Laundry treating appliance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11708656-B2
Application number	US-202217984017-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 9, 2022
Priority date	Jan 17, 2017
Publication date	Jul 25, 2023
Grant date	Jul 25, 2023

Abstract

A method of operating a laundry treating appliance, such as a washing machine, having a cabinet defining an interior and defining an access opening. A lid can be movably mounted relative to the cabinet to selectively open or close the access opening. A tub can be located within the interior and the tub can contain a rotatably mounted drum, such as a horizontally rotatable drum, including a flexible fabric material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a laundry treating appliance for treating a load of laundry according to a cycle of operation, the laundry treating appliance comprising a cabinet defining an interior, a tub, housed within the interior, a drum at least partially received within the tub, the drum having a sidewall and a pair of end walls and defining a circumference of the drum and at least partially defining a treating chamber and having a drum opening disposed within the sidewall and the drum is configured to selectively rotate within the tub; the sidewall comprising a shell defining an exterior surface with the drum opening located in the shell, a moveable door operably coupled to the shell and moveable between an opened position wherein access is provided to the treating chamber through the drum opening and a closed position, the method comprising:
wrapping a flexible fabric around at least a portion of the circumference of the sidewall including the drum opening.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wrapping is done under tension.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising manually turning the drum to wrap the drum.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising electrically turning the drum via a motor operably coupled to the drum to rotate the drum in response to a signal from a controller to wrap the drum.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the controller is configured to automatically operate the motor to move the flexible fabric material to the wrapped position.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising securing the flexible fabric in the wrapped position with a pin operably coupled to the drum.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising wrapping the circumference of the drum with at least two layers of the flexible fabric material across the drum opening in the wrapped position.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising taking up the flexible fabric material from the drum as it moves from the wrapped position to the unwrapped position via a take-up device comprising a spring-loaded mechanism.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the flexible fabric material includes openings to allow liquid to pass through the flexible fabric material.

10. A method of operating a laundry treating appliance for treating a load of laundry according to a cycle of operation, the laundry treating appliance comprising a cabinet defining an interior, a tub, housed within the interior, a drum at least partially received within the tub, the drum having a sidewall and a pair of end walls and defining a circumference of the drum and at least partially defining a treating chamber and having a drum opening disposed within the sidewall and the drum is configured to selectively rotate within the tub; the sidewall comprising a shell defining an exterior surface with the drum opening located in the shell, the method comprising:
wrapping a flexible fabric around an entire circumference of the sidewall including the drum opening and overlap to provide at least two layers of the flexible fabric material across the drum opening in the wrapped position.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the laundry treating appliance further comprises a moveable door operably coupled to the shell and moveable between an opened position wherein access is provided to the treating chamber through the drum opening and a closed position.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wrapping is done under tension.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising manually turning the drum to wrap the drum.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising electrically turning the drum via a motor operably coupled to the drum to rotate the drum in response to a signal from a controller.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the controller is configured to automatically operate the motor to move the flexible fabric material to the wrapped position.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising securing the flexible fabric in the wrapped position with a pin operably coupled to the drum.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising taking up the flexible fabric material from the drum as it moves from the wrapped position to the unwrapped position via a take-up device comprising a spring-loaded mechanism.

18. The method of claim 10 , wherein the flexible fabric material includes openings to allow liquid to pass through the flexible fabric material.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Erickson Donald
• Fricke Steven
• Gianni Christian
• Kessler Thomas
• Poojary Praveen
• Roberts Erica
• Rodriguez Jaime
• Wagoner Peter

Classifications

• D06F37/10 Primary

  Doors; Securing means therefor · CPC title

• D06F37/04

  adapted for rotation or oscillation about a horizontal or inclined axis · CPC title