Blender jar collars and interlocks

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9527052-B2
Application number	US-201414561665-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 5, 2014
Priority date	Dec 5, 2014
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

A blender collar assembly including a plunger moveable between a lower position where a blade assembly is prevented from coupling with a motor, and an upper position where the blade assembly is able to couple with the motor. The plunger includes an arm extending upward and having a u-shaped feature, and a protrusion associated with the u-shaped feature. The assembly further includes a concentric interlock ring rotating responsive to rotation of a blender jar. The interlock ring including a first portion engaging the u-shaped feature preventing the plunger from moving upward, a second gap portion not engaging the u-shaped feature enabling the plunger to move upward and downward within the collar, and a key engaging a protrusion of the blender jar as the plunger moves upward preventing the interlock ring from rotating while the second portion is rotationally aligned with the u-shaped feature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A collar assembly coupleable to a blender jar and a blender base of a blender, the collar assembly comprising:
a collar housing to receive a bottom portion of the blender jar;
a blade assembly mounted on an axis of the collar housing;
a plunger moveable upward and downward within the collar housing between a lower position where the plunger prevents the blade assembly from coupling with a motor in the blender base, and an upper position where the plunger allows the blade assembly to couple with the motor, the plunger including a base portion and an arm extending upward within the collar housing, the arm having:
a u-shaped channel which extends in a circumferential direction and where an open portion of the u-shaped channel is oriented inwards and perpendicular to the circumferential direction;
a stop protrusion positioned on the arm; and
a slide protrusion having an upper portion adjacent the u-shaped channel and a lower portion extending towards the base portion; and

a concentric interlock ring within the collar housing and rotating responsive to rotation of a blender jar, the interlock ring having:
a first portion engaging the u-shaped channel as the first portion rotationally moves into alignment with the u-shaped channel thereby preventing the plunger from moving upward toward the upper position;
a notch portion not engaging the u-shaped channel and not engaging the slide protrusion when the notch portion is rotationally aligned with the u-shaped channel and the slide protrusion thereby enabling the plunger to move upward and downward within the collar housing;
a side portion of the notch portion engaging the slide protrusion as the plunger moves upward preventing the interlock ring from rotating the notch portion out of alignment of the slide protrusion while the plunger is raised above the lower position; and
a tab portion which engages the stop protrusion on the arm when the interlock ring is rotated to limit the rotational movement of the interlock ring.

2. The collar assembly of claim 1 , wherein the interlock ring further has a key to receive a jar protrusion defined on the blender jar, the interlock ring rotating responsive to movement of the jar protrusion while positioned in the key.

3. The collar assembly of claim 2 , wherein the blender jar comprises a blender jar collar fixedly assembled onto a base of the blender jar, the blender jar collar defining the jar protrusion.

4. The collar assembly of claim 3 , wherein the blender jar collar comprises plastic and the blender jar comprises at least one of metal or glass.

5. The collar assembly of claim 3 , wherein the blender jar collar is formed of a different material than the blender jar.

6. The collar assembly of claim 3 , wherein the blender jar collar is sealed to the blender jar.

7. The collar assembly of claim 2 , wherein the collar housing comprises a horizontal slot to receive the key and the jar protrusion in the key, the horizontal slot at least partially retaining the blender jar on the collar assembly while the plunger is movable to the upper position.

8. The collar assembly of claim 2 , wherein the collar housing has a vertical slot defined therein to align the blender jar with the collar housing and the interlock ring.

9. The collar assembly of claim 8 , wherein the collar assembly is coupled to the blender jar as the blender jar:
is inserted into the collar housing engaging the vertical slot and the key; and
is rotated to rotate the interlock ring from a first rotational position where the first portion of the interlock ring engages the u-shaped channel to a second rotational position where the notch portion of the interlock ring is rotationally positioned at the u-shaped channel.

10. The collar assembly of claim 1 , further comprises a spring biasing the plunger downward when the notch portion is rotationally positioned at the u-shaped channel.

11. The collar assembly of claim 1 , wherein the collar assembly is coupleable to the blender base only after the collar assembly is coupled to the blender jar.

12. The collar assembly of claim 1 , wherein the first portion of the interlock ring engages the u-shaped channel when the blender jar is not coupled to the collar assembly.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Gushwa David J
• Kachorek Jason P
• Kettle Everett Sidney

Classifications

• A47J43/0766 Primary

  activated by the proper positioning of the mixing bowl · CPC title

• B01F13/1041

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F15/00733 Primary

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• B01F15/00831

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• A47J43/042

  Mechanically-driven liquid shakers · CPC title