US2960848A

US2960848A - Refrigerating apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2960848A
Application number: US832217A
Authority: US
Inventors: Harvey J White
Original assignee: Motors Liquidation Co
Current assignee: Motors Liquidation Co
Priority date: 1959-08-07
Filing date: 1959-08-07
Publication date: 1960-11-22
Anticipated expiration: 1977-11-22

Description

Nov, 22, 1960 J, wHn-E 2,960,848

REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 7, 1959 INVENTOR. Harve y J. hire BY Mia;

Fig.

United States Patent REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Harvey J. White, Birmingham, Mich., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 7, 1959, Ser. No. 832,217

4 Claims. (Cl. 62-382) be opened nearly 180, this presents no problem; but

where the refrigerator is located in a corner thereby limiting the opening of the door to 90, the inner shelves on the door block the forward removability of the shelves.

It is an object of this invention to provide a refrigerator in which the inner door shelves and the removable shelves do not interfere and in which there is no waste space.

It is another object of this invention to provide a refrigerator arrangement in which the condenser and evaporator and the illuminating light occupy the space that is required to place the door and the inner door shelves when in the 90 open position at one side of the path of the forward movement of the removable shelf.

These and other objects are obtained in the form shown in the drawings in which the refrigerant condenser is placed on the outer face of one of the side walls of the refrigerator within a surrounding sheet metal wall forming a duct to direct the circulation of air over the surfaces of the condenser.

The front of the surrounding sheet metal wall is provided with ventilating openings so that the refrigerator can be placed in a corner and the ventilation for the condenser be obtained through the louvers at the front thereof. Inside the refrigerated compartment, there is provided an evaporator preferably in the form of a plate parallel to the same side wall and located behind a partition wall which is used to direct the circulation of the air from the refrigerated compartment over the evaporator. Directly in front of the evaporator is a vertical illuminating light. The pivoting axis for the hinges of the door are placed in front of the condenser. The inner door shelves are of such a width that when the door is pivoted on this axis to the 90 position they will clear the path for the forward removal of the removable shelf which is normally located between the partition wall adjacent the evaporator and the other side wall.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the present invention is clearly shown.

In the drawings:

Figure l is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet embodying one form of my invention;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary horizontal enlarged sectional view taken substantially along the lines 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the lines 2-2 of Figure l but with the door in the 90 open position and with the removable shelf moved forwardly; and

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary view of the front ice of the enclosure for the air cooled condenser showing the ventilating openings in its ornamental front wall.

Referring now to the drawings and more particularly to Figure 1, there is shown a refrigerator cabinet 20 provided with a front door 22 having a handle and latch 24 onthe left side and upper and lower hinge means 26 on the extreme right side. The cabinet includes left and right insulated

walls

28 and 30, a rear insulated wall 32 and top and bottom insulated

walls

34 and 36; To provide the inner shelves upon the door, the door 22 includes a plane insulated portion with inner door shelves 38 located behind the plane insulated portion. In order to prevent the inner door shelves 38 from blocking the removable shelf 40 within the refrigerated compartment 42 enclosed by the insulated wall, it is necessary that provision be made that the inner door shelves 38 will be offset from the path of the removable shelf 40 when the door 22 is opened 90".

To accomplish this in the most advantageous way without wasting any space, there is provided along the outer side of the wall 30 the refrigerant condenser 44 which may be made generally parallel to the side wall 30 and positioned within a sheet metal wall 46 forming an air duct having a rear portion 48, a side portion 49 and a vertically corrugated front portion 50 which extends substantially flush with the front face of the door 22 when the door 22 is closed as shown in Figure 2. Within the refrigerated compartment 42 parallel to and adjacent the inner face of the insulated side wall 30, there is provided a plate type refrigerant evaporator 52. This plate type refrigerant evaporator 52 is placed slightly away from the refrigerated side wall 30 and is partitioned from the remainder of the compartment 42 by a vertical partition wall 56.

An electric motor driven fan 58 is provided at the top of the partition wall 56 for drawing air from the top of the compartment 22 and forcing the air downwardly over both surfaces of the evaporator 52 and out through one or more openings 60 provided at the bottom of the partition 56. A meat container 62 is provided with its side wall directly adjacent the opening 60 so that the cold air issuing therefrom will cool the container 62 and the meat kept in there so that the meat is kept cooler than the remainder of the compartment. This arrangement also serves to diffuse the discharge of air from the opening 60 so that the air is distributed throughout the compartment 42.

The removable sliding type shelf 40 is located above the meat container 62 and it is slidably supported for forward removal upon the sliding supports 64 provided upon the left and right edges of the shelf 40 connecting with the side wall 28 and the partition wall 56 between which the shelf 40 is located. To assure that the inner door shelves 38 do not block the forward removal of the shelf 40, the door 26 is provided with a set of upper and lower hinge supporting straps 66 at the top and'botto'm extending to the right beyond the right edge of the door as shown in Figures 1 to 3 inclusive. The top portion of the sheet metal enclosure 46 for the condenser 44 as well as the bottom portion thereof are provided with forwardly extending hinge straps 68. The two

hinge straps

66 and 68 both at the top and bottom are provided with vertical hinge pins 7 0 which are located to the right and forwardly as far as is possible. Particularly the hinge pins 70 are located forwardly of the condenser 44 and just behind the front wall 50 of the condenser compartment. This allows the door 22 to readily be moved to a position as is shown in Figure 3 in which the door shelves 38 though of ample width are out of the path of the forwardly removable shelf 40 as shown. This is the result of the outer position of the hinge pins 70.

This arrangement also provides space for the vertically extending illuminating light 72 which is located forwardly of the duct and partition wall 56 enclosing the refrigerant evaporating means 54. This arrangement also provides a favorable position for the resilient door seal 74 which on its right is positioned .far enough away from the hinge pin so that there is a minimum of wiping action when .the door 22 is opened and closed. This door seal engages the front edge 76 of the side wall 30. The corrugated vertical front 50 is provided with ventilating openings 78 at the rear of the corrugation with narrow web in between the openings to provide a unitary structu-re. The condenser 44 may be of the tin and tube or plate-orany other desired type which can be made wide, long and thin. The air may pass through the lower ventilating openings 78 and flow upwardly by natural convection on both sides of the condenser 44 .and escape.

by the upper openings 78. The refrigerating system may have a sealed motor-compressor unit 80 below the compartment 42 on the right side beneath the condenser 44 and the evaporator 52. A freezing compartment 82 may be provided to the left of the sealed motor-compressor unit 80 beneath the compartment42.

By this arrangement, the'refrigerator can be placed in the corner of the room and yet ventilation is provided for the condenser 44 and the shelf 40 and any other removable shelves provided may be moved forwardly without interfering with or being blocked by the inner door shelf 38.

-While the embodiment of the present invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted.

What is claimed is as follows: i

l. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having insulated side and rear and top and bottom walls enclosing a compartment to be cooled, an insulated front door for said compartment, a refrigerant condensing means located alongside and adjacent to the outer surface of one of the sidewalls, a thin outer wall extending over and around and forming a duct for said condensing means alongside said one side wall, said thin outer wall extending substantially to the outer face of said door, a refrigerant evaporating means located alongside and adjacent to the inner surface of said one side wall, a forwardly removable shelf extending between said evaporating means and the opposite side wall, said door having pivoting means located beyond its edgessubstantially in alignment with said thin outer well, said doo r being provided with inner door shelves extending when in the 90 open position just short of said removable shelf when extended forwardly from the interior of said cabinet." 7 H p 2. A refrigerator including'an insulated cabinet having insulated side and rear and top and bottom walls en closing a compartment to be cooled, an insulated front door for said compartment, a refrigerant condensing means located alongside and adjacent to the outer surface of one of the side walls, a thin outer wall extending over and around and forming a duct for said condensing means alongside said one side wall, said thin outer wa'll extending substantially to the outer face of said door, a refrigerant evaporating means located alongside and adjacent to the inner surface of said one side wall, a partition wall separating the evaporating means from the remainder of said compartment and forming a duct for the evaporating means, a forwardly removable shelf extending between said partition wall and the opposite side wall and being provided with supporting mountings on said last named walls, said door having pivoting means located adjacent said thin outer wall, said door being provided with inner door shelves extending when in the 90 open position just short of said removable shelf when extended forwardly from the interior of said cabinet to prevent interference between said removable shelf and said inner door shelves. V

3. A refrigerator including "an insulated cabinet having insulated side and rear and top and bottom walls en- 7 closing a compartment 'to be cooled, an insulated front door for said compartment, a refrigerant condensing means located alongside and adjacent to the outer surface of one of the side walls, a thin outer Wall extending over and around and forming a duct for said condensing means alongside said one side wall, said thin outer wall extending substantially to the outer face of said door, a refrigerant evaporating means located alongside and adjacent to the inner surface of said one side wall, a partition wall separating the evaporating means from the remainder of said compartment and forming a duct for the evaporating means, a forwardly removable shelf extending between said :partition wall and the oppositeside wall and being :provided with supporting mountings on said last named walls, acontainer adjacent said partition wall beneath said'shelf adapted to contain edibles to be maintained at a low temperature, said partition wall hav ing a discharge opening in alignment with said container for discharging cold air onto'the surfaces of said container for augmenting the cooling of said container. v

4. A refrigerator including an insulated cabinet having insulated side and rear and top and bottom walls enclosing a compartment to be cooled, an insulated front door for said compartment, a refrigerant condensing means located alongside and'adjacent to the outer surface of one of the sidewalls, ;a thin outer wall extending over and around and forming a duct for said condensing means alongside said one side Wall, said thin outer wall extending substantially to the outer face of said door, a refrigerant evaporating means located alongside and adjacent to the inner surface of said one side wall, a forwardly removable shelf extending between said evaporating means and the opposite side wall, said door having pivoting means located beyond its edges substantially in alignment with said thin outer wall, said door being provided with inner door shelves extending when in the open position just short of said removable shelf when extended forwardly from the interior of said cabinet, the

vertical edge of said door parallel to and adjacent the pivoting axis of said pivoting means extending alongside said thin outer wall when the door is in the closed position, said thin outer wall having a front face provided with ventilating openings providing ventilation around the condensing means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS