Clothes washer with a clothes mover having a removable cap

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10731284-B2
Application number	US-201615370629-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 6, 2016
Priority date	Dec 6, 2016
Publication date	Aug 4, 2020
Grant date	Aug 4, 2020

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance having a cabinet, a wash tub located within the cabinet and defining an interior, a wash basket mounted within the wash tub and defining a laundry treating chamber. A clothes mover or agitator can be located within and rotatable relative to and/or with the wash basket having a cap removably mounted to the clothes mover. The cap includes a treating chemistry dispenser system.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A clothes washer comprising:
a tub at least partially defining a liquid chamber;
a basket rotatably mounted within the liquid chamber and defining a treating chamber;
a clothes mover defining an interior, having a dispensing outlet, located within the treating chamber, and rotatable about a vertical axis; and
a cap removably mounted to the clothes mover and having:
a first treating chemistry reservoir defined by the cap;
an outlet opening fluidly coupled to the dispensing outlet;
a conduit bypassing the interior of the clothes mover and extending directly between the outlet opening and the dispensing outlet;
a manually-actuable valve configured to control a fluid flow of a first treating chemistry directly into the treating chamber via the conduit by selectively coupling the first treating chemistry reservoir to the outlet opening; and
an actuator configured to control the manually-actuable valve located on an exterior of the cap.

2. The clothes washer of claim 1 wherein the clothes mover comprises an agitator having a base with a barrel terminating in a top and the cap is mounted to the top.

3. The clothes washer of claim 2 wherein the cap is threadably mounted to the top.

4. The clothes washer of claim 2 wherein the barrel further comprises a second treating chemistry reservoir.

5. The clothes washer of claim 4 wherein the cap comprises a pass-through passage fluidly coupled to the second treating chemistry reservoir whereby the second treating chemistry reservoir is fillable through the pass-through passage.

6. The clothes washer of claim 5 wherein the second treating chemistry reservoir is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber by a dispensing passage.

7. The clothes washer of claim 6 wherein the second treating chemistry reservoir is a centrifugal dispenser.

8. The clothes washer of claim 5 wherein the first treating chemistry reservoir is sized to receive multiple doses of a first treating chemistry.

9. The clothes washer of claim 4 wherein the conduit bypasses the second treating chemistry reservoir.

10. The clothes washer of claim 2 wherein the outlet opening is fluidly coupled to a dispensing outlet in the barrel.

11. The clothes washer of claim 1 wherein the first treating chemistry reservoir is sized to receive multiple doses of the first treating chemistry.

12. A clothes washer comprising:
a tub at least partially defining a liquid chamber;
a basket rotatably mounted within the liquid chamber and defining a treating chamber;
a clothes mover located within the treating chamber and rotatable about a vertical axis;
a centrifugal dispenser located within the clothes mover;
a cap removably mounted to the clothes mover and having:
a first treating chemistry reservoir defined by the cap;
an outlet opening;
a manually-actuable valve configured to control a flow of treating chemistry through the outlet opening by selectively coupling the first treating chemistry reservoir to the outlet opening;
a treating chemistry channel bypassing the centrifugal dispenser and extending from the manually-actuable valve to the treating chamber; and
an actuator configured to control the manually-actuable valve located on an exterior of the cap.

13. The clothes washer of claim 12 wherein the clothes mover comprises an agitator having a base with a barrel terminating in a top and the cap is mounted to the top.

14. The clothes washer of claim 13 wherein the cap is threadably mounted to the top.

15. The clothes washer of claim 13 wherein the treating chemistry channel is fluidly coupled to a dispensing outlet in the barrel.

16. The clothes washer of claim 13 wherein the centrifugal dispenser defines a second treating chemistry reservoir located in the barrel.

17. The clothes washer of claim 16 wherein the cap comprises a pass-through passage fluidly coupled to the centrifugal dispenser whereby the centrifugal dispenser is fillable through the pass-through passage.

18. The clothes washer of claim 17 wherein the centrifugal dispenser is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber by a dispensing passage.

19. The clothes washer of claim 12 wherein the outlet opening is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber wherein manual activation of the actuator releases the treating chemistry from the first treating chemistry reservoir directly into the treating chamber.

20. The clothes washer of claim 12 wherein the first treating chemistry reservoir is sized to receive multiple doses of the treating chemistry.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Alexander Benjamin E
• Carpenter Scott E
• Davis Mark A

Classifications

• D06F39/022

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

• D06F39/024 Primary

  mounted on the agitator or the rotating drum; Free body dispensers · CPC title

• D06F13/02

  wherein the agitator has an oscillatory rotary motion only · CPC title

• D06F23/04

  and rotating or oscillating about a vertical axis · CPC title