U.S. patent application number 12/675177 was filed with the patent office on 2010-12-02 for domestic appliance with telescopic pull-out means.
This patent application is currently assigned to BSH BOSCH UND SIEMENS HAUSGERATE GMBH. Invention is credited to Andreas Kempte, Helmut Steichele.
Application Number | 20100300136 12/675177 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 40032650 |
Filed Date | 2010-12-02 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100300136 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Kempte; Andreas ; et
al. |
December 2, 2010 |
DOMESTIC APPLIANCE WITH TELESCOPIC PULL-OUT MEANS
Abstract
A cabinet-like domestic appliance having a carcass and a door to
enclose an interior, and a telescopic pull-out assembly installed
in the interior, wherein the telescopic pull-out assembly has at
least one rail that is movable in a depthwise direction of the
interior. The rail bears a lug that is made of ferromagnetic
material and that faces toward a rear wall of the interior. A
magnet is mounted on the rear wall of the interior, wherein, in a
retracted stop position of the telescopic pull-out assembly, the
lug is subjected to the attractive magnetic force of the
magnet.
Inventors: |
Kempte; Andreas; (Giengen,
DE) ; Steichele; Helmut; (Lauingen, DE) |
Correspondence
Address: |
BSH HOME APPLIANCES CORPORATION;INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY DEPARTMENT
100 BOSCH BOULEVARD
NEW BERN
NC
28562
US
|
Assignee: |
BSH BOSCH UND SIEMENS HAUSGERATE
GMBH
Munich
DE
|
Family ID: |
40032650 |
Appl. No.: |
12/675177 |
Filed: |
September 4, 2008 |
PCT Filed: |
September 4, 2008 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/EP2008/061710 |
371 Date: |
February 25, 2010 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
62/344 ;
312/334.44 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47B 88/43 20170101 |
Class at
Publication: |
62/344 ;
312/334.44 |
International
Class: |
F25C 5/18 20060101
F25C005/18; A47B 88/04 20060101 A47B088/04 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Sep 17, 2007 |
DE |
10 2007 044 232.9 |
Claims
1-9. (canceled)
10. A cabinet-like domestic appliance, comprising: a carcass; a
door to enclose, together with the carcass, an interior having a
rear wall; a telescopic pull-out assembly installed in the interior
and having at least one rail that is movable in a depthwise
direction of the interior, the rail to bear a lug that is made of
ferromagnetic material and that faces toward the rear wall of the
interior; and a magnet mounted on the rear wall of the interior,
the magnet to exhibit an attractive magnetic force; wherein, in a
retracted stop position of the telescopic pull-out assembly, the
lug is subjected to the attractive magnetic force of the
magnet.
11. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein the lug is embodied
as a single part with the rail.
12. The domestic appliance of claim 10, further comprising a cover
panel of the rail, wherein the lug is part of the cover panel.
13. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein, in a stop position
of the lug, the lug is separated from the magnet by an air gap.
14. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein the telescopic
pull-out assembly has an elastic buffer that limits the freedom of
movement of the rail.
15. The domestic appliance of claim 10, wherein the telescopic
pull-out assembly supports a pull-out drawer.
16. The domestic appliance of claim 15, wherein the pull-out drawer
has a back wall, and wherein the lug projects beyond the back wall
of the pull-out drawer toward the rear wall of the interior.
17. The domestic appliance of claim 15, further comprising an
icemaker to make ice, wherein the pull-out drawer is arranged
beneath the icemaker in order to collect the ice made by the
icemaker.
18. The domestic appliance of claim 17, further comprising a switch
that is actuated by the pull-out drawer, the switch to control
operation of the icemaker.
Description
[0001] The invention relates to a cabinet-like domestic appliance,
for example a refrigeration appliance, having a telescopic pull-out
means which is configured for supporting a built-in part such as
e.g. a pull-out drawer.
[0002] Domestic appliances of said kind typically comprise a basic
structure or carcass which encloses an interior, and a door which
can be opened in order to introduce and remove goods that are to be
stored in the domestic appliance, foodstuffs for example. In
commercially available domestic appliances of this type pull-out
drawers are often provided in which the goods can be stored in a
clearly organized manner. For more convenient handling of a
pull-out drawer the latter is mounted on telescopic shelves on
which the pull-out drawer can be withdrawn from the interior when
the door is open and can be pushed back in again after the goods
have been placed in or taken out. For reasons of comfort it is
important in this arrangement for the pull-out drawer to be capable
of being withdrawn or inserted in as free-running a manner as
possible. This can make it necessary to fix the pull-out drawer in
the inserted position in order to ensure correct operation of the
domestic appliance.
[0003] In the non-prepublished German patent application 10 2007
021 575.6 there is proposed for this purpose a magnetic arrangement
which consists of a magnet mounted on a rear wall of the interior
at the level of the pull-out drawer and a ferromagnetic component
on a back wall of the pull-out drawer and which in the inserted
state of the pull-out drawer holds the pull-out drawer firmly in a
stop position at the rear wall. When the pull-out drawer is being
withdrawn a user of the appliance must overcome the holding force
of the magnet, and when the pull-out drawer is being inserted the
magnetic force comes into effect as of a certain insertion
position, with the result that the pull-out drawer is retracted
fully and as far as the stop position without further action on the
part of the user.
[0004] According to said proposal the elements of the magnetic
arrangement on the rear wall of the interior and on the back of the
pull-out drawer are installed separately. This requires assembly
effort involving different component parts of the domestic
appliance.
[0005] It is therefore the object of the present invention to
disclose a solution for positioning a pull-out drawer or another
movable built-in part at a stop position which makes do with a
small number of component parts and is easy to install.
[0006] The object is achieved in that in the case of a cabinet-like
domestic appliance having a carcass and a door which enclose an
interior and having a telescopic pull-out means installed in the
interior and comprising at least one rail which is movable in the
depthwise direction of the interior and which bears a lug facing
toward a rear wall of the interior and made of ferromagnetic
material, wherein in a retracted stop position of the telescopic
pull-out means the lug is subjected to an attractive magnetic force
of a magnet mounted on the rear wall. Thus, the telescopic pull-out
means itself can interact with the magnet in order to be fixed in a
stop position and no further component part is required.
[0007] The lug is preferably embodied as a single part with the
rail itself or with a cover panel of the rail.
[0008] The lug disposed adjacent to one end of the rail can in this
case improve the magnetic effect in that the lug is offset at an
angle from the rail or its cover panel and consequently offers a
greater surface area to the magnet than would be the case by means
of an end of the rail without lug. Adapting the pull-out drawer or
built-in part to the magnetic fixing is not necessary. Furthermore,
tolerances for the placing of the pull-out drawer or built-in part
on the telescopic pull-out means do not influence the effectiveness
of the magnetic arrangement.
[0009] For comfortable handling of the telescopic pull-out means it
is advantageous if the lug is separated from the magnet in the stop
position by means of an airgap. In this way it is possible to
prevent the lug from striking hard against the magnet when the stop
position is reached, with the result that a user will not notice
any annoying noise.
[0010] This can be achieved particularly easily if the telescopic
pull-out means includes an elastic buffer limiting the freedom of
movement of the rail. By integrating the buffer into the telescopic
pull-out means there is no need to use a separate spacer, but
instead the stop position can be delimited by the telescopic
pull-out means itself and be softly cushioned by means of the
elastic buffer at the end of the path.
[0011] If the lug projects beyond a back of the pull-out drawer
toward the rear wall, it can advantageously be ensured that there
is a space separating the pull-out drawer from the rear wall,
thereby enabling air to circulate in the interior of the domestic
appliance.
[0012] A preferred area of application of the invention is a
pull-out drawer which is arranged in a manner known per se in the
interior of the domestic appliance underneath an icemaker in order
to collect ice produced by the icemaker. It is necessary in
particular for the operation of an icemaker that a collecting tray
of the icemaker is inserted into a stop position, since otherwise
ice cubes produced by the icemaker would find their way into the
interior of the domestic appliance instead of into the collecting
tray and introduce undesirable moisture into the goods stored there
due to melt water from the ice cubes.
[0013] In particular when the operation of the icemaker is
controlled by means of a switch actuated by the pull-out drawer it
can be prevented by means of the solution according to the
invention that the switch will unintentionally not be activated if
the collecting tray is not inserted into the stop position, and
consequently the icemaker will not be switched on and no ice will
be produced.
[0014] Further features and advantages of the invention will emerge
from the following description of exemplary embodiments with
reference to the attached figures, in which:
[0015] FIG. 1 shows a view of a pull-out drawer mounted on
telescopic pull-out means according to the invention disposed
underneath an icemaker;
[0016] FIG. 2 shows a view of a rear end of a telescopic pull-out
means having a magnet attracting the pull-out means, seen from an
inner surface;
[0017] FIG. 3 shows a horizontal section through a telescopic
pull-out means in a plane A-A from FIG. 2; and
[0018] FIG. 4 shows a vertical section through a telescopic
pull-out means in a plane corresponding to the plane B-B from FIG.
3 according to a further embodiment of the invention.
[0019] The diagram in FIG. 1 shows a partial view of an interior of
a domestic appliance, a sidewall of the domestic appliance not
being shown for clarity of illustration reasons. The domestic
appliance is a refrigeration appliance which has a heat-insulating
carcass delimiting an interior and can be closed by means of a door
at a front side. The interior of the refrigeration appliance is
delimited at a back side by means of a rear wall 3.
[0020] Disposed in the interior is a pull-out drawer 1 which is
held on two sides by telescopic pull-out means 2 supported on
sidewalls of the carcass. The following statements describe only
one of the two telescopic pull-out means 2, though it is clear to a
person skilled in the art that the features described also apply to
the second telescopic pull-out means 2.
[0021] The telescopic pull-out means 2 comprises two metal rails
21, 22 which are arranged in interlinked fashion in a manner
typical for telescopic pull-out means and which can be moved toward
one another in the longitudinal direction. In this arrangement the
second rail 22 is fixedly connected to the sidewall of the carcass
and the first rail 21 can be withdrawn out of the interior toward
the front. The telescopic pull-out means 2 further comprises a
cover panel 27 connected to the rail 21 and consisting of
ferromagnetic material; said cover panel 27 encloses the rails 21,
22 on a side facing away from the sidewall of the interior as well
as on a top side and underside of the telescopic pull-out means 2
and conceals the rails 21, 22 from a user of the refrigeration
appliance.
[0022] The telescopic pull-out means 2 additionally includes two
adapters 8 which are molded from plastic and each of which is
fitted and snapped into place on the rail 21 like a slider
penetrating through an opening (not shown) of the cover panel 27
and which serve to secure the pull-out drawer 1 to the telescopic
pull-out means 2 in a manner described in greater detail below.
[0023] At a front end of the telescopic pull-out means 2 facing
toward the front side of the refrigeration appliance the telescopic
pull-out means 2 has a cover 28 in the form of a vertically
elongate plastic molded part which conceals the front end of the
telescopic pull-out means 2 from a user.
[0024] The pull-out drawer 1 is arranged beneath an icemaker 5 in
order to catch ice cubes produced by the icemaker 5 and has the
shape of a rectangular tray. At a top edge of a sidewall delimiting
the pull-out drawer 1 at the side there projects an edge bead 11
which engages from above into the adapters 8 such that when the
pull-out drawer 1 is withdrawn the first rail 21 of the telescopic
pull-out means 2 is moved together with the cover panel 27.
[0025] A magnet 4 is attached to the rear wall 3 at the same level
as the cover panel 27, the magnet 4 being enclosed in an
approximately rectangular waterproof housing. In the illustration
of FIG. 1 the magnet 4 is largely hidden by the telescopic pull-out
means 2; it can be seen more clearly in FIG. 2. The magnet 4 is
embodied to exert an attractive force on a rear end of the cover
panel 27 facing toward the rear wall and thereby hold the
telescopic pull-out means 2 firmly in a retracted stop position. As
the magnified view in FIG. 2 shows, the rear end of the cover panel
27 is formed by means of a lug 23 offset at right angles from an
inside face of the cover panel 27, which lug 23 is arranged
parallel to the rear wall 3 and comes to rest at a small, but not
infinitesimal distance in front of the magnet 4 when the telescopic
pull-out means is located in the retracted stop position.
[0026] When the telescopic pull-out means is in the retracted stop
position, a rear end of the first rail 21 facing the rear wall 3
projects toward the rear wall 3 beyond a back wall of the pull-out
drawer 1, such that the pull-out drawer 1 is always at a distance
from the rear wall 3.
[0027] A switch 6 arranged in a region facing toward the rear wall
3 underneath the icemaker 5 is actuated by means of a back wall of
the pull-out drawer 1 and switches on the icemaker 5 precisely when
the telescopic pull-out means 2 is in its retracted stop position
and consequently when the pull-out drawer 1 is fully inserted.
[0028] The arrangement of the magnet 4 on the rear wall 3 can vary
according to the spatial circumstances and can also be turned at
right angles to the arrangement shown here.
[0029] Further details of the adapter 8 are shown in addition in
FIG. 2. The adapter 8 has an essentially cuboid-shaped main body
and a face adjoining downward on one side of the main body which is
in surface-to-surface contact with an inner face of the cover panel
27. The adapter 8 is held in its position on the cover panel 27 by
means of a clamping lug 83 engaging in the rail 21 disposed
thereunder through an opening in the cover panel 27.
[0030] On a narrow side facing toward the door of the refrigeration
appliance the main body of the adapter 8 has a narrow vertical
groove 81 enclosed by lead-in chamfers 84, and on an opposite
narrow side facing toward the rear wall 3 has a cutout 82 taking up
almost the entire width of the narrow side. Since the face of the
adapter 8 with the clamping lug 83 must always butt against an
inner face of the cover panel 27, in the case of the adapter 8
mounted on the second telescopic pull-out means 2 (not shown) on
the opposite sidewall of the refrigeration appliance the narrow
groove 81 faces toward the rear wall 3 and the wide cutout 82 faces
toward the door. The function of the groove 81 and the cutout 82 is
explained later with reference to FIG. 4.
[0031] FIG. 3 shows a horizontal section through the telescopic
pull-out means 2 and the adjacent magnet 4 in a plane A-A
designated by A-A in FIG. 2. The rails 21, 22 delimit an elongate
interspace, extending in the pull-out direction, into which an
elastic buffer 25 of the rail 21 and two studs 26 sticking out from
the rail 22 engage. The two studs 26 delimit the freedom of
movement of the buffer 25 and hence also of the rail 21. They are
placed in such a way that in the retracted stop position of the
telescopic pull-out means 2 defined by the contact of the buffer 25
with the rearmost of the two studs 26, as shown in FIG. 3, an
airgap 24 remains between the lug 23 and the magnet 4. The width of
the airgap 24 is dimensioned such that the magnet 4 strongly
attracts the lug 23 yet at the same time a collision of the two
that would cause annoying noises is reliably avoided.
[0032] The frontmost of the two studs 26 is placed at a sufficient
distance from the front end of the rail 22 in order to ensure that
in the withdrawn stop position of the pull-out means 2 defined by
the contact of said stud 26 with the buffer 25 the rails 21, 22
overlap far enough to guide the rail 21 in a reliable manner.
[0033] The safety switch 6 is mounted adjacent to the magnet 4 on
the rear wall 3. A button 61 of the switch 6 is shown in the
extended ("off") position. In this position the switch 61 prevents
operation of the icemaker 5. The icemaker 5 can only be put into
operation when the button is pressed in through contact with the
back of the pull-out drawer 1 against a return spring (not shown).
The force that the magnet 4 exerts onto the lug 23 across the
airgap 24 is greater than the restoring force of the spring, such
that the latter cannot displace the pull-out drawer 1 from its stop
position.
[0034] FIG. 4 shows two telescopic pull-out means 2 carrying a
pull-out drawer 1 according to a second embodiment of the invention
in a section along a vertical plane corresponding to the plane B-B
from FIG. 3. For better clarity of illustration the pull-out drawer
1 is shown not yet mounted onto the telescopic pull-out means.
[0035] This second embodiment differs from that depicted in FIGS. 1
to 3 in that each of the telescopic pull-out means comprises two
identically constructed pairs of rails 21, 22, with the moving rail
21 of the rail pair adjacent to the sidewall 7 being fixedly
connected in each case to the rail 22 of the rail pair facing away
from the sidewall 7. In this way a doubling of the freedom of
movement of the pull-out drawer 1 is achieved.
[0036] The adapters 8 are in each case mounted on the cover panel
27; in the case of the adapter 8 shown on the right as seen by the
observer the narrow groove 81 is directed toward the front as in
FIG. 2 and in the case of the adapter 8 shown on the left the
cutout 82 faces toward the front. Ribs 12 projecting vertically
downward and running parallel to a side edge of the pull-out drawer
1 are formed under the edge bead 11 on both sides of the pull-out
drawer 1. When the pull-out drawer 1 is mounted onto the telescopic
pull-out means 2 said ribs 12 engage from above into the groove 81
and the cutout 82 and thereby anchor the pull-out drawer 1 in place
on the telescopic pull-out means 2. The position of the tray in the
widthwise direction is exactly defined by the engagement of the
right-hand rib 12 in the groove 81; the left-hand rib 12 engages
with a clearance fit in the cutout 82 to allow manufacturing
tolerances and displacements due to different coefficients of
thermal expansion of the materials used to be compensated.
* * * * *