Laundry treating appliance having a treating tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11060224-B2
Application number	US-201916587913-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 30, 2019
Priority date	Oct 22, 2018
Publication date	Jul 13, 2021
Grant date	Jul 13, 2021

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance includes a chassis defining an interior. A rotatable treating chamber is located within the interior. The laundry treating appliance further includes a dispenser having at least one treating chemistry reservoir fluidly coupled to the treating chamber and at least one tool docking station fluidly coupled to the treating chamber. A treating tool has an internal treating chemistry reservoir and is configured to dock with the tool docking station to fluidly couple the internal treating chemistry reservoir with the treating chamber.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A laundry treating appliance comprising:
a chassis defining an interior;
a rotatable treating chamber located within the interior;
a dispenser having at least one treating chemistry reservoir fluidly coupled to the treating chamber and at least one tool docking station fluidly coupled to the treating chamber; and
a treating tool having an internal treating chemistry reservoir and configured to dock with the tool docking station to fluidly couple the internal treating chemistry reservoir with the treating chamber.

2. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the treating tool is a brush.

3. The laundry treating appliance of claim 2 wherein the brush comprises a handle with bristles extending from the handle.

4. The laundry treating appliance of claim 3 wherein the internal treating chemistry reservoir is located within the handle.

5. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the tool docking station comprises a recess in which the treating tool is received.

6. The laundry treating appliance of claim 5 wherein the recess comprises a drain that is fluidly coupled to the treating chamber.

7. The laundry treating appliance of claim 6 further comprising a water supply line fluidly coupled to the recess, such that water supplied to the recess can be supplied to the treating chamber via the drain.

8. The laundry treating appliance of claim 7 wherein the treating tool comprises an outlet fluidly coupling the internal treating chemistry reservoir to the recess wherein water supplied to the recess via the water supply line flushes a treating chemistry down the drain to the treating chamber.

9. The laundry treating appliance of claim 8 wherein the water supplied to the recess via the water supply line further rinses the treating tool.

10. The laundry treating appliance of claim 6 wherein the drain comprises a first fluid coupling and the treating tool comprises a second fluid coupling, which fluidly mates with the first fluid coupling when the treating tool is docked with the tool docking station to fluidly couple the internal treating chemistry reservoir to the drain.

11. The laundry treating appliance of claim 10 further comprising a liquid pump fluidly coupled with at least one of the internal treating chemistry reservoir and the drain to pump the contents of the internal treating chemistry reservoir through the drain and to the treating chamber.

12. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the dispenser comprises a drawer slidably mounted to the chassis.

13. The laundry treating appliance of claim 12 wherein the drawer includes a front and the tool docking station is located in the front.

14. The laundry treating appliance of claim 13 wherein the front comprises a peripheral edge and the tool docking station is located in the peripheral edge.

15. The laundry treating appliance of claim 1 wherein the tool docking station is fluidly coupled to the at least one treating chemistry reservoir to fluidly couple the tool docking station to the treating chamber.

16. The laundry treating appliance of claim 15 wherein the tool docking station has at least one drain opening fluidly coupled to the at least one treating chemistry reservoir.

17. The laundry treating appliance of claim 16 wherein at least a portion of the tool docking station overlies the at least one treating chemistry reservoir.

18. The laundry treating appliance of claim 16 wherein at least a portion of the tool docking station lies above at least a portion of the at least one treating chemistry reservoir.

19. The laundry treating appliance of claim 15 wherein the dispenser comprises a drawer having a body and a front mounted to the body, with the at least one treating chemistry reservoir carried by the body and the tool docking station carried by the front.

20. The laundry treating appliance of claim 19 wherein the front has a peripheral edge and the tool docking station is located within the peripheral edge.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Cannon Marcus A
• Carpenter Scott E
• Sells Joel M

Classifications

• D06F21/02

  about a horizontal axis · CPC title

• A46B11/001

  with integral reservoirs (A46B11/0003, A46B11/0006 take precedence) · CPC title

• D06F39/02 Primary

  Devices for adding soap or other washing agents · CPC title

• A46B2200/3053

  Clothes brush, i.e. brushes specifically designed for cleaning clothes · CPC title

• D06F29/00 Primary

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