Washing machine

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10119218-B2
Application number	US-201514874882-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2015
Priority date	Feb 6, 2015
Publication date	Nov 6, 2018
Grant date	Nov 6, 2018

Abstract

A washing machine includes a door and an auxiliary washing unit that may be readily fastened to each other by a locking unit for fastening the door and the auxiliary washing unit. The washing machine includes a main body in which an opening is formed, a door that opens and closes the opening, an auxiliary washing unit that is provided on an inner side of the door to form an auxiliary washing space, and a locking unit that locks the door and the auxiliary washing unit. Here, the locking unit may perform linear motion in one direction to lock or unlock the door and the auxiliary washing unit.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A washing machine, comprising:
a main body having an opening disposed at an upper portion of the main body;
a door rotatably disposed on the main body and configured to open and close the opening; and
an auxiliary washing unit disposed between the opening and the door when the opening is closed by the door,
wherein the door comprises:
a hinge unit disposed at a rear side of the door,
a locking unit disposed at a front side of the door, the locking unit being configured to lock the door to the auxiliary washing unit and release the door from the auxiliary washing unit, and including a rotation protrusion protruding from a body of the locking unit, and
an accommodating portion configured to support the rotation protrusion to perform linear and rotational motion inside the accommodating portion so that the locking unit is moveable in forward and rearward directions and rotatable during locking and unlocking of the locking unit.

2. The washing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the accommodating portion is a space in which a diameter in one direction is greater than a diameter in the other direction.

3. The washing machine according to claim 2 , wherein the accommodating portion is formed to have a substantially elliptical shape and is elongated in forward and rearward directions.

4. The washing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the rotation protrusion performs linear and rotational motion inside the accommodating portion.

5. The washing machine according to claim 1 , wherein, when an external force is applied to the locking unit, the locking unit is moved forward toward a front side of the washing machine.

6. The washing machine according to claim 5 , wherein
the locking unit includes an elastic member that provides an elastic force to the locking unit, and
when the external force applied to the locking unit is removed, the locking unit is moved rearward by the elastic member toward a rear side of the washing machine and returned to a position before the external force was applied.

7. The washing machine according to claim 1 , wherein a rotation axis of the door is in parallel with a rotation axis of the locking unit.

8. The washing machine according to claim 7 , wherein, the auxiliary washing unit comprises an interference portion that protrudes forward toward a front side of the washing machine and is configured to be selectively interfered with by the locking unit.

9. The washing machine according to claim 1 , wherein, when the locking unit locks the door to the auxiliary washing unit, the door and the auxiliary washing unit are rotatable together.

10. The washing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the door and the auxiliary washing unit are rotatable about a same rotational axis.

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Han Won Jae
• Kim Do Haeng
• Kim Young-Hyun
• Kim Ji Yoon
• Oh Min Hwan
• Ko Hong Seok
• Jo Jae Hee
• HONG Je Wan

Classifications

• D06F39/14 Primary

  Doors or covers; Securing means therefor · CPC title

• D06F29/00

  Combinations of a washing machine with other separate apparatus in a common frame or the like, e.g. with rinsing apparatus · CPC title

• D06F39/12

  Casings; Tubs · CPC title

• D06F23/04

  and rotating or oscillating about a vertical axis · CPC title

• D06F31/00 Primary

  Washing installations comprising an assembly of several washing machines or washing units, e.g. continuous flow assemblies · CPC title