Abstract
A tablet dosing system, in particular for a domestic dishwasher, includes a magazine for stocking cleaning tablets in a plurality of stacks arranged side by side in a row, and an extractor for extracting cleaning tablets from the magazine. The extractor comprises an extractor member which is arranged to be movable relative to the magazine and which is adapted, without changing the position of the stacks, to serve each of the stacks for the purpose of extracting cleaning tablets. The extractor member is in the form of an extractor roller having a plurality of extraction pockets distributed along the roller axis for each receiving at least one cleaning tablet from the stacks or the extractor member is in the form of a linearly movable extractor slider which is able to serve two adjacent stacks alternately for the purpose of tablet extraction.
Claims
1. A tablet dosing system, comprising: a magazine for stocking cleaning tablets in a plurality of stacks arranged side by side in a row; and an extractor for extracting cleaning tablets from the magazine, wherein the extractor comprises an extractor member which is arranged to be movable relative to the magazine and which is adapted, without changing the position of the stacks, to serve each of the stacks for the purpose of extracting cleaning tablets.
2. The tablet dosing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the extractor member is formed by an extractor slider which is arranged to be movable to and fro along the row of stacks, wherein the extractor slider has at least one extraction opening with which the extractor slider can selectively be moved beneath each of at least two stacks of the plurality of stacks, wherein the extraction opening is so dimensioned that a cleaning tablet is able to fall from the magazine through the extractor slider.
3. The tablet dosing system as claimed in claim 2, wherein the extractor slider, in association with each of the at least two stacks, is movable between a first slider position, in which the extraction opening is located beneath the stack in question and allows a cleaning tablet arranged at the bottom of the stack in question to fall into the extraction opening, and a second slider position, in which the cleaning tablet that has fallen into the extraction opening is able to fall downwards out of the extraction opening.
4. The tablet dosing system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the extractor member is formed by an extractor roller which is arranged to be rotatable about a roller axis which is parallel to the row of stacks, wherein the extractor roller comprises, distributed along the roller axis, at least one extraction pocket associated with each of the plurality of stacks, wherein each extraction pocket is so dimensioned that a cleaning tablet is able to fall from the magazine into the extraction pocket in question.
5. The tablet dosing system as claimed in claim 4, wherein, for at least two stacks of the plurality of stacks, the extraction pockets associated with the at least two stacks are offset relative to one another from stack to stack in the circumferential direction of the roller.
6. The tablet dosing system as claimed in claim 1, comprising a blower arrangement for generating a blowing air stream for cooling the magazine.
7. A water-carrying domestic cleaning apparatus, comprising: a wet chamber; a door for closing the wet chamber; and a tablet dosing system installed in the door, wherein the tablet dosing system comprising: a magazine for stocking cleaning tablets in a plurality of stacks arranged side by side in a row; an extractor for extracting cleaning tablets from the magazine, wherein the extractor comprises an extractor member which is arranged to be movable relative to the magazine and which is adapted, without changing the position of the stacks relative to the door, to serve each of the stacks for the purpose of extracting cleaning tablets; and a delivery outlet for delivering a cleaning tablet extracted by means of the extractor into the wet chamber.
8. The water-carrying domestic cleaning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the domestic cleaning apparatus is a dishwasher.
9. A water-carrying domestic cleaning apparatus, comprising: a wet chamber; and a door for closing the wet chamber, wherein the door provides a storage chamber for receiving a supply of a cleaning substance, and a loading access for loading the storage chamber with the cleaning substance is provided on the door, wherein, concealed in the door, there is formed a fall channel which discharges from the door on a wet side of the door at a mouth point, wherein there is accommodated in the door a controllable dosing member which is configured for extracting a dose of the cleaning substance from the supply and for delivering the extracted dose into the fall channel, wherein there is formed in the door, at a distance from the mouth point, a maintenance access which is separate from the loading access and is removably covered by a cover component, which maintenance access allows the user access to at least one of the fall channel and the dosing member.
10. The domestic cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the maintenance access is formed on the wet side of the door.
11. The domestic cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the dosing member is removable from the door through the maintenance access.
12. The domestic cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein at least parts of the storage chamber are accessible via the maintenance access following removal of the dosing member.
13. The domestic cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the dosing member is concealed behind the cover component.
14. The domestic cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the dosing member is formed by a sliding body which is mounted to be linearly movable or by a rotatably mounted rotating body.
15. The domestic cleaning apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein the cover component is formed by one of a cover flap, a screw cover and a sliding cover.
16. The domestic cleaning apparatus of claim 9, wherein the domestic cleaning apparatus is a dishwasher.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0025] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a domestic dishwasher with the door open according to one exemplary embodiment.
[0026] FIG. 2 shows a tablet dosing system according to one exemplary embodiment, installed in the door of a dishwasher and with a partially cutaway perspective view of the door.
[0027] FIG. 3 shows, in an enlarged view, details of the tablet dosing system of FIG. 2.
[0028] FIG. 4 is a rear view of a tablet dosing system according to a further exemplary embodiment.
[0029] FIG. 5 is a front view of the tablet dosing system of FIG. 4.
[0030] FIG. 6 is a sectional view of the door of a dishwasher having a tablet dosing system according to a further exemplary embodiment.
[0031] FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a dishwasher door from the side of the door facing towards the washing chamber, according to one exemplary embodiment.
[0032] FIG. 8 shows the dishwasher door of FIG. 7 with a tablet dosing system installed therein according to a further exemplary embodiment, with the outer paneling of the dishwasher door removed.
[0033] FIGS. 9a to 9d show different phases during an automatic dosing operation of the tablet dosing system of FIG. 8.
[0034] FIG. 10 shows an enlarged detail of FIG. 7 with an access flap to the tablet dosing system of FIG. 8 open, wherein an extractor slider of the tablet dosing system is shown removed from its installed position.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
[0035] Reference will first be made to FIG. 1. The dishwasher shown therein is designated generally 10 and has a form typical for use in a private household. The dishwasher 10 comprises a machine main body 12 to which a door 14 is attached about a horizontal pivot axis (not designated further). A wet chamber (washing chamber) 16 is formed in the machine main body 12. Although not shown in greater detail in FIG. 1, the wet chamber 16 can be equipped in a manner known per se with one or more dish racks or/and with a cutlery drawer. The door 14 serves to close the wet chamber 16 during operation of the dishwasher 10.
[0036] The door 14 has an inside wall 18 which faces towards the wet chamber 16 when the door is in the closed state and which is formed, for example, by a metal interior lining. A maintenance flap 20 is arranged on the inside wall 18 of the door 14, which maintenance flap can be opened by the user if required and, in the closed state, blocks an access opening formed in the inside wall 18. In the open state, the maintenance flap 20 allows the user access through the mentioned access opening to an extractor member (which in the exemplary embodiment under consideration here can also be described as a tablet separator). The extractor member is part of a tablet dosing system, which will be described in greater detail below, and is concealed behind the maintenance flap 20 when the maintenance flap is closed. By opening the maintenance flap 20, a user can obtain access to the extractor member and can remove the extractor member through the access opening. This may be necessary for maintenance or cleaning purposes, for example if tablets have become jammed in the tablet dosing system. The access opening accordingly provides a maintenance access. The user can first try to eliminate the fault himself and, if necessary, clean the internal regions of the tablet dosing system by opening the maintenance flap 20 and removing the extractor member, beforeif the user remains unsuccessfulcustomer services have to be called. The maintenance flap 20 can be resiliently biased in the direction towards its closed position by suitable spring means. The tablet dosing system further includes a delivery outlet 22 which is likewise arranged on the inside wall 18 of the door 14 and serves to deliver or, specifically, to eject cleaning tablets into the wet chamber 16.
[0037] The tablet dosing system further includes a loading flap 24 which covers a loading access which allows a user to fill a magazine, not shown in greater detail in FIG. 1, which is concealed behind the inside wall 18, with new cleaning tablets. The cleaning tablets introduced via the loading flap 24 are collected in said magazine, from where they are removed by means of the extractor member in a dosed amount, in particular singly, and ultimately travel via an ejection chute, which is likewise concealed behind the inside wall 18, to the delivery outlet 22, where they emerge into the wet chamber 16. The delivery outlet 22 forms a mouth point at which the mentioned ejection chute discharges on the wet side of the door 14. It will be seen that the loading flap 24 in the example shown is arranged on a narrow side 26 of the door which is located at the top when the door 14 is closed and thus vertical and is therefore easily accessible for the user. This narrow side 26 lies outside sealing bead contact surfaces 28 which are formed on the interior lining of the door 14 forming the inside wall 18 and, when the door 14 is closed, are oriented towards the machine main body 12 (i.e. towards the wet chamber 16). The sealing bead contact surfaces 28 serve for contact of an elastomeric sealing bead 30 which is arranged on the front side of the machine main body 12 and extends around the wet chamber 16 and which, when the door 14 is closed, is compressed as a result of contact with the sealing bead contact surfaces 28 of the door 14 and thus serves to seal the wet chamber 16 to the outside. The loading flap 24 is consequently arranged outside the sealing barrier that prevents moist hot air from escaping from the wet chamber 16 between the machine main body 12 and the door 14 during washing operation of the dishwasher 10.
[0038] Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3. In FIG. 2 there can be seen the mentioned extractor member, which in the example shown is formed by an extractor roller 32. The extractor roller 32, which is arranged behind the maintenance flap 20, comprises a plurality of extraction pockets 34 (in the example shown a total of two), which are each so dimensioned that a defined number of cleaning tablets 36 of quadrangular shape in outline can be received in the extraction pocket 34 in question. In the example shown, the defined number is one, but it is not limited thereto. The extractor roller 32 is rotatably mounted about a roller axis 38 and can be driven about the roller axis 38 by an electromotive drive which is not shown in greater detail in the drawings. In the example shown, the roller axis 38 extends parallel to the door plane of the door 14 in the horizontal direction. The extraction pockets 34 are each in the form of a recess which is formed in the roller shell, that is to say in the circumferential surface of the extractor roller 32.
[0039] The extractor roller 32 can be adjusted into different rotational positions. In a first rotational position, one of the extraction pockets 34 is located with its open pocket opening directly beneath a cleaning tablet 36u which is at the bottom of a tablet stack 40 stored in a storage chamber 42. In a second rotational position (depicted in FIG. 2), the extractor roller 32 is located with the open pocket opening of the extraction pocket 34 in question above the upper end of an ejection chute forming an ejection channel (fall channel) 44. In the first rotational position of the extractor roller 32, the cleaning tablet 36u can consequently fall into the extraction pocket 34 in question under the force of gravity. By rotation of the extractor roller 32 about the axis of rotation 38 into the second rotational position, the cleaning tablet 36u located in the extraction pocket 34 in question can be transferred into a delivery position, in which the cleaning tablet 36u can fall out of the extraction pocket 34 in question into the ejection channel 44.
[0040] The storage chamber 42 is formed by a magazine 46 which is installed behind the inside wall 18 of the door 14. The storage chamber 42 extends as far as the loading flap 24, so that the user is able to introduce new cleaning tablets 36 into the storage chamber 42 via the loading flap 24. In the example shown, the cleaning tablets 36 are located in the storage chamber 42 in an ordered stack. Stocking the cleaning tablets 36 in an ordered manner in the storage chamber 42 is advantageous in the case of cleaning tablets that are approximately quadrangular in shape, as shown in FIG. 2, in order to ensure that the extractor roller 32 can reliably pick up individual cleaning tablets 36 (i.e. can reliably allow them to slide into a respective one of the extraction pockets 34). The tablet stack in the storage chamber 42 is so oriented that the cleaning tablets 36 in the stack are able to slide down solely under the force of gravity and no additional feed means is required to push the stocked cleaning tablets 36 in the direction towards the extractor roller 32. As shown in FIG. 2, the individual cleaning tablets 36 are for this purpose located in the tablet stack in an arrangement in which they are largely vertically above one another. The cleaning tablets 36 are located with their short narrow sides against one another, that is to say they are arranged on edge one above the other. In other embodiments, the cleaning tablets 36 can be arranged with their flat sides or with their long narrow sides against one another.
[0041] In order to increase the quantity of cleaning tablets 36 which can be stocked in the magazine 46, the magazine is designed in the example of FIGS. 2 and 3 not only to receive a single tablet stack but to receive a plurality of tablet stacks which are arranged side by side in a horizontal row. All these tablet stacks are served jointly by the extractor roller 32. The magazine 46 is installed in the door 14 in a stationary manner, for which reason the individual tablet stacks as such are also arranged in unchangeable, fixed stack positions in the door 14. The extractor roller 32 has a range such that it is able to serve all the tablet stacks (i.e. can extract cleaning tablets 36 from every tablet stack) without the stack positions relative to the door 14 having to be changed. In the example of FIGS. 2 and 3 shown, the extractor roller 32 is designed to serve a total of two tablet stacks. Corresponding to this number of tablet stacks, the extractor roller is provided with a total of two extraction pockets 34, which are so distributed in the direction of the roller axis 38 that each of the extraction pockets 34 is arranged at the axial position of an associated one of the tablet stacks. Assuming that only a single cleaning tablet 36 is required for each operating cycle of the dishwasher 10, the extraction pockets 34 are so distributed in the circumferential direction of the extractor roller 32 that in each case only one of the extraction pockets 34 is located above the ejection channel 44 at any one time and accordingly only a single cleaning tablet 36 can be delivered at any one time from the tablet dosing system into the wet chamber 16. In the example shown with a total of two tablet stacks and two extraction pockets 34 formed in the extractor roller 32, each of which is associated with one of the tablet stacks, the two extraction pockets 34 are, for example, offset relative to one another in the circumferential direction of the roller by 180 degrees. Such a form of the extractor roller 32 can be seen in FIG. 3.
[0042] The distribution pattern of the extraction pockets 34 on the roller shell of the extractor roller 32 can be such that, in every rotational position in which one of the extraction pockets 34 is ready to receive a cleaning tablet 36 from one of the tablet stacks, another of the extraction pockets 34 is at the same time located above the ejection channel 44. The picking up of a new cleaning tablet 36 by the extractor roller 32 is then accompanied at the same time by the release of another, previously picked up cleaning tablet 36 from the extractor roller 32 into the ejection channel 44. In the example according to FIG. 3, each rotation of the extractor roller 32 through 180 degrees leads to a new cleaning tablet 36 falling into one of the extraction pockets 34 and at the same time a cleaning tablet 36 being released from the other extraction pocket 34 into the ejection channel 44. In the case of three, four or five tablet stacks, the extraction pockets 34 arranged in different axial regions of the roller circumference are arranged offset relative to one another by, for example, 120 degrees, 90 degrees or 60 degrees. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the extractor roller 32 can also have more than one extraction pocket 34 per tablet stack, for example two extraction pockets. The distribution pattern of the extraction pockets 34 on the roller shell can then be so chosen, for example, that, on further rotation of the extractor roller 32 from a rotational position in which one of the extraction pockets 34 is ready to receive a cleaning tablet 36 from one of the tablet stacks into a subsequent rotational position in which the extractor roller 32 is ready next time to receive a cleaning tablet 36, that next cleaning tablet 36 is always removed from a different tablet stack. In this manner, a cleaning tablet 36 is removed from each tablet stack in a given order, before the next removal cycle begins, in which a cleaning tablet 36 is again removed from each tablet stack in the same order. It will be appreciated that any desired orders of the removal of cleaning tablets 36 from the tablet stacks can be achieved via the distribution pattern of the extraction pockets 34 on the roller shell.
[0043] The extraction pockets 34 are preferably so dimensioned that there is sufficient space therein for the desired number of cleaning tablets 36 (i.e. generally a single cleaning tablet 36) and the cleaning tablets do not protrude radially beyond the roller shell. This makes it possible for a roller-accommodating chamber, in which the extractor roller 32 rotates, to be made sufficiently small that the extractor roller 32 forms a sufficiently effective barrier against the escape of moist hot air from the wet chamber 16 via the ejection channel 44 through the roller-accommodating chamber into the magazine 46. The chamber walls of the roller-accommodating chamber (such chamber walls are shown at 48 in FIG. 3) can be arranged sufficiently close to the extractor roller 32 that moist hot air is able to flow through the remaining gap at most to only a small, negligible degree.
[0044] The extractor roller 32 can be driven, for example, by means of a step motor (not shown), which is driven by a control device (likewise not shown) accommodated in the door 14. A suitable sensor system can be provided for supplying a drive controller of the extractor roller 32 with information about the actual rotational position of the extractor roller 32. Such a sensor system can comprise, for example, one or more Hall sensors, electromechanical switches or/and other sensor elements for detecting the rotational position of the extractor roller 32.
[0045] In the further figures, elements which are the same or have the same effect are provided with the same reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 to 3, but with the addition of a lowercase letter. Unless indicated otherwise hereinbelow, reference is made to the above explanations relating to FIGS. 1 to 3 for the explanation of such components which are the same or have the same effect.
[0046] FIGS. 4 and 5 show an exemplary embodiment of a tablet dosing system having an extractor roller 32a which is configured not only to serve two tablet stacksas in the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 2 and 3but to jointly serve a total of four tablet stacks. For each of the tablet stacks, a magazine chute 50a is formed in the magazine 46a. The various magazine chutes 50a are separated from one another by separating walls 52a. The extractor roller 32a has a total of four extraction pockets 34a, corresponding to the number of tablet stacks, which are arranged offset along the roller axis 38a according to the axial positions of the tablet stacks. When seen in the circumferential direction of the roller, the receiving pockets 34a follow one another in each case at a 90 degree interval. In the representation of FIG. 5, the receiving pocket 34a on the far right of the extractor roller 32a is shown loaded with a cleaning tablet 36a.
[0047] The magazine 46a is part of a system housing 54a (FIG. 4) which, in addition to the magazine 46a, also forms a channel housing 56a for the ejection channel leading to the delivery opening 22a, and a chamber housing 58a which receives the extractor roller 32a and forms the mentioned roller-accommodating chamber. The system housing 54a can be fixed as such to a wall plate 60a which in FIGS. 4 and 5 is shown as a rectangular plate, only for the purposes of the illustration, and can be part of the inside wall 18 (FIG. 1) of the door, for example. The system housing 54a can thus be mounted on the wall plate 60a from behind (when seen from the washing chamber of the dishwasher). The system housing 54a can be a one-piece component or it can be formed by a plurality of individual components which can be assembled to form a structural unit, before the structural unit is subsequently installed in the door of the dishwasher.
[0048] In the exemplary embodiment of FIG. 6, which, like the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 3 and of FIGS. 4 and 5, provides a roller-like form of the extractor member (extractor roller 32b), a blowing air channel 60b is incorporated into the door 14b of the dishwasher, which blowing air channel extends into the region of the magazine 46b. A fan 62b, which forms a blower arrangement within the meaning of the invention, which is likewise installed in the door 14b and, in the example shown, is seated in the blowing air channel 60b, serves to generate a blowing air stream which flows in the blowing air channel 60b in the direction towards the magazine 46b. The fan 62b draws in comparatively cool air from outside the dishwasher. In some embodiments, the blowing air guided to the magazine 46b via the blowing air channel 60b only passes over the outside of the magazine walls, without penetrating the interior of the magazine 46b. In other embodiments, the blowing air is guided into the interior of the magazine 46b so that it is there able to come into direct contact with the cleaning tablets 36b stored therein. There can be seen in FIG. 6 a plurality of slots 64b which are incorporated into one of the channel walls delimiting the blowing air channel 60b and allow the blowing air to pass from the blowing air channel 60b to the magazine 46b.
[0049] Operation of the fan 62b is controlled by a control device, which is not shown in greater detail. Since the washing liquor (washing water) in the washing chamber of the dishwasher usually reaches temperatures of 50 C. or more only in phases, that is to say temporarily, it may be that it is not necessary to actively cool the cleaning tablets 36b stored in the magazine 46b with blowing air for the entire duration of an operating cycle of the dishwasher. Instead, it may be sufficient to switch on the fan 62b only during specific high-temperature operating phases of an operating cycle in which the washing liquor or the air present in the washing chamber is at temperatures of, for example, at least 50 C.
[0050] Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 7 to 10. In this exemplary embodiment, the extractor member is in the form of an extractor slider (dosing slider) 32c, which is movable to and fro in a linear sliding direction 62c which runs parallel to the door plane of the door 14c and, in the installed situation of the door dosing system, extends linearly. The sliding direction 62c corresponds to the direction in which the tablet stacks are arranged in rows side by side in the magazine 46c. The extractor slider 32c has an extraction opening 64c which is so dimensioned that the cleaning tablets 36c, which are of quadrangular shape in outline and are stacked on edge on top of one another, can each slide individually into the extraction opening 64c. The extraction opening 64c is designed as a fall-through opening, that is to say it allows individual cleaning tablets 36c to fall completely from the magazine 46c into the ejection channel 44c. The extraction opening 64c, unlike the extraction pockets of the exemplary embodiments of FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, 5, does not have a base and is open at the bottom.
[0051] For driving the extractor slider 32c in the sliding direction 62c there serves a first drive unit 66c, which in the example shown comprises an electric motor 68c as the power source and a reduction gear 70c arranged downstream thereof on the power output side. The reduction gear 70c (more specifically: a last toothed wheel of the reduction gear 70c on the output side) is in intermeshing engagement, for example, with a toothing (not visible in greater detail in the figures) formed on the extractor slider 32c.
[0052] The sliding range of the extractor slider 32c is such that the extraction opening 64c can selectively be moved to beneath each of the tablet stacks. Without changing the positions of the stacks, the extractor slider 32c can accordingly serve each of the tablet stacks and remove cleaning tablets 36c singly from each of the tablet stacks. In the example of FIGS. 7 to 10 shown, the magazine 46c provides room for two tablet stacks, but it will be appreciated that the magazine 46c can also be made larger, if required, and can provide space for more than two tablet stacks.
[0053] FIGS. 9a to 9d show different phases in the extraction of a cleaning tablet from the magazine 46c. The cleaning tablet extracted in this operation is designated 36c in FIGS. 9a to 9d for the purpose of better identification.
[0054] In FIG. 9a, the extractor slider 32c with the extraction opening 64c has been moved to beneath the tablet stack of the two tablet stacks that is on the right in the representation, so that the cleaning tablet 36c was able to fall into the extraction opening 64c. This slider position represents a first slider position associated with the right-hand tablet stack within the meaning of the invention. In this first slider position, although the cleaning tablet 36c was able to fall into the extraction opening 64c, it could not slide through the extraction opening 64c because the extractor slider 32c with the extraction opening 64c is partly located above a blocking surface 72c formed on the system housing 54c. The blocking surface 72c prevents the cleaning tablet 36c from falling out of the extraction opening 64c.
[0055] In the state shown in FIG. 9a, the ejection channel 44c is blocked by a lock element 74c, which in the example shown is in the form of a sliding component which is movable linearly in the sliding direction 62c and is able to selectively block and open the ejection channel 44c. For driving the lock element 74c there serves a second drive unit 76c, which in the example shown comprises an electric motor 78c and a reduction gear 80c coupled thereto on the output side. Similarly to the first drive unit 66c, the reduction gear 80c in the case of the second drive unit 76c is in intermeshing engagement with the lock element 74c; the lock element is provided with a toothing 82c for this purpose.
[0056] For selectively delivering the cleaning tablet 36c which has slid into the extraction opening 64c, the extractor slider 32c is next moved into a second slider position, in which the extraction opening 64c is located wholly above the ejection channel 44c and out of the range of the blocking surface 72c. This situation is shown in FIG. 9b. The removal of the blocking of the cleaning tablet 36c by the blocking surface 72c has had the effect in FIG. 9b that the cleaning tablet 36c has fallen out of the extractor slider 32c and has fallen down into the ejection channel 44c as far as the lock element 74c. However, the cleaning tablet 36c is prevented from falling further by the lock element 74c as long as the lock element is in its closed position according to FIG. 9b.
[0057] In the slider position according to FIG. 9b, although the extraction opening 64c of the extractor slider 32c is located wholly above the ejection channel 44c, it is not oriented vertically with respect to any of the tablet stacks. Accordingly, in the slider position according to FIG. 9b, a new cleaning tablet 36c cannot fall from any of the tablet stacks into the extraction opening 64c. To that end, the extractor slider 32c must either be moved back into the slider position according to FIG. 9a (if a tablet is to be removed from the right-hand tablet stack again) or the extractor slider 32c must be moved further beyond the slider position according to FIG. 9b until the extraction opening 64c is located beneath the left-hand tablet stack in a first slider position associated with the left-hand stack (if a tablet is to be removed from the left-hand stack). In association with the left-hand tablet stack too, the system housing 54c comprises a blocking surface 72c which prevents a cleaning tablet 36c which has fallen from the left-hand tablet stack into the extraction opening 64c from immediately sliding further into the ejection channel 44c.
[0058] The next step in the extraction of the cleaning tablet 36c is the transfer of the lock element 74c into an open lock position. This is illustrated in FIG. 9c. The cleaning tablet 36c is then able to pass the lock element 74c and fall in the ejection channel 44c further in the direction towards the delivery opening 22c.
[0059] Finally, the arrival of the cleaning tablet 36c at the delivery opening 22c is shown in FIG. 9d. The lock element 74c has here been brought back into its closed lock position.
[0060] As illustrated in FIG. 10, it can be possible in some embodiments to obtain access to the extractor slider 32c by opening the maintenance flap 20c and to remove the extractor slider without having to remove the interior lining or/and the outer paneling of the door 14c. Such a removal of the extractor slider 32c can be necessary from time to time, for example, for maintenance purposes or for the purpose of cleaning the tablet dosing system.
[0061] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described herein, the above description is merely illustrative. Further modification of the invention herein disclosed will occur to those skilled in the respective arts and all such modifications are deemed to be within the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
