US3269789A

US3269789A - Refrigerator cabinet construction

Info

Publication number: US3269789A
Application number: US465264A
Authority: US
Inventors: William P Crowe
Original assignee: General Electric Co
Current assignee: General Electric Co
Priority date: 1965-06-21
Filing date: 1965-06-21
Publication date: 1966-08-30
Anticipated expiration: 1983-08-30

Description

Aug. 36, 1966 w, P CRQWE 3,269,789

REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed June 21, 1965 F'EGJ r INVENTOR. lO WILUAM P. CROWE HKS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,269,789 REFRIGERATOR CABINET CONSTRUCTION William P. Crowe, Louisville, Ky., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed June 21, 1965, Ser. No. 465,264 4 Claims. (Cl. 312--229) The present invention relates to refrigerator cabinets and the like and is more particularly concerned with a cabinet construction designed to minimize or eliminate the flow of excess defrost water or cleaning water into the insulated spaces within the cabinet.

Refrigerator cabinets of the household type include at least one liner defining a storage compartment within the cabinet and an outer shell spaced and insulated from the liner. The edges of the liner and shell surrounding the access opening to the compartment are normally spaced from one another and the intervening space is bridged by means of a breaker strip composed of a plastic or other material having a low heat conductivity and overlying the forward edges of the liner and shell. Regardless of the type of insulation material used, the presence of water therein seriously reduces the insulating value thereof and may actually damage the insulation itself.

Occasionally moisture may get into the insulated space between the liner and the outer shell of a refrigerator as a result of excessive water collecting on the bottom of the liner. The excess overflows the forward edge of the liner and passes between the edge of the liner and the breaker strip into the insulation. This water may result from an excessive accumulation of defrost water within the liner resulting from a stoppage of the drain normally provided for disposing of this defrost water or it may result from excessive cleaning water collecting on the bottom wall of the liner during cleaning of the interior thereof.

A primary object of the present invention is to provlde a refrigerator cabinet construction in which excessive water overflowing the forward edge of the liner bottom wall is prevented from accumulating within the insulated space below that wall.

Another object of the invention is to provide a refrigerator including a liner, a shell spaced from the liner and new and improved breaker strip bridging the space between the bottom edges of the liner and shell and designed to collect and dispose of any excessive water overflowing the forward edge of the liner bottom wall.

Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds and the features of novelty which characterize the invention will be pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming part of this specification.

In accordance withthe illustrated embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a household refrigerator including a liner having a bottom wall and an outer .shell spaced from the liner and including a forward edge below and spaced from the lower forward edge of the liner. In order to prevent excessive water overflowing the forward edge of the liner from entering the insulated space below the liner, there is provided a novel breaker strip which includes an upper portion overlying the top surface of the forward edge of the liner bottom wall and a lower portion overlying the front surface of the forward edge of the shell. In order to prevent excessive water from overflowing the forward edge of the liner and entering the insulation disposed below the liner and accumulating therein, the breaker strip includes a portion extending rearwardly therefrom into the space between the liner and shell below the liner edge to form a trough for collecting such water and means comprising at least one opening in the breaker strip from permitting the flow of the collected water from the trough onto the front surface 3,269,789 Patented August 30, 1966 of the breaker strip from which it will nomally flow onto the floor in front of the refrigerator cabinet.

For a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a somewhat schematic vertical side sectional view of a refrigerator cabinet embodying the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front view partly in section of the cabinet of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the cabinet of FIGURE 1 illustrating the detailed construction of the breaker strip component of the present invention.

With reference to the drawing, there is shown a refrigerator cabinet including an outer shell 1 having an access opening at the front thereof and a door 2 for closing the access opening. A liner 3 defining a storage compartment 4 and having an access opening concentric with the access opening to the shell is positioned within the shell 1 and the liner and shell are maintained in fixed spaced relationship by suitable supporting means (not shown). The space between the outer shell 1 and the inner liner 3 are filled with suitable heat insulating material 4 which completely surrounds the liner 3.

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, there is also provided an evaporator 5 in the upper portion of the compartment 4 for maintaining that compartment at above freezing storage temperatures. Defrost water periodically draining from the evaporator 5 is collected by means of a trough 6 from which it flows downwardly along a vertical wall or walls of the liner 3 to the bottom a wall 7 which is preferably slightly concave or dish-shaped and so constructed that this defrost water will flow into and through a drain 8 extending through the bottom wall 7 of the liner and the bottom wall 10 of the outer shell and into a drain pan 14 within the machinery compartment 15 at the bottom of the cabinet.

Suitable breaker strip means generally indicated by the numeral 16 bridges the gaps between the forward edges of the liner surrounding the access opening thereto and the edges of the shell defining the access opening therein. In accordance with the usual practice, the breaker strip means is composed ofa plastic or other material having low heat conductivity properties. For appearance reasons the breaker strip means normally overlies the inner sur-' faces of the liner and the front surfaces of the shell.

In accordance with the present invention, the lower breaker strip 21 bridging the space between the forward edge 22'of the liner bot-tom Wall 7 and the face flange 23 forming the bottom edge of the access opening in the outer shell 1 is so constructed that any excess water overflowing the forward edge 22 of the bottom liner wall 7 and entering the space between the bottom wall 7 of the liner and the bottom wall 10 of the shell between the forward edge 22 of the liner bottom wall and the adjacent edge portion 26 of the breaker strip 21 will be collected and discharged in front of the cabinet so that it cannot collect in the insulated space below the liner.

To this end, as is shown more clearly in FIGURE 3 of the drawing, the lower breaker strip 21 includes a flange 28 extending rearwardly from the rear surface thereof and beneath the forward edge 22 of the liner bottom wall 7 a distance such that any moisture overflowing the forward edge of the bottom wall 7 and entering the space between the liner and shell will flow downwardly onto the flange 28. This flange 28 is sloped forwardly and forms a trough for collecting such water and preventing it from reaching the insulating material 4. By means of one or more openings 30 provided in the breaker strip 21 and communicating with the trough defined by the rearwardly extending flange 28 permit, this collected moisture can pass through the openings and onto the intermediate section 31 of the breaker strip from which it flows over the forward or lower edge 32 and downwardly along the lower face of the cabinet defined by the shell flange 23.

As this water will normally flow onto the floor in front of the cabinet Where it will be readily observable, its presence there will warn the user of the collection of excessive Water on the bottom wall 7 of the liner in the event that this collection has resulted from a clogging or stoppage of drain 8 so that steps may be taken to open the drain 8 and restore the cabinet water disposal system to its normal opera-ting condition. Regardless of whether the moisture results from collection of an excessive amount of defrost water on the bottom wall 7 of the liner or from the use of excessive cleaning water during cleaning of the interior surface of the liner 3, the construction of the lower breaker strip 21 prevents any overflow from accumulating Within the insulated space below the liner where its continued accumulation may adversely affect the insulating value of the insulation in this area or may actually damage the insulating material itself.

While there has been shown and described a specific embodiment of the present invention it will be understood that it is not limited thereto and is intended by the appended claims to cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a liner including a bottom wall having a forward edge,

an outer shell spaced from said liner and including a forward edge below and spaced from said liner forward edge,

a breaker strip bridging the space between said edges and including an upper portion overlying the top surface of said forward edge of said bottom Wall and a lower portion overlying the front surface of the forward edge of said shell,

said breaker strip including a flange portion extending rearwardly therefrom into the space between said liner bottom wall and outer shell and forming a trough for collecting liquid overflowing the forward edge of said liner beneath said upper portion of said breaker strip,

said breaker strip including means for discharging the liquid collected by said trough onto the front surface of said breaker strip.

2. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a liner including a bottom wall having a forward edge,

said breaker strip including a means integral with the rear surface thereof for collecting liquid overflowing the forward edge of said liner beneath said upper portion of said breaker strip,

said breaker strip including means for discharging the collected liquid onto the front surface of said breaker stri 3. A fefrigerator cabinet comprising a liner including a bottom wall having a forward edge,

an outer shell spaced from said liner and including a forward edge below and spaced from said liner for ward edge,

said breaker strip including a sloping flange portion extending rearwardly from the rear surface of said breaker strip beneath said liner forward edge and into the space between the liner and outer shell and forming a trough for collecting liquid overflowing the forward edge of said liner,

said breaker strip including an opening therein above said flange portion for permitting the flow of collected liquid from said trough onto the front surface of said breaker strip.

4. A refrigerator cabinet comprising a liner including a bottom wall having a forward edge,

a breaker strip bridging the space between said edges and including an upper portion overlying the top surface of said forward edge of said bottom wall and a lower portion overlying the front surface of the for ward edge of said shell,

said breaker strip including a flange portion extending rearwardly and upwardly from an intermediate portion of said breaker strip and into the space between said liner and outer shell to form a trough for collecting any liquid flowing over the forward edge of said liner and beneath said upper portion of said breaker strip,

said breaker strip including an opening therein for permitting the flow of collected liquid from said trough onto the front surface of said breaker strip.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 11/1955 Jacobs 62-250 3/1956 Saunders 62288

Claims

1. A REFRIGERATOR CABINET COMPRISING A LINER INCLUDING A BOTTOM WALL HAVING A FORWARD EDGE, AN OUTER SHELL SPACED FROM SAID INNER AND INCLUDING A FORWARD EDGE BELOW AND SPACED FROM SAID LINER FORWARD EDGE, A BREAKER STRIP BRIDGING THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID EDGES AND INCLUDING AN UPPER PORTION OVERLYING THE TOP SURFACE OF SAID FORWARD EDGE OF SAID BOTTOM WALL AND A LOWER PORTION OVERLYING THE FRONT SURFACE OF THE FORWARD EDGE OF SAID SHELL, SAID BREAKER STRIP INCLUDING A FLANGE PORTION EXTENDING REARWARDLY THEREFROM INTO THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID LINER BOTTOM WALL AND OUTER SHELL AND FORMING A TROUGH FOR COLLECTING LIQUID OVERFLOWING THE FORWARD EDGE OF SAID LINER BENEATH SAID UPPER PORTION OF SAID BREAKER STRIP, SAID BREAKER STRIP INCLUDING MEANS FOR DISCHARGING THE LIQUID COLLECTED BY SAID TROUGH ONTO THE FRONT SURFACE OF SAID BREAKER STRIP.