Single-wall electric household appliance, in particular a professional dishwasher with integral inner guides

Abstract

 An electric household appliance (1), e.g. a professional dishwasher, including a substantially parallelepiped supporting casing (2) defining a working chamber (3) therein which may be accessed through a front door (4) and provided with at least one receiving guide (5) for an either fixed or sliding supporting element, wherein at least one side wall (6,7) of the supporting casing provided with the guide is delimited inside and outside the supporting casing (2), respectively, by first and second opposite faces (8,9) of a same, substantially flat sheet element (10) provided with at least one embossment (11) defining said guide (5) by means of a convexity thereof overhangingly emerging from the first face (8), and a cup-shaped cavity (12) exposed from the second flat face (9) by means of a concavity thereof; the cup-shaped cavity (12) being plugged by a second, substantially flat sheet element (13), peripherally glued to the second flat face (9) of the first sheet element (10).

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a single-wall electric household appliance, in particular a professional dishwasher, having inner guides integrally obtained in one piece with the single wall itself.

[0002] Professional dishwashers (and/or glass washers), e.g. used in bars, restaurants and communities, are known to comprise a generally parallelepiped supporting casing, delimiting a working chamber therein, in this case consisting of a washing tub, frontally accessible through a pivoting door and which should be provided, at least at the opposite side walls of the supporting casing which stand by the sides of the door, with respective facing guides for receiving an either fixed or sliding supporting element, in the case in point defined by a basket for containing the dishes to be washed.

[0003] For cost and constructional simplicity reasons, the side walls of the supporting casing are normally defined by a single-sheet element consisting of a flat panel made of metal plate, a first face of which, facing the working chamber, delimits the same and therefore the interior of the supporting casing, and a second face of which, opposite to the first face, delimits the exterior of the supporting casing itself.

[0004] For each plate panel, a guide made of a metal section bar is assembled on the first face. However, such a solution is constructionally complicated, costly and introduces discontinuities into the working chamber which, in the case of a dishwasher, create dirt receptacles which are very difficult to be cleaned. Dishwashers have thus been provided in which the guides inside the the washing tub are integrally obtained in one piece with the metal plate panel, by deep drawing of a portion thereof.

[0005] However, such a solution, although solving problems of cleaning the guides by allowing to create a profile free from discontinuities inside the washing tub, on the other hand weakens the metal plate panel and leaves an unsightly concavity thereon, on the opposite side of the washing tub, which in turn may become a housing for dirt. Therefore, the supporting casing of dishwashers in which the guides are made by deep drawing, integral with the metal panels delimiting the washing tub, is made by using two metal plate panels for the side walls, integrally coupled together at a given distance from one another, a first panel provided with the deep drawn guides and delimiting the interior of the supporting casing and a second flat panel which covers the first panel and delimits the exterior of the supporting casing.

[0006] This second solution is however very costly, relatively complex from the constructional point of view and larger in size.

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art by providing an electric household appliance, in particular a professional dishwasher, the supporting casing of which allows to make guides integral with the wall towards the working chamber, in this case the washing tub, while having however high constructional simplicity, high robustness, low cost and small size.

[0008] The present invention thus relates to an electric household appliance as defined in claim 1.

[0009] In particular, the electric household appliance according to the invention comprises a substantially parallelepiped supporting casing defining a working chamber therein, which may be accessed through a front door and provided with at least one receiving guide for an either fixed or sliding supporting element.

[0010] At least one side wall of the supporting casing provided with the guide is delimited, inside and outside the supporting casing, respectively, by first and second, substantially flat opposite faces of a same first sheet element typically consisting of a flat metal plate, provided with at least one embossment defining the mentioned guide by means of a protruding convexity thereof overhangingly emerging from the first flat face, and a cup-shaped cavity exposed from the side of the second flat face by means of a concavity thereof.

[0011] In combination with such a constructional feature, the cup-shaped cavity is plugged by a second, substantially flat sheet element, peripherally glued against the first sheet element from the side of the second flat face of the latter, so as to become an integral part of the supporting casing.

[0012] According to a non-secondary aspect of the invention, the first sheet element, on the side of the second face thereof, has a shallow recess, and the mentioned embossment is obtained on a substantially flat bottom wall of the shallow recess, which is further shaped so as to reproduce the peripheral profile of the second sheet element to accommodate the latter therein, arranged in contact against the bottom wall of the shallow recess, with the interposition of a preferably continuous, peripheral adhesive bead, and arranged substantially flushed with the second flat face of the first sheet element.

[0013] Finally, the first sheet element, on the side of the first flat face, is provided with at least one stiffening rib shaped according to a closed profile, obtained in the side wall on one side of (e.g. over or under) the guide; on the side of the second flat face, the first sheet element further has a corresponding groove having the same closed profile as the rib and shaped so as to confer an appearance similar to that of the second sheet element accommodated in said shallow recess to a portion of the second flat face delimited within the groove and obtained on the side wall by the side of the shallow recess.

[0014] Thereby, despite the presence of the deep drawn embossment which defines, in use, a guide inside the working chamber integrally obtained with the side wall of the supporting casing, an electric household appliance is obtained, in which such a side wall has the same robustness as a wall consisting of a single sheet element but with inserted guides, without the need to use a second full-wall panel, but using instead a second sheet element, generally also made of a flat metal plate, of much smaller size than the first element, as only intended to plug the chamber exposed on the outer face of the first panel by the presence of the embossment and of the corresponding shallow recess.

[0015] The adhesive coupling of such a second, small sized sheet element with the first sheet element provided with the deep drawn guide, in particular if made within a shallow recess of the first sheet element having a peripheral profile reproducing that of the peripheral profile of the second sheet element, surprisingly provides a sufficient robustness to the resulting side wall, especially if also accompanied by the presence of the mentioned stiffening rib (also deep drawn and thus defining a corresponding groove on the second face) on the first sheet element, detaching a wall portion on the first sheet element, the shape of which recalls that of the second sheet element, also conferring a pleasant aesthetic appearance to the whole.

[0016] Further features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment, merely provided by way of non-limitative example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

• figure 1 diagrammatically shows an axonometric, three quarters front view of an electric household appliance, in particular a front-loading dishwasher, made according to the invention;
• figure 2 shows the electric household appliance in figure 1 in a configuration with exploded parts; and
• figure 3 diagrammatically shows on enlarged scale a part of a section taken along a plotting plane III-III I of a side wall of a supporting casing of the electric household appliance in figure 1.

[0017] With reference to figures from 1 to 3, numeral 1 indicates as a whole an electric household appliance, in particular a professional dishwasher, comprising a substantially parallelepiped supporting casing 2 defining a working chamber 3 therein, in this case defined by a washing tub of known type, accessible through a front door 4 and provided with at least one receiving guide 5 for an either fixed or sliding supporting element (known and not shown), in this case a basket for containing the dishes to be washed.

[0018] According to a first aspect of the invention, the respective opposite side walls 6, 7 of the supporting casing 2, each of which is provided with a respective guide 5, are each delimited inside and outside the supporting casing 2, respectively, by first and second, substantially flat opposite faces, indicated by 8, 9 respectively, of a same first sheet element 10, in this case consisting of a metal plate, e.g. made of pressed stainless steel.

[0019] The first sheet element 10 of each wall 6, 7 is provided with at least one embossment 11 defining a guide 5 by means of a protruding convexity thereof overhangingly emerging from the first flat face 8, and defining a cup-shaped cavity 12 exposed from the side of the second flat face 9 by means of a concavity thereof; according to the invention, in combination with the presence of the embossment 11 on the sheet element 10 of each wall 6, 7, the cup-shaped cavity 12 is plugged by a second, substantially flat sheet element 13, also consisting of a metal plate, e.g. made of cut and pressed stainless steel, peripherally glued against the first sheet element 10 from the side of the second flat face 9 of the latter, so as to become an integral part of the respective side wall 6 or 7.

[0020] According to a non-secondary aspect of the invention, the first sheet element 10 of each wall 6, 7, on the side of the second face 9 thereof (which is exactly the one outside the washing chamber 3), has a shallow recess 14, on a substantially flat bottom wall 15 of which the embossment 11 is obtained (figure 3); the shallow recess 14 is shaped so as to reproduce the peripheral profile of the second sheet element 13 to accommodate the latter therein, arranged in contact against the bottom wall 15 of the shallow recess 14 with the interposition of a peripheral adhesive bead 16, and arranged substantially flushed with the second flat face 9 of the first sheet element 10.

[0021] Shallow recess 14 and sheet element 13 have a substantially rectangular peripheral profile, and the metal plate element 13 is preferably thicker than the metal plate element 10, so as to be stiffer. Furthermore, embossment 11 and shallow recess 14 are defined by respective deep drawn portions of the first metal plate sheet element 10, made by pressing the side of the second flat face 9.

[0022] Furthermore, the sheet element 10 of each wall 6, 7 is provided, on the side of the first flat face 8, with at least one stiffening rib 17 shaped according to a closed profile, obtained on the side wall 6 or 7 on one side of the guide 5 (for example under or over, generally over, as in the example shown, because guides 5 are obtained in the lower part of the washing chamber 3); on the side of the second flat face 9, each sheet element 10 further has a corresponding groove 18 having the same closed profile as rib 17 and shaped so as to confer an appearance similar to that of the sheet element 13 accommodated in the shallow recess 14 to a portion 19 of the flat face 9 delimited within the groove 18 and obtained on the respective side wall 6 or 7 by the side of the shallow recess 14.

[0023] In practice, along the peripheral profile and in the direction of its depth (i.e. the thickness direction of sheet elements 10 and 13), groove 18 "reproduces" the pattern which is made on face 9 by the peripheral clearance existing between the peripheral edge of element 13, arranged against the bottom wall 15, and the peripheral edge of shallow recesses 14. Thereby, from the aesthetic point of view, the presence of the shallow recess 14 with embossment 11 underneath and the corresponding "plug" defined by the plate element 13 is completely unnoticed. Furthermore, groove 19 and the corresponding rib 18 are also obtained by deep drawing of a corresponding peripheral part of portion 19 of the respective plate element 10.

[0024] The adhesive bead 16 is preferably a continuous bead so as to ensure the dust-proof sealing of the chamber consisting of cavity 12, and to ensure a better, more effective transmission of the mechanical stresses between element 10 and element 13, which thus effectively cooperates to increase the stiffness and robustness of the element 10 itself.

[0025] Again to provide an even aesthetic sensation that the "plug" defined by the element 13 forms part of the element 10 while not being a separate element inserted thereon, element 13 consists of a flat portion made of metal plate which has the same surface finish as the face 9 of element 10.

Claims

1. An electric household appliance (1), in particular a professional dishwasher, comprising a substantially parallelepiped supporting casing (2) defining a working chamber (3) therein which may be accessed through a front door (4) and provided with at least one receiving guide (5) for at least one either fixed or sliding supporting element, wherein at least one side wall (6,7) of the supporting casing (2) provided with the guide is delimited, inside and outside the supporting casing (2), respectively, by first and second, substantially flat opposite faces (8,9) of a same sheet element (10); characterized in that:

- said at least one sheet element (10) is provided with at least one embossment (11) defining said guide (5) by means of a protruding convexity thereof overhangingly emerging from the first flat face (8), and a cup-shaped cavity (12) exposed from the side of the second flat face (9) by means of a concavity thereof; and in that, in combination,

- the cup-shaped cavity (12) is plugged by a second, substantially flat sheet element (13), peripherally glued against the first sheet element (10) from the side of the second flat face (9) of the latter.

2. An electric household appliance according to claim 1, characterized in that said first sheet element (10), on the side of a second face (9) thereof, has a shallow recess (14), on a substantially flat bottom wall (15) of which said embossment (11) is obtained; the shallow recess (14) being shaped so as to reproduce the peripheral profile of the second sheet element (13) to accommodate the latter therein, arranged in contact against the bottom wall (15) of the shallow recess with the interposition of a peripheral adhesive bead (16), and arranged substantially flushed with the second flat face (9) of the first sheet element (10).

3. An electric household appliance according to claim 2, characterized in that said shallow recess (14) and said second sheet element (13) have a substantially rectangular peripheral profile.

4. An electric household appliance according to one of the claims 2 or 3, characterized in that said first sheet element (10) consists of a metal plate, said embossment (11) and said shallow recess (14) being defined by respective deep drawn portions of the first sheet element (10) made by pressing on the side of the second flat face (9).

5. An electric household appliance according to claims from 2 to 4, characterized in that said first sheet element (10), on the side of said first flat face (8), is provided with at least one stiffening rib (17) shaped according to a closed profile, obtained on the side wall (6,7) adjacent on one side to the guide (5); on the side of the second flat face (9), the first sheet element (10) further having a corresponding groove (18) having the same closed profile as the rib (17) and shaped so as to confer an appearance similar to that of the second sheet element (13) accommodated in said shallow recess (14) to a portion (19) of the second flat face (9) delimited within the groove (18) and obtained on the side wall (6,7) adjacent on one side to the shallow recess (14).

6. An electric household appliance according to one of the claims from 2 to 5, characterized in that said adhesive bead (16) is a continuous bead.

7. An electric household appliance according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said second sheet element (13) consists of a flat, metal plate portion having the same surface finishing as the second face (9) of the first sheet element (10).

Drawing