Foods and beverages: apparatus – Subjecting food to an enclosed modified atmosphere – With sequential heating and cooling
Reexamination Certificate
2002-02-08
2002-09-24
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Subjecting food to an enclosed modified atmosphere
With sequential heating and cooling
C099S467000, C099S483000, C049S386000, C165S206000, C165S263000, C062S331000, C062S455000, C312S405000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06453804
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hinge assembly for a door of a kimchi storage device, and more particularly, to a hinge assembly for a door of a kimchi storage device which prevents opening and closing impact of a door and enables stable opening and closing by alleviating an opening and closing speed of the door by a springback force of an elastic means when mounting the door at an upper surface of the body of the kimchi storage device having a storage chamber and opening and closing the same, the door being rotated in one direction and opening and closing the storage chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is generally known, in recent times, kimchi storage devices for exclusive use for kimchi, which can mature and preserve kimchi optimally by using the principles of a refrigerator are being commonly used.
The kimchi storage device is constituted in such a manner that it can mature kimchi adequately according to a seasonal variation and a user's taste and then preserve the taste of the well-matured kimchi for a long time at a proper temperature.
While a general refrigerator is constituted to open and shut a door laterally, it is common that such a kimchi storage device is provided with an upper open/shut type door having a small overall size which is hingeably fixed to the upper surface of the body and is moved longitudinally to and away from the open position.
FIG. 1
is a perspective view of a conventional kimchi storage device;
FIG. 2
is an extended perspective view of the dissembled state of a hinge joint of
FIG. 1
;
FIG. 3
is a side view of the hinge joint in the door-shut state; and
FIG. 4
is a side view of the hinge joint in the door-open state.
As illustrated therein, two separate kimchi storage chambers
3
are provided in the body
6
of the kimchi storage device which forms the appearance. Two doors
5
are hinged to the upper end of the rear surface of the body
6
in order to open and shut these two kimchi storage chambers
3
by lifting them upwardly.
The control of all operations of the kimchi storage is performed in a control panel
7
provided at the front surface of the body
6
.
Meanwhile, as illustrated in
FIG. 2
, a body hinge portion
20
rotatably supporting the door
5
is prepared at the upper end of the rear surface of the body
6
. A door hinge portion
30
rotatably connected to the body hinge portion
20
is prepared at the back region of the door
5
.
The body hinge portion
20
has a hinge bracket
21
of a predetermined length fixed to a top cover
15
and a hinge cover
25
blocking the back region of the hinge bracket
21
. The hinge bracket
21
is disposed so that its upper end portion is protruded upwardly of the top cover
15
. At both sides in the hinge axial direction of the hinge bracket
21
, an axial coupling hole
28
for coupling a hinge axis
40
is formed. The hinge cover
25
is connected to the hinge bracket
21
in order to block the back region of the hinge bracket
21
.
The door hinge portion
30
has a hinge containing portion
33
formed as a certain containing space in the back region and partially containing the upper region of the body hinge portion
20
and an axis connection portion
31
prepared as a certain space at both sides of the hinge containing portion
33
for connecting the hinge axis
40
. The hinge containing portion
33
and the axial connection portion
31
are segregated from each other by both side walls of the hinge containing portion
33
. At both side walls of the hinge containing portion
33
, a turn axis hole
38
for communicating the hinge containing portion
33
and the axis connection portion
31
is formed so that it corresponds to the axial coupling hole
28
of the hinge bracket
21
.
The hinge axis
40
is coupled to the axial coupling hole
28
formed at the hinge bracket
21
of the body hinge portion
20
from the axis connection portion
31
of the door hinge portion
30
via the turn axis hole
38
.
By such a constitution, the door hinge portion
30
is rotatably connected to the body hinge portion
20
prepared at the upper end of the rear surface of the body
6
, and thusly the door
5
is connected to the body
6
to rotatably open and shut the storage chambers
3
.
However, in the conventional kimchi storage device, there is a problem that a bilateral movement of the door
5
occurs since an upper region of the body hinge portion
20
is contained in the hinge containing portion
33
of the door hinge portion
30
and both sides of the body hinge portion
20
are connected to rotatably support both inner side walls of the hinge containing portion
33
of the door
5
.
In addition, since the hinge containing portion
33
containing the body hinge portion
20
is formed as a certain containing space at the back region of the door
5
, the back region of an upper wall of the hinge containing portion
33
is contacted to the rear surface of the body hinge portion
20
, that is, to the outer surface of the hinge cover
25
when the door
5
is opened. At this time, if the load of the door
5
is transferred to the contact portion to thus open the door
5
by force, the back region of the door
5
is damaged.
Furthermore, according to a hinge structure according to the conventional construction, since there is no particular structure for fixing and holding the door
5
when opening the door
5
, the door
5
is brought to a fully shut position or to a fully open position. If the door
5
is not held on the way, the door
5
is rapidly shut by the self-weight of the door
5
for thereby giving an impact to the entire kimchi storage device.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a hinge assembly for a door of a kimchi storage device which eliminates the need to prepare a hinge joint when forming a body or door by manufacturing a hinge assembly and assembling it between the body and the door instead of preparing a body hinge portion and a door hinge portion and interconnecting them in the conventional art, improves the production efficiency by simplifying a process, and prevents the opening and closing impact of the door to thus enable stable opening and closing operations by preventing the lateral movement of the door and alleviating the opening and closing speed of the door by the springback force of a spring member.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a kimchi storage device having a body formed with at least one storage chamber, an upper door rotatably disposed at the upper portion of the body through a hinge assembly and opening and closing the storage chamber and a cooling machine and heating machine for maturing and cooling kimchi in the storage chamber, the hinge assembly for a door, the hinge assembly comprising: a hinge housing fixed to one side of the body through a cover plate coupled to cover a compartment of which one side is open; a turn member fixed to the rear surface of the door and at the same time rotatably coupled to the upper end of the hinge housing by inserting a hinge axis into one end of said turn member; a roller-shaped press member rotatably disposed at the upper end of the turn member through a roller axis; a support member slidably contacted to the press member through a polygonal sloping contact surface, disposed in the compartment of the hinge housing and formed with a spring insertion hole at the other side of the sloping contact surface; an elastic means inserted into the spring insertion hole of the support member in order to press the support member with respect to the press member; and a control plate operationally coupled to an adjusting screw penetratingly disposed outwardly of the hinge housing in order to control the springback force of the spring member while supporting the lower portion of the elastic means.
The elastic means is a pair of spring members.
In addition, the elastic means consists of a pair of first spring members inserted into the spring insertion hole of the support member and a pair of second spr
Fish & Richardson P. C.
Mando Climate Control Corporation
Simone Timothy F.
LandOfFree
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