Refrigerator cabinet and method of assembly

A refrigerator cabinet having an outer metal case including side walls and a top wall, a plastic inner liner and a partition separating a freezer and fresh food compartments and separate front door openings. A front face is formed along the front edge of the side walls and top wall defining the door openings. The front face along each side wall is provided with a first pair of vertically spaced openings arranged in the area adjacent the partition and a lower pair of vertically spaced openings arranged in the lower end of the front face. A support frame system is provided including vertically extending side support bars, each having pairs of vertically spaced upper and lower openings dimensioned to align with the upper and lower openings in the front face. An upper cross member extending between the side walls is positioned adjacent the front portion of the partition and a lower cross member extending between the lower edge portion of the side walls. The upper and lower cross members include a pair of vertically spaced openings adjacent each end thereof which are cooperatively arranged relative to the upper and lower pair of vertically spaced openings in the front face and support bar. Securing means cooperating with the aligned upper and lower pairs of vertically spaced openings in the front face, support bar and their respective cross members for securely holding the cross members substantially perpendicular relative to the cabinet side walls to thereby insure that the front door openings are maintained in a substantially square relationship.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
This application is related to concurrently filed application bearing 
applicants' Ser. Nos. 749,801 Samuel J. Woolley and Thomas E. Jenkins, and 
749,820 Thomas E. Jenkins and Robert R. Sisler, each assigned to the 
General Electric Company, the assignee of the present invention. 
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
In the construction of a household refrigerator it is often desirable to 
provide a partition within the refrigerator for separating the 
refrigerator into first and second compartments such as a freezer 
compartment and a fresh food compartment. It is further desirable to have 
the partition constructed in such a manner that there is a mullion across 
the front of the partition and secured to the cabinet outer case to afford 
a pleasing appearance. The freezer and fresh food compartments are in many 
cases closed by separate access doors which are hingedly attached to the 
cabinet outer case. For the pleasing appearance of the mullion and the 
proper fit of the doors for the freezer and fresh food compartments it is 
important that the width of the refrigerator cabinet be maintained and 
that the loads on the door do not produce excessive deflection of the 
structure, and further that the door openings are square and more 
importantly remain square under normal or design loads. 
Generally household refrigerators normally employ a sheet metal outer 
casing and an inner liner with a resin foam insulation medium interposed 
therebetween. The foam or polyurethane compositions in liquid/gas form are 
introduced into the space between the outer casing and inner liner, expand 
throughout the space and then are solidifed by curing. In practice this 
solid foam which inherently adheres to both the outer case and inner liner 
adds a ridigity to the cabinet structure. This added rigidity by the 
employment of foam insulation has enabled manufacturers to reduce the 
thickness of the cabinet outer shell. In some instances the cabinet will 
deflect due to uneven floors or the force placed on the cabinet by weight 
of the doors. This deflection can cause a misalignment of the door wherein 
proper closure of the cabinet is impossible. It has been determined that 
when a cabinet deflects due to its being positioned on an uneven floor or 
excessive door loading the foam insulation which adheres to both the outer 
case and liner creeps or distorts. When this occurs the foam insulation 
over a period of time will set in its distorted position thereby causing 
the cabinet deflected to form a permanent parallelogram as the cabinet 
conforms to the floor. 
This problem is further present when the refrigerator door is dimensioned 
relative to the cabinet to carry relatively large items such as one gallon 
milk containers and other large items. These larger items may present a 
weight increase of 50% over customary doors, and when stored on the door 
shelves can exert a large force on the hinge side of the cabinet. This 
force when excessive together with an uneven floor can cause the hinge 
side of the cabinet to sag and the cabinet frame to deflect and form a 
parallelogram. In this situation the door would be difficult to close and 
in some cases impossible. 
Accordingly, by the present invention means are provided to insure that the 
cabinet door openings remain square under the forces applied by the weight 
of the doors on the cabinet frame and uneven floors. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
By the present invention there is provided a refrigerator cabinet of the 
type having an outer metal shell with side walls interconnected by a top 
wall and a front face in which an inner liner and a partition separating a 
freezer and fresh food compartments is arranged. In carrying out the 
present invention the outer cabinet was constructed of pre-painted metal 
having a thickness of between 0.019 and 0.021. The front face is formed to 
include spaced first and second wall portions which are parallel to the 
front face. The front face and first wall portions are provided with pairs 
of upper and lower vertically spaced aligned apertures. 
Mounting brackets having upper and lower vertically spaced apertures 
therein are arranged between the front face and the first wall adjacent 
each side wall so that the apertures in the mounting brackets align with 
the upper and lower aligned apertures in the front face. An upper metal 
cross member having vertically spaced fastener opening at each end thereof 
being spaced a distance such that they communicate with the upper pair of 
vertically spaced aligned apertures, and a lower metal cross member having 
vertically spaced fastener openings at each end thereof being spaced a 
distance sufficient to align with the lower pair of vertically spaced 
aligned apertures on the front face of the outer shell. Securing means 
insertable through the pairs of aligned apertures to secure the cross 
members perpendicular to mounting brackets and the cabinet front face to 
thereby insure that the side walls and cross members defining the front 
door openings are maintained in a substantially square relationship.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a refrigerator 10 such as a top mount household 
refrigerator, for example, one having a freezing compartment 12 and a 
fresh food compartment 13 separated by an insulation partition assembly 
15. Positioned in front of the insulation partition assembly 15 is a 
mullion component cross member 16 which, as will be explained fully 
hereinafter, insures the proper orientation of the side walls and reduce 
deflection of structure due to door loads of the cabinet. The partition 
assembly 15 and the manner in which it is assembled to the cabinet is 
fully disclosed and described in pending application for patent Ser. No. 
622,257, filed June 19, 1984, Arthur C. Wilson, assigned to General 
Electric Company, the assignee of the present invention. The partition 
does not form a part of the present invention and accordingly will not be 
described in detail herein. Upon completion of the assembly of the 
refrigerator the freezer compartment and fresh food compartments would 
have separate doors 17 and 19 respectively for closing the respective 
compartments. The refrigerator 10 (FIG. 3) has a cabinet outer metal case 
or shell 18 that has opposite side walls 20, 22, a top wall 23, and a 
bottom wall 25 which envelopes both the freezer and fresh food 
compartments. The outer metal shell 18 has an interior liner 24 (FIG. 1) 
which is made of sheet metal or plastic material. Between the inner liner 
24 and outer metal shell 18 (FIG. 5) there is insulation 27. This 
insulation in many refrigerators consist of polyurethane foam which is in 
liquid form and inserted or injected into the space between the outer 
metal shell 18 and the interior liner 24 and then cured in place. During 
the polyurethane foaming operation the outer metal shell 18 may bulge or 
bow outwardly and thus cause some distortion of the side walls 20 and 22 
of the outer metal shell 18. It is desirable that the bowing or bulging of 
the outer shell when it occurs be corrected and eliminated prior to the 
final assembly of the refrigerator so that the insulation partition 
assembly 15 fits correctly relative to the side walls of the liner 24 with 
no gaps between those compartments. Moreover, when the doors 17 and 19 of 
the freezer compartment and fresh food compartment are hung it is again 
important that the case dimensions from one side 20 to the other side 22 
be the same throughout the height of the refrigerator and that the door 
openings defining the freezer and fresh food compartment remain square so 
that the doors align and seal the front openings to the compartments 12 
and 13 correctly. 
With particular reference to FIGS. 3-5, the components and their 
arrangement involved with the method of assembling the refrigerator 
cabinet will be discussed. Prior to the foaming operation to provide the 
insulation between the outer metal shell 18 and interior liner 24, the 
outer shell is formed to provide a front face 26. The front face extends 
along both side walls and includes side wall portions 28 interconnected by 
a top wall portion 29 against which the doors of the freezer and fresh 
food compartments would engage and seal. While the hinges 30 for the doors 
in the present embodiment are shown mounted on the right hand side of the 
cabinet as viewed in FIG. 1 they may be mounted on either of the side wall 
portions 28. The outer shell 18 in the present embodiment is fabricated 
from pre-painted metal having a thickness generally between 0.019 and 
0.021. This use of relatively thin sheet metal in some instances requires 
that means be incorporated in the cabinet construction which will insure 
against cabinet deflection. The cabinet door openings defined by front 
face 26 partition 15 may distort out of square if one of the side portions 
of the cabinet sags relative to the other. This relative vertical movement 
of one side portion relative to the other results in the front face 
forming a parallelogram. A side portion may sag for example when forces 
are exerted on the cabinet when it is placed on an uneven floor or when an 
excessive weight is placed on the door wherein the hinge side of the 
cabinet will sag. This is especially true in cabinets having relatively 
deep door shelves that are designed to hold heavy items such as one gallon 
milk containers or the like. Formed relative to the front face 26 of the 
cabinet and more particularly the side wall portions is a flange 31 
depending rearwardly from the front face 26 which has an S shape. The 
flange 31 includes a first reverse bend 32, a second reverse bend 33, 
providing a first wall portion 36 and recess 38 between front face 26 and 
wall 36 and second wall portion 40 and recess 42 between wall 36 and wall 
40. Each of the walls 36 and 40 being substantially parallel to front face 
26. A right angle bend 44 at the end of wall 40 provides a rearwardly 
extending wall 46. The wall 46 is spaced from the side walls 20, 22 to 
allow the foam insulation 27 to have access to that area of the outer 
case. Prior to the foaming operation the liner 24 is arranged in the 
cabinet in spaced relationship to the outer walls thereof with the 
peripheral edge 47 of the interior liner 24 inserted into recess 42 as 
shown in FIGS. 5 and 7. 
In accordance with the present invention means are provided to strengthen 
the cabinet relative to the front face and more particularly the area 
defining the door openings. To this end, a support frame (FIG. 3) is 
assembled to the front of the cabinet which includes the upper cross 
member 16, a pair of vertical mounting brackets or bars 48 and a lower 
cross member 49. 
The pair of mounting bars 48 which are a strong rigid metal strip are, as 
shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, located in the recess 38 between the front face 
wall 26 and wall 36 of each side portion 28. The upper and lower cross 
members 16 and 49 as will be explained fully hereinafter are secured 
perpendicular relative to the mounting bars 48 and cabinet front face 26 
in a manner which insures that they remain perpendicular to the side 
portions 28 of cabinet front face 26. This arrangement, as will be 
explained hereinafter, prevents deflection of the cabinet and insures that 
the door openings remain square. With reference to FIG. 3, it will be seen 
that the side front wall portions 28 are provided with upper and lower 
pairs of vertically spaced openings 56 and 58 respectively which are 
aligned with cooperating openings in the first wall 36. The mounting bars 
48 are formed with vertically spaced pairs of upper and lower openings 60 
and 62 which are spaced to align with openings 56 and 58 respectively when 
the bars are positioned in the recess 38 as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5. The 
bars 48 as will be explained below add considerable strength to the area 
where the mullion strip 16 and lower member 49 are connected to the side 
walls 20, 22 of the cabinet. Mullion component 16 and one of the mounting 
bars 48 as shown in FIG. 7 are used to mount the door hinges 30 arranged 
between the upper and lower doors. As thus far described the refrigerator 
cabinet with the mounting bars arranged with openings 60 and 62 aligned 
with openings 56 and 58 respectively is then processed through the 
insulation foaming operation. The bars 48 are dimensioned to take up the 
full width of the recess 38 so as to thereby prevent foam insulation from 
passing through openings 56, 58 as the foam expands into the area between 
wall 46 and side walls 20 and 22. 
As mentioned above as a result of the foaming operation and its expansion 
through the area between the cabinet outer walls and the inner liner the 
cabinet may tend to bulge. That is, the side face walls 28 may deviate or 
bulge from their intended paralleled position and accordingly present a 
problem in properly fitting doors and other components necessary to 
complete the refrigerator. Further, the doors in the illustrative 
embodiment are relatively deep and are dimensioned to accommodate large 
items and accordingly it may be possible for the doors to be loaded so 
they will carry a considerable amount of weight and accordingly cause the 
cabinet side frame to sag. The sagging of the cabinet side wall under 
influence of door weight can cause the cabinet to distort from a square or 
rectangle to a parallelogram. It should be noted that the foam insulation 
generally adheres to both the inner liner and cabinet, accordingly if the 
cabinet deflects due to an uneven floor or excessive loading, the foam 
insulation will creep and distort. After a period of time the insulation 
will set in the distorted position causing the cabinet to permanently set 
in its deflected or distorted position. 
To this end means are provided by the present invention to insure that the 
cabinet front face remain rectangular and that its side walls are 
positioned and maintained at the correct cabinet width with the door 
openings square. The mullion component 16 in the present embodiment as 
shown in FIG. 2 is two piece member joined at the center. The two piece 
arrangement facilitates the insertion of the end portion of component 16 
into the recess 42 as shown in FIGS. 5 and 7. Once the end portions are 
positioned in the recess 42 the two pieces are then secured by fastening 
means 64 so the component 16 is maintained at its predetermined proper 
length. With component 16 fixed at its proper length the vertically spaced 
threaded openings 68 located adjacent each end are aligned with the 
vertically spaced apertures 56 so that the cabinet will be at its correct 
width. Mounting bar 48 at this point in time has been foamed into the 
cabinet with its vertically spaced pair of openings 60 and 62 aligned with 
the vertically spaced pair of openings 56 and 58 respectively. The 
component 16 is secured by threaded fasteners 59 which pass through 
openings 56 in wall 28 and openings 60 in mounting bar 48 to engage 
threaded openings 68 in component 16. As shown in the drawings the 
mounting bar 48 and wall portions 28 and 36 are sandwiched between the 
cross member 16 and fastener 59. This arrangement including the vertically 
spaced pair of openings secures the component 16 so that it will not pivot 
and remain perpendicular relative to the side wall of the cabinet under 
forces which may be applied thereto. 
With reference to the door hinge bracket 30, it will be seen that the 
bracket 30 includes vertically spaced aperture 30a which align with the 
aperture in the cabinet side wall portion 28, 36, the aperture in cross 
member 16 and the aperture bar 48. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 7 the 
door hinge bracket 30 is secured to the cabinet through the frame system 
of the present invention. 
The lower cross member 49, as shown in FIG. 8, is secured to the outer 
surface of wall 28. The ends of the member 49 are provided with vertically 
threaded spaced openings 70 (FIG. 8) which align with openings 58 in the 
cabinet front, side wall 28 and openings 62 in the lower end of the bars 
48. The lower cross member 49 is at this time secured to the cabinet by 
threaded fastening elements 61 which, like the action of fastener 59 
described above, pass through openings 58 in cabinet wall 28 and openings 
62 in mounting bar 48 to engage threaded openings 70 of member 49. As 
shown in the drawings the mounting bar 48 and wall portions 28 and 36 are 
sandwiched between the cross member 16 49 relative to the mounting bars 48 
and wall portion 28 of the front face together in a manner which prevents 
pivoting of the member 49 relative to the cabinet side walls. By 
vertically spacing each cooperating pairs of apertures 56,58 of cabinet 
walls 28, 60,62 of mounting bars 48 and 68,70 of cross members 16 and 49 
respectively as described above, pivoting action of either the mullion 
component 16 or cross member 49 relative to the cabinet front face is 
prevented. As long as members 16 and 49 remain perpendicular to the side 
walls the cabinet will not deflect. Means are further provided to insure 
that movement between the fastening element 61 and the apertures it passes 
through is minimized. 
Referring to FIGS. 5 and 7, it will be seen that the area adjacent the 
openings 68 are formed with a projecting chamber 74. As the fastening 
elements 59 and 61 respectively are tightened the chamfer 74 is drawn and 
indexed into a recess 76 formed in the area adjacent the openings 60 and 
62 in bars 48. This indexing action afforded by the chamfer 74 and recess 
76 locks the components against pivoting action to thereby prevent cabinet 
deflection. 
As best seen in FIGS. 6 and 7 the mounting bars 48 are employed to mount 
the central hinge 30 to the cabinet. In this instance the fasteners 59 
pass through openings in the hinge plate so that they are secured to the 
cabinet through the frame system of the present invention. 
In certain cabinet configurations depending on the distance between the 
cross member and cabinet top wall, it may be advantageous to provide 
corner brackets 80 as shown in FIG. 4 to further insure the integrity of 
the cabinet. In still further configurations depending on cabinet size and 
the thickness of the steel used in fabricating the outer case, it may be 
appropriate to extend the support bars as shown in FIG. 4 to the upper 
corner where they may be secured to the brackets 80. In this instance both 
the freezer compartment 12 and fresh food compartment would in effect be 
provided with a strengthening frame. 
It should be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiment 
described heretofore is considered to be the presently preferred form of 
this invention. In accordance with the Patent Statues, changes may be made 
in the disclosed apparatus and the manner in which it is used without 
actually departing from the true spirit and scope of this invention.