Digital logic control for automatic washer

Claim 2

A control circuit for an automatic clothes washer having a rotatable receptacle adapted to receive material, a drive motor coupled to the receptacle and operable to impart rotary motion thereto and material treatment means operatively associated with the receptacle, said control circuit comprising: a clock for connection to a supply of alternating voltage, said clock operable to provide clock pulses indicative of elapsed time in response to the alternating wave of the supply; a memory operable to provide a sequence of unique binary states representing the sequence of operations of a laundry program; and a logic control circuit connected between said clock and memory having outputs connected to and the drive motor and material treatment means to control the operation of the drive motor and treatment means in accordance with the laundry program, said logic control circuit including indexing means connected to said memory and operable in accordance with unique combinations of elapsed time and memory state to index said memory; and selectively operable switch means connected between said clock and said indexing means for establishing selected times for indexing said memory.

Claim 3

A control circuit according to claim 1, wherein said clock comprises means for counting cycles of the supply alternating voltagE wave and providing the count in binary form.

Claim 4

A control circuit according to claim 1, wherein said clock comprises pulse means operable to provide a counting pulse for each cycle of the supply alternating voltage wave and counting means connected to said pulse means for counting said pulses and providing pulse count in binary form.

Claim 5

A control circuit according to claim 1, wherein said memory comprises a chain of bistable circuits having a plurality of outputs for presenting the unique binary states as combinations of binary level logic signals.

Claim 6

A control circuit according to claim 1, wherein said logic control circuit comprises a plurality of gate circuits connected to said clock and to said memory and operable to provide logic output control signals to the drive motor and to the treatment means.

Claim 7

A control circuit for an automatic clothes washer having a rotatable receptacle adapted to receive material, a drive motor coupled to the receptacle and operable to impart rotary motion thereto and material treatment means operatively associated with the receptacle, said control circuit comprising: pulse producing means for connection to a supply of alternating voltage, said pulse producing means operable to provide periodically recurring pulses indicative of elapsed time in response to the alternating wave of the supply; a counter connected to said pulse producing means for accumulating pulse counts, said counter including a plurality of outputs which assume logic levels indicative of pulse count; a memory including a plurality of outputs and operating to provide a unique sequence of logic levels indicative of treatment functions; a logic circuit connected to said outputs of said counter and said memory and operable to provide an index signal in response to combinations of logic levels representing predetermined count accumulations in said counter; an index circuit included in said counter connected to said memory, and operable in response to an index signal to index said memory; combinations of the logic levels at said outputs of said memory representing a programmed sequence of automatic clothes washer functions; means connecting said outputs of said counter and memory to said motor and to said treatment means for controlling the operation thereof in accordance with the programmed sequence; and selectively operable switch means connected between said counter and said indexing means for establishing selected times for indexing said memory.

Claim 8

A control circuit for an automatic clothes washer having a rotatable receptacle adapted to receive material, a drive motor coupled to the receptacle and operable to impart rotary motion thereto and material treatment means operatively associated with the receptacle, said control circuit comprising: pulse producing means for connection to a supply of alternating voltage, said pulse producing means operable to provide periodically recurring pulses indicative of elapsed time in response to the alternating wave of the supply; a counter connected to said pulse producing means for accumulating pulse counts, said counter including a plurality of outputs which assume logic levels indicative of pulse count; a memory including a plurality of outputs and operating to provide a unique sequence of logic levels indicative of treatment functions; a logic circuit connected to said outputs of said counter and said memory and operable to provide an index signal in response to combinations of logic levels representing predetermined count accumulations in said counter; an index circuit included in said counter connected to said memory, and operable in response to an index signal to index said memory; combinations of the logic levels at said outputs of said memory representing a programmed sequence of automatic clothes washer functions; means connecting said outputs of said counter and memory to said motor and to said treatment means for controlling the operation thereof in accordance with the programmed sequence; and selectively operable switch means connected between said counter and said indexing means for establishing selected times for indexing said memory.