DRIVE FOR CLOTHES WASHING MACHINES

摘要

An electric motor, a drive and a clothes washing machine including the motor and drive are described, the motor having a stator held outboard of a frame carrying bearings in which a shaft rotates, the shaft carrying the rotor outboard of the stator, the rotor having permanent magnets on an inner face thereof. The shaft carries an agitator and a spin tub of the clothes washing machine and interconnecting members between a part rotatable with the agitator and a part rotatable with the spin tub are movable axially on the shaft relative to each other by a buoyancy system which is operated by the absence or presence of water in a container of the clothes washing machine to connect the spin tub and the agitator to be driven by the shaft continuously in one direction for spinning clothes when water is at a low level in or absent from the container and to disconnect the spin tub from the shaft, leaving the agitator still connected to the shaft when sufficient water is in the container so that rotation of the shaft backwards and forwards by the motor washes clothes in the spin tub by backwards and forwards movement of the agitator.