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US 4,287,730 AGranted
Bearing support for a washing machine drum
AssigneeEngelhardt & Forster
InventorsHeinz L. Grunewald, Jurgen Wellbrock
Life of this patent
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AssigneeEngelhardt & Forster
InventorsHeinz L. Grunewald, Jurgen Wellbrock
Estimating the term…
A tumbler-style washing machine having a tubular elongated drum adapted to be rotatable about its horizontal axis is provided with bearing-support structure for suspending and driving the drum, including a plurality of pulley-driven endless chain loops which suspend the drum from overhead rocker beam members. The rocker beam members are adapted to rock a limited distance in a vertical plane, to compensate for variations encountered during operation of the machine, such as load change, chain stretch and drum level fluctuation, etc., and a plurality of piston-cylinder units serve as buffering means for the rocker beam members. The piston-cylinder units are preferably supplied with internal fluid pressure and may be variously interconnected with each other and with specific control means to achieve an automatic support-adjusting action during operation of the washing machine.
A bearing system in a tubular-type washing machine, comprising a substantially horizontal elongated drum, a plurality of buffers distributed in spaced-apart relation along the drum and connected to the drum and supporting it in suspension, each of such buffers including a piston-cylinder unit, means supplying a fluid pressure medium to the cylinders, each piston-cylinder unit having means therewith rendering it adjustable to load variation by the response of the piston to the pressure of the fluid pressure medium in the cylinder, and the cylinder of any one of the buffers being in flow interconnection with the cylinder of a second of the buffers.
A bearing system in a tubular-type washing machine, comprising a substantially horizontal elongated drum, a plurality of supporting buffers distributed in spaced-apart relation along the drum, each of said buffers including a piston-cylinder unit and being adapted to support a portion of the drum, means supplying a fluid pressure medium to the cylinders, each piston-cylinder unit having means therewith rendering it adjustable to load variation by the response of the piston to the pressure of the fluid pressure medium in the cylinder, and the cylinder of any one of the buffers being in flow interconnection with the cylinder of a second of the buffers, the piston-cylinder units being arranged in at least two groups, each group being arranged along a separate longitudinally-successive section of the drum, and the cylinders being in fluid-flow interconnection only with cylinders of the same group.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.