Foot for an appliance, such as a washing machine
AssigneeYMOS Aktiengesellschaft Industrieprodukte
InventorHerbert Winkler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A machine foot has an upper section for connection to a machine bottom and a lower section for resting on a floor. A spring for vibration damping is operatively interposed between the upper and the lower section. In a preferred embodiment an elastically deformable ring member is also interposed between the upper and lower section for diverting at least a component of a vertically effective forces in a radial direction into the lower section by a friction effect which also provides a damping of vibrations of the machine to which the foot is connected, such as an appliance.
Claims14
A self-levelling machine foot, comprising a housing (5) having a central axis and an axially facing opening in said housing (5), a spring holding member (12) inside said housing, a spring (4) held axially inside said housing (5) by said spring holding member (12), means (9, 11) for applying a load (F) to said spring holding member (12) through said axially facing opening, said load applying means (9, 11) comprising a load dividing member (18) positioned in said housing in contact (P) with an inner surface (21) of said housing (5) and in contact with said spring holding member (12) for transmitting a first load component directly into said housing so that said first load component bypasses said spring (4) while a second load component passes through said spring into said housing, wherein said load dividing member (18) and said spring (4) work in series up to a certain load level and in parallel above said certain load level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.