Door opener for a domestic appliance

A door opener for a domestic appliance comprising:

• a motor;
• a pusher member displaceable between a retracted position and an extended position in which it is engageable with a door of a domestic appliance to open the door;
• and
• a gear train connected between an output of the motor and the pusher member, which causes displacement of the pusher member in response to operation of the motor;
• the gear train comprising an overload clutch which comprises:
• a first gear;
• and
• a second gear mounted coaxially with, and rotatable with respect to, the first gear;
• and
• the second gear comprising a plurality of resiliently deformable fingers, one end of each finger being releasably engageable with a complementarily-shaped portion of the first gear, and a core from which the resiliently deformable fingers extend outwardly, wherein the first gear and the second gear of the overload clutch are formed from a non-metallic material, the resiliently deformable fingers are equally angularly spaced with respect to one another around a periphery of the core, and each of the resiliently deformable fingers curves about the core, between the core and the one end of the finger that is releasably engageable with the complementarily-shaped portion of the first gear.