Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
~ 05?s PATE~T - 9D HR-16032 r Swerbinsky
BACKGROUND OF THE I~YENTION
The present invention rel~tes to refrigerator and freezer
cabinet construction and is more particularly foncerned w;th a cabinet
including an improved magnetic gasket construction for preventing
sweating of-the cabinet door in the vicinity of the sealing gasket and
provides easy ass~mbly of the door.
A well known type of magnetic gasket designed not orly to seal
the space between the door and the cabinet face but also to malnta~n
the door in a closed position by attraction of a magnetic means carr~ed
by the gasket with a magnetic metallic area on the face of the cabinet
comprises a base portion including means for securing one longitudinal
edge of the base portion to the door and a tubular portion containing
the magnetic means. The gasket is an extruded resilient material such
as rubber, polyYinylchloride or the like. The ~ exibility or
resiliency of various portions of the gasket is controlled by varying
the cross-sectional thicknesses thereof in order that each portion may
perform the desired function or functions. For example, the base
por~ion which is secured along its outer Pdge to the door assembly,
must be sufficiently thick and rigid so that its inner free edge is
normally in engagement with the door surface and maintains an
insulati,ng dead air space beneath the gasket base por~ion when the door
is in a closed position. However, the gasket must be sufficiently
flexible so that it can be folded back during assembly of the door and
gasket to provide access to the fastening or anchoring means employed
to secure the one edge of the gasket to the door. A typical
refrigerator cabinet construction and gasket to solve this problem is
described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,053 and 4~469~383D assigned to ~he
same assignee as the present invention.
Another problem in connection with flexible door gaskets using
PATENT - 9D-HR-16032 - Swerbinsky
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a magnetic means for maintaining the door in its closed position is
that on the hinge side of the door when the door is being closed the
magnetic means is attracted to the magnetic portlon of the cabinet and
in effect "reaches out" to attach itself to the magnetic portion o~ the
cabinet just before the door is completely closed. Upon continuing
ciosing the door there is a gasket scrubbing action which means that
only the edge of the gasket portion containing the magnetic means
contacts the ma~netfc material of the outer refrigerator case and as
the door continues to be closed the magnet stays in place but the
gasket becomes distorted. This distortlon prevents adequate seal~ng
lS characteristics of the gasket to the components of the door and outer
case which are to be sealed. The inadequate sealing can cause
undesirable heat transfer through the area of sealing to the outer door
panel resulting in sweating on the outer surface of the door and
cabinet. In addition the distortion of the gasket as a result of
frequent door closings will detrimentally effect the life of the
gasket.
- By this invention, there is provided a refrigerator cabinet
which includes a gasket configuration which overcomes the
above-mentioned gasket sealing problems.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
A refrigerator cabinet including a storage compartment having
an access opening surrounded by a face portion comprising an area
composed o~ magnetic material. A door is hingedly mounted on said
cabinet along one edge thereof for closing and opening the access
opening, said door comprising an outer metal panel having an inwardly
turned flange extending about the periphery thereof and a plastic inner
panel, said panels having ther~al insulation therebetween.~ There is a
sealing gasket of resilient material mounted on the door adjacent the
. ~60$25 PATEN'T - 9D-HR-16032 - Swerbinsky
peripheral edges thereof and includes a base portion and a cabinet
engaging portion, integrally joined to the base portion and including a
magnetic means attracted to sald area of magnetic material and
providing the sole means for holding the door in a closed position.
The base portion of the sealing gasket has a web parallel to
t.he door having at one end a downwardly extending rear projection
spaced from the door and the o~her end having a downwardly extending
front member terminating with an in turned portion that is secured to
the door, said web having an u~ardly extending rigid projection with a
terminal end in~ermediate the ends of the web.
The cabinet engaging portion of the sealing gasket is spaced
from the base portion and has a web resiliently joined to both ends of
the base portion and haYing the magnetic means retained in a cavity at
the front end of the cabinet engaging portion and a support member
having a top, bottom, rear and front wall located behind the magnetic
means cavity, said support member extending below and forward o~ the
terminal end of the base portion upstanding projection when the door is
in its open position and spaced frcm the base portion upstanding
projection a distance such that,upon closing the door the rear wall of
the support member may engage the rigid projection and urge the
magnetic means retained in the cavity across the area of magnetic
material of the face portion.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is a lateral cross-section view through a portion of a
refrigerator cabinet and the magnetic gasket embodying the present
invention.
FIG. 2 is a lateral cross section Yiew of the magnetic gasket
utilized in the present invention in its free or "as extruded"
configuration.
PATENT - 9D-HR-16032 - Swerbinsky
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FIG. 3 is a lateral cross-section view through a portion of a
refrigerator door cabinet and the magnetlc gasket embodying the present
invention and showing partial closure of ~he refrigerator door.
FIG. 4 is a lateral cross-sectional view similar to that sho~/n
in FIG. 1 but embodying a prior art magnetic gasket seal t~ show the
distortion of the gasket as a result of not employing the gasket
configuration af the present invention.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRC-FERRED EMBODIMNT
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing in particular, there
is shown a refrigerator including a cabinet member 1 cnmprising an
outer metal shell 2 and a plastic breaker of liner 3, the liner forming
a storage compartment within the cabinet. A door 4 for closing the
access opening to the storage compartment is hingedly supported along
one vertical edge thereof by means of hinges ~not shown) having a pivot
point 11 about which the door pivots. The door comprises an outer
panel 5 usually of sheet metal and an inner panel 6 usually of plas~ic
sheet material. Inner panel 6 has a flange with a peripheral edge
portion 7 which overlaps a portion of an inwardly extending flange 8 on
the outer panel 5. The space between the face of the cabinet as
represented by an inwardly extending flange 9 on ~he cabinet shell 2
and the door is sealed and held in a closed position by means of a
magnetic gasket generally indicated by the numeral lO.
The gasket 10 comprising a resilient material s~ch as rubber,
polyvinylchloride or the like includes a base portion generally
indicated in FI~. 2 as 14 and is that portion of gasket lO below line A
and a cabinet engaging portion generally indicated as 24l which is that
portion above line A. The base portion 14 has a first section
generally designated 15 and is that section below line B in FIG. ~ and
~L~6052S PATENT - 9D-HR-16032 - Swerbinsky
S a second section generally designated 19 between l~nes A and B. The
flrst section 15 of the base portion 14 is secured to the flange 8 by
means of a retainer strip 16 extendi~g substantially the full length of
the gasket. The retainer strip 16 is secured directly to the f1ange 8
by means of a plurality of screw fasteners 17 extending through the
retainer strip, the per~pheral edge portion 7, and flange 8 to join
those elements together. It will be noted that the first section 15 o~
the gaske~ 10 comprises the sole means for securing the gasket to the
door. The base portion 14 is of generally rectangular cross-section,
as viewed in FIG. 1. There ;s a front curved member 50, a downwardly
extending rear member 20 with a horizontal web member 18 between
members 50 and 20. These members together with the door 4 form a
rectangular cavity or dead air space 38 when the gasket is attached to
the door. It will be noted that the downwardly entending projection 20
thereof i5 in engag~ment with the inner door panel 6 when fully
assembled. The base has an upwardly extendin~ relatively rigid
projection with a terminal end 13 intermediate the ends of the web 18.
The front curved member 50 is sufficiently flexible so that the portion
of gasket 10 above line B can be folded or flexed away from the inner
surface of the door during assembly of the refrigerator door and gasket
in order to provide access for driving the fasteners 17.
The cabinet engaging portion 24 of gasket 10 has a rectan~ular
cavity 21 secured at the front end to the base portion 14 by a U-shaped
structure 22 which provides limited movement between the cavity portion
21 and the base portion 14. A magnet 25 of the well know type
comprising metallic magnetic particles embedded in the strip of plastic
material is contained within the cavity 21 which registers with the
magnetic metal face portion or flange 9 of the cabinet, the magnetic
attraction between the magnet 25 and the flange 9 serv;ng as the sole
PATENT - 9D-HR-16~32 - Swerbinsky
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means ~or holding the door in its closed position ~FIG l). Located
behind the magnetic means cavity 21 is a support member 72 in the shape
of a vertical rectangle having a top 74, bott~l 76, rear 78 and front
80 wall which support member 72 extends below and ~orward of the
terminal end 13 of the base portion upstanding projection 12 ~Fig. 2)
when the door is in its open position and spaced from the base portion
upstanding projection a distance such that upon closing the door the
rear wall 78 of the support member 72 may engage the rigid projection
12 and move the magnetic means retained 1n the cavity across the area
of magnetic material of the face portion 9. The support member 72 is
not connected to the bare portion 14 to allow the cabinet engaging
portion to reach out toward the magnetic material of the ~ace portion
due to magnetic attraction between the magnet 2~ and the magnetic
material when the door is near its fully closed position.
The cabinet engaging portion 24 of gasket lO is of a .
relatively thin cross-section as compared with the base portion 14 and
has a first leg 28 parallel to and sp~ced from the base portion web
membe~ 18 and a second leg 30 joining the first ley 28 and the base
portion web member 18. The U-shaped structure 22 joins the rectangular
cavity 21 to the base portion 14 at the front therof, and legs 28 and
30 join the rear portion of the rectangular cavity 21 to the base
portion 14. With this arrangement, there is formed a rectangular dead
air or insulating space 40. There is also provided a ~ exible flap 32
. which is joined to the cabinet engaging portion 24 at the ~unction 34
of legs 2a and 30 and has a free end 36 that is in contact with the
inner door panel 6 as seen in FIG. l. This arrangement forms another
dead air or insulating space 42 (FIG. lJ. With this gasket
arrangement, it will be noted that therP is in effect three separate
dead air insulating spaces 38, 40 and 42 provided by cooperation of the
PATENT - 9D-HR-16032 - Swerbinsky
2~
gasket 10 with the door 4 and the cahinet 1. These dead a~r spaces
provide for good thermal insulation to prevent the passage of air
between the inside of the cabinet and the outside surrounding ambient
air.
With par~icular reference to FIG. 2, the "as extruded" gasket
has at the fo~ard end of the base portion 14 a first section 15 which
has a front seal 48 which projects downwardly and outwardly from the
curved front member 50 and there is a rear seal 52 spaced from the
front seal 48. The first section 15 also has an upwardly depending
hollow member 56 located above the rear seal 52 and has a cavity 58, a
dome-shaped upper wall 6U and a rear vertical surface 62. There is a
curved surface 64 connecting the rear seal 52 and the rear vertical
surface 62 of the hollow member 56. The hollow member 56 is spaced
rearward of the front curYed member S0, thus providing a space 75
therebetween. Utilization of the structural arrangement described
above will now be discussed.
In constructing the refrigerator door 4, the outer metal panel
5 is formed to provide an inwardly turned flange 8. The inner door
panel 6 is formed of plastic material and has a flange with a
peripheral edge portion 7 with a terminal end 11 and a portion 65
directed upwardly away from the flange. The peripheral edge portion 7
of the inner door panel is placed on a portion of the inwardly turned
flange 8 of the outer door panelO Insulation material 66 is placed
between the outer door panel and inner door panel either before
attaching one panel to the other or afterwards. The reta;ner strip 16
has a flat section 68 and an upwardly curved section 70, the irside
dimension of which conforms with the dome-shaped upper wall 60 of the
hollow member 56. The flat section 68 is placed on the peripheral edge
portion 7 of the inner door panel loosely, that is, the fasteners 17
1260525 PATENT - 9D-HR 16032 - Swerbinsky
are not tightened at first and this allows for the positioning of the
base portion 14 of the sèaling gasket under the retainer strip and
specifically the hollow member $6. After insertion of the gasket in
this manner, the portion of gasket 10 above line B of FIB. 2 is flexed
up~ardly away from the retainer strip to allow access to the fasteners
17. The fasteners are then tightened to secure $he outer door panel,
inner door panel, retainer strip and base portion of the sealing gasket
together.
With reference to FIG. 4 there is shown a prior art gasket
mounted to the door 4 which gasket is more fully disclosed in U.S. Pat.
No. 4,469,383 assigned to ~he same assignee as this invention. The
portion of the door gasket located on the hinge side of the door is
subJect to a scrubbing action upon closing of the door wherein during
partial closing the cabinet engaging portion 24 carrying in the
rectangular cavity 21 the magnet 25 is attracted and moves toward the
magnetic material of the inwardly extending flange face portion 9 with
its forward edge making contact with that face portion. The position
just d scribed is as shown in FIG~ 3. Without utilizing the gasket
configuration of applicant's present invention, upon continued closing
of the door 4 to the position shown in FI6. 4 the gasket is only making
slight contact with the face portion 9 and therefore there is very
little sealing engagement bet~Jeen the cabinet engaging portion 24 and
the flange face portion 9. Due to the distortion of the gasket not
only is there leakage between those two members but also the insulating
space 42 as shown in FI6. 1 is no longer effective. As a result of the
gasket distortion caused by the scrubbing action of the door relative
to the flange face portion 9 there is undesirable heat transfer through
this area to the outer door panel which results in sweating on the
outer surface of the door and outer case. Moreover, the continued
PATENT - 9D~HR-16032 - Swerbinsky
~L~ 2 5
S opening and closing of the door will cause premature failure of the
gasket in this area. By applicant;s lnvention as shown in particularly
in FIGS. 1 and 3 when the door is near its completely closed position
and the cabinet engaging portion 24 does reach out as a result of
magnetic attraction between the magnet 25 and the maynetic inwardly
extending flange face portion 9 the gasket as~umes the position as
shown in FIG. 3. However with continued closing of the door the
support member 72 will abut the upwardly extend~ng rigid projection 12
and will force the cablnet engaging portion 24 along the face portion
as a result of continued closing movement of the door thereby urging it
into its correct sealing position as shown in FIG. 1 thus overcoming
the problems associated with the prior art gasket shown in FIG. 4.
~hile, in accordance with the patents statute, there has been
described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment
of the invention, it will be obvious skilled in the art that various
changes and modifications may be made thereto without departing from
the invention. It is, therefore, intended by the appended claims to
cover all such changes and modifications as fall within the true spirit
and scope of the invention.
