Sealing joint for a refrigerator door

Abstract: The joint includes a head (1) where a housing (2) is formed for the location of magnetic strips, this head (1) being connected to a base (3) defining a fastening plate (6) against the door (5) of the refrigerator. The connection between the fastening base (6) and the head (1) is done by means of connecting walls (4) and (4'). There may be a vault-shaped reinforcing wall (8) that is connected by its ends to the plate (6), and on whose wall (8) the walls (4) and (4') are connected close to the connecting ends of said wall (8), which may be complemented with an inside reinforcing wall (9) between the fastening plate (6) and the reinforcing wall (8). The reinforcing wall (9) is projected from a point close to the center of the fastening plate (6) up to an area close to the connection between the wall (4') and the reinforcing wall (8). By means of said joint the opening and closing forces are distributed on the part of the surface of the fastening plate (6), pulling at the area of the ends of the arch that forms the reinforcing wall (8), with which the glued connection has more resistance against the separation.

Description: OBJECT OF THE INVENTION The present invention refers to a joint for a refrigerator door such as refrigerating apparatus and the like, for the purpose of achieving airtightness in the closing of said door on the corresponding front of the refrigerator itself. The joint has some particular characteristics of structure and shape in order to achieve optimum performance qualities in the operation for which it has been provided. The object of the invention is to provide a sealing joint in order to easily replace the original joint that the door of the refrigerator includes, and that due to any circumstance has become worn or that is unserviceable, in such a way that the joint of the invention may replace the worn or unserviceable one with the required maximum guarantee and effectiveness. Another object of the invention is to provide a new joint that is prevented from overturning by the force that has to be made when the door of the refrigerator is closed and opened, as well as to achieve greater resistance for the separation of the joint in its connection to the door. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION There are various types of joints that doors for refrigerators include, in order to achieve the airtightness in the closing of refrigerators, in such a way that in all cases the joint includes an outside part with a perimetric housing in which some magnetic strips are arranged, strips which keep the door closed by traction between them and some metallic pieces provided for this purpose in the front of the refrigerator, in such a way that the part supporting the magnetic strips, called the head, is complemented with another part functioning as the base and through which the fastening of the joint to the door is carried out. Now then, the fastening is done in any case by the material itself that constitutes the foam as the inside insulating component of the door, said base of the joint having for this purpose a housing wherein the foam enters in order to retain the joint so that it will not be able to separate from the door. In this case, the inconvenience that the joint has is that when it is worn, it is not possible to replace it by another spare joint, but rather it is necessary to replace the entire door. On other occasions, the base of the joint has a special shape in which the spare joint can be coupled after replacing the rest of the joint, in other words, the part supporting the magnetic strips. On the other hand, European patent 0713067 A2 describes an airtight joint for refrigerator doors, whose fastening to the door is done by means of gluing of the base of the joint after removal of the original joint, although the type of joint described in this patent has problems of effectiveness and use. Consequently, it has not been marketed. The fact should also be pointed out that in joints of refrigerator doors, the basic problem resides in the edge that is located on the hinging side of the door, since on the free side the force that is produced is practically perpendicular to the front surface, while on the side or edge corresponding to the hinging, the force is oblique which results in a side force that makes the joint tend to overturn, giving rise to the joint being pinched in the closure of the door, which causes poor closing and consequently poor insulation. U.S.-American patent 5,309,680 which discloses a sealing joint according to the preamble of claim 1 discloses a magnetic seal for releasably sealing two a magnetic seal for releasably sealing two doors arranged side by side on a thermally insulated cabinet, such as a refrigerator or a freezer. A retainer gasket is affixed to the inner edge of each door. One of the retainer gaskets encloses a magnet and retains the magnet fixed in place relative to the door. Another retainer gasket is affixed to the other door and is formed of a base, a sleeve enclosing a second magnet, and two flexible webs connecting the sleeve to the base. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The object of the invention is a sealing joint according to claim 1. The sealing joint object of the invention has as a first novel characteristic the fact that the base of the joint in question is materialized by a rear fastening plate with a fastening surface shaped in a smooth and preferably flat manner in the most part, in such a way that the base or fastening base is connected to the corresponding head supporting the magnetic strips, by means of some connecting walls displaced backward from the side edges of the fastening plate itself, on the side of the head of the joint. The fastening plate is provided, on the side of the head, with a reinforcing wall with a shape similar to that of a vault, with respect to its cross section, and whose reinforcing wall is connected to the fastening plate in a manner displaced backward from the side edges of the plate, through whose reinforcing wall the connecting walls are connected to the fastening plate. The cited connecting walls have approximately the same length and are connected to the reinforcing wall in the near area corresponding to the connection of said reinforcing wall with the fastening plate. One of the cited connecting walls, specifically the one directed towards the free end of the inside covering, has a section whose thickness is reinforced. The reinforcing wall rests against the fastening plate with a reinforcing wall located inside the inside space delimited by said reinforcing wall and the fastening plate itself. On its part, the fastening plate may be equipped in its section directed towards the free edge of the inside covering with a covering strip. The fastening of the described joint to the corresponding refrigerator door will be done by any conventional system, such as adhesive, glue, and even a double surface band. In virtue of the design and shape of the described joint, this joint complies with two basic functions in a totally effective manner, one of these functions consisting of the joint not overturning due to the force produced in the closing and opening of the door, and a second function consisting of the joint in question not gripping laterally to the glued area, but rather it causes a distribution of the pulling force through the vault shape and the inside reinforcing wall, giving rise to the forces being distributed on the part of the surface of the base or fastening plate, thus pulling by the area of the ends of the arch of the glued area, thus achieving that the glued connection offers greater resistance against separation. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order to complete the description that is going to be made hereinafter and in order to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of the invention, the present specification is accompanied by a single sheet of drawings in which a sectional view of the assembly corresponding to the sealing joint object of the invention has been represented. DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT As it can be seen in the cited figure, the sealing joint applicable to refrigerator doors, comprises two well differentiated parts, although they define a monobloc body. One of the parts, generally referred to as number (1) and corresponding to the outside part of the joint, constitutes a head with a housing (2) for magnetic strips, while the other part, considered as internal and referred to as number (3), carries out the function of a base, by means of which the corresponding refrigerator door (5) will be fastened, the airtight closing being carried out by the pressed support of the part or head (1) of the joint on the front of the body of the refrigerator in question. The constituent part of the base is materialized by a fastening plate (6), with its bottom surface smooth, which may or may not be flat and provided with a layer of adhesive, by means of which precisely the fastening on the respective surface of the door (5) is carried out, thus permitting replacement of the original joint by the cited sealing joint, with total ease, since it suffices to remove the original joint and put the cited sealing joint in its place, fastening it in the described manner. As of these characteristics, the fact is noteworthy that the connection between the fastening plate (6) corresponding to the base (3) and the head (1) of the joint, is done by means of a pair of connecting walls (4) and (4'), which are projected in a diverging manner from a vault-shaped reinforcing wall (8), connected by its ends to the fastening plate (6), close to the edges of this fastening plate. In other words, walls (4) and (4') that constitute the connecting means between the fastening plate (6) and the head (1) of the joint, emerge from the reinforcing wall (8) close to the connection of reinforcing wall with said fastening plate (6). On the other hand, it has been provided for that between the fastening plate (6) and the vault-shaped reinforcing wall (8), there is another inside reinforcing wall (9), with an oblique projection, that extends from one area or point close to the half length of the fastening plate (6) up to a point close to the connection of the wall (4') with the vault-shaped reinforcing wall itself (8). As one can see in the cited figure, the connecting wall (4') has a section considerably thicker than the opposite wall (4), the wall (4') with a thickened section being oriented towards the free end of the inside covering. It can also be verified how these connecting walls (4) and (4'), independently from their different thickness, have approximately the same length. Finally, it should be said that the fastening plate (6), in correspondence with its inside edge, has an extension or covering strip (10), with a special shape, in order to seal the hollow (11) of the door itself, defining an element with optical closing functions to prevent movements from being produced.

Claims: Sealing joint for a refrigerator door, comprising a joint head (1) and a joint base (3) being connected to said joint head (1) by means of connecting walls (4, 4'); said joint head (1) including permanent magnetic strips and said joint base (3) being configured to be fastened to the door of the refrigerator (5) by surrounding its inside covering by means of an adhesive connection, said joint base (3) having a fastening plate (6) with a fastening surface being shaped flat at least to a great extent, in which fastening surface said connecting walls (4, 4') are connected, and said connecting walls (4, 4') being displaced backward from the side edges of said fastening plate (6) on the side of said joint head (1), characterized in that said fastening plate (6) is provided on the side of said joint head (1) with a reinforcing wall (8), which has a shape similar to that of a vault in its cross section and which is connected to said fastening plate (6) in a manner displaced backward from the side edges of said fastening plate (6) and by means of which said connecting walls (4, 4') are connected to said fastening plate (6). Sealing joint for a refrigerator door according to claims 1, characterized in that said connecting walls (4, 4') are dimensioned at least approximately of the same length. Sealing joint for a refrigerator door according to claim 2, characterized in that said connecting walls (4, 4') are connected to said reinforcing wall (8) in the area close to the connecting position of said reinforcing wall (8) to said fastening plate (6). Sealing joint for a refrigerator door according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that said connecting wall (4'), that is directed towstrds the free end of said inside covering, has a section reinforced as to the thickness of its wall with which said connecting wall (4') is to be connected to said reinforcing wall (8). Sealing joint for a refrigerator door according to claim 4, characterized in that said reinforcing wall (8) rests against the fastening plate (6) with a reinforcing wall (9) located inside the inside space delimited by the reinforcing wall (8) and said fastening plate (6) being directed approximately from the center of said fastening plate (6) in the direction of the reinforced section of said connecting wall (4'). Sealing joint for a refrigerator door according to claims 1 to 5, characterized in that said fastening plate (6) is equipped with a covering strip (10) in its section directed towards the free edge of said inside covering.

Inventors: KUTSCHERA HORST, KUTSCHERA, HORST
Applicants: BSH BOSCH SIEMENS HAUSGERAETE, BSH BOSCH UND SIEMENS HAUSGERAETE GMBH
Application year: 1999
Main classification: F25D23
IPC codes: F25D23