Reusable water softener system for clothes washer
AssigneeGeneral Electric Company
InventorsEverett D. Morey, Eddie W. Dooley
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Abstract
A water softening system utilizing a reusable, self-contained water softener device for an agitator type clothes washer. The water softener device includes a quantity of cation exchange resin contained in a chamber. The water softener device is placed in the clothes washer in association with the agitator and water is percolated upwardly through the resin by a pump to thereby effect hardness reduction by the removal of calcium and/or magnesium ions from the water. After the softening operation, the water softener is removed from the washer and detergent and soiled fabrics are placed therein. The resin may then be regenerated by treatment of the device with a salt solution.
Claims14
In a vertical axis clothes washer having a tub and agitator, a water softening system comprising:
- a. a reusable, self-contained, water softener device including;
- i. a housing removably placed around the agitator and arranged for movement therewith,
- ii. a reservoir at the top of the housing for receiving water,
- iii. a plurality of vertical channels radially disposed around the agitator in flow communication and extending from the reservoir to the bottom of the housing,
- iv. a resin containing chamber within the housing, the top of said chamber having a water outlet and the bottom having a water inlet, and
- v. a pump chamber located between the bottom of each channel and the resin containing chamber, said pump chamber having pump means to force the water upwardly through the resin and out the outlet, and
- b. means to pump water from the tub into the reservoir of the water softener device.
In a vertical axis clothes washer having a tub, an agitator, a pump to draw liquid from the tub, and a conduit connected to the pump for selectively returning liquid to the tub, a water softening system utilizing a reusable, self-contained, water softener device comprising:
- a. a housing removably placed around the agitator and arranged for movement therewith,
- b. a reservoir at the top of the housing for receiving water selectively returned to the tub by the pump,
- c. a plurality of vertical channels radially disposed around the agitator in flow communication and extending from the reservoir to the bottom of the housing,
- d. a resin containing chamber within the housing, the top of said chamber having a water outlet and the bottom having a water inlet, and
- e. a pump chamber located between the bottom of each channel and the resin containing chamber, said pump chamber having pumping means to force the water upwardly through the resin and out the outlet.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.