Dispenser cup

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019330786-A1
Application number	US-201916504482-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 8, 2019
Priority date	Aug 31, 2016
Publication date	Oct 31, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

A washing machine includes a cabinet defining a housing with internal components of a conventional automated clothes washer, a door mounted to the cabinet to selectively open/close the opening to the cabinet, and a dispenser in the form of a fill cup assembly in which single or bulk doses of treating chemistry can be received. The fill cup assembly includes a base cup with at least first and second fluid conduits supplying corresponding destinations, and a selector cup defining a pour zone. The selector cup includes an outlet and rotatable relative to the base cup to selectively fluid couple the outlet to the at least first and second fluid conduits.

First claim

1 . A method of supplying treating chemistry to multiple destinations in a laundry treating appliance, the method comprising selectively moving a selector compartment to fluidly couple an outlet of the selector compartment to one of multiple conduits, each of the multiple conduits supplying a different destination, to fluidly couple the selector compartment to the corresponding one of the different destinations.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the selector compartment comprises a selector cup.

3 . The method of claim 2 comprising a base cup that is configured to receive the selector cup therein, the method comprising moving the selector cup relative to the base cup to fluidly couple the selector compartment with each of the multiple conduits.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein the multiple conduits comprise at least two fluid conduits supplying two different destinations.

5 . The method of claim 1 comprising:
moving the selector compartment to a first position to fluidly couple the selector compartment with a first one of the multiple conduits to supply a treating chemistry to a first one of the multiple destinations; and
moving the selector compartment to a second position to fluidly couple the selector compartment with a second one of the multiple conduits to supply a treating chemistry to a second one of the multiple destinations.

6 . The method of claim 5 wherein the first position fluidly couples the selector compartment with a bulk reservoir and the second position fluidly couples the selector compartment with a treating chamber of the laundry treating appliance in which laundry is treated according to a cycle of operation.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the multiple conduits comprise at least two conduits, each of the at least two conduits fluidly coupled with a bulk reservoir.

8 . A method of supplying treating chemistry to at least a treating chamber or at least one bulk reservoir of a laundry treating appliance, the method comprising: selectively moving a selector compartment defining a cup between a first position, where the cup is fluid coupled with the treating chamber and a second position where the cup is fluid coupled with the at least one bulk reservoir, whereby depending on the position of the cup liquid treating chemistry in the cup will flow into the treating chamber or the bulk reservoir.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein selectively moving the selector compartment comprises moving the cup relative to a base cup holding the cup.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein moving the selector compartment comprises rotating the cup relative to the base cup.

11 . The method of claim 10 wherein rotating the cup relative to the base cup comprises rotating the cup different detent positions corresponding to the first and second positions.

12 . The method of claim 8 wherein the bulk reservoir comprises multiple bulk reservoirs which are fluidly coupled to the cup at different physical positions of the cup.

13 . The method of claim 8 wherein the cup is located in a front portion of the laundry treating appliance.

14 . The method of claim 13 wherein the cup is located above the at least one bulk reservoir.

15 . A method of supplying treating chemistry to multiple destinations in a laundry treating appliance, the method comprising selectively moving a selector compartment to fluidly couple an outlet of the selector compartment to one of multiple conduits, each of the multiple conduits supplying a different destination, with one of the destinations being a treating chamber and another of the destinations being a bulk reservoir.

16 . The method of claim 15 wherein the selector compartment comprises a selector cup.

17 . The method of claim 16 comprising a base cup that is configured to receive the selector cup therein, the method comprising moving the selector cup relative to the base cup to fluidly couple the selector compartment with each of the multiple conduits.

18 . The method of claim 15 wherein selectively moving the selector compartment comprises rotating a cup relative to a cup base.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein rotating the cup relative to the cup base comprises rotating the cup between different detent positions.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein each detent position corresponds to a different fluid connection between the selector compartment and on of the multiple conduits.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Ayers Kevin
• Bixby Seth
• Murphy Sayer J

Classifications

• D06F23/04

  and rotating or oscillating about a vertical axis · CPC title

• D06F39/12

  Casings; Tubs · CPC title

• D06F35/006

  for washing or rinsing only · CPC title

• D06F39/022 Primary

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

• D06F39/02 Primary

  Devices for adding soap or other washing agents · CPC title