EP2798288B1

EP2798288B1 - A household appliance comprising a handle

Info

Publication number: EP2798288B1
Application number: EP12813871.6A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Ahmet Ziya Demir; Hasan Yuksel; Mehmet KESBIC; Ahmet SERT
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2011-12-30
Filing date: 2012-12-26
Publication date: 2017-06-28
Anticipated expiration: 2032-12-26
Also published as: EP2798288A1; CN104302994A; CN104302994B; WO2013098285A1

Description

The present invention relates to a household appliance comprising a handle that is mounted onto the door, providing the door to be opened/closed.
In household appliances, for example in refrigerators, doors are provided which allow access to the interior of the cooling device and which separate the cooling compartment from the outside environment. The said doors are opened and closed by means of a handle. Some state of the art handles are produced in an outward-curving manner in order to match with the bulging doors, to be held easily and in order to improve esthetic appearance. The handles generally produced by plastic extrusion method cannot be taken out of the mould in a curved configuration. In this case, the handles taken out of the mould in a flat configuration are given a curved shape by means of very delicate processes; thereby causing the production time and junk costs to increase.
In the state of the art United States of America Patent Application No. US2002184734 , a cooling device is described, comprising a flat hollow handle and metal members providing the handle to be mounted to the door. The metal members are grouped at the ends of the handle and mounted to the holes on the door of the cooling device. The metal members that are fixed on the door apply force to the handle from both ends and provide it to bend outwards.
Japanese Patent Document JP 2006 250481 A describes a handle for a refrigerator that comprises a resin handle base having leg portions and a bridge portion bridged between the leg portions. Moreover, a metal handle support is mounted on the front face of the bridge portion, and a resin handle trim covers the front face of said handle support.
Document EP 1 914 366 A2 discloses a handle extending in the longitudinal direction of the door and having a hollow shape being protruded forwardly in a curved line, the handle being integrally formed by extrusion using resin such that the cross section of the rear portion thereof is larger than the cross section of the front portion thereof. The aim of the present invention is the realization of a household appliance having a handle that is curvedly shaped to be easily mounted to the door.
The household appliance realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention, explicated in the first claim and the respective claims thereof comprises a handle that provides the door to be opened/closed. The hollow handle is produced by plastic extrusion method. Before the handle is mounted to the door, a convex rod produced from rigid material is placed therein. Thus, the handle takes the shape of the rod that is more rigid than itself and bends outwards from its ends. Thus, the handle is easily shaped, providing ease of production.
In the present invention, a channel wherein the rod is placed is formed inside the handle. The cross-section of the handle is of compartmental configuration. The rod is placed into the channel without leaving any gaps so as not to move inside the handle. Since the cross-sectional area of the channel is much smaller than the cross-sectional area of the handle, the thickness of the rod placed into the channel is decreased. Thus, both material costs decrease and the movement flexibility of the rod increases. In a version of this embodiment, the channel is arranged at the inner side of the face of the handle facing the outside environment. In this embodiment, the channel does not cover the entire area it is placed and gaps remain at the right, at the left and below.
In an embodiment of the present invention, the rod is produced from metal material. In this embodiment, the handle is more easily shaped thanks to the rigid structure of the rod. Moreover, the handle resists more against the pushing/pulling of the user.
In the present invention, one support member is mounted to each of the two ends of the handle. Two housings are arranged on the door of the household appliance and the support members are fixed into these housings. Thus, a gap wherein the user can insert his/her hand is left between the handle and the surface of the door and the process of mounting the handle to the door is facilitated. In a derivative of this embodiment, the length of the handle is bigger than the distance between the housings. Thus, the handle applies pressure onto the surface against which the door bears by means of the support members and it becomes more difficult to dislodge the handle from the door. Consequently, this provides the connection to be realized in a rigid manner.
By means of the present invention, the handle mounted onto the door is easily shaped in a curved manner. Consequently, this provides ease of production and cost advantage.
The household appliance realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention is illustrated in the attached figures, where:

Figure 1 - is the perspective view of the household appliance of the present invention.
Figure 2 - is the perspective view of the handle and the door before the handle is mounted to the door.
Figure 3 - is the view of the handle, the rod and the support members before being grouped.
Figure 4 - is the view of detail A in Figure 3.
Figure 5 - is the sideways view of the handle when the support members are mounted to the ends thereof.
Figure 6 - is the view of cross-section B-B in Figure 5.
Figure 7 - is the view of cross-section C-C in Figure 6.

The elements illustrated in the figures are numbered as follows:

1. Household appliance
2. Body
3. Door
4. Handle
5. Rod
6. Housing
7. Support member
8. Channel

The household appliance (1) comprises a body (2), a door (3) providing access into the body (2) and a hollow handle (4) produced from plastic material, providing the door (3) to be opened/closed. The handle (4) is of a flat structure and has an almost rectangular cross-section (Figure 1, Figure 3, Figure 4).
The household appliance (1) of the present invention furthermore comprises a curved rod (5) that is placed into the handle (4) and that gives shape to the handle (4). Thus, the handle (4) is not required to be taken out of the mould in a curved configuration anymore. Thus, both ease of production is provided and junk costs are decreased. Moreover, the flat handles (4) present in the stock can be used in a curved configuration and since this eliminates the need for investing in new moulds, cost advantage is provided. In this embodiment, the rod (5) is preferably of a cylindrical structure (Figure 3, Figure 6, Figure 7).
In the present invention, the household appliance (1) comprises a channel (8) with a width almost same as the width of the rod (5), that extends in the handle (4), almost along the handle (4) and wherein the rod (5) is placed. Thus, the rod (5) having a cross-section much smaller than the cross-section of the handle (4) can be used. This decreases material costs. Moreover, since the channel (8) and the rod (5) have almost the same cross-sectional geometry, when the rod (5) is inserted into the channel (8) no gap remains around it. Thus, the rod (5) is prevented from moving inside the handle (4). Consequently, the rod (5) is provided to be mounted into the channel (8) without requiring any additional connection members (Figure 4).
In a version of this embodiment, the channel (8) is located at the portion of the handle (4) close to the face thereof facing outside. In this embodiment, the channel (8) contacts the edge of the handle (4) opposite the edge thereof facing the door (3) and there are gaps between the channel (8) and the handle (4) (Figure 3, Figure 4).
In an embodiment of the present invention, the rod (5) is produced from metal material. Thus, the rod (5) and hence the handle (4) are prevented from becoming flat after losing their curved configuration. In the present invention, the household appliance (1) comprises two housings (6) arranged on the door (3) and two support members (7) that are mounted to the ends of the handle (4) and that provide the handle (4) to be fixed to the door (3) by being placed into the housings (6). During the assembly, first the rod (5) is inserted into the handle (4) and afterwards the support members (7) are mounted to the ends of the handle (4). After the handle (4) is grouped as this way, the mounting of the handle (4) to the door (3) is completed by inserting the support members (7) into the housings (6). Thus, a gap is formed between the door (3) and the handle (4) and the user is enabled to hold the handle (4) in a more comfortable manner (Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 5, Figure 6, Figure 7).
In a version of this embodiment, the length of the handle (4) is bigger than the distance between the housings (6). By means of the axial tensile forces applied by the rod (5) along the handle (4), the support members (7) are provided to apply pressure to the outer walls of the housings (6) and thus the handle (4) is enabled to stay on the door (3) in a rigid manner (Figure 2).
In an embodiment of the present invention, the household appliance (1) is selected from the group of refrigerator, oven, dishwasher. While the handle (4) can be used in a perpendicular and parallel position to the floor in embodiments wherein the household appliance (1) is a refrigerator, the handle (4) is positioned parallel to the floor in embodiments wherein the household appliance (1) is an oven or a dishwasher.
By means of the present invention, the handle (4) taken out of the mould in a flat configuration is mounted to the door (3) of the household appliance (1) in an outward-curving manner. This provides ease of production and also improves the external appearance of the household appliance (1). Moreover, since the handle (4) is produced by an easy-to-perform process, production costs decrease.
It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed above and a person skilled in the art can easily introduce different embodiments. These should be considered within the scope of the protection postulated by the claims of the present invention.

Claims

A household appliance (1) comprising a body (2), a door (3) providing access into the body (2) and a hollow handle (4) produced by extrusion from plastic material, providing the door (3) to be opened/closed, characterized by
- the handle (4) that is produced as an initially flat handle (4),

- a curved rod (5) that is placed into the handle (4) and that gives shape to the handle (4),

- a channel (8) with a width almost same as the width of the rod (5), that extends in the handle (4), almost along the handle (4) and wherein the rod (5) is placed,

- two housings (6) arranged on the door (3) and two support members (7) that are mounted to the ends of the handle (4) and that provide the handle (4) to be fixed to the door (3) by being placed into the housings (6).
A household appliance (1) as in Claim 1, characterized by the channel (8) that is located at the portion of the handle (4) close to the face thereof facing outside.
A household appliance (1) as in any one of the above Claims, characterized by the rod (5) that is produced from metal material.
A household appliance (1) as in any of the above claims, characterized by the handle (4), the length of which is bigger than the distance between the housings (6).
A household appliance (1) as in any one of the above claims, that is selected from the group of refrigerator, oven, dishwasher.