Apparatus for controlling the closing of a door of a household appliance, in particular for a washing machine, such as a dishwasher

Apparatus for controlling closing of a door of a household appliance, in particular for a washing machine;

• said door being arranged to close an inner chamber obtained in a casing of said household appliance and communicating outside through an inlet opening;
• said apparatus comprising an engagement element, which is configured to be fitted on one of said casing and said door and arranged for being held in a releasable manner by a retaining element configured to be fitted on the other one of said door and said casing to constrain said door to said casing, when using said household appliance;
• wherein said engagement element comprises:
• a support body configured to be fitted on one of said casing and said door;
• a striker adapted to be coupled in a releasable manner to said retaining element, and mounted so as to move relative to said support body between a retracted position and an extracted position;
• when said striker is coupled to said retaining element and assumes said retracted position and said extracted position, said door being suited to be, respectively:
• in a complete closing condition, in which said door closes said access opening in a fluid-tight manner, and
• in a pre-opening condition, in which said door is spaced apart from said access opening, so as to establish a fluid communication between said inner chamber and an environment outside said casing;
• a stop mechanism tending to move:
• from a release position, in which said stop mechanism is adapted to liberate said striker, thus allowing said striker to move from said retracted position to said extracted position, when said striker is coupled to said retaining element,
• to a locking position, in which it is adapted to hold said striker, when said striker is in said retracted position;
• electrically operated driving means arranged for controlling movement of said stop mechanism from said locking position to said release position;
• said stop mechanism comprising a safety element, which is manually controllable by a user and is movable between:
• a liberation arrangement, in which the safety element allows the stop mechanism to move between the locking condition and the release condition, and
• an inhibition condition, in which the safety element forcedly constrains the stop mechanism in the release condition.