Laundry treating appliance with force damping feet

Abstract

A laundry treating appliance having a cabinet, a rotatable drum, and at least one foot extending from and supporting the cabinet, with the foot being configured to dampen the vibrations of the laundry treating appliance.

1 . A laundry treating appliance comprising:
 a cabinet defining an interior;   a rotatable drum suspended within the interior defining a laundry treating chamber;   at least one relatively non-compliant foot extending from the cabinet and supporting the cabinet on the floor;   at least one relatively compliant foot extending from the cabinet and supporting the cabinet on the floor;   wherein the at least one relatively non-compliant foot has a first weight-per-foot-normalized stiffness value greater than or equal to about 1.0 (1/mm) and the at least one relatively compliant feet has a second weight-per-foot-normalized stiffness value of less than or equal to about 0.7 (1/mm).   
     
     
         2 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 1  wherein the weight-per-foot-normalized stiffness of the at least one relatively non-compliant foot is further less than or equal to about 1.6 (1/mm). 
     
     
         3 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 2  wherein the weight-per-foot-normalized stiffness of the at least one relatively compliant foot is greater than or equal to about 0.1 (1/mm). 
     
     
         4 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 1  wherein the cabinet defines a front portion and a rear portion and the at least one relatively non-compliant foot is located at the front portion of the cabinet and the at least one relatively compliant foot is located at the rear portion of the cabinet. 
     
     
         5 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 1  wherein the at least one relatively non-compliant foot comprises a first pair of relatively non-compliant feet and the at least one relatively compliant foot comprises a second pair of relatively compliant feet. 
     
     
         6 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 5  wherein the cabinet defines a front portion and a rear portion and the first pair of feet are located at the front portion of the cabinet and the second pair of feet are located at the rear portion of the cabinet. 
     
     
         7 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 5  wherein the cabinet further defines four corners, with a first pair of the corners located at the front portion and a second pair of the corners located at the rear portion, and the first pair of feet being mounted to the first pair of corners and the second pair of feet being mounted to the second pair of corners. 
     
     
         8 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 1  wherein each foot comprises a resilient pad having a predetermined stiffness. 
     
     
         9 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 1  wherein the at least one relatively non-compliant foot has the weight-per-foot-normalized stiffness at least about 2.0 times greater than the weight-per-foot-normalized stiffness of the at least one relatively compliant foot. 
     
     
         10 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 1  wherein the cabinet comprises a frame and the feet are mounted to the frame. 
     
     
         11 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 1  wherein at least one of the feet comprises a damping system providing the corresponding stiffness. 
     
     
         12 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 11  wherein the damping system comprises a damper and a spring. 
     
     
         13 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 11  wherein the at least one of the feet comprises a pad coupled to the cabinet by the damping system. 
     
     
         14 . A laundry treating appliance comprising:
 a cabinet defining an interior;   a rotatable drum suspended within the interior defining a laundry treating chamber;   at least one relatively non-compliant foot extending from the cabinet and supporting the cabinet on the floor;   at least one relatively compliant foot extending from the cabinet and supporting the cabinet on the floor;   wherein the at least one relatively non-compliant foot has a weight-per-foot-normalized stiffness at least about 2.0 times greater than the stiffness of the relatively compliant feet.   
     
     
         15 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 14  wherein the cabinet defines a front portion and a rear portion and the at least one relatively non-compliant foot is located at the front portion of the cabinet and the at least one relatively compliant foot is located at the rear portion of the cabinet. 
     
     
         16 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 15  wherein the at least one relatively non-compliant foot comprises a first pair of relatively non-compliant feet and the at least one relatively compliant foot comprises a second pair of relatively compliant feet. 
     
     
         17 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 16  wherein the cabinet defines a front portion and a rear portion and the first pair of feet are located at the front portion of the cabinet and the second pair of feet are located at the rear portion of the cabinet. 
     
     
         18 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 17  wherein the cabinet further defines four corners, with a first pair of the corners located at the front portion and a second pair of the corners located at the rear portion, and the first pair of feet being mounted to the first pair of corners and the second pair of feet being mounted to the second pair of corners. 
     
     
         19 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 14  wherein each foot comprises a resilient pad having a predetermined stiffness. 
     
     
         20 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 14  wherein the cabinet comprises a frame and the feet are mounted to the frame. 
     
     
         21 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 14  wherein at least one of the feet comprises a damping system providing the corresponding stiffness. 
     
     
         22 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 21  wherein the damping system comprises a damper and a spring. 
     
     
         23 . The laundry treating appliance according to  claim 21  wherein the at least one of the feet comprises a pad coupled to the cabinet by the damping system.