Miscellaneous hardware (e.g. – bushing – carpet fastener – caster – Hinge – Resiliently biased hinge
Reexamination Certificate
2002-05-23
2004-07-27
Mah, Chuck Y. (Department: 3676)
Miscellaneous hardware (e.g., bushing, carpet fastener, caster,
Hinge
Resiliently biased hinge
C016S281000, C016S290000, C016S335000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06766563
ABSTRACT:
Pursuant to 35 U.S.C. 119(a)-(d) this application claims priority from Korean application no. 2001-28727, filed May 24, 2001 and Korean application no. 2001-45165, filed on Jul. 26, 2001.
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 the door from coming off the upper surface of the body by maintaining the closed position without fail upon closure of the door and which prevents cold air from leaking by maintaining a sealed state.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is generally known, kimchi storage devices exclusively used for kimchi, which mature and preserve kimchi optimally by using the principles of a refrigeration are now commonly used.
The kimchi storage device is constituted in such a manner that it can mature kimchi adequately according to 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 designed to have a door which opens and closes laterally, it is common that such a kimchi storage device is provided with an upper open/closed type door having a small overall size which is hingeably fixed to the upper surface of the body and is moved longitudinally into and out of the open position.
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 close these two kimchi storage chambers
3
by lifting them upwardly.
All operations of the kimchi storage device are performed with a control panel
7
provided on the front surface of the body
6
.
As illustrated in
FIG. 3
, a hinge assembly
10
, which is employed for a conventional kimchi storage device
1
, comprises a turn member
20
fixed to a door
5
side, a hinge housing
30
forming a compartment in a case shape, a roller-shaped press roll
21
disposed at one end of the turn member
20
, a hexahedral support member
40
and a pair of spring members
50
, both being placed in the compartment of the hinge housing
30
, a support plate
31
, an adjust plate
32
, and a cover plate
33
fixed to a body
6
of the kimchi storage device
1
.
The turn member
20
and the hinge housing
30
are rotatably connected by a hinge shaft
25
, and an open internal region of the hinge housing
30
is covered by the cover plate
33
.
The support member
40
has a sloping contact surface
41
on the upper surface thereof to enable a sliding motion by rolling contact with the press roll
21
and two spring coupling recesses
42
on the lower surface thereof for receiving the pair of spring members
50
, which are below the sloping contact surface
41
.
At this time, it is preferable that a buffer member
34
made of sponge material be inserted between the springs members
50
and the cover plate
33
for preventing direct frictional contact.
FIG. 4
is a cross sectional view of a partial portion of a kimchi storage device employing a hinge assembly in the conventional art. The turn member
20
is fixed and mounted to the rear surface of the door
5
by a screw assembly. The hinge housing
30
is fixed and mounted on the upper end of the rear surface of the body
6
by a screw assembly through the cover plate
33
which covers an open surface of the hinge housing
30
with an engagement means such as fixing protrudes of the hinge housing
30
and fixing holes of the cover plate
33
.
In this way, in the state that the turn member
20
and hinge housing
30
of the hinge assembly are assembled, the turn member
20
fixed to the door
5
is turned over backwardly and moved when opening the door
5
. When the door
5
is fully open, the turn member
20
is turned over at an angle of up to 90 degrees with respect to the upper end of the body
6
.
At this time, the turn member
20
is slidably moved while the press roll
21
is in rolling contact with the slopping contact surface
41
having a slopping shape formed at the top surface of the support member
40
.
When the door
5
is brought to the fully open position, the press roll
21
is in contact with the low contact surface
43
of the sloping contact surface
41
, and gradually slides onto the high contact surface
44
of the sloping contact surface
41
as the door
5
is closed. Due to the sloping shape of the sloping contact surface
41
, the press roll
21
presses the support member
40
downwardly and thus the spring member
50
contacted with the support member
40
is compressed by pressing force from the door
5
through the press roll
21
.
As the door
5
comes closer to the closed position, the pressing force applied to the spring member
50
through the support member
40
becomes larger and accordingly the springback force of the spring member
50
also becomes larger.
Therefore, as the door
5
is closed, the resistance force caused by the springback force of the spring member
50
becomes larger. By the time the door
5
comes into contact with the body
6
, the closing speed of the door
5
is sharply decreased to thus reduce the closing impact of the door
5
.
However, in a case of the hinge assembly
10
employed for the kimchi storage device in the conventional art, the sloping contact surface
41
formed at the top surface of the support member
40
is simply configured to have a predetermined slope angle in the same direction between the low contact surface
43
and the high contact surface
44
. Thus, when the door
5
is completely closed, the resistance force caused by the springback force of the spring member
50
is maximized thereby causing the upward pushing force on the support member
40
to be maximized.
Hence, when the door
5
is in the fully closed position, the springback force of the spring member
50
pushes the support member
40
upwardly and thus the press roll
21
contacting the high contact surface
44
of the sloping contact surface
41
returns to the low contact surface
43
, though slightly. This generates an inadequate gap as the door
5
comes off from the upper surface of the body
6
thereby allowing a cold air to leak out from the kimchi storage chamber
3
through the gap between the door
5
and the body
6
.
Furthermore, when the door
5
of the kimchi storage device
1
is opened, the turn member
20
fixed to the door
5
is turned over backwardly on a hinge shaft
25
with respect to the fixed hinge housing
30
. At this time, there may occur an incidental accident such as a pinching of a user's fingers in the gap of a joint portion between the lower end portion of the turn member
20
and the upper end portion of the hinge housing
30
, the magnitude of the gap varying according to the opening and closing angles of the door
5
.
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 prevents the door from coming off the upper surface of the body by maintaining the closed position of the door tightly and which prevents cold air leaking from the kimchi storage chamber by maintaining a sealed state between the door and the body.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a hinge assembly for a door of a kimchi storage device which prevents a pinching of a user's finger in the gap between a hinge housing and a turn member during opening and closing of the door and thusly enabling safe opening and closing operations.
To achieve the above object, there is provided a hinge assembly for a door of a kimchi storage device according to the present invention, comprising: A hinge assembly for a door of a kimchi storage device, comprising: a turn member fixed to the door; a hinge housing having a compartment in a form of a case; a roller-shaped press roll disposed at one end of the turn member; a hexahedral support member an
Fish & Richardson P.C.
Mah Chuck Y.
Mando Climate Control Corporation
LandOfFree
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