US1975823A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

Oct. 9, 1934M Y J. R. ALDEN 1,975,823

REFRIGERATOR Filed Feb. 15. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 [mm g,

' INVENTOR m ,042 M ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 9, 1934 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE My invention relates to refrigerators of the mechanical type; that is, to the type wherein electrical or gas operated means associated with or incorporated in the refrigerator operates to cool the food compartment by extracting the heat therefrom, as distinguished from the type of refrigerator which is cooled by a supply of ice. The term mechanical refrigerator will be used to refer, broadly, to any type of refrigerator supplied with its own cooling mechanism whether electrically or gas operated. The object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator having two or more distinct food or cooling chambers and to so dispose the refrigerator in relation to the dividing wall or walls of a building that the separate food or cooling compartments will each be accessible from different sides of the dividing wall wherein the refrigerator is mounted, so that occupants of apartments which are separated by the dividing wall will each have access to an individual section or food chamber of a refrigerator adapted to serve the occupants of two or more apartments.

The tenants of one apartment will have access to only one food compartment, or one unit of the whole refrigerator, so that, as far as the storage of food is concerned, the tenants of each apartment will be independent of those of the adjacent apartment because the several compartments of the common refrigerator are divided off or separated by a dividing wall between the units; and this wall is preferably made of heat insulating material.

As far as maintaining the interior of the refrigerator clean or sanitary is concerned, the tenants of each apartment will keep their individual compartments of the refrigerator clean the same as if they employed separate refrigerators and any neglect on the part of the tenant of one apartment will not affect the sanitary condition of the refrigerator compartment of the neighboring tenant. In this respect the present apparatus has "all the advantages of separate refrigerators.

The advantages obtained by employing the present invention are as follows: First, there is a conservation of space because a portion of the duplex refrigerator described herein is disposed within the building wall dividing the different apartments, and therefore the different units of the refrigerator do not have to project into the room of each apartment as far as independent refrigerators of the same capacity would have to project, so that the saving in effective space is equal to the thickness of the building dividing wall multiplied by the height and width of the refrigerator disposed within the wall. Secondly, only one dividing wall is required in the duplex refrigerator to separate two food compartments, thereby eliminating one wall as distinguished from what would be used with separate refrigerators.

The elimination of one wall reduces the overall dimensions of the duplex refrigerator over the space which would be occupied by two independent refrigerators.

A single generator or cooling apparatus may be used for the purpose of cooling the several independent compartments of the refrigerator, in which case there will be a saving in the cost of operation over that of two separate refrigerators.

However, if desired, each unit of the duplex refrigerator may be supplied with its own generator or cooling apparatus. In the latter case the generators will be associated with the several units of the refrigerator and will be under the control of each tenant separately.

The present invention is of particular advantage where'refrigerators are furnished as part of the equipment of apartments, or in other words, where the installation is made by the landlord. The cost of equipping an apartment building with the present device will be less than where each apartment is individually equipped with a separate refrigerator because the cost of construction of a duplex refrigerator will be less than the cost of individual refrigerators of each apartment.

I have illustrated my invention in two forms. In one the units are arranged in tandem, whereas in the other form they are arranged side by side. Either form may be used, according to the particular conditions to be met. Other advantages will be set forth in the following detailed description of my invention.

In the drawings forming part of this application,

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator embodying my invention,

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a sectional view. taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is an elevation of a refrigerator showing my invention in a modified form and showing the wall in section,

Figure 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 4,

Figure 6 is a view taken on the line 66 of Figure 4, and

Figure 7 is a sectional view through the floor and showing the lower portion of a refrigerator in elevation, in which form the generator is composed of two independent sections.

In the construction shown in Figures 1-3 I have shown a refrigerator composed of a single shell or housing 1 the walls of which may be constructed in accordance with present practice. I have illustrated the shell ascomposed of an outer sheathing 2 which may be made of metal, together with an inner lining 3, preferably made of metal; and between these there is a filler of heat insulating material such as composition cork, as shown at 4, formed in slabs and assembled between the parallel walls of the shell.

In the construction illustrated in Figures 1-3 the outer shell includes a top wall 5 co-extensive with the front to back depth of the refrigerator, which includes the two sections A and'B, arranged in tandem, or one behind the other. Likewise, there are side walls 6, bottom wall '7 and at the front of the section A there is a front wall 8 which is provided with the usual door opening 9 adapted to be closed by the hinged door 10. Within the cooling chamber 11 there may be provided the usual shelves 12 for supporting the various articles of food or other materials which are to be kept cool. At 13 I have shown a rack adapted to hold the ordinary trays 14 in which ice cubes may be formed, all of these parts conforming to present practice or any desired modification of it.

The section B which lies behind the section A is provided with a front wall 15 which also has a door opening adapted to be closed by a hinged door 16, and the same is a duplication of the corresponding members of the section A. The section B will have suitable shelves, together with a rack for ice cube trays, and these may all be arranged the same as in the section A. The sections A and B have common outer walls, including the top, bottom and sides.

Within the interior of the shell there is a dividing wall extending crosswise of the shell for the purpose of dividing the interior of the refrigerator into at least two cooling chambers. In the drawings I have shown this wall as composed, in

part, of the opposed rear walls 17, 18 of the metal lining of each of the compartments, these linings being separated from each other, and the space between them is filled with an insulating material such as the slabs 19 of cork composition. In other words, it is preferable to make this dividing wall of heat insulating material so that if one of the units, such as B, is not in operation at all times in relation to the unit A, the latter will nevertheless be insulated to prevent the excessive ingress of heat. 7

Likewise, if the section A is out of use, the section B will be fully insulated and will not be affected by the fact that the unit A is temporarily out of use. Or, in case one tenant should leave the door to the cooling compartment open, it will not necessarily render the unit of the adjacent tenant inoperative. In Figure 1 I have shown diagrammatically a compartment 20 at one side of the cooling compartment wherein the generator or mechanical refrigerating apparatus may be enclosed. I have not shown in detail any particular type of cooling apparatus as the same is not a part of the invention, it being understood that any cooling apparatus may be used as far as the present invention is concerned.

The refrigerator shown in Figures 1-3 is mounted so that it extends through the wall 21 which is a dividing wall between two rooms, or

two apartments C and D, disposed respectively on opposite sides of the dividing wall.

The refrigerator is, therefore, disposed so that the shell extends through an opening 22 in the dividing wall which opening is made to conform to the dimensions and shape of the exterior of the refrigerator in order to avoid substantial openings between this wall and the refrigerator shell.

Preferably, the refrigerator is so disposed that it will project from each side of the dividing wall the same extent, or in other words, the dividing Wall lies intermediate the length of the refrigerator from front to back, as is illustrated in the drawings. This leaves the section A projecting into the room of the apartment C and the tenant of this apartment has full access to the cooling chamber in the section A for the purpose of storing food in this particular compartment. The door 10 provides access to this compartment of the refrigerator and the tenant will use the section A the same as if the section B were not present. The compartment 11 is fully insulated, including the dividing wall, so that this compartment may be maintained cool regardless of the condition of the cooling compartment in the section B..

Likewise, the tenant in the apartment D has independent access to the compartment 23, the door of this compartment serving to close this compartment. The tenant in the apartment D will therefore utilize the section B of the refrigerator for storing food. The tenants in the separate apartments therefore have access only to their respective compartments of the duplex refrigerator.

If desired, separate generators may be arranged at the side of the sections A and B, or a single generator may be employed to cool the compartments of both sections A and B. This is a mat ter of choice and my invention may be utilized with either of the arrangements described.

In Figures 4-7 I have shown a modified form of the invention. In this case the section E and the section F are arranged in a common shell 24 the same as in the first construction, but the compartments 25, 26 face in relatively different directions to that in the first construction. For instance, in the section E the wall 27 forms the front wall of this unit and the door opening 28 is in this front wall and is adapted to be closed by the hinged door 29. The section F has its corresponding door opening and corresponding door 29 adjacent the wall 30 which forms the front wall of this section. The refrigerator is mounted in a suitable opening 31 in'the wall 32 which divides the apartments similar to the first construction.

In this arrangement the front walls of the units of the refrigerator are disposed at right angles to the dividing wall 32 of the apartments, whereas in the first described form the front walls are parallel with the dividing wall and are the walls furthest away from the latter. In other respects, the constructions are the same.

It will be obvious that the refrigerator is not limited to an embodiment adapting it to two apartments only as it is obvious that if three or four adjacent apartments are divided by several dividing walls the number of units of the refrigerator may be multiplied at least to the extent of four distinct units, each one serving an independent apartment.

As shown in Figure 4 a single generator may be arranged in the compartment 33 to serve for cooling the cooling chambers of both units of the refrigerator or two separate smaller generators may be arranged in the compartments 33 From the above it will be apparent that the refrigerator not only projects into the separate apartments but it is partly confined within the dividing wall, so that each particular section of the refrigerator projects into the individual apartment'to a lesser extentthan if a separate refrigerator of the same capacity were mounted in the ordinary way entirely within the confines of the apartment. In other words, the space within the wall opening occupied by the refrigerator reduces the space occupied by the respective sections of the refrigerator in the different apartments over what would be occupied by independent refrigerators. Furthermore, the cost of making the combined or duplex refrigerator is less than would be the cost of independent refrigerators for the separate apartments. The tenant in each apartment has a separate and independent cooling chamber which is unaffected by the cooling chamber in the opposite apartment.

Therefore, if one tenant is negligent in maintaining the cooling compartment of his or her unit in sanitary condition, there is no injury to the other tenant because the two compartments are separated and insulated from each other.

Having described my invention, what I claim is: 1. A refrigerator including a shell adapted to be arranged to extend through an opening in a dividing wall of a building, whereby portions of the shell will extend into different rooms of the building on different sides of the dividing wall, said refrigerator havinga plurality of cooling chambers and a dividing wall separating said chambers, and separate doors in said refrigerator providing separate access to said plurality of cooling chambers of said refrigerator in the separate rooms.

2. A refrigerator including a shell adapted to be arranged to extend through an opening in a dividing wall of -a building, whereby portions of the shell will extend into different rooms of the building on different sides of the dividing wall, said refrigerator having a plurality of cooling chambers and a dividing wall of heat insulating material separating said chambers, and separate doors in said refrigerator accessible in the rooms of different sides of the dividing wall whereby the cooling chambers of the refrigerator are separately accessible in the rooms on different sides of the dividing wall.

3. A refrigerator including a shell adapted to be arranged to extend through an opening in a dividing wall of a building, whereby portions of the shell will extend into different rooms of the building and different sides of the dividing wall, said refrigerator having a plurality of cooling chambers arranged in the same horizontal plane, and a dividingwall separating said chambers, and separate doors in said refrigerator providing separate access to said plurality of cooling chambers in the separate rooms. I

4. A refrigerator including a shell adapted to be arranged to extend through an opening in a dividing wall of a building and projecting into the rooms on different sides of the dividing Wall, said refrigerator having a plurality of separate coolingchambers arranged in tandem, and a laterally extending dividing wall in said refrigerator separating said chambers, and separate doors in the front walls of said refrigerator dis-

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