Apparatus and method for rolling clothes in an automatic washer

A method of washing cloth items in an automatic washer having a wash chamber and an impeller located within the bottom of a wash chamber, the impeller being rotatable about a vertical axis, the method comprising the steps of:

• loading cloth items into the wash chamber;
• supplying a quantity of wash liquid into the wash chamber sufficient to wet the cloth items;
• and
• oscillating the impeller such that the cloth items directly above the impeller are dragged in an oscillatory manner wherein the cloth items rollover within the wash chamber along an inverse toroidal path.

A method of washing cloth items in an automatic washer having a wash chamber and an impeller located within the bottom of a wash chamber, the impeller being rotatable about a vertical axis, the method comprising the steps of:

• loading cloth items into the wash chamber;
• supplying a quantity of wash liquid into the wash chamber sufficient to wet the cloth items;
• oscillating the impeller to apply a drag force to the cloth items in contact with the impeller such that the cloth items in contact with the impeller move angularly along an arc-like path;
• and
• impeding the angular movement of the cloth items disposed along the bottom of the wash chamber beyond the outer periphery of the impeller such that relative angular motion is created between the cloth items disposed along the periphery of the impeller and the cloth items disposed immediately above the impeller,
• wherein the quantity of wash liquid supplied is insufficient to cause the cloth items to lose frictional engagement with the impeller to such a degree that the impeller can not apply drag forces to the cloth items as the impeller oscillates to move the cloth items along an angular arc-like path,
• wherein cloth items rollover within the wash basket along an inverse toroidal path.

A method of washing cloth items in an automatic washer having a wash chamber and an impeller located within the bottom of a wash chamber, the impeller being rotatable about a substantially vertical axis, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a drop zone within the wash chamber beyond the outer periphery of the impeller;
• providing a lower transfer zone in the bottom of the wash chamber above the impeller;
• providing a feed zone extending upwardly from the center of the impeller;
• providing an upper transfer zone along the upper portion of the wash chamber;
• loading cloth items into the wash chamber;
• and
• oscillating the impeller such that the cloth items in the lower transfer zone are dragged in an oscillatory manner along with the impeller wherein cloth items in the bottom of the drop zone are pulled radially inward resulting in cloth items in the drop zone dropping down to fill the space vacated by cloth items being pulled radially inward while cloth items in the feed zone are pushed upwardly and cloth items in the upper transfer zone move radially outward
• wherein the movement of cloth items in the drop zone, lower transfer zone, feed zone and upper transfer zone can be defined as an inverse toroidal path.

An automatic washer, comprising:

• a cabinet;
• a wash tub supported within the cabinet;
• a motor suspended beneath the wash tub;
• a wash basket rotatably supported within the wash tub and being drivingly connected to the motor;
• an impeller disposed in the bottom of the wash basket and drivingly connected to the motor;
• and
• a center post extending upwardly from the impeller within the wash basket, the center post having an auger portion including at least one vane, the auger portion being driving connected to the motor for unidirectional motion for lifting clothes.

An automatic washer, comprising:

• a cabinet;
• a wash tub supported within the cabinet;
• a motor mounted within the cabinet;
• a wash basket rotatably supported within the wash tub and drivingly connected to the motor;
• an impeller disposed within the bottom of the wash basket and drivingly connected to the motor,
• wherein the impeller is oscillated such that the cloth items directly above the impeller are dragged in an oscillatory manner and the cloth items rollover within the wash chamber along an inverse toroidal rollover path.

An automatic washer having a wash chamber for receiving cloth items to be washed, the washer having an impeller located within the bottom of a wash chamber, the impeller being rotatable about a vertical axis, the automatic washer comprising:

• means for supplying a quantity of wash liquid into the wash chamber sufficient to wet the cloth items;
• means for oscillating the impeller such that the cloth items directly above the impeller are dragged in an oscillatory manner;
• and
• means for impeding the angular movement of the cloth items disposed along the periphery of the impeller such that relative angular motion is created between the cloth items disposed along the periphery of the impeller and the cloth items disposed immediately above the impeller
• wherein the cloth items rollover within the wash chamber along an inverse toroidal path.