Refrigerator door

Details Refrigerator door Refrigerator door

1999-06-29

2001-03-06

Redman, Jerry (Department: 3634)

Movable or removable closures

Closure seal; e.g., striker gasket or weatherstrip

Anchored in channel or slot in closure or portal frame

C049S478100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06195942

ABSTRACT:

TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a refrigerator door, and in particular to a mechanism for sealing the gap between a refrigerator main body and the door so as to thermally insulate the refrigerator main body from the outside.
BACKGROUND ART
A conventional refrigerator door described in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Publication for Opposition No. 58-25258, will be described with reference to FIG.
3
.
FIG. 3
is a cross-sectional view of an important part of the conventional refrigerator door.
As shown in
FIG. 3
, a refrigerator includes a refrigerator main body
1
and a door
5
. The refrigerator main body
1
includes an outer housing
2
, an inner housing
3
, and a heat-insulating element
4
filling a space between the outer housing
2
and the inner housing
3
. The door
5
includes an outer plate
6
, an inner plate
7
and a door main body
18
formed of a heat-insulating foam
8
filling a space between the outer plate
6
and the inner plate
7
. The door
5
, which opens and closes, covers a front opening of the refrigerator main body
1
. A gasket
9
is provided for filling the gap between the refrigerator main body
1
and the door
5
so as to thermally insulate the refrigerator main body
1
from the outside. The gasket
9
includes an outer engaging portion
12
having a concave portion
11
. A top end of the outer engaging portion
12
is in contact with a bottom face of a magnet bag
10
containing a magnet therein. The gasket
9
further includes a two-layer heat-insulating air section
13
located closer to the interior of the door
5
than the outer engaging portion
12
and also includes an inner engaging portion
14
. The inner engaging portion
14
is longer than the outer engaging portion
12
. A support
16
is provided for facilitating insertion of the gasket
9
into a sachet groove
15
formed in the door
5
and also for alleviating the impact of the door
5
on the refrigerator main body
1
generated when the door
5
is closed.
Since the above-described refrigerator door has only one support
16
, it is difficult to insert the gasket
9
into the sachet groove
15
because the gasket
9
is deformed when it is compressed. Moreover, when the sachet groove
15
is formed by vacuum molding, the size of the sachet groove
15
is non-uniform along the track direction of the groove
15
. As a result, the gasket
9
may come out of the sachet groove
15
by opening and closing the door
5
.
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
A refrigerator door according to the present invention includes an outer plate; an inner plate; a heat-insulating element filling a gap between the outer plate and the inner plate; and a gasket provided between an outer housing of a refrigerator main body and a surface of the refrigerator door facing the outer housing. The gasket includes a housing engaging portion for sealing a gap between the outer housing of the refrigerator main body and the surface of the refrigerator door facing the outer housing and an anchor for securing the gasket in a groove formed in the door. The anchor has a pair of fins, the fins of the pair projecting in opposite directions from each other, and is secured in the groove by contact of the pair of fins to inner walls of the groove facing each other.
In one embodiment of the invention, the anchor includes two heat-insulating layers of substantially equal size sandwiching a support extending in a depth direction of the groove.
In one embodiment of the invention, the support includes a projection projecting toward the housing engaging portion.
In one embodiment of the invention, the housing engaging portion includes a magnet bag containing a magnet therein, an outer engaging portion and an inner engaging portion. The magnet bag retains the magnet so that the center of gravity of the magnet is located offset from the center of the groove in the outside direction. The outer engaging portion includes a first wall extending from an outer side face of the magnet bag to an outer end of the anchor, and a distance between the first wall and a bottom face of the magnet is less toward the inner direction of the gasket than toward the outer direction of the gasket. The inner engaging portion includes a second wall extending from an inner end of the bottom face of the magnet bag to an inner end of the anchor.
In one embodiment of the invention, the gasket further includes a wing section located between the anchor and the housing engaging portion. The wing extends outward from a side end of the anchor adjacent to the housing engaging portion and adheres to a top side of the groove.
Thus, the invention described herein makes possible the advantages of providing a refrigerator door for facilitating the insertion of a gasket into a groove in the door and retaining the gasket in the groove with a sufficient force.


REFERENCES:
patent: 3763595 (1973-10-01), Sudyk
patent: 4617759 (1986-10-01), Pasqualini et al.
patent: 5060358 (1991-10-01), Haas et al.
patent: 5193310 (1993-03-01), Kiel
patent: 5257791 (1993-11-01), Cittadini et al.
patent: 5533311 (1996-07-01), Tirrell et al.
patent: 5606828 (1997-03-01), Hall et al.
patent: 5908228 (1999-06-01), Lee
patent: 1509238 (1972-06-01), None
patent: 85 17 330 (1985-08-01), None
patent: 0 599 161 (1994-06-01), None
patent: 1128627 (1968-09-01), None
Japanese Utility Model Publication for Opposition No. 58,25258, 10 pages, Aug. 1956.
International Search Report dated Feb. 25, 1998 for PCT/JP97/03912.

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