Patent ID: 6574984
Filing Date: 2003-06-10
Classification: B67D,F25D

Abstract:
A refrigerator door mounted water dispensing apparatus comprising:a refrigerator door having an outer shell and an inner liner having at least two spaced apart liner side walls and a rear liner wall defining a liner recess between the side walls, the liner side walls having module supports spaced vertically along each of said liner side walls; and, a water dispensing module releasably mounted to the refrigerator door and at least partially receivable within the liner recess, said water dispensing module comprising a reservoir having a front wall portion, opposing side wall portions, a rear wall portion and a bottom wall portion, each of the reservoir side wall portions having at least one anchoring support for releasably mating with module supports of the liner side walls to mount the water dispensing module on the refrigerator door with the reservoir rear wall portion adjacent the liner rear wall and the reservoir side wall portions received between, and adjacent to, corresponding liner side walls with the reservoir front wall portion extending across the refrigerator door between the liner side walls, said water dispensing module having a spigot mounted to the reservoir front wall portion adjacent the reservoir bottom wall portion for dispensing water from the reservoir, the reservoir side wall portions each having a leading side wall portion that extends forward of the corresponding liner side wall, the leading side wall portions each having a handle portion recessed into a lower portion of the leading side wall to facilitate mounting and removing of the water dispenser module from the refrigerator door when the door is open, each of the recessed handle portions projecting into the reservoir and defining a shoulder within the reservoir; and the water dispensing module further including a fill chamber having side walls and a floor with a filter mounted through the floor, the fill chamber being insertable into an upper portion of the reservoir with portions of the floor of the fill chamber resting on and supported by the shoulders defined by the recessed handle portions whereby water poured into the fill chamber is collected by the fill chamber and passes through the filter into a lower portion of the reservoir.