Cutlery basket for dishwasher

Abstract

 A cutlery basket (1) for dishwashers comprises a mesh-structure vertical container (2) in which the cutlery (C) is introduced through a plurality of apertures (4) formed in a top lid (5) of the container (2), the apertures (4) being sized so as to let through the handle of a piece of cutlery but not its larger end portion, in which the edges (6) of the apertures (4) have a pointed profile that has a vertex angle smaller than 70° so as to prevent the clinging of water drops in the contact regions between the cutlery and the basket (1) thus improving the drying performance.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to dishwashers, and in particular to a cutlery basket.

[0002] It is known that cutlery baskets for dishwashers usually consist of a vertical container open at the top with a mesh structure to let the water through, as well as internal partition walls to hold the cutlery in a substantially vertical position.

[0003] This prior art solution however has the drawback that in the portion of the cutlery that is in contact with the basket structure or with other adjacent cutlery the contact surface between said elements and the cutlery is sufficiently large as to allow an easy clinging of water drops. As a consequence, at the end of the wash and drying cycle there are still water drops on the cutlery that negatively affect the drying performance, despite the use of active drying systems such as the recirculation of moist air through a heat exchanger or its discharge to the outside.

[0004] Moreover, in order to reduce the power consumptions, the latest developments in the field of dishwashers have led to a decrease in rinse temperatures and this makes even easier the occurrence of the above-mentioned drawback.

[0005] A cutlery basket structure that reduces this drawback, although not preventing it altogether, has a structure comprising a lid located on top of the container and provided with a plurality of individual apertures sized so as to let through the handle of a piece of cutlery but not its larger end portion. When a piece of cutlery is slipped through one of these apertures, at the handle end, it remains hanging on the lid with the handle inside the container and the end portion on the outside. In this way the contact surface with the structure is just that at the edge of the apertures and there is no risk of contact between the cutlery.

[0006] However also this arrangement is not free from drawbacks, since there is still the problem of the water drops clinging at the contact point between the cutlery and the edges of the apertures, as well as a decrease in the loading capacity of the basket and a greater manufacturing complexity of the basket requiring a lid with several individual apertures.

[0007] Therefore the object of the present invention is to provide a cutlery basket for dishwashers which overcomes the above-mentioned drawbacks.

[0008] This obj ect is achieved by means of a basket having a lid provided with a plurality of apertures for hanging the cutlery, the edges of said apertures having a pointed profile that minimizes the contact surface between the cutlery and the basket.

[0009] The main advantage of the present cutlery basket is that of preventing the clinging of the water drops in the contact regions between the cutlery and the basket while retaining the ease of production of the basket, so as to improve the drying performance without any increase in costs.

[0010] Another advantage of this basket stems from the fact that it can be easily applied even to existing racks, so as to provide an inexpensive upgrade of the dishwashers already in use.

[0011] Still a further advantage of said basket, in its preferred embodiment, is that of having a lid structure that is simpler and cheaper to manufacture, which also allows an increase in the loading capacity.

[0012] These and other advantages and characteristics of the cutlery basket for dishwashers according to the present invention will be clear to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of an embodiment thereof, with reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

Fig.1 is a front perspective view of a cutlery basket with cutlery arranged therein; and

Fig.2 is a longitudinal sectional view, with two enlarged details, of the basket of Fig.1.

[0013] Referring to figures 1 and 2, there is seen that a cutlery basket 1 conventionally includes a vertical container 2 with a mesh structure, provided with a handle 3, in which the cutlery C is introduced through a plurality of apertures 4 (four in the illustrated example) formed in the lid 5.

[0014] A first novel aspect of the present cutlery basket 1, as previously mentioned, resides in the fact that the edges 6 of apertures 4 have a pointed profile that minimizes the contact with cutlery C, as shown in the enlarged details of Fig.2. More specifically, said pointed profile has a vertex angle smaller than 70° and preferably comprised between 40° and 50°, such as to minimize the contact surface with cutlery C and to increase the angles between the latter and edges 6 whereby the water drops can not cling and thus flow down by gravity.

[0015] A second novel aspect of this basket is given by apertures 4 for cutlery C that rather than being formed in lid 5 as many individual apertures, i.e. as a grid structure or the like, are formed as few (in the order of units) simple rectangular apertures whose edges 6 along the long sides are serrated so as to form many seats for the individual pieces of cutlery.

[0016] It is clear that the above-described and illustrated embodiment of the cutlery basket for dishwashers according to the invention is just an example susceptible of various modifications. In particular, the exact shape, number and arrangement of apertures 4 could be changed according to specific manufacturing needs, e.g. by forming the apertures longitudinally rather than transversely as shown in the figures.

[0017] Similarly, the material used for basket 1 can be any material suitable in terms of resistance to water, temperature, detergents and shocks such as plastic materials, rubber, metal, wood and the like.

Claims

1. Cutlery basket (1) for dishwashers, comprising a mesh-structure vertical container (2) in which the cutlery (C) is introduced through a plurality of apertures (4) formed in a top lid (5) of said container (2), said apertures (4) being sized so as to let through the handle of a piece of cutlery but not its larger end portion, characterized in that the edges (6) of the apertures (4) have a pointed profile that has a vertex angle smaller than 70°.

2. Cutlery basket (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the vertex angle of the profile of the edges (6) is comprised between 40° and 50°.

3. Cutlery basket (1) according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the apertures (4 ) are formed in the lid (5) in a number of the order of units and their edges (6) along the longer sides are serrated.

4. Cutlery basket (1) according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the apertures (4) are rectangular apertures arranged transversely with respect to the longitudinal axis of the basket.

Drawing