above-described structural complications and problems and which is capable of normally performing the containing and support functions without involving structural complications and using the technologies which are normally available.

According to the present invention, there is provided a clothes washing machine, formed by a washing unit, and an external casing comprising a front wall, a back wall, two side walls and a lower base portion, wherein said front wall and said side walls are produced from a single strip of bent sheet material and said back wall and said strip are joined by means of screws which are fitted along the rear lateral edges of said casing.

The invention will be further described by way of non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded view of one embodiment of a clothes washing machine according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic plan view of the same clothes washing machine.

Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view from below of the same clothes washing machine, and Figures 4 and 5 show respective details of the feet of the clothes washing machine.

Referring to the drawings, shown therein is a casing 1 formed by a back 2, and a strip of sheet 3 which is suitably bent in such a way as to constitute the front 4 with the side walls 5 and 6.

The back 2 is connected to the side walls by screws 20 or other equivalent means, so as to eliminate any burdensome welding or bevelling/clinching operation and at any event any working operation on the sheet.

However the structure produced in that way could turn out to be rather weak in relation to the stresses imposed by the weight of the machine and the vibration of the washing unit.

Therefore the casing is completed by an upper structure 7 which connects the oppositely disposed upper edges of the side walls, and a lower base portion 8; the upper structure 7 is in the shape of an X in which each of the two pairs of corners or ends 16, 17 and 18, 19 is fixed to an oppositely disposed upper edge of the side walls, the pairs of corners or ends being disposed in a symmetrical front position relative to the vertical central plane of the machine in such a way as to optimise the resistance to upper deformation of the casing without involving the cost of a more extensive resistant structure, and also for a further reason as set forth below.

Advantageously, in accordance with the objective of avoiding working operations on the sheet, the upper structure 7 is stably connected to the casing by means of screws and in order further to eliminate any working operation on the metal, the structure is made of plastics material. The specific X-shaped configuration of the upper structure 7 advantageously makes it possible to fit to its arms any functional components 9 such as terminal boards or boxes, pressure controllers, capacitors, anti-interference units etc. which can be quickly locked by latching engagement on same, something which is particularly easy if the components to be fixed are of plastics on to plastics.

The base portion 8 is similarly formed by a structure which is substantially in the form of a U, as shown in Figure 3; it is connected to the oppositely disposed lower edges of the side walls by means of screws 21 or other equivalent means.

Advantageously the rear feet 10 are produced integrally on the base portion 8, as shown in Figure 4 while, to permit normal levelling of the machine, the machine, in the front support region, may carry normal adjustable feet 11 which are fitted to the casing by means of a suitable screwthreaded bracket 12 (Figure 5).

It will be appreciated that these casings may be of the most appropriate shape in regard to constraints regarding shape and volume, and therefore they can be produced in different shapes from that shown without thereby departing from the scope of protection of the invention.

Claims

1. A clothes washing machine, formed by a washing unit, and an external casing comprising a front wall, a back wall, two side walls and a lower base portion, wherein said front wall and said side walls are produced from a single strip of bent sheet material and said back wall and said strip are joined by means of screws which are fitted along the rear lateral edges of said casing.

2. A clothes washing machine according to claim 1 wherein the casing is provided with an upper structure of X-shape, each of the two pairs of corners being fixed to an oppositely disposed upper edge of the side walls, said pairs of corners being disposed in a frontal position.

3. A clothes washing machine according to claim 2 wherein the upper structure is of moulded plastics material.

4. A clothes washing machine according to claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein said base portion is of a U-shaped configuration and is disposed below the front and lateral portions of said strip.

5. A clothes washing machine according to claim 4 wherein said base portion is made of plastics material.

6. A clothes washing machine constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

6. A clothes washing machine according to any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one functional component of the machine is connected to said upper structure by way of a press-insertion means.

7. A clothes washing machine according to any one of the preceding claims wherein the machine has two pairs of feet, one pair at the front or rear of the machine being formed in one piece on said base portion and the other pair of feet being formed by adjustable feet fitted to the casing by means of a suitable bracket.

8. A clothes washing machine according to any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one of the back, the upper structure, the base portion and the bracket are connected to said strip of bent sheet by means of screws.

9. A clothes washing machine constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

Amendments to the claims have been filed as follows 1. A clothes washing machine, formed by a washing unit, and an external casing comprising a front wall, a back wall, two side walls, and a lower base portion, said front wall and said side wall being produced from a single strip of bent sheet material and said back wall and said strip being joined by means of screws which are fitted along the rear lateral edges of said casing, wherein the casing is provided with an upper structure of X-shape, each of one of the two pairs of corners being fixed to an oppositely disposed upper edge of the side walls, said pairs of corners being disposed in a frontal position.

2. A clothes washing machine according to claim 1 wherein the upper structure is of moulded plastics material.

3. A clothes washing machine according to claim 1 or 2 wherein said base portion is of a U-shaped configuration and is disposed below the front and lateral portions of said strip.

4. A clothes washing machine according to claim 3 wherein said base portion is made of plastics material.

5. A clothes washing machine according to any one of the preceding claims wherein at least one functional component of the machine is connected to said upper structure by way of a press-insertion means.