Wash plate for a clothes washer
AssigneeWhirlpool Corporation
InventorVicki Lyn Wyatt-Smith
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wash plate for a clothes washer having upwardly extending fins and triangular shaped protrusions spaced between the fins. A hub extends upwardly from the center of the wash plate to keep clothes separated. The wash plate has holes provided on the surface to allow mixing of wash liquid and draining of water from clothing. The fins assist in pushing clothing in a circular motion around the hub and the triangular protrusions open the clothes. Opening the clothes keeps them from tangling and allows wash liquid and water to be more evenly dispersed on the clothing.
Claims18
A wash plate for an automatic washer for washing clothes, the wash plate comprising:
- a center area,
- a skirt area surrounding said center area, said skirt area having a substantially circular outer perimeter,
- a hub extending upwardly from the center area,
- at least three fins provided on and extending upwardly from the skirt area and dividing the skirt area into at least three substantially equal sections,
- a plurality of protrusions positioned within each of the at least three sections and provided on and extending upwardly from the skirt area,
- the fins extend at a fin height, the hub extends at a hub height and the protrusions extend at a protrusion height, and
- the hub height is greater than the fin height and the fin height is greater than the protrusion height.
A wash plate for an automatic washer for washing clothes, the wash plate comprising:
- a substantially circular center area,
- a hub extending upwardly from the center area,
- a skirt area surrounding the center area and having an outer perimeter,
- three equidistantly spaced fins provided on and extending upwardly from the skirt area, said fins extending substantially radially away from the center area and defining three equal sections, and
- two outside and one inside multi-faced protrusions extending upwardly from the skirt area within each section.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.