The present invention pertains to the art of domestic appliances and, more specifically, a mechanism for mounting a door of a domestic or household appliance, such as the upper door of a dual oven cooking appliance, which causes the door to swing outward through a simultaneous lifting and pivoting action upon shifting the door from a closed position to an open position.
An oven door for a range or wall oven generally swings downward, about a fixed horizontal pivot axis, from a vertical closed position to a horizontal open position, to allow a customer access an associated cooking cavity. More specifically, to allow for the swinging movement, a bottom portion of the door is pivotally mounted to a pair of fixed, laterally spaced hinge brackets which project outward and establish an axis about which the door is supported for movement relative to the cavity. Typically, below the swinging door is arranged structure which must be cleared upon movement by the door. A sufficient clearance is therefore required below the door to accommodate the bottom part of the door when the door pivots.
The traditional solution is to provide a rather significant space or gap below the door for the required pivoting clearance. For example, in a typical dual cavity range or wall oven having a top cavity including a top door and a bottom cavity with a bottom door, a gap in the order of 16-18 mm is established between the bottom of the top door and a top portion of the bottom door to accommodate the pivoting of the respective doors. A similar gap must be provided below the bottom door. Given that an oven door includes multiple window panels, typically in the form of a window pack mounted between inner and outer door panels, the thickness of an oven door is generally quite thick, typically in the order of 3.5-5 cm. Although the gap below the bottom door may not present an aesthetic problem as it is generally hidden from view by the bottom door, the gap in between the top door and the bottom door (or other structure in a single cavity oven) features prominently and may detract a consumer from an otherwise elegant design of the appliance. That is, the consumer may get a perception of a poor appliance design, as opposed to the intended impression of a high-end, elegant and aesthetically pleasing design.
Based on the above, it is desirable to provide a mechanism for mounting a door of a domestic or household appliance, particularly the upper door of a dual oven range or wall, which will enable a gap below the door to be minimized, while still enabling the door to unobstructively shift between closed and open positions.
The present invention solves the aforementioned problems by providing a hinge mechanism for pivoting and lifting of a door, such as a top or upper door of a dual oven cooking appliance, either a range or wall oven. The hinge mechanism is pivotally connected to the door at two points of attachment: a first point of attachment near the bottom of the door and a second point of attachment which is spaced from the bottom of the door. The first point of attachment is used by the hinge mechanism to provide a lifting force to lift the door upon opening. To accommodate such lifting, the door pivots around the first point of attachment. As the door is being lifted, the door also pivots around the second point of attachment. Through the combination of the lifting and pivoting of the door as the door is shifted from a substantially vertical closed position to a substantially horizontal open position, the bottom part of the door requires only minimal clearance with the lower door or other directly adjacent lower structure. In other words, as the door is opened, the motion of the bottom of the door does not extend below the initial closed position. Therefore, the need for designing a gap below of the bottom of the door is essentially eliminated.
To accommodate the pivoting movement, particularly around the second point of attachment, the door structure is forced to move outward towards the user. To that end, the invention incorporates one or more of a slider mechanism or a cam mechanism. When the user provides an initial opening force, the slider or cam mechanism causes the desired outward movement of the first point attachment of the door. The mechanism also includes a balancing spring to provide counteracting forces to the weight of the door and a damping spring to retard movement of the door. The balancing and damping springs, in combination with the linkages of the hinge, establishes a sturdy overall structure which prevents the door from wobbling throughout its entire range of movement.
Additional objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
Initially, it should be noted that the articulated hinge mechanism of the invention can be applied to a wide range of appliances having pivoting doors, specifically doors which pivot at a bottom portion thereof about a substantially horizontal axis, with the bottom portion being juxtapose lower structure which could potentially interfere with the desired pivoting movement such that a gap must be provided between the bottom portion of the door and the lower structure. In certain preferred embodiments, the articulated hinge mechanism of the invention may be incorporated into a cooking appliance, such as a cooking appliance including upper and lower oven cavities wherein a gap is provided between the bottom portion of the upper door and an uppermost portion of the lower door with the gap assuring that the lower door will not be abutted upon pivoting of the upper door between closed and opened positions. For exemplary purposes, the invention will now be described with reference to a dual oven range, however it should be understood that the invention is equally applicable to other types of cooking appliances, such as an oven range having a drawer below a single oven cavity or a dual oven cavity wall oven, as well as other types of appliances.
With initial reference to
Cabinet 15 is also provided with an associated range top 80 having various spaced surface heating regions (not shown) in a manner known in the art. At an upper rear portion, cabinet 15 includes an upstanding portion 85 which is provided with a control panel 90. As depicted, upstanding portion 85 is shown to include a plurality of knobs 95-98 for use in selectively activating and deactivating the various surface heating regions. Between knobs 95-98 is a display 105, such as an LED, LCD or VFD display. Furthermore, control panel 90 is provided with a number pad 110 and various other sets of buttons, such as indicated at 115, 120 and 125, for setting display, timing, cooking and the like functions.
In general, the structure set forth above has been provided for the sake of completeness and is widely known in the art. Certainly, while knobs, buttons and the like have been referenced, a wide range of control elements could be employed. Instead, the present invention is directed to an articulated hinge mechanism provided to enable an associated door, such as oven door 30, to move with obstruction between the desired closed and opened positions with only a minimal gap, indicated at 140, between a lower or bottom portion 150 of door 30 and an upper or top portion 160 of door 35. Although reference will be made to the structure and operation of the articulated hinge mechanism for use with door 30, it should be understood that a corresponding hinge mechanism could be employed to enable door 35 to pivot between closed and opened positions with a minimal gap to a range supporting or ground surface (not labeled), a wall oven door to correspondingly pivot with a minimal gap to a juxtapose door or cabinet structure, or a door of another appliance to pivot between corresponding positions relative to directly adjacent structure which would, with a similar minimal gap and without the articulated hinge mechanism of the invention, not exhibit the requisite clearance and therefore would obstruct the desired relative movement.
With reference to
Slider mechanism 220 also includes a slot or channel 235 into which pivot pin 221 projects such that slot 234 guides the movement of pivot pin 221 relative to cabinet 15. In this embodiment, this guided movement is substantially linear and fore-to-aft relative to cabinet 15, although non-linear movement could be employed. Therefore slot 234 may be linear or non-linear, curved or include a combination of curves, to facilitate the complex motion of door 30. In some embodiments, various friction reducing structures, such as cams, wheels or bushings, are used to facilitate the motion of the pivot pin 221 along slot 234.
The opening of range door 30 using hinge mechanism 200 will now be described with particular reference to
Based on the above, it should be readily apparent that bottom portion 150 of door 30 does not shift downward relative to cabinet 15 below an initial, closed position, but instead is actually lifted up as door 30 is displaced from the closed position of
Another exemplary embodiment of the invention is shown in
The operation of hinge mechanism 300 will now be described, particularly with reference to
Based on the above, it should be apparent that the connecting rod acts through the cam dyad in this second embodiment to control the push rod in a manner similar to the connecting rod and slider mechanism of the first embodiment. As indicated above, the balancing spring mechanism in both preferred embodiments provides a force to counteract the weight of the door. The interaction between the balancing spring mechanism and other elements of the hinge mechanism ensures that there is no wobbliness as the door is being opened and closed. Similarly, the door is very stable when the door is in the horizontal open position. In general, the hinge mechanism provides for a strong and well-built feeling for the door. Various materials can be used for constructing the hinge mechanism, including plastics, metals, alloys, etc. Although the slider and cam mechanisms are provided separately in the embodiments described, a combination of these mechanisms can be included in some embodiments. As indicated above, the invention can be used in connection with various door mountings, particularly when there is minimal space for maneuvering the door. In addition, although reference has been made to a supporting cabinet in connection with the exemplary embodiments discussed, it should be understood that the appliance can have a cabinet, shell or, generically, any form of frame body, for attachment of the various hinge mechanism components utilized in supporting movement of the door. Furthermore, the type of cavity associated with the door will obviously vary depending on the specific appliance to which the invention is applied, such as, for example, from the oven cavity referenced above to a dishwasher cavity. In any case, although described with reference to preferred embodiments, various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof.
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20170211817 A1 | Jul 2017 | US |