DE1944142A1 - Ice dispenser for ice cubes and crushed ice - Google Patents

Description

1249-9D-3161 Etectrfc Company

ICE DISPENSER FOR ICE CUBES AND CRUSHED ICE

Many modern domestic refrigerators contain an automatic Ice maker and a container for collecting and storing the ice made in the ice makers underneath of freezing temperatures. Though d | e through this ice maker pieces of ice produced can have different shapes, so they are commonly referred to as ice cubes. This term becomes a superordinate expression in the following Sls for pieces of ice of every shape and size, of which about 4 to 6 ice cubes are used to make up the contents of a usual To cool drinking glasses.

As an added convenience it has been suggested in These refrigerators provide a device to keep the ice cream

Pieces from the container to be dispensed in large quantities. In short, wise dii a container for receiving and Si ice spreader, which is inside the Position is rotatably held so that

of the ice spreader through a dispensing opening in a wall of the

Container automatically dispensed w (

For the highest demands on an ice cream household, it is desirable that Vt Cube shape as well as crushed

of 2 or more ice cubes, se controls for controlling the ice cubes and one ä container in horizontal ■ the pieces of ice when rotating

rden.

Lifting device is there in the direction of ice both in ice dispenses. The present

009811/0458

ORISINAL

May be t £ ero-fcweder ice cubes or crushed ice by Betätigung- of "Verteilersabgegeben: invention relates to an ice dispenser with a rotating / ice distributor in horizontally arranged Verbiridimsr with eiKesi STlszerkleinerer and ⁴ thus configured assembly d. *.

The inventive combined Flsabgabeervorrichtujs =? · For ice cubes and crushed ice uafans a container or a collecting area for the storage of ice cubes and a crushing areaj which is separated from the collecting area by a vertical mandrel and which at its? Lower part has an outlet. The vertical wall has the chopper above the outlet. tion area an outlet or discharge opening. So that either ice in the form of a cube or crushed ice can be dispensed, a horizontally arranged rotatable part is provided, the axis of which protrudes through the wall above the outlet and on one side of the opening. The rotatable part has a discharge section in the collecting area in order to dispense the Elsstvleke through the opening, and in the shredding area, shredding arms that are moved in and out of the transport path of the Elsstcke from the dispensing opening to the outlet: these Crushing arms are arranged so that when ice cubes are desired, they are always, then essentially outside the transport path of the ice cubes when they are dispensed from the opening. As a result, the ice can be released in the form of a cube through the foot, by falling freely through the transport path. The crushing area further comprises means that work together with the crushing arms to produce crushed ice and a temperature control device for optionally catching the ice cubes Fall through the crushing area, causing the ice cubes to be caught by the crushing sea moving upwards and in contact with the crushing device.

According to the illustrated embodiment of the invention the distribution device is a screw conveyor,!

0038 117 0456

S ^ 19UU2

line aiaf. "Tie is surrounded by a tubular part _; . in order to create two spiral-shaped , longitudinally extending earths for transporting the pieces of ice from one tainter to the other to the dispensing opening.

The Erfiisciuns ?: is now in the following description and the. Drawings of an exemplary embodiment explained in more detail.

Fig. 1 is a front view of a household refrigerator old an inventive ice dispenser.

Fig. 2 is a partially sectional view from above onto the dispenser.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross section taken along line 3-3 in FIe- 2 ..

In Fig :. 1 shows a household refrigerator with a freezer compartment 1, the door of which has been removed to close the access opening. The freezer compartment 1 is separated by a partition 2 from a lower hair-holding chamber which has an access opening closed by a door 3. Mounted within the upper portion of the freezer compartment U is an automatic ice maker 4, which may be any of the incidental ice makers currently used in domestic refrigerators for automatic ice making. These pieces of ice are commonly referred to as ice cubes regardless of their particular size or shape.

The ice cubes produced by the ice maker ή are turned into a Container 5 passed, which according to the invention forms the collecting area of a fitsverteller for ice cubes or crushed ice.

A rotatable part 7 has means for transporting the ice pieces in the container 3 to a dispensing opening 8 in the front wall 9 of the container. The part 7 is rotatable for a rotary movement about its longitudinal axis on the front wall of the container

009811/0456

and has in the front end of the container a supply or dispensing section 11, at the rear end of the container a transport part 12 and a shaft section 10 "... which protrudes forward from the wall 9. The transport part 12 shown contains a helical spiral, which upon rotation of the ice cubes from dom rear part of the container 5 au & ä it

away
Äbgabeschnitt 11 transported. . ,

The dispensing section 11 shown comprises a cylindrical casing 1 ^ in which a device in the form of a double-bladed screw or worm is located and which is rotatable with the casing in order to receive the pieces of ice at the inlet end of the section 11 and to convey them to the dispensing opening 8. The diameter of the shell I ¹ * and the pitch of the blades designated by the reference number 16 are chosen so that the blades with the inner surface of the shell form two spiral channels with a cross section such that the ice cubes can be guided freely through one another. When looking at FIG. 3, the pieces of ice are transported during a counterclockwise rotation of the delivery area through the transport section 12 in the direction of the delivery area 11 and then passed through the channels in the section 11 to the opening 8.

The ice cubes are retained in section 11 until e * fn ~ er "dip 'channels dWln töiü tier tfffnun'g, · 8 coincide. Thus' tffe -ib'taÖe iier '^ I ^ ÖVfel liüfrdh iffÄ ' position of the Opening B geVteue ^f rt ^! ^ F ^ r,. IgerfäüeT? G ^ sägi, - durdH the position of the lower edge Ϊ8 "cffrr ffi $ n \ äfe''fitä &biv" Hn 'dWfa AuslaBende rfes delivery section 11. SdSnit 4fe icisfä * ^: Ϊ8 4eh Obei * t ^ ll eihes damm, which prevents the üi4te * re ^: F ¥ ont'- <& aSr ÄüWiä ^ nde d * e> Versbrgurigsschperrte ^ overlaid · una d & ^ eirie ^ gafee -del * ^: E cube , 61s, the front barren ^r r Äl>'gäte1tkri € ^e: 2G Wirife's BLa1; t # s from a parking Urig below the axis 22 "of Vei ^ Wliers has turned extent · after ötfeh that it is flush with the edge of the 18th The position or position of the lower edge 18 thus determines the approximate number

009811/0456

ORIGINAL INSPECTED

19UU2

of the pieces of ice that are delivered each time, since they cannot be released through the opening 8 until the edge of the sheet 20 releases the edge 18. First at this point, all pieces of ice slide through the opening 3, which is still at an angle downward sloping part of a leaf.

According to the present invention, means are now also provided by which any amount of ice can be dispensed either in the form of ice cubes or as crushed ice, as desired by the user. For this purpose, an ice crushing area is provided at the front end of the container 5 or, more precisely, covering the opening 8, and is designated as a whole by the reference number 24. This Zerklelnerungsbereich comprises spaced side walls 25 and 26 and a front wall 27 that define a Elszerkleinerungskammer 28 together with the front wall 9 of the collecting area. This has an opening 29 on its lower part, through which either ice cubes or crushed ice are dispensed. On the section 10 of the part 7, which protrudes from the wall 9 forwards and into the comminution area 24, numerous comminution arms 32 are attached which are rigidly connected to the extension 10 and are rotatable with it and thus with the part 7. If a double-paddle screw is used which dispenses egg-throwing quantities during each rotation of 180 °, the arms 32 extend on both sides of the shaft. In other words, two diametrically opposed sets of crushing arms are provided.

Inside the crushing area, or more precisely on the wall 25, which is on the opposite side of the extension 10 is located to the opening 8, are arranged at a distance, fixed Crushing arms or counter hooks 33 attached. These fixed arms 33 are arranged between the arms 3g, and form together with these the type of comminution. for shredding the ice cube, which by the preharme 32, can be brought into contact with the fixed arms 33, like it will be described in more detail below.

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The arms 32 are mounted on the shaft extension 10: it is angularly displaced to the front edges of the snail filter that the ice cubes dispensed through the opening normally freely pass through the outlet 29 during the rotation of the part 7 ^! can fall through. If a double-blade screw is used in the delivery section 11, the crushing arms 32 are offset by approximately 90 ° with respect to the leaf edges 20 of the screw, as is shown in FIG. Thus, each time a screw blade 20 rises to the level of the edge 18 to dispense ice cubes through the opening 8, the blades 32 in both sets are in a substantially vertical position so that the ice cubes are free through the channel between. the shredding arms 32 and wall 26 can fall therethrough.

In order to now produce crushed ice, means are provided in the crushing section 2 ¹ J to catch the ice cubes as they fall from the opening 8 to the outlet 29, so that the pieces of ice are taken through the arms 32 and are crushed with the fixed arms 33 can be brought into contact. In the embodiment shown, these collecting means form a rake-like element 36 with spaced-apart fingers 37 which protrude into the spaces between the arms 32. This collecting arrangement 36 is pivotably attached to the hand 26 of the comminuting section below the dispensing opening 8 and is biased by means of a spring 39 into the position shown by the solid line, as shown in FIG. 3 is shown. When the element 36 is in this position, the pieces of ice are caught by the fingers 37 and rest on them until they are picked up by the Zerklelnerunp-sarjüe 32 and carried by them over the top of the extension 10 and then with the stationary ones Arms 33 are engaged where they are crushed and the crushed ice is then discharged through outlet 29.

If desired slna ice cubes as such. becomes the element 36 with the help of an Eu actuated by a solenoid '! I

00981 1 / -QAbS

1944H2

ίΙΟ of his fall arrest position shown in solid lines brought into the boo position, as shown in Fig. 3 by dashed lines. In the dashed line Position the fingers 37 between the reduction arms 32 above and below the axis and the wall 26 as well the fingers 37 enough space so that the ice cubes free from the opening 8 to the outlet 29 can fall.

A further device is provided to ensure a free fall of all ice cubes in every amount dispensed to the outlet 29 * \ fghn #lWe iäöpp ^ rschaufllge ice dispenser and two dated marking rings are used, the dividing arms % 2 Mn ^ s jl§ae % Sentence preferably offset ₃ By the derwariä 9 aai ^v rt ^ häfe% lying arms in turning door the first Mhd, and Jeälil * liel * ibrlgeh drifted ahead of the "in each case - * - going, some Öifäd ifSe'r ^^ iiii follows. This Angle to deii

the

can lfe £ öpfl «§EsWfeis% der di # r ^; iiaM § m ; Aohs ^ -ide ^ ^: ^ ei® * s "i a

■ where "

G ^ gieneinärider are displaced, Piit this arrangement is

1 Ie ^ IMd "e ftM in the sentence above the - ^: Wäili>^{; j} n> n d (5r edge IS removed, ^: % Mv ^!: LllitrTpB ^; i from opening 8 allowed

below the ZJ : efnen i

Ice optionally dispensed by the combined ice dispenser and crushed ice dispenser can be conveyed to any suitable ice removal area. For example, the outlet 29 can be connected to a guide channel 43 which rfc «t downwards through the partition 2 into the holding chamber or which, as shown in FIG. 1, extends into an intermediate channel kk in the upper edge of the door 3, through which the pieces of ice are guided to a removal area 45 which is provided on the outer surface of the door 3. • This moose H5 can also contain the controls

19U142

required for the operation of the ice dispenser. These controls are in Pig. 1 with a switch lever shown j the between a first position in which only the motor 4? is operated to drive the distributor 7, and one second position is movable, in which both the motor 47 and the solenoid 41 are fed. In the first position it would crushed ice are conveyed to the removal area 45, while in the second position ice cubes would be dispensed.

009811/0456

Claims (8)

- 9 - CLAIMS: (1) Ice dispenser with a collecting area for ice cubes, characterized in that a crushing area (2 ² O has an outlet (29) and is separated from the collecting area by a wall (9) with a dispensing opening (8) above the outlet (29) is, above the outlet (29) and near the opening (8) a horizontally running rotatable part (7) passes through the wall (9), which in the collecting area has a discharge section (11) for transporting ice cubes through the opening (B) through to the crushing area (2 ¹ I), in which an arrangement of crushing arms (32) is contained, which is attached to the rotatable part (7) or its extension (10), so that the crushing arms (32) in the from the opening (8) to the outlet (29) leading transport path of the ice cubes can be moved in and out, and in the crushing area (24) for receiving the passed ice cubes by the crushing arms (32) a collecting device (36,37) is provided so that the collected ice cubes can be crushed. 2) ice dispenser according to claim 1, characterized that the collecting device (36,37) can be moved into a rest position and the shredding arms are arranged so that they are not in that of the Opening (8) to the outlet (29) leading to the free transport path of the ice cubes when the collecting device is in its Is rest position. 3) ice dispenser according to claim 2, characterized in that the dispensing section (11) has a has double-feed screw and the arrangement of the crushing arms (32) on the rotatable part (7) at an angle from about 90 ° to the leading edges of the snail blades. 009811/0456 4) ice dispenser according to claim 2, since you r c h G e k e η η ζ e i c h η e t that the arrangement of the shredding arms numerous shredding arms arranged at a distance (32) includes. 5) ice dispenser according to claim 3, characterized g e k e η η ζ e Ic h η e t that the shredding arms (32) are offset by the one closest to the opening (8) Arm is first in the direction of rotation and each is the rest Arms follows the previous one. 6) ice dispenser according to claim 2, characterized g e k e η η ζ e i c h η e t that the catching device Pingers (37) extending between the spaced arms (32). 7) ice dispenser according to claim 1, characterized in that in the wall (9) near and generally above and to the side of the axis of the rotatable part (7) a dispensing opening (8) is provided through which the ice cubes in the rotary path of Shredding arms (32) are dispensed, the shredding area (21) next to and opposite the opening (8) has walls (25,26,27) so that the pieces of ice guided through the shredding area down to the outlet (29) are restricted to a transport route are who the Drehwei? the crushing arm (32) intersects that further drive means (♦ 7) for rotating the rotatable part (7) are provided in such a direction that the arms (32) move upwards along the transport path of the pieces of ice and the Ζ & τ- reduction area ( 2M) a collecting device which can be moved between a first position in which the pieces of ice are let through directly to the outlet (29) and a second Stellarg in which the passage of the ice cubes after ιιηί · -> ι is interrupted, so that the Ice cubes are picked up by the chopping arms, and continue on the opposite side of the axis from the AbgabeöffTiijiig {%} . ice hook (33) 009811/0458 ■ 194A142. - li - which cooperate with the comminuting arms (32), so that the transported to the die hook (33) Ice cubes can be crushed using the crushing arms (32) are. 8) ElsabRabevorrlehtung according to claim 7, characterized in that in the delivery section (11) a double-screw screw with front leaf edges (2 (0) is provided, so that with each rotation of the rotatable part (?) By 180 °, ice cubes periodically through the opening ( 8) hlndurcii abf * ebJbaa? Are, and that the shredding arms (32) offset these leaf edges (20) by about 90 ° ι ⁴ *> blank page