Patent Application
20150342350
This disclosure relates generally to refrigerator shelves, and, more particularly, to glass or transparent refrigerator shelves.
Most refrigerators have one or more shelves that facilitate the storage of items, such as food items. The shelves may be made of see-through materials such as glass or acrylic, or non-see-through or partially-transparent materials.
An example refrigerator shelf includes a substantially planar member, trim along a first edge of the planar member, and a bent continuous wire support rod. The bent rod having a first portion extending along and beneath the trim, a second portion perpendicular to the first portion and extending from the first edge to a point between the first edge and a second edge opposite the first edge, and a third portion extending from the point and extending substantially perpendicularly from a plane defined by the first and second portions.
An example method of forming a refrigerator shelf including bending a continuous wire support rod at first and second points to form a first portion of the rod between the first and second points that is sized to extend along a first edge of a substantially planar member, bending the rod at a third point to form a second portion of the rod between the first and third points sized to only partially extend along a second edge of the planar member perpendicular to the first edge, and to form a third portion of the rod extending perpendicularly from a plane defined by the first and second portions, bending the rod at a fourth point to form a fourth portion of the rod between the second and fourth points sized to only partially extend along a third edge of the planar member perpendicular to the first edge, and to form a fifth portion of the rod extending perpendicularly from the plane, and attaching the first portion of the bent rod at the first edge of the planar member thereby forming the refrigerator shelf.
The method may further include attaching trim to the first edge, wherein attaching the first portion of the bent rod at the first edge comprises fitting the first portion of the rod into a feature defined in the trim so the first, second and fourth portions extend substantially parallel to and along a bottom surface of the shelf, and the third and fifth portions extend substantially perpendicularly from the bottom surface.
An example wire support rod for a refrigerator shelf includes first and second bends that define a first portion of the rod between the first and second bends, the first portion sized to extend along a first edge of the shelf, a third bend that defines a second portion between the first and third bends, the second portion sized to only partially extend along a second edge of the shelf perpendicular to the first edge, and defines a third portion extending perpendicularly from a plane defined by the first and second portions, and a fourth bend that defines a fourth portion between the second and fourth bends, the fourth portion sized to only partially extend along a third edge of the shelf perpendicular to the first edge, and defines a fifth portion extending perpendicularly from the plane.
In some prior-art refrigerators, glass shelves include a support wire rod beneath and around a perimeter of the shelves in order to comply with and/or meet industry requirements regarding shelf deflection, shelf strength and shelf retention. In many instances, such wire rods require welding during manufacture, which leads to increased labor costs and plant inventory and, thus, results in more expensive shelves. To overcome at least these problems, refrigerator shelves having a single piece of bent wire support rod under only a portion of the shelf perimeter are disclosed that still comply with, meet and/or exceed industry requirements regarding shelf deflection, shelf strength and shelf retention. Disclosed single pieces of bent supply wire rod are each formed from a single continuous piece of support wire rod that is bent and, thus, do not require any welding, thereby lowering costs. Additionally, less wire support rod material is used for each shelf, further reducing costs. Example shelves include the bent wire support rod only underneath and in the vicinity of the front edge of the shelves. The disclosed bent wire support rods provide support against shelf deflection, and engage retention elements of a refrigerator liner to help retain the shelves within a refrigerator.
As used herein, terms such as up, down, top, bottom, side, end, front, back, etc. are used with reference to the normal orientation of an appliance, a compartment in an appliance, an apparatus, a device, an installation, etc. having one of the disclosed shelves. If a shelf is considered with respect to another orientation, it should be understood that such terms would need to be correspondingly modified.
The example compartment 100 of
To allow items to be stored in the compartment 100, the example compartment 100 of
Ends of the shelves 105 engage rails, one of which is designated at reference numeral 110, defined in and/or a part of the liner 115 of the sidewalls of the compartment 100. The rails 110 support the shelves 105, and have features defined therein, two of which are designated at reference numerals 205 and 210 (see
Turning to
The example shelves 105 include front trim 310 and back trim 311 that are slip fit, adhered and/or otherwise affixed onto corresponding front and back edges 321, 322 of the planar body 305, as shown in
The example shelves 105 are supported by a bent wire support rod 330 located along the front edge 321 of the planar body 305. The rod 330 is formed by bending a single continuous piece of support wire rod. For ease of discussion, this disclosure may refer to bending a rod at a point. However, when referring herein to bending a rod at a point, the term “point” is used to identify an area of the rod that is being bent not a precise location, and/or to logically delineate a portion of a bent rod between bends. Moreover, bending of a rod is not limited to any bending technique, method, temperature, procedure, etc.
As shown in
The first portion 331 is sized to extend longitudinally along the front edge 320, and as shown clearly in
As shown clearly in
As also shown clearly in
An exemplary shelf has overall dimensions of 341 millimeters (mm) deep by 626 mm wide, a planar member 305 made of non-shattering or tempered glass (ANSI® Z97.1-1984) with a thickness of 4 mm, a bent rod 330 made of 1008 industrial low carbon steel (ASTM A510M, with a chemical composition of UNS G 10080) and a diameter of 7.2 mm, a length of the portion 331 of approximately 608 mm, a length of the portions 332, 334 of approximately 65 mm, a length of the portions 333, 335 of approximately 25 mm. In laboratory testing, a prototype of this exemplary shelf passed WTM-D-40.97 clause 3.2 for shelf deflection, UL™ 250 for shelf strength, WTM-D-40.153 for shelf retention, and held 41 2.2 lbs UL discs.
The support rod 330 is then attached to a front edge 321 of a planar member 305 (block 620). In some examples, trim 310 is attached to the front edge 321 and the support rod 330 is attached to the trim 310 (block 620). The trim 310 may be extruded and press fit onto the first edge 321 with the first portion 331 of the support rod 330 press fit into a feature defined in the trim 310 (block 620).
In some examples, additional trim 311 is press fit onto other edges of the planar member 305 (block 625).
Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture have been described herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is not limited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods, apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope of the claims of this patent.
