Laundry treating appliance and dispenser

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10648121-B2
Application number	US-201615354077-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 17, 2016
Priority date	Nov 17, 2016
Publication date	May 12, 2020
Grant date	May 12, 2020

Abstract

A laundry treating an appliance comprises a cabinet defining an interior and having an access opening located on one of a front or top of the cabinet, a tub located within the interior and defining a liquid reservoir, a drum located within the liquid reservoir and rotatable about a horizontal or vertical axis, a dispenser fluidly coupled to the liquid reservoir having at least one treating chemistry compartment with a siphon movable between a first position and a second position.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A dispenser for a laundry treating appliance comprising:
at least one treating chemistry compartment having a chamber and defining an outlet opening fluidly coupling the chamber to an exterior of the chamber;
a siphon at least partially located within the chamber and movable relative to the chamber to selectively open or close the outlet opening; and
an actuator moving the siphon between a first position, wherein the siphon closes the outlet opening to enable the dispenser to operate in a liquid mode, and a second position, wherein the siphon opens at least a portion of the outlet opening to enable the dispenser to operate in a powder mode.

2. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the actuator is a rotatable knob.

3. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein the rotatable knob comprises a sleeve with a helical slot and the siphon comprises a shaft with a pin received within the helical slot.

4. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the at least one treating chemistry compartment comprises a cover plate and the actuator is coupled to the cover plate.

5. The dispenser of claim 4 wherein the cover plate at least partially overlies the chamber.

6. The dispenser of claim 4 wherein at least one of the cover plate or knob comprises indicia corresponding to the liquid and powder modes.

7. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the siphon is slidably mounted to the at least one treating chemistry compartment.

8. The dispenser of claim 7 wherein the at least one treating chemistry compartment comprises edges defining the outlet opening and the siphon comprises grooves that receive the edges to slidably mount the siphon to the at least one treating chemistry compartment.

9. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein the siphon comprises an inlet tube, fluidly coupled to the chamber, and an outlet tube fluidly coupling the inlet tube to the exterior of the chamber when the siphon is in the first position.

10. A laundry treating appliance comprising:
a cabinet defining an interior and having an access opening located on one of a front or top of the cabinet;
a tub located within the interior and defining a liquid reservoir;
a drum located within the liquid reservoir and rotatable about one of a horizontal or vertical axis; and
a dispenser fluidly coupled to the liquid reservoir having at least one treating chemistry compartment having a chamber and defining an outlet opening fluidly coupling the chamber to an exterior of the chamber, a siphon at least partially located within the chamber and movable relative to the chamber to selectively open or close the outlet opening, and an actuator moving the siphon between a first position, wherein the siphon closes the outlet opening to enable the dispenser to operate in a liquid mode, and a second position, wherein the siphon opens at least a portion of the outlet opening to enable the dispenser to operate in a powder mode.

11. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the actuator is a rotatable knob.

12. The laundry treating appliance of claim 11 wherein the rotatable knob comprises a sleeve with a helical slot and the siphon comprises a shaft with a pin received within the helical slot.

13. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the at least one treating chemistry compartment comprises a cover plate and the actuator is coupled to the cover plate.

14. The laundry treating appliance of claim 13 wherein the cover plate at least partially overlies the chamber.

15. The laundry treating appliance of claim 13 wherein at least one of the cover plate or knob comprises indicia corresponding to the liquid and powder modes.

16. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the siphon is slidably mounted to the at least one treating chemistry compartment.

17. The laundry treating appliance of claim 16 wherein the at least one treating chemistry compartment comprises edges defining the outlet opening and the siphon comprises grooves that receive the edges to slidably mount the siphon to the at least one treating chemistry compartment.

18. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 wherein the siphon comprises an inlet tube, fluidly coupled to the chamber, and an outlet tube fluidly coupling the inlet tube to the exterior of the chamber when the siphon is in the first position.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Bronn Tobias
• Budicky Tibor
• Martinko Jan

Classifications

• D06F39/02 Primary

  Devices for adding soap or other washing agents · CPC title

• D06F39/022

  in a liquid state (D06F39/024 takes precedence) · CPC title

• D06F39/028 Primary

  Arrangements for selectively supplying water to detergent compartments · CPC title