US2620520A - Refrigerator door or lid - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 9, 1952 c. H. KAFER REFRIGERATOR DOOR OR LID 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 Filed Oct. 27, 1948 Dec. 9, 1952 c. H. KAFER REFRIGERATOR DOOR OR LID 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 Filed Oct. 27, 1948 CJcITe H. Jfaf e1",

' a WK meg Patented Dec. 9, 1952 TENT OFFICE REFRIGERATOR DOOR R LID Claregfl. Kafer, Palmyra, Mich., assignor to. Revco, Inc.,. Deerfield,,Mich..

Application October 2-7, 1948, Serial No.- 56,725

2 Claims.

Thisjnventiorr relates ,toamovable cover meme ber, such as a door or lid, which isparticularly applica'blegto.refrigeratedcabinets, and it-is particularly.--concerned-j'with; a: closureimember havin askettoseal'zthe joint betweenthe door and. the; box opening, together with cooperating means :to retain the; door intrue alignment- It-has aheretofore been proposed; and it has becomeaa; common, practice in the art, to form. door onlidtmembersfor refrigerated cabinets as shallow. sheet metal pans in which insulating material issplaced-to preventheat; losses, and'to close the open inner face of the panby a plate or liner. It is. also-conventional practice to place strips of rubber or like resilient material along the inner edgesaof the door, sothat, uponclosing the door against; the; casing; edges of the cabinet, a seal. will ;be pro,vided to-.prevent leakage of air around thesjointi Problems-havebeen presented, however, due to'difliculty in providing a gasket which efiectivelyseals'thedoor around its entire perim-- eter: Other problems are involved in retaining the-door; in. a square: or true, shape, as the door pantends to warp out of shape, and'correctives in: the-1 form of'reinforcing frames have unduly increasedboth weight and cost.

According. to the present invention, there is provided a cabinet closure having a continuous marginal .flangeto which a continuous gasket elementisapplied, which gasket is retained in tight engagement: at all pointsby means of sealing clips-andqanchors. A practically perfect seal is therebyobtained against the cabinet face, and also between .therinterior and exterior portions of the: door, to prevent heat exchangeand moisture seepage.

The .meansemployed forsealingthe gasket to theedoor espeoiallyat its corners, is .moreover so formed that itmay be utilized as a member cooperating tohold thedoor panin its intended squareor true shape, thus overcoming warping or di's'torting forces Which would tend 'to separate thepgas ket-irom the door and thereby adversely affect its utility;

Other-"and further objects of Y theinvention', and theeadvantages to be derived from the practice thereof; will'b'ecome-apparent from the. following detailed" description of. a preferred, embodiment, illustratediin: the zaccompanying drawings, where- FE-ig, .11 is. a; front elevation; of adoor, particularly. adapted -.-as. a-lid, for. atop opening; cabinet, such.=as;=a deep, freezer. or: food storage chest;

Eig, 2..is.a;.bottom plan. ofjthedoor Eig 3*is' a fragmentary side ,elevationof, the door;

Fig; his a fragmentary -bottomhview, ,on an en larged; scale, of the;dooryshowninFigsz land-1,2,2. with, portions at. several corners removedi. or:- brokenaway-at difierent elevations,,in: order to: show the; details ofeonstruction,andassembly;

Figs; 5' and. 6; arev fragmentary sections re.- spectively taken. on; the: lines; Fa -5 and; 66'-. of- Fig, 3.;

Fig. 7 is: a-: perspective of; a corner-gusset andgasket retaining plate; and,-,

Fig. 8 is a perspective; of; a.- tie; rod retaining;

the opposite side.. The open face of' the pan,-

which constitutes the-insiderof the door,,is covered by. alinerl5, andthe perimeter of thepan:

and the-liner arecovered by acontinuouszgasket' it? of rubber or other resilient material, adapted to seal the jointbetween the door and the cabinet to which it is applied. The-instant door is also-shownas'hav-ing an electriclight casing ll on the. liner. l5, whose service and |8-1eadsthrough a switch l9 which is open when the door. is shut, and closed when the door is open. Thespace, Within the pan isadap-tecl to receive any suitable insulating? material, so as to minimize heattransier betweenthe interior of the cabinetv andthe outside air. Doors of this nature are adapted tobeused: as horizontal lids for food storage chests, or. -as vertically mounted doors. on

the customary. domestic refrigerator cabinets.,

Referring next to Figs. 4, 5, and 6, the side walls- !2 of thedoor pan are bent to provide relatively wide inwardly projecting flanges 21 alongthe perimeter and. between the door corners, and

relatively narrow inwardly projecting flanges 22 at the corners: Whose inner edges are curved to' follow the contour of the pan corners. The wide flanges?! are stopped a slight distance fromathepoints. where the curved pan corners merge into the straight sides E2, to provide sector-shaped cutawayportions 23, as will .be clearly apparent from the lower left corner view in Fig. 4. Cutting away the, corners, andemploying. a narrowflange. 22;.faci1itates the formation of the panwithout the development of unsightly wrinkles in.

the metal, which would detract from the appearance of the door.

Each corner sector23 receives aigussetplate-or. bracket, 25,. the, specific formation. of Whichis clearlyshownin Fig.7.. The .plate .consistsof a.

sheet metal stamping having an upper step or ledge 26 whose outer edge is curved to follow the corner contour, and which merges through a riser 2'! into a lower step or ledge 28 which is similarly curved. A second riser 29 merges into a bracket 3| having a substantially circular outer margin, and disposed substantially parallel to the steps 26 and 28. The bracket 3| is also formed with two slots 32 and 33, angularly disposed or out of parallelism with each othe and for a purpose which will presently appear.

The plate 25 is positioned over the sector 23 so that the extremities of the step 28 engage the ends of the adjacent wide flanges 2|, while the step 26 is positioned above and is slightly spaced from the narrow corner flange 22 by the riser 21. This arrangement is shown particularly in the upper left coner in Fig, 4, and also in Fig. 5. From these views, it will also be seen that the bracket section 3| is disposed below the elevation of the flanges 2| and 22, and that it projects inwardly toward the diagonally opposite corner of the pan. Each plate 25 is secured to the flanges 2| by spot welding, as indicated by the reference numeral 34, thus integrating the assembly and increasing its over-all strength.

Diagonally disposed cross ties extend from the brackets 3| along the front edge l2 of the pan to the opposite corner alon the rear edge, in order to square the door and retain it from distortion, It is, of course, practical to connect these straps to opposed brackets 3| when the door is fabricated, but it is preferred to include some means of adjustment and rectification after complete assembly, and therefore additional means are provided at the rear corners for this purpose.

The two cross tie members may take the form of thin, heat treated, sheet metal straps 35, 35a, each of which is connected to its associated bracket 3| at the front corner of the pan. At the front left corner, as viewed in Fig. 4, the strap 35 is bent or looped through the slot 32 and is secured on itself by crimping a metal clamp 36 around the overlapping portions, At the front right corner, wherein the plate 25 is shown in dotted lines beneath the liner IS, th companion strap 35a is similarly connected, except that its end is bent through the slot 33, instead of the slot 32. It will be seen from comparison of the two corners that, in each case, the strap is passed through that slot which is normal to the diagonal, and the two slots are so positioned that one or the other becomes normal to the diagonal as the plate is moved from one corner to the other. Accordingly, in each instance, the bight of the strap engages its associated slot over its entire surface, and shearing forces tendin to cut the strap at the bight are thereby eliminated.

The provision of the two slots, respectively normal to the diagonals at the adjacent corners, enables the plates 25 to be assembled in any corner without prior selection and matching. The angularity between the two slots is so chosen, of

course, as to satisfy the criterion of normality, and this angularly will depend upon the ratio of the long and short sides of the pan, which in left corners by anchor members 4|, such as is shown in Figs. 4, 5, and 8. The anchor consists of a sheet metal stamping having an inwardly extending flange 42, corrugated or beaded with ribs 43 to increase its resistance to distortion, and formed with a slot 44 adapted to receive the end of the strap 35 or 35a which is bent through the slot, and is secured with a clamp 36. The anchor further includes a depending flange 45, medially formed with an aperture to receive a headed nut 46, so positioned that the body of the nut projects toward the corner, while the head engages the flange on its inner side to prevent separation. A screw 4'! of suitable length extends through an aperture 48 drilled at the corner, and it may obviously be drawn up to increase the tension on the associated strap, andjthereby pull the sides l2 of the pan into right angled relation. If the pan should, during use, warp slightly out of true, it is a simple matter to increase or decrease the tension on one or both straps, thereby rectifying the V misalignment.

The apertures 43 are drilled on lines coinciding with the longitudinal axes of the straps, or along the true diagonals, and the slot 44 is formed at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the nut 46.

Accordingly, the bight of the strap passing through the slot 44 will engage over the entire surface, irrespective of which corner is referred to. Ience, it is unnecessary to form the anchors 4| with angularly disposed slots, and the correction for angular diiferences is made by proper location of the apertures 48.

After the pan has been'equipped with the gussets, cross braces, and anchors, and has been squared, it is ready to receive the gasket l6, which has a generally rectilinear shape following the contour of the pan, and whose dimensions are only slightly less in length and width. The gasket [6 is continuous, and it may be molded from rubber or other suitable resilient material. It consists of a connector section 5| whose Width is slightly less than that of the flange 2| or 22, and which section is directly laid on the flanges 2| and 22. A hinge section 52 disposed at the outer edge of the gasket merges into a half round section 53 overlying the section 5|, and which may be made hollow if desired, to increase the resilience and sealing properties. The connector section 5| is securely retained on the flanges 2| by means of channel members 55, having lengths approximately equal to the distances between adjacent edges of the sectors 23, the arms of which respectively engage the inner surfaces of the flanges 2!, and the surface of the connector 5| directly below the section 53.

After being positioned in a rather loose manner, in order to facilitate assembly, the arms of the clips 55 are forced together by applying a compressing or pinching tool of any suitable type, thereby locking the gasket to the flanges 2| and practically covering and obscuring the connector section 5| of the gasket. Thoseportions of the section 5| not covered by the clips 55 are located, of course, at the pan corners, and these pass under the steps 26 of the gussets 25, entering the clearance gaps provided by the risers 27. In order to accommodate the connector section 5| to the difference in width of the flanges 2| and 22, the

corner portions may be cut away, as is shown in V a suitable tool against the adjacent sections 5|,

thereby securely connecting the gasket at the corners, as well as along the edges l2.

It will thus be seen that the gasket "3 is sealed to the door pan throughout its entire perimeter, including the curved comer portions, and that it cannot be readily pried away at any point. Such substantially continuous sealing and joining is highly advantageous to prevent entrance of moisture into the interior of the pan, where its presence could generate odors and corrosion. It is further to be noted that the result is obtained with a simple and inexpensive construction.

After the gasket It has been assembled, the liner I5 is inserted to complete the structure. The liner is in the form of a sheet of suitable material, such as plastic or the like, and it is assembled by pulling back the sealing section 53 of the gasket [6 about the hinge section 52. The liner I5 is retained against the outer arm of the channels 55 by the pressure exerted by the sealing section 53, and which is sufiicient to discourage efforts of unskilled users to dislodge it. The engagement of the section 53 is suflicient to secure the liner IS with some freedom of movement parallel to the flanges 2| and 22, to compensate for temperature changes, the smooth surfaces between the liner and channels 55 reducing the total friction to enable such movement to take place. If desired, however, additional securing means may be provided through apertures 51 (Fig. 6), disposed around the margins of the liner.

It will be seen that by providing the stepped corner gussets 25, the pan corners are reinforced, and means are provided to seal the gasket Hi to the door and to retain the door in alignment. It will also be noticed that provision has been made to locate the cross tie members 35 and 35a on true diagonals, thereby framing the door in such manner as to insure maximum rigidity. It will, of course, be understood that while the invention has been described with respect to a single embodiment, it is susceptible of numerous modifications and variations without departure from its principles, and its scope as set forth in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A refrigerator door comprising a pan having a front, depending sides, and inwardly projecting flanges extending from said sides around the perimeter of the door, said flanges at the corners of the door being of less width than the flanges between said corners, gusset plates secured to the wider flanges adjacent said corners, said gusset plates having elevated steps overlying the flanges at the corners and following the contour thereof, a continuous gasket having a connector section positioned on said flanges, the portions of the connector section at said corners underlying said elevated steps, channel shaped clamps positioned along the wider flanges over substantially the entire distance between the corners and engaging over the connector section therebetween, said elevated steps and clamps being compressed against the connector section to retain said gasket in substantially continuous engagement with said flanges around the perimeter of the door, and a liner positioned over said plates and clamps to close the cavity formed by said depending sides.

2. A refrigerator door comprising a rectilinear sheet metal pan having a front, depending sides, and inwardly projecting flanges extending from the sides around the perimeter of the pan, said pan and sides having curved corners, the inwardly projecting flanges being partially cut away at said corners, a continuous gasket positioned on said flanges around the perimeter of the pan and having curved corner portions conforming to the contour of the pan corners, gusset plates secured to the inwardly projecting flanges at said corners, said plates having raised step portions overlying the flanges at said corners and said steps having rim portions also curved to conform to the contour of the pan and gasket corners, said gasket corners being positioned under said steps and retained thereby, the curved rims of the steps engaging the curved corner portions of the gasket thereby to retain the corner portions of the gasket in perimetral alignment with the pan, and additional means betweenthe corners of the pan and gasket to retain said gasket against said flanges.

CLARE H. KAFER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references-are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,264,536 Kuenzli Dec. 2, 1941 2,339,566 Goulooze Jan. 18, 1944 2,347,090 Drake Apr. 18, 1944 2,379,193 Shields June 26, 1945 2,432,563 Drake Dec. 16, 1947 2,551,369 Frohnapel May 1, 1951

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