With Plunger Patents (Class 68/216)
  • Patent number: 10131183
    Abstract: A wheel includes a circular wheel main body and at least one grouser. The at least one grouser is provided along an outer circumference of the wheel main body and has a contact surface capable of drawing a first tangent line. The first tangent line is inclined opposite to a rotational direction of the wheel main body from the center line of the wheel main body.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 10, 2016
    Date of Patent: November 20, 2018
    Assignees: CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, JAPAN AEROSPACE EXPLORATION AGENCY
    Inventors: Issa A. Nesnas, Masatsugu Otsuki
  • Patent number: 9109316
    Abstract: This disclosure relates to the field of fabric (i.e. clothes) washing apparatus which are portable, and operable without a running source of water, and without a power source. The washing apparatus operates with a volume of liquid cleaner (water) and manual manipulation of a handle. The apparatus may also be dis-assembled by a user without tools for shipping or storage in a much smaller space.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 3, 2012
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2015
    Inventor: John William Thomson
  • Publication number: 20140305174
    Abstract: A collapsible watertight assembly comprises an impermeable flexible container (1) having an open end adapted to be sealed, a neck (7) closable by a screw cap (8), and a roll and lock seal (9) which provides a watertight seal on the open end. The assembly further comprises a reticulated inner container (11) adapted to fit inside the impermeable container (1). In use, a person puts garments in the inner container (11), places the inner container (11) inside the impermeable flexible container (1), fills the impermeable flexible container (1) with water and a cleaning substance, seals the sealing means (9) and applies an agitating motion to the assembly to enable the garments to be washed. The assembly can be used as a portable laundry assembly, as a self-contained assembly for bleaching, dyeing rinsing and drip-drying clothes or to carry water or to keep items dry in high-humidity or damp conditions.
    Type: Application
    Filed: November 22, 2012
    Publication date: October 16, 2014
    Inventor: Anne Chappell
  • Patent number: 6584634
    Abstract: A manually operated washing device which functions by a hydropneumatic principle involving compression of a volume of air and water trapped in the interior of the device. The device includes an inner and an outer housing which are slidable relative to one another, the inner housing being positioned at least partially within the interior of the outer housing. A spring is positioned inside the outer housing between an upper end of the inner housing and an upper end of the outer housing. The spring is compressible so that the outer housing is slidable over the inner housing. A pressurized jet is created through compression and expansion and the pressurized jet is expelled through a perforated portion of the device against a mass of submerged clothing in order to effect washing of the clothing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 29, 2001
    Date of Patent: July 1, 2003
    Inventor: Carly Flury Stiefenhofer
  • Publication number: 20020020028
    Abstract: A manually operated washing device which functions by a hydropneumatic principle involving compression of a volume of air and water trapped in the interior of the device. The device includes an inner and an outer housing which are slidable relative to one another, the inner housing being positioned at least partially within the interior of the outer housing. A spring is positioned inside the outer housing between an upper end of the inner housing and an upper end of the outer housing. The spring is compressible so that the outer housing is slidable over the inner housing. A pressurized jet is created through compression and expansion and the pressurized jet is expelled through a perforated portion of the device against a mass of submerged clothing in order to effect washing of the clothing.
    Type: Application
    Filed: May 29, 2001
    Publication date: February 21, 2002
    Inventor: Carly Flury Stiefenhofer
  • Patent number: 4159632
    Abstract: A unit for automatically cleaning items such as laundry or the like comprises a plurality of reciprocating plungers mounted to engage the items within a tank containing the items and a cleaning liquid. Each plunger comprises a piston mounted within a canister. The piston is mounted within the canister in an arrangement which permits a limited relative movement between the piston and canister, thus developing a bi-directional pumping action. With each stroke of the plunger, the piston forces liquid through the items to be cleaned, first in one direction and then the other, by virtue of the limited movement of the piston relative to the canister, the latter serving to assist in holding the items to be cleaned in a position for encountering the liquid being driven by the piston. The combined rotary reciprocating action of the plungers not only serves to clean the items in the tank but also to slowly propel them from the inlet to the outlet end of the tank so that a continuous cleaning process is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 22, 1976
    Date of Patent: July 3, 1979
    Inventor: Frederick W. Grantham