US2215665A - Refrigerator - Google Patents

Description

Sept. 24, 1940. w ND 2,215,665

REFRIGERATOR Filed March 16, 1958 M ATTORNEY 16 L v /14' y 15 1: 18 i 1; 24 m fly 3 2a 4 1 F 20 2; 1 2 5 {7 v 0 .INVENTOIZ z 22 :2 l 29 z 29 T Patented Sept. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES REFRIGERATOR William T. Hedlund, New Rochelle, N. Y., assignor to Servel, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application March 16, 1938, Serial No. 196,106

3 Claims.

My invention relates to refrigerators, and it is an object of the invention to provide an improvement for supporting a tray beneath a cooling element or evaporator at a plurality of levels,

5 as will appear from the following description and accompanying drawing forming a part of this specification, and of which:

Fig. 1 is a front perspective view of a refrigerator with the door thereof open and illustrating an embodiment of the invention;

Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged fragmentary front views of the cooling element and tray shown in Fig. 1 with the tray in an upper position in Fig. 2 and in a lower position in Fig. 3;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective view of the cooling element and members fixed thereto for supporting the tray; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the tray.

In the drawing I have shown the invention in 20 connection with a household refrigerator includ-' ing a cabinet J having a thermally insulated space ll into which access is afforded by a door l2. Within space H is arranged a cooling element or evaporator M of suitable refrigeration 25 apparatus which produces a refrigerating effect for freezing ice and keeping the space at a desired low temperature.

The cooling element may comprise a cast meta shell in which a cooling coil (not shown) is em- 30 bedded, the shell being provided with a plurality of compartments adapted-to receive trays l containing water or other matter to be frozen. A

plurality of shelves I6 and I1 are supported within space H in any suitable manner, as by hooks 35 I8, for example.

A tray [9 is disposed. beneath cooling element.

l4. During defrosting of cooling element I4, tray I9 is utilized to collect water resulting from melting of frost on the cooling element.

In accordance with my invention, tray I9 is arranged to be slidably supported by cooling element l4 so that it may be moved to different levels and thereby hold and accommodate difierent quantities of food, such as meat and the like.

' This is accomplished by fixing two spaced members 20 to the bottom of cooling element H. The members 20 are formed of metal rods and bent to the shape shown in Fig. 4. The members 20 provide spaced guides or tracks 2| which extend 50 from the front to the rear of cooling element l4.

At the regions where the tracks terminate, members 20 are bent outward and away from each other for a short distance 22 and then vertically upward at 23. The vertical portions 23 are spaced from the sides of cooling elementll and at the upper ends the rods are bent inwardly to provide horizontal portions 24. The extreme ends of the rods 20 are formed with openings whereby the rods may be secured by screws25 to the underside of cooling element l4. 5 The tray l 9 may be formed of metal or glass or any other suitable material and includes a bottom 26 and side walls 21 extending upward about the periphery of the bottom. A flange 28 extends outward from the upper edges of side walls 21. In addition to the upper flange 28, the lateral side walls are provided with lower flanges 29 which are disposed in the same horizontal plane as the tray bottom 26.

In using tray I9, the tray may be slidably positioned at an upper level on members with the lower flanges 29 resting on tracks 2|, as shown in Fig. 2; or positioned at a lower level with the upper flanges 28 resting on tracks 2|, as shown in Fig. 3. In this manner tray l9 may be supported 20 in one of two positions to take care of the different quantities of food, such as meat and the like. By providing members 20 with outwardly extending horizontal portionsv 24 and employing a tray wider than cooling element l4, all of the water resulting from melting of frost during defrosting of the cool-ing element will flow and collect in the tray.

While a single embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, such variations and 30 modifications are contemplated which fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention, as

pointed out in the following claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a refrigerator having a cooling element,

members fixed to said cooling element to provide spaced guide means extending from the front to the rear of the cooling element, and a tray having supporting ledges at different levels, said members and said tray being formed and arranged so that said tray may be slidably supported on said tracks by the supporting ledges at a plurality of difierent levels beneath said cooling element. v

2. A refrigerator including a cabinet having a 5 thermally insulated storage compartment, refrigeration apparatus including a cooling element located in said compartment, a plurality of shelves in said compartment for supporting articles of food and the like, track members supported by and located on the under side of said cooling element, a flanged pan slidably supported on said tracks directly beneath said cooling element, said tracks and said tray being formed and arranged so that the tray may be slidably supported on said ment, and a structure to suspend said device from said cooling element, said structure and device being formed and arranged so that said device may be adjusted to different levels on said support whereby produce of-difie'rent heights may be accommodated in said device beneath said cooling element.

WILLIAM '1. HEDLUND.

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