Appliance console including a glass touch sensor control panel bordered by a one-piece plastic encapsulation

An appliance, such as a cooking range, a clothes dryer, a clothes washer, an oven or the like, includes a console along a rear edge of the appliance which can pivot between an upright in-use position and a lower shipping, repair and/or servicing position. The console is preferably of a two-part construction including a front housing body having an integrally injection molded encapsulation or frame peripherally retaining a touch sensor control panel which can be readily accessed when the console is in its lower repair position.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
It is conventional to provide appliances, such as clothes washers, 
dishwashers, cooking ranges, baking ovens or the like with control 
consoles. Such consoles generally extend along a rear edge of an upper 
surface of an associated appliance and are a rigid portion thereof. Such 
consoles generally include a front-facing wall observable to the user 
which carries conventional controls, be they push-buttons, dials, touch 
sensor controls or the like. A separate rear panel closes the console or 
alternatively a rear panel of the entire appliance has an upper portion 
which closes the rear of the console and the conventional control 
mechanisms housed therein. 
Such conventional appliances, be they "white" goods or "brown" goods, 
present several problems, such as the cost involved in shipping such 
appliances in conventional cardboard or corrugated board cartons or 
packaging. The total height of the carton must include the maximum 
vertical height of the appliance from its bottom to the top of the 
console. Since the console projects anywhere between four to eight inches 
above the top panel, each carton must be of a total height to accommodate 
the "major" height of the appliance plus the additive "console" height. It 
is prohibitively expensive to score and blank corrugated board to match 
the exterior contour of the appliance and, therefore, corrugated cartons 
are necessarily wasteful of paperboard because such cartons are of an 
overall height corresponding to the total height of the appliance, 
including the console projecting above the top panel. 
Another problem associated with such conventional upright consoles is the 
tendency of homeowners, installers, service personnel, etc. to utilize the 
upright console as a "gripping" or "handle" portion. It is not uncommon to 
see a serviceman stand in front of an appliance, reach across the top 
surface, grasp opposite corners of the console and apply pushing, pulling, 
torquing and/or lifting forces to place the appliance in a desired 
location or remove the appliance therefrom. Consoles are not necessarily 
sufficiently sturdy to accommodate this type of misuse and damage thereto 
is not uncommon. 
Another problem with such conventional consoles is the difficulty of 
accessing the console interior for servicing and/or repair. If the 
appliance is located with its rear panel against a vertical wall, as is 
most likely the case when dealing with clothes washers, clothes dryers, 
ranges or the like, the vertical wall generally precludes access to the 
console interior or renders the same extremely cumbersome. In most cases a 
serviceman would find it necessary to pull the appliance away from the 
wall, again most likely grasping the console, and creating the damage 
heretofore described. However, even after pulling the appliance away from 
the wall, the rear panel of the entire appliance most often must be 
removed to gain access to the console interior. If the console itself has 
a separate rear panel, removing the panel is relatively simple, but repair 
to the interior controls presents an access problem, unless the serviceman 
or repairman can actually get behind the appliance or the appliance can be 
rotated or turned sufficiently to allow access to the console interior 
from the backside. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
In keeping with the foregoing, a primary object of the present invention is 
to provide a novel improvement in an appliance, such as a range, a clothes 
washer, a clothes dryer or the like, which includes a console normally 
projecting substantially upright from a top surface or panel of the 
appliance when in use while being pivoted to a lower position for purposes 
of shipment and service and/or repair. Since the console can be pivoted to 
a lower "shipping" position, the overall vertical height of a corrugated 
carton associated therewith can be appreciably reduced, as compared to a 
carton in which is packaged a like appliance whose console must remain 
upright. By pivoting the console of the present invention to its lowermost 
position, a tremendous savings in the costs of corrugated board packaging 
is achieved when one reflects upon the tremendous numbers of appliances 
manufactured, packaged and shipped per year throughout the United States. 
Furthermore, since the console is pivoted to a lower position during 
shipment, it is essentially located out-of-harm's-way, as opposed to an 
upright console which is totally unprotected by the overall perimeter of 
the appliance itself. 
The lowermost position of the console also facilitates servicing from above 
in the absence of moving the appliance from its position of use. One need 
but gain ready access to the interior of the console and the control 
mechanisms thereof, and this is achieved through a novel essentially 
two-part console body of which the front part is formed of a temper glass 
panel surrounded by an integral injection molded, encapsulation, rim or 
frame which is preferably snap-secured or otherwise secured to the rear 
part of the console body. An interior surface of the tempered glass panel 
carries conventional touch controls, and these are readily accessible when 
the console bodies are "opened." As an alternative to the snap-securement 
of the front part or touch control panel frame to a periphery of the rear 
housing or rear part, an access panel of the rear part or rear housing can 
be readily removably secured thereto. With the access panel removed and 
the console in its lowermost service/repair position, the interior of the 
console is accessed through the access opening of the console rear housing 
or body thereby providing service/repair access essentially from above in 
an accessible fashion. 
Since the encapsulation, rim or frame is injection molded, it is a 
relatively simple proposition to "color coordinate" a particular frame or 
rim relative to a particular appliance color. For example, if the 
appliance were to be white in color, the entire console, including the 
console rear body and the encapsulation, rim or frame, would be white with 
a tempered glass panel thereof decorated for functional and aesthetic 
purposes. The tempered glass panel could, for example, be stencil screened 
and oven dried in-line to vary the indica thereon depending upon end use 
and customer demand. However, a generally "universal" console could be 
provided in keeping with this invention for both "white" and "brown" goods 
with the only variation between the products being the particular indicia 
upon the tempered glass panel and the touch sensor controls associated 
therewith. 
With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear, the 
nature of the invention will be more clearly understood by reference to 
the following detailed description, the appended claims and the several 
views illustrated in the accompanying drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
A novel appliance constructed in accordance with this invention is 
generally designated by the reference numeral 10 (FIGS. 1 through 3), and 
for purposes of description the appliance 10 is a cooking range, though it 
may as well be a clothes washer or a dishwasher (FIG. 3), which includes a 
substantially horizontally disposed upper portion or top panel member 11, 
two parallel side walls 12 of which only one is shown and a front wall 13. 
The front wall 13 might include, for example, a door (not shown) for 
accessing a conventional oven, and opposite the front wall is a 
conventional rear wall (not shown). 
The upper or top panel member 11 is constructed as a cook top, hob top or 
the like, and includes four heating elements 14 secured beneath a 
substantially planar glass/ceramic panel or plate 15, such as Ceran.RTM.. 
The panel 15 includes an uppermost surface 16, a lowermost surface 17 
(FIG. 3), and an outermost peripheral edge 18 defining an outermost 
peripheral edge portion 20 of a generally polygonal/rectangular 
configuration. 
In the case of a clothes washer or a dishwasher, the appliance 10 (FIG. 3) 
would exclude the heating elements 14 and include conventional means for 
respectively washing clothes and dishes (not shown). 
Encapsulation means 30 in the form of a substantially one-piece, 
homogeneous, injection molded, polymeric/copolymeric rim or frame 
peripherally surrounds the panel 15 and includes an integral upstanding 
rear wall or wall portion 31 having opposite upstanding legs or ears 33 
(FIG. 1) and 34 (FIG. 3) from each of which projects a pivot pin 35 (FIG. 
3). The pivot pins 35 of the upstanding legs 33, 34 are in axial alignment 
and function to pivotally connect a console 40 to the upstanding legs 33, 
34 of the encapsulation 30. 
The console 40 includes a rear housing body 41 and a front housing body 52 
collectively defining therebetween an interior chamber 43. 
The rear housing body 41 is preferably of an injection molded, one-piece, 
polymeric/copolymeric, homogeneous construction and includes a front 
peripheral edge portion 44 of a generally contoured polygonal 
configuration having one continuous dovetail connector or a plurality of 
integral dovetail connectors 45, a rear panel 46, and opposite side panels 
47, 48 each having a depending ear 50 (FIG. 3) which in turn includes a 
circular opening 51 receiving one of the pivot pins 35. 
The front housing body 52 includes a tempered glass panel 53 and a 
substantially one-piece, homogenous, injection molded, 
polymeric/copolymeric encapsulation, rim or frame 54 having a single 
continuous dovetail recess or a plurality of integral dovetail recesses 55 
in which are snap-secured the dovetail connector or connectors 45. Within 
the chamber 43 of the console 40 is located conventional touch sensor 
control means generally designated by the reference numeral 60 which is in 
part associated with, defined by or secured to a rear surface (unnumbered) 
of the tempered glass panel 53 and from which extend conventional 
electrical leads 61 which are adapted for connection to a source of 
electricity, the heating elements 14, etc. The touch sensor control means 
and/or touch sensor control circuit 60 might be, for example, a 
conventional touch sensor control system utilizing, for example, a 
capacitive touch sensor panel defined in part by the glass panel 53, such 
as is fully disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,153,572; 5,239,152; 5,189,417; 
and 5,572,205. 
The glass panel 53 includes various indicia I1 through 14 viewable through 
a front surface 62 of the panel 53. The indicia I1 through 14 correlate 
functions designated thereby to functions performed by various aspects of 
the overall operation of the range 10 as, for example, identifying which 
of the four heating elements 14 are to be energized by selectively 
touching a selected one of the four indicia I4. Power input for a 
particular heating element 14 can be regulated through the indicia I2 
while the indicia I3 could be a LED clock. Further details of the touch 
sensor control means 60 can include the details of the touch control 10 of 
U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,205, for example, which are incorporated herein by 
reference. 
The console 40 is shown in FIG. 1 and in solid lines in FIG. 3 in its 
substantially upright in-use position, but in the phantom outline position 
of the console 40 in FIGS. 2 and 3 the console 40 is illustrated in its 
shipping, service and/or repair position. This lower position achieves the 
savings in corrugated board heretofore described because of the reduction 
in overall appliance height and, of course, servicing and/or repair can be 
readily achieved in this position by providing the rear panel 46 of the 
rear housing body 41 with a removable access panel 70 having a polygonal 
peripheral edge 71 to define a like contoured access opening (not shown) 
in the rear panel 46. In such case, when the removable rear access panel 
70 of the rear panel 46 is removed, the interior of the housing 43 is 
accessible from above when the console 40 is in the phantom outline 
position shown in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the console 40 can be maintained 
in its upright position, and the front housing body 52 can be removed 
therefrom by unsnapping the dovetail connector or connectors 45, 55 and 
simply place the front housing body 52 with its surface 62 substantially 
horizontal and lowermost upon the top panel member 11 to gain access to 
the control mechanism 60 for purposes of maintenance, service and/or 
repair. Obviously, the conductors 61 are of a sufficient length to permit 
such relative movement and positioning. 
In further keeping with this invention the frame-like encapsulation 30 and 
the frame-like encapsulation 54 are each injection molded to the overall 
configuration shown in the drawings in intimate bonded relationship to the 
respective peripheral edges of the panels 15, 53 by an injection molded 
process corresponding to those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,273,354; 
5,362,145; 5,403,084; 5,429,433; 5,540,493; 5,441,338; 5,454,638; 
5,524,981; 5,540,493; 5,564,809; 5,660,770; 5,705,113; 5,735,589 and 
5,785,047, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
During the injection molding process, the frames, rims or encapsulations 
30, 54 are each formed as a one-piece, substantially homogeneous, 
injection molded, synthetic, polymeric/copolymeric plastic material member 
entirely encapsulating the peripheral portion of the panels 15, 53. 
Other details of cook tops applicable to the panel 15 and the heating 
elements 14 thereof are common in such patents as U.S. Pat. Nos. 
4,243,016; 4,453,533; 5,036,831; 5,183,996; 5,185,047; 5,429,144; 
5,589,957 and 5,785,047, the disclosures of which are also incorporated 
herein by reference, particularly with respect to the details of the cook 
top panel and the integral injection molded encapsulation peripherally 
surrounding the same. 
The console 40 can also be pivoted counterclockwise from the solid outline 
position shown in FIG. 3 to position the panel 53 at any one of a number 
of different angles to achieve optimum user convenience. Tall persons 
might desire the console 40 to pivoted further back from the position 
shown in FIG. 3 while the opposite might be desired for a shorter person. 
Additionally, depending upon ambient or artificial light in the areas of 
use, the console 40 could be selectively pivotally adjusted to reduce 
glare or to optimize light cast upon the control panel 53. 
Although a preferred embodiment of the invention has been specifically 
illustrated and described herein, it is to be understood that minor 
variations may be made in the apparatus without departing from the spirit 
and scope of the invention, as defined the appended claims.