US2512759A - Device to facilitate the removal of ice trays - Google Patents

Description

June 27, 1950 w, M, ALLEN HAL 2,512,759

DEVICE T0 FACILITATE THE REMOVAL OF ICE TRAYS Filed Feb. 26, 1947 I N VEN TORS.

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Patented June 27, 1950 EUNITFED STAT-ES PA-TENT ...orF1cE .DEVICE .TO FACILITATE THE REMOVAL OF .ICE TRAYS William M. Allen; Glendale, and Robert A. Anderson; Hamilton: Ohio, assignors .to tModel .Crafters Inm; Hamilton, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application February 26, 1947, Serial No. 731,156

This invention relates to a device to facilitate the'removal of ice cube traysfrom-the'shelves of a refrigerator evaporator.

*Mostmodern refrigerators are provided with an evaporator or freezing unlt-having a compartment with shelves-therein. The walls of the evaporator and usually also the shelves contain or have associated with them conduits or resortofbuilt in freeingclevice the average housewife will use a screw driver or a can openeror the like with attendant damage to the evaporator or trays.

Itis an object of our invention to provide :an

accessory which can be. used-with existing units prefer to use-wireof a thickness on the order of which; will eliminatedamage. to;.the evaporator ortrays and which will greatlysfacilitate. thezremoval of .an ice .cubetrayfromthe evaporator.

It 1 is another. object .of .our. invention to.:provide a device as outlined .above which will tend. to

prevent the icecube. tray from freezing tothe shelf. Further objects of our invention include the provision of such a device which is extremely simple and inexpensive in construction and fool proof in operation.

These and other objects of our invention which will be pointed out in more detail hereinafter or which will be apparent to one skilled in the art upon reading these specifications, we accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which we shall now describe certain exemplary embodiments.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of our device in one of its forms.

Fig, 2 is a plan view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a cross sectional view on a greatly enlarged scale taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary plan view showing a modified form of the device.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary plan view showing a modified handle structure.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary plan view of a modified form of our invention.

= 3 Claims. 01; 62-1) "-Fig'. '7 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 'I-lof Fig. 6.

' Briefly in the practice of our invention we'provide anelement adapted to rest upon the shelf 5 "of a refrigerator evaporator upon which anice cube tray canbe supported in spaced relation to said shelf. The element is so constructed-that it will have substantially line contact withthe shelf to minimize the surface in contact 'and 10 therefore to minimize the tendency'of the parts 'to freeze together, and it will preferably be coated with a freezing inhibiting paint.

The preferred form of our device, as shown in Figs. land 2, comprises asubstantially rectangu- 'lar loop 'of'wire having-the long sides Ill and H and the short sides l2 and 13. The end of the wireare brought together within a sleeve M, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The end of the loop adjacent the sleeve M is bent up as at It to pro- .20 vide a. handle portion.

We have found that if the ice cube tray is supported at too great a distance from-the'evaporatorshelf, ice will not be formed in the tray as rapidly as might be desired, and we therefore 3% inch. This appears to us to be a very satisfactory compromise between too great an increase in freezing time and toogreat a tendency for the parts to'freeze together." With a wire 3001f" a thickness of about inch, the device will have substantially line contact with the shelf and any freezing which takes place between the parts will be along a thin line which can readily be broken loose. In order to further fulfill the 5 objects of our invention, we prefer to coat the wire, as for example, by dipping or spraying and then baking, with a freezing inhibiting paint. Such paint should be able to withstand low temperatures and be resistant to abrasion. We pre- 40 fer to use a plastic paint, such as is commercially available under the name Amercoat manufactured by American Pipe and Construction Co. This is a plastic paint whose main constituent is vinyl plastic. The wire itself can be of any kind having sufficient strength, and we prefer to use wire of characteristics similar to that used in coat hangers.

The sleeve I4 is preferably made from extruded plastic tubing and may have an outside diameter, for example, of inch.

The loop is made of such dimensions that it is universal in its application. We have found that if the wire loop is approximately 2 inches by 8 inches, even the smallest ice cube tray now on the market will fit on it.

coating of the freezing inhibiting paint is indicated at l9.

In Fig. 4 we have shown a modification in which the end [2 of the wire loop is rounded as,

at l 2a, and in Fig. 5, we have shown a modification of the handle portion Where the ends of the wires, after having been bent up as at a, are lapped as at [9 and 20. These portions I9 and 4 wire we use can be readily bent without deleteriously affecting the coating. Thus, if perchance the loop of one of our devices should be too long or too narrow for a particular use, it may easily be bent by hand to the desired shape.

It will be clear thatnumerous modifications may be made without departing from the spirit of our invention and we therefore do not intend to limit ourselves, except as pointed out in the claims which follow.

Having now fully described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A device of the class set forth, comprising an element adapted to rest upon the shelf of a refrigerator evaporator, and to support an ice 1 cube tray in spaced relation to said shelf, said may then be soldered or welded together. In

this modification we do not use the plastic sleeve 14, but we coat the portions I9 and 20 with the same freezing inhibiting paint.

In Figs. 6 and '7, we have shown a further modification in which, instead of a Wire, we use a flat strip of sheet metal 2!, provided with an I upstanding central rib 22. The rib 22 has the same function as the wire in the embodiment of Figs. 1 and 2 in that it provides substantially line contact with the refrigerator shelf. While we have shown this embodiment with the rib 22 disposed downwardly to contact the shelf, it could also be disposed upwardly so as to contact the tray. In any event with this embodiment there may be a tendency for the fiat surface-t0 adhere to the shelf or tray, depending upon whether the rib extends upwardly or downwardly respectively, but in either case the freezing contact between the rib and the other of the two surfaces can be easily broken.

The embodiment of Figs. 6 and 7 will also be coated with a freezing inhibiting paintas described above.

While we have shown the device as a separate article, it will of course be understood that it may be made a part of either the tray or the shelf by being welded or otherwise suitably fastened thereto. In such case the handle portion could conveniently be omitted, and the device would comprise simply a, pair of coated wire runners, a coated wire loop or other suitable configuration.

It is also worthy of mention that the coated element having substantially line contact with one at least of the surfaces of said shelf and said tray, said element comprising a, rectangular metal loop member, the ends of said metal p member being axially aligned in a short side of a rectangle and being enclosed in a tube of thermally non-conductive material, the ends of said metal loop member adjacent said tube being bent upwardly to form a handle member, and said metal loop member being coated with a freezing inhibiting paint.

2. A device according to claim 1 in which said rectangular metal loop member is constituted of a strip of sheet metalhaving a substantially central stiffening rib of narrow cross section.

3. A device according to claim 1 in which said rectangular metal loop member is constituted of a length of wire.

WILLIAM M. ALLEN. ROBERT A. ANDERSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the fileof this patent: I

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,751,899 Whitfield Mar. 25, 1930 1,851,740 Townsend Mar. 29, 1932 1,932,731 Hathorne Oct. 31, 1933 2,006,169 Harris-Jones June 25, 1935 2,032,534 Gaugler Mar. 3, 1936 2,035,679 Thompson Mar. 31, 1936 2,429,521 Marquis Oct. 21, 1947

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