초록 ▼

An appliance drawer construction allows, upon the press of a button, the extension of the drawer from a housing. At the same time, inadvertent unintended opening caused, e.g., by a person's body brushing past or up against the appliance, may be avoided. In another aspect, the invention provides a si

An appliance drawer construction allows, upon the press of a button, the extension of the drawer from a housing. At the same time, inadvertent unintended opening caused, e.g., by a person's body brushing past or up against the appliance, may be avoided. In another aspect, the invention provides a simple and effective latch release linkage which is particularly well suited to a drawer, like a laundry washer additives dispenser drawer, that requires an offset of the latch from the operation push-button, due to the placement of an additive storage compartment portion of the drawer directly behind the front console of the drawer, and the space constraints within the housing that receives the drawer.

대표청구항 ▼

1. An assembly of a drawer and a housing that receives the drawer, said assembly further comprising a latch mechanism having a first catch carried by said drawer which is resiliently biased by a first bias mechanism also carried by said drawer into engagement with a mating second catch provided on s

1. An assembly of a drawer and a housing that receives the drawer, said assembly further comprising a latch mechanism having a first catch carried by said drawer which is resiliently biased by a first bias mechanism also carried by said drawer into engagement with a mating second catch provided on said housing, when said drawer is advanced into said housing; said latch mechanism further including a push-button actuator carried by said drawer and operably connected with said first catch so as to effect a disengagement of said first catch from said second catch upon being pressed, said assembly further comprising a second bias mechanism for biasing said drawer to move at least partially out of said housing upon a press of the push-button actuator under a condition that the drawer is not blocked from moving outwardly, and whereupon in a condition that the drawer is blocked from moving outward at a time that said push-button actuator is pressed, said first catch remains in a position to be biased back into engagement with said second catch by said first bias mechanism upon a release of said push-button actuator, whereby said drawer remains secured within said housing. 2. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein said housing is a housing of an automated washing machine, and said drawer is an additive dispenser drawer. 3. An assembly according to claim 2, wherein said automated washing machine is an automated laundry washing machine. 4. An assembly according to claim 1, wherein the latch mechanism is configured to permit the drawer to move sufficiently outwardly relative to the push-button actuator, upon disengagement of the first catch from the second catch, to prevent a reengagement of the first catch with the second catch upon a user's release of the push-button actuator, whereby a press of the push-button actuator by a user does not, by itself, inhibit a release of the drawer allowing it to be extended from the housing. 5. An assembly according to claim 1, said latch mechanism further comprising a pivotably mounted linkage member operably interconnecting said push-button actuator and said first catch. 6. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 5, wherein said pivotably mounted linkage member has a generally vertically oriented pivot axis. 7. An assembly of a drawer and a housing that receives the drawer, said assembly further comprising a latch mechanism having a first catch carried by said drawer which is biased into engagement with a mating second catch provided on said housing, when said drawer is advanced into said housing; said latch mechanism further including a push-button actuator operably connected with said first catch so as to effect a disengagement of said first catch from said second catch upon being pressed, said assembly further comprising a bias mechanism for biasing said drawer to move at least partially out of said housing upon a press of the push-button actuator under a condition that the drawer is not blocked from moving outwardly, and whereupon in a condition that the drawer is blocked from moving outward at a time that said push-button actuator is pressed, said first catch remains in a position to be biased back into engagement with said second catch upon a release of said push-button actuator, whereby said drawer remains secured within said housing, wherein:said pivotably mounted linkage member has a generally vertically oriented pivot axis;said latch mechanism further comprises a pivotably mounted linkage member operably interconnecting said push-button actuator and said first catch; andsaid linkage member comprises a generally vertically extending portion and an arm extending rearwardly from said generally vertically extending portion, said first catch being provided at a rearward end of said arm such that upon pivotable movement of said linkage member said first catch swings through a generally horizontal arc toward or away from said second catch. 8. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 7, further comprising a spring attached to said linkage member to bias the same for pivotal movement that moves the first catch into engagement with said second catch, and wherein a press of said push-button actuator acts to pivot said linkage member against said bias to thereby cause said first catch to disengage from said second catch. 9. An additive dispenser drawer assembly of an automatic laundry appliance, including: an additive dispenser drawer comprising a front panel, and a drawer compartment portion behind said front panel for holding and dispensing additives;a housing of the appliance that receives the drawer; anda latch mechanism, said latch mechanism comprising a first catch carried by said drawer;a second catch provided on said housing, said first catch being engageable with the second catch when said drawer is advanced into said housing; and a user operable latch release actuator carried by said drawer and operably connected with said first catch so as to effect, upon actuation, a disengagement of said first catch from said second catch;wherein, said actuator is positioned on said front panel of said drawer and, elevation-wise, at least partially above a bottom of the drawer compartment; and said first and second catches are vertically offset from said actuator so as to be positioned, elevation-wise, at least partially below said bottom of the drawer compartment. 10. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 9, wherein said latch mechanism is biased to move the first catch into engagement with said second catch, and actuation of the latch release actuator acts to disengage said first catch from said second catch against said bias. 11. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 10, wherein said latch release actuator is a push-button actuator, and said latch mechanism further comprises a pivotably mounted linkage member operably interconnecting said push-button actuator and said first catch. 12. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 11, wherein said pivotably mounted linkage member has a generally vertically oriented pivot axis. 13. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 12, wherein said linkage member comprises a generally vertically extending portion and an arm extending rearwardly from said generally vertically extending, portion, said first catch being provided at a rearward end of said arm such that upon pivotable movement of said linkage member said first catch swings through a generally horizontal arc toward or away from said second catch. 14. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 13, further comprising a spring attached to said linkage member to bias the same for pivotal movement that moves the first catch into engagement with said second catch, and wherein a press of said push-button actuator acts to pivot said linkage member against said bias to thereby cause said first catch to disengage from said second catch. 15. An additive dispenser drawer assembly according to claim 11, further comprising a bias mechanism for biasing said drawer to move at least partially out of said housing upon a press of the push-button actuator under a condition that the drawer is not blocked from moving outwardly slightly relative to the push-button actuator, and whereupon in a condition that the drawer is blocked from moving outward slightly relative to the push-button actuator at a time that said actuator is pressed, said first catch remains in a position to be biased back into engagement with said second catch upon a release of said button, whereby said drawer remains secured within said housing. 16. An assembly of a drawer and a housing that receives the drawer, said assembly further comprising a latch mechanism having a first catch carried by said drawer which is resiliently biased by a first bias mechanism also carried by said drawer into engagement with a mating second catch provided on said housing, when said drawer is advanced into said housing; said latch mechanism further including a push-button actuator operably connected with said first catch so as to move the first catch to effect a disengagement of said first catch from said second catch upon being pressed, said assembly further comprising a second bias mechanism for biasing said drawer to move at least partially out of said housing upon a press of the push-button actuator under a condition that the drawer is not blocked from moving outwardly, and whereupon in a condition that the drawer is blocked from moving outward at a time that said push-button actuator is pressed, said first catch remains in a position to be biased back into engagement with said second catch by said first bias mechanism upon a release of said push-button actuator, whereby said drawer remains secured within said housing. 17. An assembly according to claim 16, wherein said push-button actuator is carried by said drawer.