US2074785A - Refrigerator cabinet door rack - Google Patents

Description

March 23, 1937. I E. w. GENTZ REFRIGERATOR CABINET DOOR RACK Filed July 19, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet l 8 d 2 w rm 6 6 5 w 2 2 WI 33 7 2 8 0 2 W, 5 v 2 5/ (L m 5 INVE NT DR ATTORNEY Patented Mar, 23, 1937- PATENT mm REFRIGERATOR CABINET DOOR RACK Edward Willard Gents, Jackson, Mich, assignor to The Sparks-Withington Company, Jackson, Mich a corporation of Ohio Application July 19, 1935, Serial No. 32,280

2 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and improved door rack and more particularly to a'door rack adapted to be secured to the inside wall of. a refrigerator door for the purpose of storing food products therein.

' The main object of this invention is to increase the food storage facilities of a refrigerator cabinet.

A further object of the invention is to improve the accessibility of the food storage facilities in a refrigerator cabinet.

A more specific object of the'invention is to provide a rack particularly adapted to be secured to the inside wall of a refrigerator door for the purpose of providing additional shelf space for the storage of food within the refrigerator and to make such additional space more accessible.

An ancillary object of the invention is to provide a food storage rack for refrigerator doors which makes provision for momentarily depositing food products upon a portion of the rack when the door is in the open position.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear more fully in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in 'which:---

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator cabinet showing the rack of my invention secured to the back wall of the cabinet door;

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the rack taken .along line 2-2 of Figure 1;

. Figure 3 is a sectional view of the rack taken along line 3--3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a sectionalview of the rack taken along line t-t of Figure 1;

Figure 5 is a sectonal view of the rack taken along line 55 of Figure' 1;

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken along line 6--6 of Figure 1, showing the manner of securing the upper end of the rack to the refrigerator door;

Figure 7 is a sectional view of the rack taken along line 1-! of Figure 1;

8-8 of Figure 7, showing the manner of securing the lower .end of the rack to the refrigerator door;

Figure 9 is a front elevation view showing a portion of a modified rack structure;

Figure 10 is a sectional view along line lU-IO of Figure 9; and

Figure 11 is a schematic sectional view taken through the refrigerator cabinet, the rack and door showing the relative position of the rack Figure 8 is a sectional view taken along line with respect to the interior of the cabinet when the door is closed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the reference numeral l5 designates a refrigerator cabinet having a cooling unit It and a series 5 of transverse shelves I! located therein. The reference numeral l8 designates the door of the refrigerator cabinet l5 shown in the open position.

The rack of my invention is generally desig- 10 hated at 19 and is shown mounted on the back wall of the door Hi. In order to simplify the description, it may be said at this point that in general the rack l9 comprises a fabricated wire structure. The component parts of the rack, 15

which will be hereinafter fully described, are

preferably united by welding the contacting portions thereof to each other so as to form a unified article. It will, of course, be understood that when 20 reference is made to joining adjacent parts of the rack, such joinder is not limited to welding as any other method known to the art may be employed without departing from the spirit of the invention. 25

More specifically, the rack It! comprises two spaced substantially parallel vertical rods 20 and 2H. A transverse rod 23 is secured adjacent the upper end of rods 2|] and 2i. One end of rod 23 is provided with an extension which may be .30 bent to form a trapezoidal frame 24. as shown in Figure 2. Frame M 'is' adapted to project at right angles from the back wall of the door It.

A plurality of, in this instance four, wire rings 25 having a diameter substantially equal to the 35 width of frame it, are secured to the upper surface of the frame. A U-shaped rod 26 is fastened at its ends to the respective ends of frame 24 and is positioned so that the horizontal longitudinal portion thereof extends parallel to the 40 line of centers of the rings 25 but at a lower level. Thus, it is apparent that frame 24, rings 25 and supporting rod 26 form a basket 21 particularly adapted for the storage of eggs,'fruit or the like.

Positioned directly below the basket 21 are two 45 similarly formed baskets 28, each comprising a trapezoidal frame 29, wire rings 30 and a supporting rod 3|. The baskets 28 may be supported at one end by the rod 20 and at the other by a short vertical rod 32 secured at its upper end to 50 transverse rod 23, and at its lower end to another transverse rod 33, the latter rod being se-' cured at its ends to rods 20 and 2| respectively.

In sequence, positioned below the baskets 21 and 28, are to be found vertically spaeked baskets to 34, 35 and 34 extending transversely between the rods 23 and 2|. The baskets 34. 35 and 33 have a progressively increasing capacity in order to more effectively accommodate food products 5 packed in containers of various sizes. Each of these latter baskets comprises a plurality of vertically spaced endless wire frames fastened at each end to the rods 23 and 2i respectively.

More specifically, the basket 34 comprises three wire frames 31 preferably of the form shown in Figure 4. It will be noted that the right-hand portion of basket 34 is only substantially onehalf the width of the left-hand portion. The narrower portion-afiords a storage space for rela- 16 tively fl'at articles without a material sacrifice of shelf depth within the refrigerator box. The lowermost frame 31 of the basket 34 is provided with a suitable grating consisting of metallic rods 33 extending lengthwise of the frameto form a 0 bottom for the basket. A suitable number of cross members or rods 30 are also provided for adequately supporting the rods 33 intermediate their ends.

a The basket 35, in this particular instance, comprises two endless wire frames 43 having a trapezoidal form as shown in Figure 5. The lengthwise rods secured at their ends to the ends of the lowermost frame 43 in conjunction with the cross rods 42, form the bottom of the basket. The basket 36 is similar in construction to basket with the exception that it has greater width. A plan view of the lowermost frame of the basket 35 is shown in Figure 7. Three lengthwise rods 44 are employed in conjimction with the 35 lowermost frame 43 to form the bottom of the basket. The rods 44 are given support intermediate their ends by a suitable number of cross rods 45. p

In order that the several baskets may be given further support, I provide a vertical tie-rod 46 secured to the outer edge of each frame of the several baskets adjacent one end thereof. Since the basket 35 has a greater width than the other baskets, it is desirable to provide additional bracing to maintain a rigid structure. For this purpose, vertical tie-rod 43 may be employed engaging the ends of the wire frames of baskets 35 and 38 opposite the tie-rod 45.

The rack I3 may be supported upon the inside so wall of door It by bending the upper ends of rods 23 and 2i to form hooks 53. About each hook 50 is looped a strap 5|, the ends of which are provided with an opening through which a screw 52' may be passed for securing the hanger strap to the back of the door i3. The lower portion of the rack I3 may be fastened to the back of the refrigerator door by means of hanger straps 53 looped about the rear frame member 43 of basket 36. Straps 53 are preferably positioned 50 adjacent either end of the basket as shown in Figure 7 and may be secured to the back of the door l8 by means of screws 54 as more clearly shown in Figure 8.

The relative position of the rack I! with re- 5 spect to the interior of the refrigerator cabinet I5 when the door i8 is closed, is schematically shown in Figure 11. The width of the baskets 21, 28, 34 and 35 are relatively narrow as compared with the depth of the shelves i1. Thus, there is little loss of shelfspace. The storage space, however, has been materially increased due to the arrangement of the several baskets upon the back of the door it. In general, the rack IS, with its several storage baskets, has a further advantage in that it affords a degree of accessibility to the food products stored therein, not present in refrigerators of the conventional type got employing a storage space on the back of the oor.

It is frequently desirable to have available a conveniently positioned shelf for momentarily depositing food products thereon when removing them from or placing them into the refrigerator.

Such a shelf may be provided to occupy the space to the right of baskets 21 and 23 as shown in Figure 9 in which the shelf is designated at 55. The shelf 56 comprises a rectangular frame formed by a U-shaped member 53 and a lower cross member 51 secured thereto. The upper cross portion of the member 53 and the lower cross member 51 may be bridged with a plurality of suitable rods 53 to constitute a supporting surface. The ends of the U-shaped member 53 are preferably bent back to form an elongated loop 53' as shown in Figure 1.0. Passing through these respective loops 53 is a rod 53 Positioned transversely with respect to and secured to two vertically positioned rods 33 and Bi. The latter rods may be supported in horizontal spaced relation from rods 23 and 33. Thus, the shelf 55 is permitted to hinge about rod 53 when moved from lts'raised position as shown by the full lines in -Flgure 10 to its lowered position shown by the dotted lines in the same figure. When in the lowered position, the lower cross member 51 abuts against the two vertical rods 53 and 5| and prevents the shelf 55 from being lowered further. When in a raised position, the elongated loops 53' permit the shelf to move downwardly in a vertical plane and engage a hook 62 provided upon the rod 23 for maintaining the shelf in the raised position when the refrigerator door I3 is closed.

Although I have shown and described a particular rack construction adapted to be secured to the inside wall of a refrigerator door, it is to be understood that the same is for the P rp se of illustration and that changes and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

:1. A utility rack for the door of the cooling chamber of a refrigerator cabinet or the like comprising in combination, a supporting wire frame adapted to be secured on the inside of said door, said frame including vertically disposed laterally spaced side rods and a pluralityof cross rods connecting the side rods arranged in spaced relation to each other longitudinally of the side rods, a drop shelf comprising a U-shaped wire form loops rotatably receiving a cross rod of the frame having the ends thereof return bent to supporting frame therethrough whereby the shelf may hinge about said cross rod to move from a raised position substantially parallel with the supporting frame to a position substantially normal to said supporting frame, a crossrod secured to the shelf frame adjacent said loops adapted to engage the vertical rods of the supporting frame when the shelf is in the lowered position for maintaining said shelf in said position, and separate means connected with the supporting frame for maintaining the shelf in the raised position.

2. A utility rack of the class described comprising a supporting frame including vertically disposed laterally spaced side members and means including a cross member connecting the side members to each other, a drop shelf comprising a substantially rectangular frame pivotgenres i 3 ally connected at one side to the cross'member shell irame adlacent said pivotal connection of the supporting frame whereby the shelf may adapted to engage the vertical side members or hinge about said cross member to move from an the supporting irame when the shelf is in the inoperative position substantially parallel with operative position for maintaining said shell in 5 the supporting frame to an operative position said position, and separate means for releasably 5 substantially normal to said supportin: i'rame, maintainin: the shelf in the inoperative position. i v a. cross rod secured to the outer surface or the EDWARD WILLARD GEN'I'L.

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