Patent Application
20070256447
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to a refrigerator having a dual swing door.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Appliances having dual swing doors, i.e., doors that can be operated from both left and right sides, are known in the art. Typically, a dual swing door includes two sets of hinges, one set positioned along each side portion, allowing the door to pivot about either a left or right hinge axis. The door also includes a trapping member that slides between and traps one set of hinges to establish a pivot axis on a desired side of the door.
The trapping member typically takes the form of a sliding rod or bar that is incorporated into upper and/or lower edge portions of the door. The bar is acted upon by a mechanism that guides the bar into a linkage which, in turn, traps the desired set of hinges. When the door is in a closed position, the bar is shifted into a centered or neutral position. Centering is accomplished through additional linkages and/or springs. While effective, the use of linkages and springs creates a complicated mechanism that increases the complexity and manufacturing costs of the door. Also, the more complex the system, the greater the tendency for the system to fail.
Based on the above, there still exists a need for an enhanced dual swing door mechanism for a refrigerator. More specifically, there exists a need for a dual swing door mechanism that employs a simple hinge mechanism which does not rely upon springs and complicated linkages to allow the door to pivot about multiple axes.
The present invention is directed to refrigerator having a dual swing door. The refrigerator includes a cabinet shell within which is mounted a liner having top, bottom, rear and opposing side walls that collectively define a fresh food compartment. In accordance with the invention, the dual swing door includes a top edge portion, a bottom edge portion and opposing side edge portions and is pivotally mounted to the cabinet shell through a dual hinge mechanism that selectively allows pivoting of the door about axes defined along the opposing side edge portions.
The dual hinge mechanism employed in the invention includes a lock bar slidably mounted to the bottom edge portion of the door. The lock bar includes a first end portion and a second end portion that are joined by an intermediate portion. Preferably, each end portion includes first and second lobe elements. In addition to the lock bar, the hinge mechanism also includes a hinge plate fixedly mounted to the cabinet shell below the dual swing door. The hinge plate includes a first end section and a second section that are joined by an intermediate section. Each of the end sections includes a wedge member and a rudder member that are arranged so as to interact with the first lobe elements on the lock bar.
In accordance with the most preferred form of the invention, the hinge plate also includes first and second hinge pins that are mounted to corresponding ones of the first and second end sections. The hinge pins define left and right pivot axes for the door. That is, upon pivoting the door about either one of the left and right pivot axes, the first lobe elements on the end portion being shifted engages with the corresponding rudder member to shift the lock bar along the bottom edge portion of the door. As the lock bar shifts, the second lobe element on the end portion opposite the pivot axis interacts with and traps the hinge pin, thereby enabling the door to continue to pivot and expose the fresh food compartment. When the door is closed, the wedge members interact with the first lobe elements to re-center the locking bar.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
With initial reference to
In the embodiment shown, refrigerator 2 is constituted by a bottom mount refrigerator. That is, arranged below fresh food compartment 14 is a freezer compartment 40 having a freezer compartment door 41. Freezer compartment door 41 can be pivotal about a vertical axis, or can be mounted to extensible rails that allow door 41 to slide out from freezer compartment 40. Typically, in the slide-out configuration, door 41 is mounted to a basket (not shown) that extends outward from freezer compartment 40 together with freezer door 41. In any event, the above described structure has been provided for the sake of completeness and to enable a better understanding of the drawings and the overall invention.
The present invention is particularly directed to a hinge arrangement that enables door 20 to pivot about multiple axes. Refrigerator 2 includes a first dual hinge mechanism 44 arranged at a lower portion of door 20 and a second dual hinge mechanism 49 arranged at an upper portion of door 20. However, given that, with very few minor exceptions which will be detailed, dual hinge mechanisms 44 and 49 are substantially identical, a detailed description will be made with respect to lower dual hinge mechanism 44 with an understanding that upper dual hinge mechanism 49 is substantially, similarly constructed.
Referring to
As best shown in
In further accordance with the invention, hinge plate 114 includes first and second wedge members 134 and 135 provided at first and second end sections 116 and 117 respectively. In addition, hinge plate 114 includes first and second rudder members 140 and 141, also provided at first and second end sections 116 and 117 respectively. Actually, first and second rudder members 140 and 141 are arranged adjacent and angled with respect to first and second wedge members 134 and 135. Finally, hinge plate 114 is shown to include a pair of hinge pins 146 and 147 that are arranged outboard of first and second rudder members 140 and 141 respectively. Hinge pins 146 and 147, together with corresponding hinge pins (shown in
Having described a preferred construction of dual hinge mechanism 44, reference will now be made to
As door 20 begins to pivot about hinge pin 147, hinge pin 146 contacts radiused end 85 imparting an initial movement to lock bar 16. As door 20 continues to open, first lobe element 80 on first end portion 74 of lock bar 60 contacts first rudder member 140 on hinge plate 114 and second lobe element 83 interacts with guide track portion 154 as shown in
When door 20 is in a closed position, lock bar 60 is centered within groove 64 as represented in
When door 20 is moved to the closed position, first lobe elements 80 and 81 abut first and second wedge members 134 and 135 causing lock bar 60 to re-center within groove 64. More specifically, first lobe element 80 abuts and travels along rudder 140 until contacting wedge member 134. Given the curvature of wedge member 134, first lobe element 80 is forced laterally outwardly, causing lock bar 60 to shift in channel 64. This shifting causes first lobe element 81 to abut wedge member 135 and, upon further closing of door 20, first lobe element 81 to ride along wedge member 135 which automatically centers lock bar 60. With lock bar 60 being re-centered, door 20 is again free to pivot about either hinge pin 146 or 147.
While not shown, it should be understood that upper dual hinge mechanism 49 functions in a manner corresponding to that described above. That is, upper dual hinge mechanism 49 includes all of the components of lower hinge mechanism 44 except for rollers 40. Based on the above discussion, it should be understood that the present invention advantageously provides a dual hinge mechanism that enables a refrigerator door to pivot about multiple axes without requiring complicated and failure-prong linkages or springs. In this manner, the present invention provides a simple, cost effective method of enabling a door of an appliance to be selectively pivoted about multiple axes.
Although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be readily understood that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. For instance, while shown in connection with a bottom mount refrigerator, the present invention could easily be incorporated into a top mount or other models. In general, the invention is only intended to be limited by the scope of the following claims.
