Electrical contact element for refrigerators and similar

A door switch assembly for a refrigerator. The door switch assembly includes a housing mounted to one of the walls of the refrigerator and further has an electrical circuit for switching on or off electrical equipment mounted within the refrigerator. The door switch includes a ball retractably mounted in the housing and biased to project partially outward from the at least one wall for engagement with the door. A pusher is slidably mounted adjacent the ball and biased to remain in contact with the ball. A flexible strip contact element is supported within the housing which is moved by the pusher in such a way as to open or close the electrical circuit. The housing includes a projecting portion which extends through an opening provided in the at least one wall, the projection portion includes a deformable flange. A ring engages the projecting portion of the housing for securing the ball within the housing wherein the at least one wall is captured between the ring and the deformable flange such that the housing is secured to the at least one wall.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
1.Field of the Invention 
The present invention relates to an electrical contact element intended to 
be applied to refrigerators and similar which are provided with doors 
whose position of opening and closure determines the state of the said 
contact element. More particularly, the contact element, which may take 
the form of an on-off switch or a changeover switch, is capable of 
assuming different states when the door is closed or open, and this 
contact element is mainly, but not exclusively, intended for switching a 
lamp on to illuminate the storage space of the refrigerator when the door 
is opened. The term refrigerator also includes freezers of the chest and 
cabinet types. 
2. Description of the Related Art 
It is known that refrigerators may be required by their purchasers to have 
doors which open by rotation either in one direction or in an opposite 
direction. There is also a known way of mounting, on one wall of the 
storage space of the refrigerator, a unit comprising an electrical contact 
element, a lamp controlled by this element, and a protective device, 
generally made from transparent or translucent material, for the lamp. The 
electrical contact element is operated by the door inner liner (which, as 
it is known, forms the inner part of the door) in such a way that the lamp 
is switched on when the door opens, enabling the contents of the storage 
space to be seen, and is switched off when the door is closed. The main 
problem which arises is that this unit is mounted on one or other of the 
vertical walls delimiting the storage space, according to the direction of 
opening of the door, and frequently, to make this possible, the said units 
provided for one direction of rotation of the door differ to some extent 
from those for rotation in the opposite direction. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
One important object of the present invention is therefore to provide a 
single electrical contact element which is not dependent, as to location, 
on the direction of rotation of the door. The contact element is designed 
to permit the positioning of the light source or other controlled 
equipment in the most convenient place, either inside or outside the 
refrigerator. 
It is known that certain types of refrigerator have fans to circulate the 
air in the corresponding storage spaces and that the contact element takes 
the form of a switch which, when the door is closed, enables the fan to be 
activated and keeps the lamp switched off, whereas when the door is open 
it switches off the fan and switches on the lamp. This type of switch, as 
it is known, forms part of the unit indicated above, with the consequences 
stated previously. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical contact 
element in the form of a changeover switch, which is independent from the 
direction of rotation of the door. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical contact 
element which is automatically sealed in the rear part of the expanded 
plastic, without additional support or sealing systems. 
Another object of the present invention is to provide an electrical contact 
element which enables the open contact or closed contact functions, or 
both, to be performed with a small number of parts. 
Further objects will be apparent to the person skilled in the art from the 
following detailed description. 
All of these objects are therefore achieved by the electrical contact 
element according to the disclosures in the attached claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
With reference to the figures, the number 1 indicates schematically the 
whole of a refrigerator, shown in horizontal section. It is possible to 
distinguish the body 2, the door 3 and the door inner liner 4, which is 
the usual inner component of the door, forming a set of supporting panels 
and, when the door is closed, having its vertical shoulders 5 extending 
into the storage space 6. In the storage space, a lamp 7 is mounted on any 
of the inner walls of the body 2 to illuminate the space 6 when the door 3 
is opened. 
According to the invention, an electrical contact element 8 for controlling 
the lamp 7 is located inside the insulation 9 of the body 2, and its 
operating means 10, projecting into the space near the opening of the 
space, is designed to be engaged, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, when the door 
is closed, by a shoulder 5 and thus to switch off the lamp 7, which is 
switched on again when the door is opened, since the shoulder in question 
is disengaged from the said operating element 10. In this case, the 
operating element moves in a direction orthogonal to the side walls 6A and 
6B of the space 6. 
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the electrical contact element 
8 and the corresponding operating means 10 are made as shown in FIGS. 3 
and 4. In this example, the operating means, which is an integral part of 
the electrical element 8, comprises a hollow ball 10A made from insulating 
material, for example polyethylene, a ring 11, which is connected in any 
known way, by snap-fitting for example, to the projecting end of a body 12 
embedded in the expanded plastic insulation 9 and having a conventional 
elastically deformable flange 13, whose function is to prevent the leakage 
of the insulation during its expansion. 
A pusher 14 is mounted slidably but not rotatably in the body 12. The 
pusher is loaded by a compression spring 15 which tends to keep the pusher 
in contact with the ball. The pusher is movable in a direction orthogonal 
to the side walls 6A, B of the space 6. 
The pusher has a radial rib or projection 16 designed to act, when the door 
3 is closed, on an electrical current supply contact 17 which is 
approximately C-shaped (FIG. 3 in particular) and consists of a flexible 
strip, centrally lightened by an aperture 18 and provided with teeth 19 
for fixing to the body 12. On its lower part, the contact 17 has 
conventional bent portions 20 forming the socket into which the contact 
strip (Fast-on) 21 connected to the electrical supply conductor is 
inserted. On its upper part, the contact 17 has a projecting tongue 22 
with which the rib 16 of the pusher can interact as indicated. At its 
upper end, the flexible contact 17 has a lateral arm 25 provided with a 
turnover 23 which, when the door is open, makes an electrical contact with 
a contact strip 24 which is located in the body 12 above the turnover 23 
and to which is connected a conductor leading to the lamp 7, which is 
consequently switched on and which is physically separated from the 
electrical contact element 8. Under the arm 25 there is another contact 
strip 26 which, when the door is closed, comes into contact with the arm 
25, thus enabling a fan to be switched on, by means of a conductor, to 
circulate air in the space 6. 
When the door 3 is open (FIG. 4) the ball 10A projects, and the projection 
16 of the pusher does not act on the contact 17, and consequently the 
current passes from the element 21 to the element 24 through the flexible 
contact 17. When the door is closed, the shoulder 5 of the door trim moves 
the ball 10A and consequently the pusher 14 towards the interior of the 
body 12, so that the projection 16 of the pusher is engaged with the 
contact 17, separating the turnover 23 from the strip 24 and breaking the 
circuit which leads to the lamp 7, but closing, by means of the arm 25 and 
the strip 26, the circuit leading to the fan. 
As shown by the above description, the electrical contact element and the 
corresponding operating means are not dependent, as to position and 
mounting, on the direction of rotation of the door of the refrigerator, 
but can be mounted in the same position in all refrigerators, since one 
shoulder 5 of the door inner liner 4 will act on the operating means in 
every case. 
The ball 10A can be replaced with a body of a different shape, provided 
that it is capable of causing the pusher to move inwards when this body 
interacts with the shoulder of the door inner liner 4. 
The example relates to two outputs 24, 26, in other words to a changeover 
switch, but the invention also includes solutions with a single output (24 
or 26) forming an on-off switch. 
Similarly, the operating element could be operated in the interior of the 
refrigerator by an inner box or by a hatch present in the said interior.