JP2001280826A - Door handle structure of refrigerator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the assembly work of a handle to be mounted on the door main body of a refrigerator. SOLUTION: It becomes possible to perform the attachment of a handle 8 by one touch, by shifting the slide pin 9b of a hinge pin 9 to a retreat position, inserting the handle 8 aslant from the end on the side of a fixing pin 9a into a handle mount 7 so as to insert and engage that fixing pin 9a into one bearing hole 11, returning that handle 8 to a posture parallel with the face of the door main body 2 within the handle mount 7 so as to collate the end of the slide pin 9b with the other bearing hole 11, and shifting that slide pin 9b into a projecting position, thereby enabling it to be inserted and engaged with the other bearing hole 11.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a refrigerator door handle structure.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Some conventional refrigerators include, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
As disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 00-18803, there is known an apparatus in which a door body is initially opened by a pull operation of a handle so that the door body can be opened with a light operating force.

[0003]

The handle has hinge pins protruding from both side ends thereof, and the hinge pins are inserted into and engaged with bearing holes of a handle mounting portion provided on the door body, and are rotatable with respect to the door body. However, the span between the hinge pin ends at both ends of the handle is larger than the width of the handle mounting portion, and the hinge pin is pushed into the handle mounting portion to insert and engage the hinge pin with the bearing hole. Therefore, it is unavoidable that the work is very difficult and the workability of assembling the handle is deteriorated.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the hinge pin of the handle and the bearing hole of the handle mounting portion provided in the door body can be inserted and engaged with a simple operation by one touch, so that the assembling work of the handle and the repair work can be performed. An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator door handle structure capable of improving handle detachment workability.

[0005]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a handle rotatably supported by a hinge pin on a door body which is openably and closably mounted on the refrigerator body, and a handle protruding from the handle. A push lever that causes the tip to abut on the refrigerator body by a pull operation of the handle to open the door body by a reaction force, and a spring that returns the handle to the initial position, wherein the hinge pin is connected to one side of the handle. A fixing pin projecting from the end and being inserted into and engaged with a bearing hole provided on one side of the handle mounting portion of the door body;
It is characterized by comprising a slide pin mounted on the other end of the handle and engaged with a bearing hole provided on the other side of the handle mounting portion, and a slide pin capable of moving back and forth between a retracted position separated from the bearing hole. And

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the handle according to the first aspect is provided with a pin position fixing portion that engages with the slide pin and fixes the slide pin at the projecting position and the retracted position. It is characterized by:

[0007] In the invention of claim 3, claims 1 and 2
The slide pin described in (1) is constituted by a spring holding pin that inserts into a coil portion of a spring for returning the handle to the initial position and holds the spring.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the door handle structure for a refrigerator according to the first aspect, wherein the spring for returning the handle to the initial position is fixed at one end to the handle while the door is fixed. The other end of the spring is slidably contacted with the body when the handle is assembled, and a slope portion for supporting the other end is formed, and the other end of the spring is supported on the slope portion.

In the invention of claim 5, claims 1 to 4 are provided.
Is a drawer-type door that can be taken in and out of the refrigerator body by a slide mechanism.

[0010]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the slide pin of the hinge pin is set to the retracted position, and the handle is inserted into the handle mounting portion by obliquely inclining from the end on the fixed pin side. Then, the handle is returned to a normal position parallel to the door body surface within the handle mounting portion, and the slide pin end is collated with the other bearing hole corresponding to the handle. By moving the slide pin to the projecting position, the slide pin can be inserted and engaged with the other bearing hole.

Therefore, there is no need for the conventional method of forcibly pushing the hinge pin into the handle mounting portion and twisting the hinge pin into the bearing hole to insert and engage the hinge pin. And also
When removing the handle, if the above operation is reversed without forcibly removing the handle, the hinge pin can be easily removed from the bearing hole, significantly improving the workability of assembling the handle and removing the handle during repair. Can be improved.

According to the invention described in claim 2, according to claim 1,
In addition to the effects of the invention, the slide pin can be fixed to the projecting position and the retracted position by the pin position fixing portion, so that the slide pin is prevented from being accidentally moved from the retracted position to the projecting position side when the handle is attached. It is possible to prevent the slide pin from inadvertently moving from the protruding position to the retreating position side and coming off the bearing hole after the completion of the assembling without hindering the assembling operation.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effects of the first and second aspects of the present invention, since the spring holding pin is effectively used as the slide pin, the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be reduced. It can be obtained advantageously.

According to the invention described in claim 4, according to claim 1 of the present invention,
In addition to the effects of the third to third aspects of the present invention, if the insertion engagement between the hinge pin and the bearing hole is performed while the other end of the spring is engaged with the slope of the door body when the handle is assembled, the insertion engagement As the spring advances, the other end of the spring comes into sliding contact with the slope, and when the insertion of the hinge pin and the bearing hole is completed, the spring comes into contact with the slope at an appropriate position, so that there is no need to adjust the spring assembly. As a result, the workability of attaching the handle can be further improved.

According to the invention described in claim 5, according to claim 1,
In addition to the effects of the inventions of (1) to (4), the refrigerated goods storage volume is
In addition, even in the case of a drawer-type door in which the initial opening operation force tends to be heavy due to the sliding action, the door body can be initially opened with a light operation force by the lever action by the pull operation of the handle.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings, taking a drawer type door as a door body.

In FIG. 3, reference numeral 1 denotes a refrigerator main body, and reference numeral 2 denotes a drawer type door main body which can be freely taken in and out of the refrigerator main body 1 by a slide mechanism 3.

The slide mechanism 3 is supported by, for example, a guide rail 4 provided on the left and right sides of the door body 2 in the front-rear direction, and is supported by the left and right sides inside the refrigerator body 1 so that the guide rail 4 is placed and engaged. Front and rear two guide rollers 5F, 5R
It consists of:

The guide rail 4 is formed slightly downward and obliquely rearward, and can be closed by its own weight with a light operating force when the door body 2 is closed.

Further, when the door body 2 is fully closed, a front guide roller 5F falls into engagement with the front end of the guide rail 4, and a step 6F for holding the door body 2 fully closed.
The rear end portion is provided with a stepped portion 6R for engaging the rear guide roller 5R when the door body 2 is fully opened to hold the door body 2 fully open.

At the center of the upper front part of the door body 2,
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a recess 7 is formed as a handle attachment portion, and a handle 8 is mounted in the recess 7.

The handle 8 has hinge pins 9 provided on both left and right ends thereof, and bearing holes 11 provided on both sides of the recess 7.
(One of the bearing holes is omitted in FIG. 2).

The hinge pin 9 protrudes from one end of the handle 8 and is inserted into the bearing hole 11 on one side of the recess 7. The hinge pin 9 is attached to the other end of the handle 8. The slide pin 9b is configured to be able to move forward and backward between a protruding position where it is engaged with the bearing hole 11 on the other side of the concave portion 7 and a retracted position where it is detached from the bearing hole 11.

The handle 8 is provided integrally with a pressing lever 12 which can protrude rearward from a window 10 provided at the upper end of the recess 7 at a substantially central portion on the back surface thereof.

The pressing lever 12 projects rearwardly from the back of the handle 8 and has a tip end rotatably provided with a roller 13 which is in contact with the front surface of the upper edge of the opening housing the door body 2 of the refrigerator body 1. The refrigerator body 1 is pressed by the rollers 13 by pulling the handle 8 and the door body 2 is opened by the reaction force.

The pressing stroke S _{1 of the} pressing lever 12
The front guide roller 5F of the slide mechanism 3 is
Guide rails 4 rides over a relatively rearward of the front step portion 6F is set to the drawing direction of the initial opening motion regulating stroke S ₂ or more of the door body 2.

Numeral 14 denotes a spring (torsion coil spring) for returning the handle 8 from the pull position shown by the chain line in FIG. 1 to the initial position which fits in the recess 7 as shown by the solid line in FIG.

The spring 14 has a coil portion 14a inserted and held by a spring holding pin 15 supported by a pair of brackets 16 protruding toward one side of the back surface of the handle 8, and one end 14b of the spring 14 is held. Handle 8
For example, it is inserted and engaged in a small hole 12 a provided in the pressing lever 12, and the other end 14 c is in contact with and supported by the door body 2 to accumulate energy.

In the present embodiment, a groove 17 is provided continuously above the recess 7 adjacent to the fenestration 10, and the other end 1 of the spring 14 is provided on a slope 18 formed on the rear surface of the groove 17.
4c is abutted and supported.

The spring holding pin 15 is mounted on the bracket 16 on the same axis as the fixing pin 9a of the hinge pin 9.
The spring holding pin 15 is supported on a bracket 16 so as to be slidable in the left-right direction, and one end of the spring holding pin 15 is effectively used as the slide pin 9b.

The other end of the spring holding pin 15 is bent and formed into an L-shape to form a lever portion 15a. The lever portion 15a is engaged with a pin position fixing portion 19 provided on the back surface of the handle 8 and slides. The pin 9b is fixed at the projecting position and the retracted position.

The pin position fixing portion 19 is provided with brackets 21, 22, which protrude from the back surface of the handle 8 and are adjacent to each other in the left-right direction.
23, between which the lever 15a is engaged and disengaged.
It is constituted by a hook portion 19A and a second hook portion 19B.
By engaging with the hook portion 19A, the slide pin 9
The protrusion position of the slide pin 9b is defined by engaging the lever portion 15a with the second hook portion 19B.

According to the structure of the above-described embodiment, when assembling the handle 8 to the door main body 2, the spring holding pin 15 is slid and rotated in advance to move the lever 15a to the second hook 19B. And the slide pin 9b is fixed to the retracted position (the state shown by the chain line in FIG. 2).

Then, the handle 8 is inserted into the recess 7 at an angle from the end on the side of the fixing pin 9a, and the fixed pin 9
a is inserted into the corresponding one of the bearing holes 11 and the pressing lever 12 is inserted into the fenestration 10.

At this time, the other end 14c of the spring 14 is hooked on the lower portion of the slope 18 of the groove 17 to suppress the free movement of the other end 14c of the spring 14.

Then, the handle 8 is pulled up to a pull state, and the other end of the handle 8 is inserted into the recess 7.
Is returned to a normal position in which the upper edge thereof is parallel to the front surface of the door body 2 in the concave portion 7, and the end of the slide pin 9b is collated with the other bearing hole 11 corresponding thereto (at this time, the handle 8 is pulled. The spring holding pin 15 on the back of the handle is in a state that is easy for the operator to see.)

Next, when the spring holding pin 15 is rotated to release the lever portion 15a from the second hook portion 19B and slide operation is performed to advance the slide pin 9b to the protruding position, the slide pin 9b is brought into the bearing hole 11. At the projecting position of the slide pin 9b, the spring holding pin 15 is rotated again to move the lever portion 15a to the first position.
By engaging with the hook portion 19A, the projecting position of the slide pin 9b is fixed, and the hinge pin 9 and the bearing hole 1 are fixed.
The work of inserting and engaging with No. 1 is completed.

In the process of inserting and engaging the slide pin 9b and the bearing hole 11, when the handle 8 is pulled up to a pull state and the other end of the handle 8 on the slide pin side is inserted into the recess 7, the above-described operation is performed. As described above, since the other end 14c of the spring 14 is already engaged with the slope portion 18, the other end 14c of the spring 14 is
Slides upward on the slope portion 18 and the slide pin 9
b is inserted into and engaged with the bearing hole 11, the other end 14 c is abutted and supported at a predetermined position on the slope 18, and the spring 14
Is properly stored, the handle 8 is returned to the initial position by the stored force of the spring 14 when the hand is released from the handle 8, and the assembling of the handle 8 is completed.

The door body 2 of the present embodiment having the handle 8 attached in this manner is of a drawer type in which the refrigerated product storage volume is large and the initial opening operation force tends to be heavy due to the sliding action. However, when the handle 8 is pulled from the solid line state to the chain line state in FIG. 1, the roller 13 at the end of the pressing lever 12 presses the front surface of the upper edge of the opening of the refrigerator body 1 and rolls. Refrigerator body 1
The presses but to the opening motion of the door body 2 in the reaction force, the leverage obtained in the lever ratio of the push lever 12, the initial opening operation regulating stroke S ₂ of the front roller 5F of the slide mechanism 3 rides over the front step portion 6F can be initially opening motion of the door body 2 with a light operating force with a pressing stroke S ₁ described above.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, there is no need to push the hinge pin into the handle mounting portion and twist it into the bearing hole to insert and engage as in the prior art. The hinge pin 9 can be engaged with the bearing hole 11. When the handle 8 is detached, if the above operation is reversed without forcibly removing the handle 8, the hinge pin 9 is easily detached from the bearing hole 11. Accordingly, the workability of assembling the handle 8 and the workability of detaching the handle during repair can be significantly improved.

Further, as described above, since the slide pin 9b effectively utilizes the spring holding pin 15, the number of parts can be reduced and the cost can be advantageously reduced. Can be fixed to the retracted position and the retracted position.
Does not inadvertently move from the retracted position to the protruding position side to hinder the assembling operation, and conversely, after the assembly is completed, the slide pin 9b is inadvertently moved from the protruding position to the retreating position side Detachment from the bearing hole 11 can be prevented.

Further, when the other end 14c of the spring 14 is engaged with the inclined portion 18 of the door main body 2 when the handle is assembled, the insertion engagement between the hinge pin 9 and the bearing hole 11 is performed. As the operation progresses, the other end 14c of the spring 14 slides on the slope 18 so that when the insertion of the hinge pin 9 and the bearing hole 11 is completed, the spring 14 comes into contact with the slope 18 at an appropriate position. This eliminates the necessity of adjusting the assembly of the spring 14, thereby further improving the workability of attaching the handle 8.

In the above embodiment, the drawer type door has been described as an example. However, it is needless to say that the present invention can be applied to a rotary opening type door which rotates around a hinge point.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view showing a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary perspective view showing a relationship between a handle attachment portion of the door body and the handle according to the embodiment;

FIG. 3 is an explanatory side view showing an example of a sliding mechanism of the door body in the embodiment.

[Description of Signs] 1 Refrigerator body 2 Door body 3 Slide mechanism 7 Handle mounting part 8 Handle 9 Hinge pin 9a Fixing pin 9b Slide pin 11 Bearing hole 12 Press lever 14 Spring 14a Coil part 14b One end 14c Other end 15 Spring holding pin 18 Slope Part 19 Pin position fixing part

Claims (5)

[Claims] A handle that is rotatably supported by a hinge pin on a door body that is openably and closably mounted on the refrigerator body, and that is protruded from the handle and whose tip abuts on the refrigerator body by pulling operation of the handle. A pressure lever for opening the door body by force, and a spring for returning the handle to the initial position, wherein the hinge pin is provided at one end of the handle to form a handle mounting portion of the door body. A fixing pin inserted into and engaged with a bearing hole provided on one side; a protruding position which is mounted on the other end of the handle and engages with a bearing hole provided on the other side of the handle mounting portion; A door handle structure for a refrigerator, comprising a retractable position and a slide pin which can move forward and backward. 2. The refrigerator door according to claim 1, wherein the handle is provided with a pin position fixing portion that engages with the slide pin and fixes the slide pin at a protruding position and a retracted position. Handle structure. 3. The refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the slide pin is constituted by a spring holding pin that inserts into a coil portion of a spring for returning the handle to the initial position and holds the spring. Door handle structure. 4. A slope for restoring the handle to the initial position with one end engaged and fixed to the handle, while the other end of the spring slides on the door body when the handle is assembled to support the other end. The door handle structure for a refrigerator according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a portion is formed, and the other end of the spring is abutted and supported on the slope portion. 5. The door handle structure for a refrigerator according to claim 1, wherein the door body is a drawer-type door that can be freely taken in and out of the refrigerator body by a slide mechanism.