Abstract:
A refrigerator including a cabinet having a bottom mounted freezer container, a separate bearing on left and right sides of the refrigerator cabinet adapted to support the container for movement in and out of a freezer compartment of the cabinet, the container bearings being disposed outside of a freezer liner forming the freezer compartment.

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention relates to refrigeration appliances and, in particular, to improvements in bottom-mount freezer compartments. 
     A popular style of household refrigerator has an upper refrigerated compartment or chamber with one or two vertically hinged doors and a lower drawer-like freezer compartment that slides open. Bearings are often used to facilitate sliding action of the freezer basket in and out of the freezer compartment. The location of these bearings in the freezer compartment makes lubrication problematic since the low temperature environment can increase viscosity and, therefore, decrease the effectiveness of a lubricant. There is a need for a sliding support for the freezer basket and door that is not affected by the low temperatures of the freezer compartment. 
     In the case of a new refrigerator, it is customary to remove the doors of the appliance unit in order to facilitate the delivery of the unit to a residence where, frequently, doors and corridors are too narrow to allow a fully assembled appliance unit to pass. Disassembly and then reassembly of the doors are performed by delivery personnel of the newly purchased appliance unit. This door removal and reassembly add to the cost of delivery. It is desirable, therefore, that doors are easily removed and replaced with a minimum requirement of skill and labor and, preferably, without tools. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The invention provides improvements in a bearing support system for a basket and door of a bottom-mounted freezer compartment of a household refrigerator. In accordance with the invention, the bearing support is external of the freezer compartment so that lubricant is not adversely affected by exposure to the low temperatures of the freezer environment. Further, the bearing support system enables the associated door to be readily removed from the support system without tools and with negligible labor time. 
     A refrigerator appliance including a cabinet enclosing an upper chamber and a lower chamber, the lower chamber having a container, such as a basket for holding frozen goods, the basket being slidably mounted to the appliance for movement through an opening in the cabinet between a closed position within the cabinet and an open position at least partially out of the cabinet, a door associated with the basket adapted to close the cabinet opening when the basket is in the closed position fully received in the cabinet and move away from the cabinet opening to allow the basket to be opened, the door being supported by a pair of horizontal slides located externally of the lower chamber, the slides being disposed adjacent opposite vertical edges of the door, the door being directly supported on the horizontal slides independently of the basket. 
     In the illustrated embodiment, the bearing support system comprises a pair of parallel round tubes, each carried in a low mounted, low profile linear bearing adjacent the front of the refrigeration cabinet. Preferably, the bearings and associated tubes occupy the same horizontal planes as supports for a pair of rollers provided at the bottom of the appliance unit to enable the unit to be rolled in and out of place. Thus, the bearing support system thus avoids adding height to the appliance and encroachment into the freezer space. Moreover, the compactness of the linear bearing enables the bearing to share a mounting assembly point with an adjacent one of the floor rollers. A housing of the linear bearing for the support tubes is bolted to a bracket which also serves as a mount for the floor roller and parts provided for vertical adjustment of the floor roller. 
     The freezer basket and door support tubes at their forward ends have vertical posts or stanchions on which the door is located. The stanchions are wedge-shaped and are received in cavities having complementary wedge shapes thereby enabling the door to be installed on the support tubes by simply lowering the door over the stations. Conversely, the door can be removed from the bearing support tubes and stanchions by simply lifting it. Where an appliance unit must pass through a tight clearance area, the stanchions can be removed from the support tubes and the tubes can be fully retracted into the base of the appliance. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a refrigeration appliance embodying the invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a view of the refrigeration appliance of  FIG. 1  with a bottom mount freezer door and basket open; 
         FIG. 3  is a bottom view of the refrigeration appliance; 
         FIG. 4  is a fragmentary front view of the lower left side of the refrigeration appliance; 
         FIG. 5  is a fragmentary side view of the lower right side of the refrigeration appliance; 
         FIG. 6  is an isometric view of the bottom left front of the refrigeration appliance showing a bearing support system for the freezer door and basket and an adjustable floor roller; 
         FIG. 7  is a fragmentary isometric view of the freezer door mount stanchion on the left of the refrigeration appliance; 
         FIG. 8  is a fragmentary isometric exploded view of the freezer door and support stanchions; 
         FIG. 9  is an elevational sectional view of the lower left of the refrigeration appliance taken in a plane along the axis of the bearing support tubes; 
         FIG. 10  is a fragmentary sectional view of the lower left of the refrigeration appliance taken in a plane within the freezer door and perpendicular to a bearing support tube; 
         FIG. 11  is an isometric view of the door and basket support bearing and an exploded floor roller mounting arrangement; and 
         FIG. 12  is a schematic isometric view of the freezer basket, freezer door, and freezer liner. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate a household or domestic refrigerator  10  having an upper refrigeration chamber and a lower refrigeration chamber within a cabinet  15 . In the illustrated embodiment, the upper refrigeration chamber is closed by left and right vertically hinged doors  11 ,  12  of generally known construction. The lower or freezer chamber is bounded by a liner  20  with an opening  22  that is closed by a single door  13 . 
     The lower door  13  is associated with a container such as a drawer-like bin or basket  14 , as is generally customary. The door  13  is carried on a pair of horizontal cylindrical support tubes or slides  16  disposed below and external of the freezer compartment or chamber. The support tubes  16 , preferably formed of steel, are slidable in respective linear bearings  17 . Ideally, the bearings  17  are of the recirculating ball-type of known construction. The tubes  16  have a length approaching the front-to-back depth of the refrigerator  10 . At their front ends, the bearing support tubes  16  are fitted with stanchions  18  that, in the illustrated case, are hollow sheet metal weldments. The stanchions  18  are vertically extending, relatively narrow four-sided wedges. More specifically, each side of a stanchion  18  has a portion that lies in a flat plane and has a profile of a truncated isosceles triangle. At a lower end, a stanchion  18  has a horizontal cylindrical steel sleeve  19  proportioned to receive a respective support bearing tube  16  with a slip fit. 
     The stanchions  18  are releasably locked on the outer end of a respective bearing support tube  16  with a “hitch pin”  21  received in aligned holes in the sleeve  19  and tube  16 . A pin  21  can be manually removed and installed without need of a tool. A spring biased detent ball in the pin  21  assures that the pin stays in a tube  16  and sleeve  19  unless the pin is forcibly manually pulled by way of an attached finger grip ring. 
     The lower door  13  is a hollow structure, typically an injection molded assembly of suitable plastic(s). A bottom wall  26  of the lower door  13  is molded or otherwise provided with surface structure in the form of female cavities  27  that can each have a shape complementary to the shape of the stanchions  18  to fit tightly over a respective one of the stanchions  18 . The complementary taper geometry of the stanchions  18  received in the door  13  and receiving cavities  27  ( FIGS. 9 and 10 ) of the lower door wall  26  can assure a friction fit when the door is fully seated on the stanchions  18  to secure the door on the stanchions and minimize or eliminate free play between these elements. The vertical height of the stanchions  18  is preferably a major fraction of the height of the door  13 , being, for example, at least ⅕ and preferably ¼ or more of the door height. A spring latch may be provided to further retain the door on the stanchions. For example a flexible part of the stanchion can have a detent that engages a slot or hole in the cavity and have a flange accessible from below the door for manual release of the latch. 
       FIG. 11  illustrates the right hand bearing support tube  16 . The linear bearing  17  is disposed in a support block  31 , which may be a metal die casting that is bolted to both legs of a right angle or L-shaped molded plastic foot bracket  32 . Immediately adjacent the support block  31  is a molded plastic roller support  33  fixed on the foot bracket  32 . A floor roller  34 , is journalled in an externally threaded tube  36  of D-shaped cross-section complementary to the interior of the roller support  33 . The height of the roller  34  is adjusted by turning a circular nut  37  threaded onto the tube  36 . It will be understood that the weight of the freezer basket  14  and its contents is largely transferred to the roller  34  through the foot bracket  32 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 12 , the relationship of the freezer basket  14  and freezer door  13  is schematically illustrated. A forward edge  38  of the basket  14  is releasably coupled to a rear face  39  of the freezer door  13 . In the illustrated arrangement, coupling between the basket  14  and door  13  is accomplished by a pair of interlocking retention hooks  41 ,  42 . The retention hook  41  on the basket extends downwardly while the retention hook  42  on the door  13  faces upwardly. This arrangement allows the basket to be decoupled from the freezer door  13  by simply lifting the forward edge of the basket  14  relative to the door  13  and moving it slightly to the rear. The hooks  41  and  42 , when interengaged, can be arranged, as shown, such that the front of the basket  14  is supported on the bearing support tubes  16  and ultimately the bearings  17  through the door  13 . Alternatively, the front of the basket  14  can be supported directly on bearing support tubes  16 . The rear of the basket  14  is supported in the freezer compartment by rollers  46  journalled on the outer sides of the basket and operating in roller tracks  47  provided in the liner  20  of the freezer compartment. Once decoupled from the basket  14 , the freezer door  13  can be removed from the remainder of the appliance  10  by simply manually lifting it off the stanchions  18  and can be reinstalled by simply lowering back onto the stanchions. 
     It should be evident that this disclosure is by way of example and that various changes may be made by adding, modifying or eliminating details without departing from the fair scope of the teaching contained in this disclosure. The invention is therefore not limited to particular details of this disclosure except to the extent that the following claims are necessarily so limited.