U.S. patent application number 10/816371 was filed with the patent office on 2004-09-30 for refrigerator and a door storage compartment for the refrigerator.
Invention is credited to Becke, Christoph, Gerstner, Silvia, Grasy, Siegfried.
Application Number | 20040188291 10/816371 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 7701017 |
Filed Date | 2004-09-30 |
United States Patent
Application |
20040188291 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Becke, Christoph ; et
al. |
September 30, 2004 |
Refrigerator and a door storage compartment for the
refrigerator
Abstract
A door storage compartment is provided for a refrigeration
device, such as a refrigerator or similar. The door storage
compartment contains at least one section of maximum depth and at
least one section of a lesser depth. The sections succeed one other
in a longitudinal direction of the door storage compartment.
Inventors: |
Becke, Christoph;
(Grosskarolinenfeld, DE) ; Gerstner, Silvia;
(Langenau, DE) ; Grasy, Siegfried; (Dornstadt,
DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
LERNER AND GREENBERG, P.A.
POST OFFICE BOX 2480
HOLLYWOOD
FL
33022-2480
US
|
Family ID: |
7701017 |
Appl. No.: |
10/816371 |
Filed: |
April 1, 2004 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
10816371 |
Apr 1, 2004 |
|
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PCT/EP02/10751 |
Sep 25, 2002 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
206/320 |
Current CPC
Class: |
F25D 23/04 20130101;
F25D 2500/02 20130101; F25D 2331/809 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
206/320 |
International
Class: |
B65D 085/00 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Oct 1, 2001 |
DE |
101 48 448.8 |
Claims
We claim:
1. A door storage compartment for a refrigerator, the door storage
compartment comprising: at least one first section having a full
first depth; and at least one second section having a second depth
being less than said full first depth and following said first
section in a longitudinal direction of the door storage
compartment, said second depth being less than half of said full
first depth.
2. The door storage compartment according to claim 1, wherein said
first and second sections have equivalent lengths.
3. The door storage compartment according to claim 1, wherein said
first and second sections have different lengths.
4. The door storage compartment according to claim 1, wherein said
first and second sections are formed as a one-piece part.
5. The door storage compartment according to claim 1, further
comprising a intermediate wall, and said first and second sections
are boxed shaped and separated by said intermediate wall.
6. The door storage compartment according to claim 5, wherein said
intermediate wall has a horizontal reinforcing web.
7. The door storage compartment according to claim 6, wherein said
horizontal reinforcing web forms an upper end of said intermediate
wall.
8. A refrigerator, comprising: a housing; a door attached to said
housing; a first door storage compartment mounted on said door; and
a second door storage compartment mounted on said door above said
first door storage compartment, said second door storage
compartment containing at least one first section having a full
first depth, at least one second section having a second depth
being less than said full first depth and following said first
section in a longitudinal direction of said second door storage
compartment, said second depth being less than half of said full
first depth.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] This application is a continuation, under 35 U.S.C. .sctn.
120, of copending international application No. PCT/EP02/10751,
filed Sep. 25, 2002, which designated the United States; this
application also claims the priority, under 35 U.S.C. .sctn. 119,
of German patent application No. 101 48 448.8, filed Oct. 1, 2001;
the prior applications are herewith incorporated by reference in
their entirety.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The present invention relates to a refrigerator and to a
storage compartment for mounting on the inside of a door of the
refrigerator.
[0003] The doors of refrigerators, in particular domestic cabinet
refrigerators, are generally equipped with door storage
compartments on their inside, of which at least that which is
located at the lowest level is intended to hold drinks bottles or
other containers which are taller than they are broad. The highest
container that is stored in a storage compartment such as this
determines the separation that there must be between it and a
storage compartment located above it.
[0004] In recent years, plastic bottles with a volume of 1.5 or 2
liters have been increasingly used for refreshment drinks, and
these plastic bottles are considerably taller than conventional
glass bottles, whose capacity is generally in the range between 0.5
and 1 liter. If the plastic bottles are intended to be stored
together with other bottles of a smaller format in one door storage
compartment, this results in poor space utilization, since the
distance from the bottle storage compartment to the compartment
located above it must be sufficiently large to allow the largest
bottle to be stored to be inserted without any difficulties,
although, in general, only a small number of the bottles in the
bottle storage compartment are of this height.
[0005] In order to overcome this problem, doors for refrigerators
have been developed with a vertical central bar, which allows door
storage compartments which each extend over only half the door
width to be mounted at different levels to the right and left of
the center bar. This solution is described, for example, in German
Utility Model 90 14 463 is, however, not completely satisfactory
since the center bar itself occupies space that is no longer
available for the storage of refrigerated items.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0006] It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a
refrigerator and a door storage compartment for the refrigerator
which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the prior art
devices of this general type, which allows intensive utilization of
the available storage volume.
[0007] With the foregoing and other objects in view there is
provided, in accordance with the invention, a door storage
compartment for a refrigerator. The door storage compartment
contains at least one first section having a full first depth, and
at least one second section having a second depth being less than
the full first depth and follows the first section in a
longitudinal direction of the door storage compartment. The second
depth is less than half of the full first depth.
[0008] According to the invention, the object is achieved by a door
storage compartment for a refrigerator that is formed from at least
one section having a full depth and at least one section of having
a smaller depth, which follow one another in the longitudinal
direction of the door storage compartment.
[0009] The door storage compartment can be mounted on the inside of
the refrigerator door at a vertical distance from a door storage
compartment which is located underneath it, with this vertical
distance being less than the height of the tallest bottles to be
stored in the bottle storage compartment. Specifically, if a tall
bottle is inserted underneath the section where the depth of the
door storage compartment according to the invention is less, its
bottle neck can project upwards beyond the section of smaller
depth. This section of smaller depth may be used for the storage of
small objects, such as tubes. The storage compartments can thus be
stacked in height on the door with a similar density to that in the
case of a door with a center bar, but with the additional advantage
that additional storage space is available at the level of the neck
of the tall bottles, in the form of the section of smaller
depth.
[0010] In order to ensure that tall bottles are located in a stable
manner, without being able to tilt, in the bottle storage
compartment, the depth of the section of smaller depth is
preferably less than half the depth of the section of full depth,
which generally also corresponds to the depth of the bottle storage
compartment.
[0011] The first and second sections may have equivalent lengths or
alternatively may have different lengths. Ideally, the first and
second sections are formed as a one-piece part, and each have a
box-like shape.
[0012] The sections of the door storage compartment that have
different depths are preferably each separated by an intermediate
wall. This contributes to the robustness of the door storage
compartment, and prevents bending when the door storage compartment
is loaded.
[0013] A horizontal reinforcing web on the intermediate wall is
worthwhile as a further measure to improve the robustness. The
horizontal reinforcing web preferably forms an upper end of the
intermediate wall.
[0014] The object is also achieved by a refrigerator having a
housing and a door, with a second door storage compartment of the
type defined above being mounted on the door, above a first door
storage compartment for the bottles.
[0015] Other features which are considered as characteristic for
the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
[0016] Although the invention is illustrated and described herein
as embodied in a refrigerator and a door storage compartment for
the refrigerator, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to
the details shown, since various modifications and structural
changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of
the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the
claims.
[0017] The construction and method of operation of the invention,
however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof
will be best understood from the following description of specific
embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying
drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0018] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic, perspective view of a door storage
compartment according to a first embodiment of the invention;
[0019] FIG. 2 is a partial sectional view through the door storage
compartment shown in FIG. 1, in the plane annotated II-II in FIG.
1;
[0020] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second door storage
compartment according to the invention;
[0021] FIG. 4 is a partial perspective view of an inner wall of a
refrigerator door with fitted door storage compartments; and
[0022] FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the door storage
compartment.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
[0023] Referring now to the figures of the drawing in detail and
first, particularly, to FIG. 1 thereof, there is shown a door
storage compartment 11 which has two sections 1, 2, each
essentially in the form of a box which is open at the top. The
section 1 has a "full" depth, that is to say its depth is
sufficient in order, for example, to hold the base of a
conventional 1.5 liter or 2 liter PET drinks bottle. The depth of
the second section 2 is less than half that of the first section 1,
preferably 30 to 40% of it. This allows a large drink bottle to be
placed in a full-depth door storage compartment that is mounted on
the same door inner face as the illustrated door storage
compartment, but underneath, with the neck of the drink bottle
being at the same level as the section 2, without abutting against
the bottle and impeding its stable positioning.
[0024] In order to increase the bending stiffness of the door
storage compartment when it is loaded, an intermediate wall 3 is
provided in the area in which the two sections 1, 2 are adjacent to
one another and connects front walls 4, 5 (which face the interior
of the refrigerator) of the sections 1, 2 to an integral rear wall
6, which is common to the two sections 1, 2 and rests on the inner
wall of the refrigerator door when the door storage compartment is
installed. The intermediate wall 3 on the one hand prevents the
rear wall 6 from bending laterally when subjected to a bending
load, while on the other hand it forms a support for the front wall
5 of the section 2 of smaller depth.
[0025] In order to make the intermediate wall 3 as robust as
possible with regard to horizontal forces that are exerted when a
bending load is applied to the front wall 5, the intermediate wall
3 ends at its upper end with a reinforcing web 7, as is shown in
detail in FIG. 2.
[0026] A cutout 8, which is open at the bottom, at the outer
longitudinal end of the section 2 of smaller depth, as well as a
corresponding cutout, which cannot be seen in FIG. 1, at the
opposite end of the section 1 of the full depth are used for
suspension of the door storage compartment on studs 9 (see FIG. 4)
which are disposed at regular intervals on vertical bars 10 on the
door inner wall, in order to allow the door storage compartments to
be suspended at different levels.
[0027] In the example shown in FIG. 1, the longitudinal extent of
the two sections 1, 2 is the same, that is to say the intermediate
wall 3 of the installed door storage compartment is located
approximately in the center of the door. A subdivision such as this
is expedient for a compact refrigerator, where the longitudinal
extent of each section 1, 2 corresponds approximately to the
diameter of two large drinks bottles. Other proportions are, of
course, also possible, as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the ratio
of the lengths of the section 1 of full depth and the section 2 of
smaller depth is about 3:1, so that a large-format bottle can be
stored in a storage compartment located underneath this, under the
section 2 of smaller depth.
[0028] FIG. 4 shows a perspective partial view of the door inner
wall of a refrigerator that is equipped with the door storage
compartment 11 according to the invention. A further door storage
compartment 12 whose depth is the same over its entire length is
mounted in the lower area of the door inner wall. The compartment
12 can hold large bottles in its right-hand half, underneath the
section 2 of smaller depth, while compact containers such as
tetrapacks, can expediently be inserted in the left-hand area,
underneath the section 1 of full depth.
[0029] It is obvious that the door storage compartment 11 according
to the invention is not restricted to two sections each having the
same depth. For example, three sections may be provided, two
sections of full depth and one of smaller depth between them, so
that large bottles can be inserted centrally in a compartment
located underneath and are thus always equally well accessible,
irrespective of whether the door is hinged on the right or
left.
[0030] It is also feasible for the depth of the section 2 of
smaller depth to be reduced virtually to zero, so that a door
storage compartment configured in this way can also be installed at
a level below the neck of a large bottle inserted in the
compartment underneath.
[0031] A further modification option is for the front wall 5 of the
section 2 of smaller depth to have an oblique profile, springing
back downwards, in order in this way to make it possible to install
the door storage compartment at the level of the neck attachment of
bottles which are positioned underneath. As is shown in FIG. 5, in
the case of a section of smaller depth modified in this way, the
base of the section may be omitted or reduced in order, for
example, to allow tubes to be inserted vertically.
* * * * *