JPH04679B2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed Description of the Invention] [Object of the Invention] (Industrial Application Field) The present invention relates to a detergent supply device for a washing machine, etc., which is installed in a device such as a washing machine and supplies detergent to a detergent receptacle thereof. .

(Prior Art) Conventionally, as a detergent supply device for this type of washing machine, etc., there is one shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 54-43827. This device is generally installed in a washing machine, and the detergent stored in a hopper is discharged by a valve manually operated by the user and supplied into a washing tub.

(Problems to be Solved by the Invention) In the case of the above conventional washing machine, the entire installation structure for the washing machine is fixed, and it is not easy to remove the hopper together with the valve. Therefore, when a user wants to put detergent into the hopper, for example, the user has to carry the detergent container up to the top of the hopper one by one, and then pour detergent from the detergent container into the hopper. It also has the disadvantage of being forced to do so,
A solution to this point was requested.

The detergent supply device for washing machines, etc. of the present invention has been made to satisfy the above-mentioned needs, and therefore, its purpose is to provide a device that facilitates the work of storing detergent in a hopper, and also to provide a detergent supply device for washing machines, etc. The purpose is to provide a product that prevents new problems from occurring and is also easy to handle.

[Structure of the Invention] (Means for Solving the Problems) The detergent supply device for a washing machine or the like of the present invention includes a hopper and a detergent dispenser for discharging the detergent in the hopper from the detergent outlet of the hopper toward a detergent receiver. The parts are made into a unit, and this unit is provided removably from the equipment, and a lid is provided on the detergent outlet portion of the unit, and the lid is adapted to open the detergent outlet when the unit is attached or removed. The feature is that the detergent outlet is closed when removed.

(Function) According to the above means, the hopper can be easily removed from the device in a unit state with the detergent dispensing member, and in the removed state, it is possible to carry out the detergent storage work, etc. as desired.

When the hopper is removed as described above, there is a concern that detergent may spill from the detergent outlet when the hopper is removed or carried in the removed state. On the other hand, when the hopper is removed, the lid provided at the detergent outlet portion closes the detergent outlet, thereby eliminating the fear of detergent spilling.

The detergent outlet can be automatically blocked by the lid by removing the unit (hopper), and opened by the unit (hopper) by installing the lid, thus eliminating the trouble of the user having to open and close the lid one by one. Otherwise.

(Example) An example in which the present invention is applied to a detergent supply device for a washing machine will be described below with reference to the drawings.

First, in Figure 2, 1 is the outer box of the washing machine,
Reference numeral 2 indicates an upper cover attached to the upper surface of the upper cover; 3 indicates a bi-fold type lid provided on the upper cover 2 so that it can be opened and closed; and 4 indicates an upper cover 2 located in front of the cover 3.
This is an operation panel installed on the front edge of the machine. On the other hand, reference numeral 5 designates a rear panel located behind the lid 3 and provided at the rear edge of the upper cover 2, and is provided with a power switch 6 and a hopper 7.

More specifically, as shown in FIG. 1, the hopper 7 includes an inner wall 9 made of, for example, transparent plastic and having a horizontally cylindrical detergent delivery portion 8 at the bottom thereof, and an outer wall 10 made of transparent plastic surrounding the outer periphery of the inner wall 9.
This constitutes the entire peripheral wall 11, and furthermore, the outer wall 10 has an upper part 10a and a lower part 10b that are separately manufactured and joined together, and the uppermost part thereof is fitted inside the upper outer peripheral rib 12 of the inner wall 9. The inner wall 9 is connected to the outer periphery of the inner wall 9 with a predetermined distance 13 therebetween. Note that 14 is a lid of the hopper 7.

Further, 15 is a lower part 1 of the outer wall 10 on one side (left side in FIG. 1) of both sides of the lowermost part of the outer wall 10.
0b, and 16 is a claw formed integrally with a push button 17 removably installed on the lower part 10b of the outer wall 10 on the other side (right side in the figure), while 18 is a claw formed integrally with the As shown in FIG. 3, this is a recess formed in the rear panel 5 by surrounding the upper edge with a rib 19, in which a hole 20 is formed on one side (the left side in FIG. 1) of both sides, and a hole 20 is formed on the other side. (Right side in the same figure)
The hopper 7 is removably attached to the rear panel 5 by forming a hole 21 in the rear panel 5, with the pawl 15 engaged in the hole 20 and the pawl 16 in the hole 21.

Reference numeral 22 denotes a detergent dispensing member inserted in advance into the detergent dispensing portion 8 located in the recess 18 when the above-mentioned hopper 7 is attached, and in particular, in the case of this embodiment, it is composed of a coil, and its base end (the left end in FIG. 1) is attached to a power transmission shaft 23 inserted into the base end of the detergent dispensing section 8 and rotatably supported, whereby the detergent dispensing member 22 is integrated with the hopper 7. and unitize them.

Reference numeral 25 denotes a motor attached to the left end of the upper cover 2 in FIG. Screw 2 shown in Figure 4
8, and is attached to the upper cover 2 by tightening it, and a drive gear 29 that also serves as a waterproof cap is attached to the rotating shaft 25a, and the drive gear 2
9 is meshed with a driven gear 30 attached to the end of the transmission shaft 23 protruding from the detergent delivery section 8.

Reference numeral 31 denotes a recess extending over almost the entire rear edge of the upper cover 2, which includes a drain port facing into the inside of a washing tub (not shown) disposed in the outer box 1 near the tip of the water receiving portion 26. 32 is formed. Moreover, the recess 31
A detergent receiving part 34 is formed at a portion of the hopper 7 located below the detergent outlet 33 at the tip of the detergent delivery part 8, separated from other parts by partition walls 35 and 36. As shown in FIG. 5, this detergent receiving part 34 has a front-downward slope, and has a supply port 37 facing the inside of the washing tub at its tip, and a rear end. A water supply device 38 is arranged in series with a water supply valve 39. 40 is located above the detergent receiving part 34 and is located in the recessed part 18 of the rear panel 5.
This is an opening formed at the bottom for passing detergent through and also for cleaning.

Reference numeral 41 denotes a convex portion protruding from the bottom of the recess 18 of the rear panel 5, while 42 is a lid (the lid of the hopper 7 described above) whose upper end is pivoted to the lower part 10b of the outer wall of the hopper 7 by a shaft portion 43. 14), and as shown in FIG. 45
is interposed therebetween, thereby urging the push button 17 outward and urging the small lid 42 inward (towards the detergent outlet 33). Further, a diagonal tongue piece 46 is formed at the rear part near the lower end of the small lid 42, and this tongue piece 46 is engaged with the convex portion 41 to push the small lid 42 outward against the biasing force of the spring 45. (to the side opposite to the detergent outlet 33 direction) to open the detergent outlet 33.

Here, FIG. 7 shows a state in which the hopper 7 (a unit of the hopper 7 and the detergent dispenser member 22) is being removed, and at this time, the push button 17 is pushed inward against the biasing force of the spring 45. By pushing in, the claw 16 is removed from the hole 21, and then the claw 1 is
5 is removed from the hole 20. With the removal of the hopper 7 (unit), the small lid 42 is removed.
releases the tongue piece 46 from the convex part 41, and therefore the small lid 4
2 is released from the force of outward rotation by the convex portion 41, is rotated inward by the biasing force of the spring 45, and is pressed against the detergent outlet 33, thereby closing the outlet 33. When the hopper 7 (unit) is reattached from this state, the small lid 42 engages the tongue 46 with the protrusion 41 and slides outward against the biasing force of the spring 45 as described above. It is rotated to open the detergent outlet 33.

In addition, 47 is a stirring body which is rotatably arranged in the hopper 7 with a shaft 48 passed between the front and back of the hopper 7, and has a plurality of holes 49 as well as a plurality of protrusions 50 protruding front and rear. It has a large number of protrusions 51 that protrude outward from the periphery, and one of the protrusions 51 is engaged with the detergent dispensing member 22.

Now, in the case of the device configured as described above, when using it, for example, remove the hopper 7 (unit), open the lid 14, and then pour detergent, for example, powdered detergent 52 into the hopper 7. and close the lid 14. Then, the hopper 7 (unit) is installed as shown in FIG. 1, so that the powdered detergent 52 is stored in the installed hopper 7. In this state, when you operate the necessary switches on the operation panel 4 to wash the clothes, a control device (not shown), for example, a microcomputer built into the lower part of the operation panel 4, starts operating. The motor 25 and the water supply valve 39 are energized and operate together, and the motor 25 transmits its rotational force from the rotating shaft 25a to the driving gear 29, and further from the driving gear 29 to the driven gear 30, and transmits the rotational force to the transmission shaft 23.
Then, by transmitting the signal to the detergent dispenser member 22, the detergent dispenser member 22 is rotated, particularly in a so-called spiral direction. Therefore, the powdered detergent 52 in the hopper 7 is advanced through the detergent delivery section 8 toward the detergent outlet 33 by the rotation of the detergent delivery member 22.
The detergent is then taken out from the detergent outlet 33 as shown by arrow A in FIGS. 1 and 5, and falls onto the detergent receiver 34. On the other hand, the water supply valve 39 is for flowing water onto the detergent receiving portion 34 through the water supply device 38 as shown by arrow B in FIG.
The powdered detergent 52 that has fallen onto the washing machine 4 is swept away, and both of them are supplied from the supply port 37 into a washing tub (not shown).

Note that when the detergent dispenser 22 is rotationally driven as described above, the stirring member 47 that has one of the protrusions 51 engaged with the detergent dispenser 22 sequentially engages the protrusion 51 with the detergent dispenser 22. The powder detergent 52 in the hopper 7 is thereby agitated, and the powder detergent 52 can be introduced into the detergent delivery section 8 more smoothly.

In this way, according to the present embodiment, the powdered detergent 52 can be supplied without leaving it in the hands of the user, and furthermore, in the configuration, the hopper 7 (unit) is connected to the rear panel 5 as described above. As a result, the powdered detergent 52 can be housed as desired with the hopper 7 removed, unlike conventional hoppers that are fixedly installed. You can eliminate the hassle and stress.

If the hopper 7 (unit) is removable as described above, there is a concern that the powdered detergent 52 may spill from the detergent outlet 33 when the hopper 7 (unit) is removed or carried in the removed state. On the other hand, when the hopper 7 is removed, the small lid 42 provided at the detergent outlet 33 portion closes the detergent outlet 33 as described above, thereby eliminating the risk of the powdered detergent 52 spilling out. can also be resolved.

Furthermore, in the case of this embodiment, the detergent outlet 33 can be automatically blocked by the small lid 42 by removing the hopper 7 (unit), and opened by the attachment of the hopper 7 (unit), as described above. Therefore, the user does not have to worry about opening and closing it every time, and it can be handled easily.

In addition to the above, especially in the above embodiment, a single spring 4 is used to bias the small lid 42 in the direction of the detergent outlet 33 and to bias the push button 17 outward.
By sharing 5, it is possible to further reduce the cost.

However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above and shown in the drawings, and therefore the small lid 42
A single spring 45 is not used in common for biasing the detergent outlet 33 direction and biasing the push button 17 outward,
A dedicated spring may be used for each. Further, the detergent receiving portion is not limited to the detergent receiving portion 34 formed on the rear panel 5 described above, but may also be a washing tub. In other words, the detergent may be directly fed into the washing tub and the water supply may be used. It may be supplied without any restrictions. Further, the detergent dispensing member is not limited to the above-described coil, but may be a conventional valve or screw, for example. In addition,
The drive source for rotationally driving the detergent dispensing member is not limited to the motor 25, and may be, for example, a water wheel operating in a water supply channel. As a whole, it is not limited to washing machines, but can be similarly applied to all devices that use detergent to function, such as dishwashers, and the agitator 47, etc. It is also possible to include only those items that require the following, and the detergent may be a powdered detergent
For example, it may be a liquid detergent or the like.

[Effects of the Invention] As is clear from the above description, the detergent supply device for a washing machine or the like of the present invention is installed in a device such as a washing machine and supplies detergent to the detergent receiving portion thereof. A hopper for accommodating and storing the detergent, and a detergent dispensing member for discharging the detergent in the hopper from the detergent outlet of the hopper toward the detergent receiving portion are provided as a unit, and the unit is provided removably from the device. In addition, a lid is provided at the detergent outlet portion of the unit, and this lid responds to the installation and removal of the unit by opening the detergent outlet when the unit is installed and closing the detergent outlet when it is removed. This makes it easier to store detergent in the hopper, and also prevents the detergent from spilling out, which is a new problem with the hopper, and also makes it easier to open and close the lid. This has the excellent effect of improving ease of handling without bothering the user.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

The drawings show one embodiment of the present invention; Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of the main parts, Fig. 2 is an external perspective view of the upper part of the washing machine where the same parts exist, and Fig. 3 is the upper part of the washing machine. External perspective view with the hopper removed, No. 4
The figure is a vertical side view of the main part with the hopper removed, Figure 5 is a vertical side view of the same part at a different cross-sectional position, Figure 6 is a perspective view of the small lid alone, and Figure 7 is the main part with the hopper removed. It is a longitudinal sectional front view in an intermediate state. In the drawing, 1 is a washing machine outer box, 5 is a rear panel, 7 is a hopper, 15 and 16 are claws, 17 is a push button, 22 is a detergent dispenser, 25 is a motor, 29 is a drive gear, 3
0 is a driven gear, 33 is a detergent outlet, 34 is a detergent receiver, 41 is a convex portion, 42 is a small lid, 45 is a spring, 46 is a tongue piece, and 52 is a powdered detergent (detergent).

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A device that is installed in a device such as a washing machine and supplies detergent to its detergent receiver, and includes a hopper that accommodates and stores the detergent, and a hopper that supplies detergent from the detergent outlet of the hopper to the detergent receiver. A detergent dispensing member is provided as a unit, and the unit is provided removably with respect to the device, and a lid is provided on the detergent outlet portion of the unit, and the lid is installed and removed in response to the installation and removal of the unit. A detergent supply device for a washing machine or the like, characterized in that the detergent outlet is opened when the detergent outlet is installed, and the detergent outlet is closed when the detergent outlet is removed.