Supports: cabinet structure – Spaced insulated wall – Refrigerator cabinet
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-13
2001-04-24
Hansen, James O. (Department: 3636)
Supports: cabinet structure
Spaced insulated wall
Refrigerator cabinet
C312S401000, C312S321500, C211S088010
Reexamination Certificate
active
06220684
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to an adjustable retainer assembly for maintaining food containers in a desired storage condition upon a shelf provided on an interior portion of a refrigerator door.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
It is well known in the art to form refrigerator doors with inner liners which incorporate a plurality of shelves upon which various food containers may be stored. These shelves are often designed to hold narrow containers, such as wine bottles or salad dressings. Most often, a refrigerator door shelf will be provided with an associated front wall or a cross bar such that, when the refrigerator door is abruptly opened, the front wall of the shelf will serve as a retainer and prevent any forward motion of the food container. Thus, the front wall would prevent undesirable movement of the container upon the shelf, thereby hindering any tipping over of the food container.
Recently, refrigerator shelves have been made much deeper than in the past in order to acconmmodate much wider and taller containers, such as large mayonnaise jars or one gallon milk jugs. In a manner similar to prior known arrangements, the shelf has an associated front wall or cross bar which prevents fore-to-aft movement of the containers in order to prevent the containers from falling off the shelf when the refrigerator door is opened. However, when a rather tall and narrow food container is placed on the same shelf, the front wall of the shelf cannot prevent a substantial amount of fore-to-aft movement of the container. Thus, such containers will be prone to toppling over, spilling and perhaps even breaking when the refrigerator door is abruptly opened.
In an attempt to solve this known problem, it is heretofore been proposed to attach additional retaining structure to the refrigerator door liner itself. Such retaining structures, typically taking the form of retaining bars, are used to effectively change the depth of the shelf by applying pressure to an upper portion of the food container, thus holding the container in place when the refrigerator door is opened. U.S. Pat. No. 5,567,029 discloses various retainer arrangements, each including a removable retainer element mounted to the inner liner of a refrigerator door and capable of being pivoted to adapt modern deep refrigerator door shelves for use with varying food container sizes. More specifically, in accordance with this patented arrangement, a retainer bar can be pivoted to various discreet positions relative to the liner, while being maintained in a desired position by cooperating with detent structure. Although this known prior art solves numerous problems encountered with deep refrigerator shelves, the adjustable retainer assembly still has certain drawbacks. Primarily, the number of positions in which the bar can be retained is preset and therefore limited.
Based on the above, it would be desirable to have an adjustable retainer assembly which can be set in a substantially infinite number of positions such that it could be adjusted to a selected position dedicated to the specific size of the food container supported on the shelf. In addition, it is desirable to provide an adjustable retainer assembly which can be selectively incorporated into new refrigerators or readily retrofitted onto existing refrigerator door shelving arrangements.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to an adjustable retainer assembly for a refrigerator door shelf designed to prevent unwanted movement of food containers placed on the shelf so as to assure that the food containers will not topple over, even when the refrigerator door is abruptly opened. More particularly, the invention is directed to providing an adjustable retainer assembly that can be readily shifted between various, non-discreet positions so as to be substantially, infinitely adjustable in order to accommodate a full range of different containers on the shelf.
In accordance with most preferred embodiment of the invention, the adjustable retainer is constituted by an elongated, inverted U-shaped retaining element, such as a rod or bar, defined by a substantially straight central section and bent end sections. Each of the bent sections includes a in-turned terminal end for pivotally mounting the retaining element. In the most preferred embodiment of the invention, the retaining element is pivotally connected to a pair of support elements carried by a mounting sheath. More specifically, the terminal ends are pivotally mounted to the support elements, with the support elements having camming surfaces which are abutted by the bent sections of the retaining element. The bent sections are biased inward against the camming surfaces such that, as the retaining element is pivoted relative to the mounting sheath, the bent sections are forced slightly inward or outward, i.e., toward or away from each other. This deformation of the retaining element provides the necessary force to maintain the element in any one of a substantially infinite number of positions along the camming surface.
Most preferably, the retaining element can be maintained in an infinite number of positions between first and second extreme positions. In one extreme position, the retaining element extends substantially vertically above the shelf and, in the second extreme position, the retaining element is rotated towards a horizontal position. The mounting sheath is designed to be snap-fittingly attached to a cross piece that extends laterally across a front portion of a refrigerator door shelf, thereby enabling the adjustable retainer assembly to be easily incorporated into newly produced refrigerators or retrofitted into existing units. Furthermore, the entire retainer assembly can be detached from the refrigerator door if desired.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the adjustable retainer assembly of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
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Bent Francis Eugene
Ellingwood John C.
Diederiks & Whitelaw PLC
Hansen James O.
Maytag Corporation
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