Grille mounting for a room air conditioner

A plastic housing structure for an air conditioning system is provided with a plastic cover at its indoor end, with fastening means formed integrally with those structures such that no separate fastening devices are required. The overlapping skirt portion of the cover includes ribs with notches formed on the top and bottom sides of the skirt. The overlapped portion of the housing structure includes corresponding upwardly and downwardly extending flanges to engage with the notches to retain the cover in its installed position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
This invention relates generally to room air conditioners and, more 
particularly, to a grille structure for the indoor section of a room air 
conditioner. 
A conventional room air conditioner comprises an outdoor section and an 
indoor section, with each having return air and air discharge openings. A 
grille structure is normally installed over each section to prevent the 
entry of foreign objects while allowing the free flow of air to and from 
the sections. The grille structure for the outdoor section is generally an 
integral part of the housing structure, whereas, to accommodate the easy 
access to the internal structure of the unit, the grille for the indoor 
section is normally secured to the chassis in such a manner as to allow 
for easy removal and replacement. The use of screws, clips, magnets, 
springs, and the like, is normally made for this purpose. These additional 
parts not only add cost to the system but also complicate and add time to 
the repair and/or maintenance procedures. 
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved 
method and apparatus for mounting a grille to an air conditioning unit. 
Another object of the present invention is the provision for a grille 
mounting structure that is simple in design, economical to manufacture and 
extremely functional in use. 
These objects and other features and advantages become more readily 
apparent upon reference to the following description when taken in 
conjunction with the appended drawings. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
Briefly, in accordance with one aspect of the invention, an indoor section 
of an air conditioning system is provided with a grille structure which 
includes a planar element having vents formed therein for conducting the 
flow of air to the return air opening and from the air discharge opening, 
and a skirt element attached to and extending rearwardly from the edges of 
said planar element on at least two opposite sides thereof to wrap around 
at least two sides of the indoor section, each of said two skirt element 
sides being flexibly movable in the transversely outward direction and 
having at least one transversely extending notch formed therein. At least 
one transversely extending flange is formed on each of said two sides of 
the indoor section, at longitudinal positions corresponding to those of 
said notches when the grille structure is in place, said flanges being 
engageable in said notches when said skirt element sides are flexed 
transversely outwardly and then released transversely inwardly to thereby 
maintain the grille structure in its installed position. 
In the drawings as hereinafter described, a preferred embodiment is 
depicted; however, various other modifications and alternate constructions 
can be made thereto without departing from the true spirit and scope of 
the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
Referring now to FIG. 1, the invention is shown generally at 10 as part of 
an otherwise conventional room air conditioner unit 11 which includes a 
molded cabinet 12 and a front cover structure 13. The cabinet 12 houses an 
indoor section, nearest the front cover 13, and an outdoor section at the 
outer or rear portion thereof. When the unit is in its installed position 
within a wall opening, the outdoor portion thereof operates to draw 
outdoor air in through the air intake openings 14 and force air out by the 
condenser fan through the condenser coil and out the discharge openings at 
the rear (not shown). 
On the indoor side, the warm room air is drawn in through the return air 
openings 16 to pass through the evaporator coil to be cooled and then 
discharged from the air discharge opening 17. The return air opening 16 is 
covered by fixed louvers 18 that are integrally attached to the front 
cover structure 13, while the air discharge opening 17 is covered by an 
adjustable louver structure 19, such louver structure being separate from, 
but surrounded by the rectangular framework 21 of the front cover 
structure 13. Similarly, the control panel 22 is a separate component 
which is installed in the indoor section and then surrounded by the 
rectangular opening 23 of the front grille structure 13. 
Referring now to FIGS. 2 and 3, the structural features for retaining the 
front cover structure 13 in its installed position on the front end of the 
cabinet 12 will now be described. The cabinet 12 includes an upper wall 24 
and a lower wall 26. The upper wall 24 includes an upwardly extending 
member 27 which is adapted to be placed in close fit relationship with the 
inside surface of the wall of the space to be air conditioned. Extending 
forwardly from the member 27 is an extension member 28 which is adapted 
for extending into the room. As will be seen, its surface is sloped 
slightly downwardly toward its inner end 29. Cabinet side walls then 
interconnect the upper wall 24 and lower wall 26, the one side wall being 
shown at 31 in FIGS. 3 and 4. 
A sidewall portion 32 extends downwardly below the lower wall 26. 
Associated with the side wall portion 32 is a transversely extending 
support wall 33 which extends downwardly from the lower wall 26 to provide 
structural rigidity and to act as a support member for use in installing 
the unit in a wall opening. The lower wall 26 then has a portion 34 which 
extends forwardly to the upwardly and downwardly extending T-members 36 
and 37, respectively. The side wall 31 has a downwardly extending portion 
38 which provides structural support for the downwardly extending T-member 
36. All of the members 34, 36, 37 and 38 extend into the space to be air 
conditioned. 
Returning again to the cabinet upper wall 24, there is shown in FIGS. 2 and 
3 a pair of flanges 39 and 41 extending upwardly from the extension member 
28. Each of the flanges 39 and 41 has a beveled lead-in surface 42 on its 
rear side and a generally vertically aligned surface 43 on its front side, 
as shown in FIG. 3. These flanges are employed to secure the front cover 
13 to the cabinet 12 in a manner to be described hereinafter. 
The front cover 13 is, like the cabinet 12, preferably formed of a plastic 
material by a conventional process such as injecting molding, for example. 
In addition to its front planar member 44, which is primarily comprised of 
the grille structure 18, the front cover 13 includes a skirt portion 46 
which extends rearwardly from the planar member 44 and comprises upper 
wall 47, lower wall 48, and side walls 49 and 51, all of which flare 
slightly outwardly toward the rear as shown in FIG. 3. 
Disposed on the inner side of the front cover skirt portion 46 is a 
plurality of inwardly extending ribs, two of which are shown at 52 and 53, 
which provide structural rigidity to the front cover 13 and also provide 
the interface structure for securing the cabinet front cover 13 to the 
cabinet 12. The ribs 52 and 53 include upper and lower notches 54 and 56, 
respectively, for that purpose. The upper notches 54 include a beveled 
lead-in surface 57 on the rear side and a substantially vertical surface 
58 on the front side thereof. The lower notches 56 include a substantially 
vertical rear edge 59 and a beveled forward edge 61. 
Installation of the cabinet front cover 13 to the cabinet 12 is 
accomplished as follows. The front cover is tilted with its top leaning 
away from the cabinet 12 and the skirt portion lower wall 48 is wrapped 
around the downwardly extending T-member 37, such that the rear edge of 
the lower wall 48 is near the support wall 33 of the cabinet 12 and the 
downwardly extending T-member 37 is either in the lower notches 56 or 
forward of the beveled edge 61. If it is in fact forward of the notches 
56, then, as the skirt portion upper wall 47 is moved toward the cabinet 
12, the forward beveled edge 61 allows the downwardly extending T-member 
37 to easily slip into the lower notches 56 of the lower wall 48. 
Similarly, at the upper wall 47, the beveled lead-in surface 57 allows the 
flanges 39 and 41 to easily slip into the upper notches 54 such that the 
beveled surfaces 42 of the flanges 39 and 41 are mated with the beveled 
surfaces 57 in the notches 54, and the vertical surfaces 43 of the flanges 
39 and 41 are mated with the vertical surfaces 58 of the notches 54. The 
cover 13 is shown in its installed position in FIG. 4. 
It will be recognized that, in order for the flanges to be inserted into 
their respective notches, it is necessary that the upper and lower walls 
47 and 48 be slightly deformed upwardly and downwardly, respectively. This 
is accomplished by sliding a beveled portion 62 (see FIG. 3) of the ribs 
52 over the flanges 39 and 41, and possibly by additionally sliding the 
beveled portion 63 of the ribs 53 over the downwardly extending T-member 
37. 
Removal of the cover 13 from the cabinet 12 can be accomplished by simply 
pushing the front cover 13 upwardly to slightly deform the lower wall 48, 
and possibly the upper wall 47, outwardly to allow the flanges 39 and 41 
to become disengaged from the notches 54. The downwardly extending 
T-member can then be easily disengaged from the lower notches 56. 
While the present invention has been disclosed with particular reference to 
a preferred embodiment, the concepts of this invention are readily 
adaptable to other embodiments, and those skilled in the art may vary the 
structure thereof without departing from the essential spirit of the 
present invention.