Abstract:
The present invention provides a refrigeration apparatus having improved access to ice comprising a freezer compartment, a slidable support occupying a portion of the freezer compartment and configured to open to an extended position, an ice bin moveable with the slidable support and occupying at least a portion of the slidable support, and a stationary ice maker attached to the freezer compartment and located above the portion of the slidable support, wherein when the slidable support is pulled opened to the extended position, access to the ice bin is unobstructed by the ice maker.

Description:
CLAIM OF PRIORITY 
     The present application claims the benefit of the U.S. provisional application filed on Feb. 6, 2007 by Wuesthoff et al. for REFRIGERATOR HAVING IMPROVED ICE ACCESS FEATURE (Ser. No. 60/888,356), the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. 
    
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates to refrigerators. More particularly, the present invention relates to a refrigerator constructed and arranged to facilitate access to ice by a user. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Most refrigerators intended for household use include an ice maker and an ice bin, which generally both stores the ice and provides access to the ice. Depending on the configuration of the refrigerator and/or the placement of the ice maker, accessing or reaching the ice may be difficult. Also, the amount of ice that can be produced and stored at one time is limited by the size of the ice bin. 
     A number of refrigerators include an ice dispenser coupled to the ice bin that dispenses ice from the ice bin through a refrigerator door. Typically, the user operates the ice dispenser by pushing a drinking glass against a paddle or other lever. When the lever is depressed, ice is released directly from the ice bin into the glass. While this may simplify accessing the ice, retrieval of the ice is limited to the dispenser&#39;s speed (and the size of the glass). As a result, removal of large amounts of ice using the dispenser is difficult and time-consuming. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention recognizes and addresses the foregoing considerations, and others, of prior art construction and methods. 
     In this regard, one embodiment of the present invention provides a refrigeration apparatus having improved access to ice comprising a freezer compartment, a slidable support occupying a portion of the freezer compartment and configured to open to an extended position, an ice bin moveable with the slidable support and occupying at least a portion of the slidable support, and a stationary ice maker attached to the freezer compartment and located above the portion of the slidable support, wherein when the slidable support is pulled opened to the extended position, access to the ice bin is unobstructed by the ice maker. 
     According to another embodiment, the present invention provides a refrigeration apparatus having an improved access to ice that comprises a freezer compartment defining an upper freezer area and a lower freezer area, a top support occupying a portion of the upper freezer area and configured to open to a top extended position, a bottom support occupying a portion of the bottom freezer area and configured to open to a bottom extended position, and a stationary ice maker located in the upper freezer area, attached to the freezer compartment, and configured to produce ice that falls into the top support, wherein when the top support is opened to the top extended position, access to the ice is unobstructed by the ice maker. 
     A further embodiment of the present invention provides a refrigerator having an improved access to ice that comprises a refrigerator compartment, a freezer compartment located adjacent the refrigerator compartment and defining an upper freezer area and a lower freezer area, a top support occupying a portion of the upper freezer area, a bottom support occupying a portion of the lower freezer area, and a dropdown segment included in the top support and capable of opening to create an aperture between the top support and the bottom support, wherein the ice placed on the top support may drop onto the bottom support through the aperture when the dropdown segment is open. 
     The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate one or more embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
       A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended drawings, in which: 
         FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a refrigerator in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a left side diagrammatic view of the refrigerator of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 3  is an enlarged isometric view showing an open top drawer of the refrigerator of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 4  is an enlarged isometric view showing an open bottom drawer of the refrigerator of  FIG. 1 ; 
         FIG. 5  is a left side diagrammatic view of a refrigerator in accordance with an alternate embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 6  is a left side sectional view of a portion of the top drawer of the refrigerator of  FIG. 5  in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     Repeat use of reference characters in the present specification and drawings is intended to represent same or analogous features or elements of the invention. 
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Reference will now be made in detail to presently preferred embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit thereof. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment may be used on another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 
       FIGS. 1 and 2  illustrate a refrigerator  10  constructed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Refrigerator  10  includes a housing  12  having a top wall  14 , left wall  16 , right wall  18 , back wall  20 , and bottom  22 . As shown in  FIG. 2 , housing  12  defines an upper portion  24  and a lower portion  26  separated by an interior horizontal wall  28 . Upper portion  24  includes a refrigeration compartment  30  enclosed by French doors  32  and  34 . Lower portion  26  includes a freezer compartment  36  having an upper freezer area  38  and a lower freezer area  40 . Top drawer  42  is slidably attached to housing  12  and occupies upper freezer area  38 . Bottom drawer  44  is slidably attached to housing  12  and occupies lower freezer area  40 . French door  32  includes dispenser  46  having a control panel  48 . In the presently-described embodiment, a drawer front of top drawer  42  defines a portion of a front surface of refrigerator  10 , and a drawer front of bottom drawer  44  defines another portion of the refrigerator&#39;s front surface. 
     Upper freezer area  38  includes an ice maker  50  attached to the underside of horizontal wall  28 . In the illustrated embodiment, ice maker  50  is located in the upper left rear portion of upper freezer area  38 . Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , top drawer  42  includes a removable ice bin  52  that occupies a left portion of the drawer such that the ice bin is located directly underneath ice maker  50  when the drawer is closed. As indicated at  56 , aligned indentations are defined in the rear portion of top drawer  42  and ice bin  52  to provide clearance for the bottom of ice maker  50  when drawer  42  is opened. An ice scoop  57  is preferably included in top drawer  42 , as shown. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 ,  2 , and  4 , bottom drawer  44  is located directly underneath top drawer  42  and is proportionally deeper than the top drawer in order to allow storage of larger objects, such as frozen fowl. As shown, bottom drawer  44  preferably includes a removable divider  58  capable of sliding in the horizontal direction. 
     As shown in  FIG. 2 , a cooling area  60  is located at the rear of housing  12  along back wall  20  extending from top wall  14  to bottom  22  behind refrigeration compartment  30 , upper freezer area  38 , and lower freezer area  40 . Cooling area  60  is divided by horizontal wall  28  into an upper cooling area  62  and a lower cooling area  64 . Upper cooling area  62  occupies the space of upper portion  24  between back wall  20  and refrigeration compartment  30 . Lower cooling area  64  occupies the space of lower portion  26  between back wall  20  and freezer compartment  36 . 
     An air port  66  is defined in a rearward portion of horizontal wall  28  near back wall  20  to provide an air passage between upper cooling area  62  and lower cooling area  64 . A damper  68  capable of opening and closing air port  66  is attached to the port. Another air port  70  is defined at the rear of refrigeration compartment  30  providing communication from upper cooling area  62  to the refrigeration compartment. Upper cooling area  62  includes a fan  72  that operates to pull cold air from the cooling area into refrigeration compartment  30  through port  70  and to circulate the air in the compartment. Lower cooling area  64  includes a fan  74  to circulate cold air through upper and lower freezer areas  38  and  40  from the lower cooling area. An air port  76  is defined in lower cooling area  64  between upper freezer area  38  and lower freezer area  40 , which provides an air passage between the freezer areas. A damper  78  capable of opening and closing port  76  is attached to the port. Air ports  80  and  82  are defined at the rear of top drawer  42  and lower drawer  44 , respectively, providing an air passage between lower cooling area  64  and the drawers. 
     In operation, a user is able to set the temperature of refrigeration compartment  30  and freezer compartment  36  to desired levels, respectively, by using control panel  46  ( FIG. 1 ). It should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that control panel  46  may be placed in different locations, including inside refrigeration compartment  30 , depending on the construction and arrangement of refrigerator  10 . In another embodiment, the user is able to set the desired temperature level of upper freezer area  38  and lower freezer  40 , separately. 
     Cool air is circulated through cooling area  60  by the refrigeration system of refrigerator  10 . Temperature sensors within each area of refrigerator  10 , such as refrigeration compartment  30 , transmit temperature information to the refrigerator&#39;s control circuitry. The control circuitry instructs dampers  68  and  78  to adjust the amount ports  66  and  76  are opened or closed depending on the variance between the temperature of the corresponding area and the desired temperature for that area. Fans  72  and  74  circulate air throughout refrigeration compartment  30  and freezer compartment  36 , respectively. Air leaving upper freezer area  38  and lower freezer area  40  is recirculated to the refrigeration system as denoted by arrows  84  and  86 , respectively. Refrigeration systems of household refrigerators should be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art and are, therefore, not discussed in further detail. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , when top drawer  42  is closed, ice produced by ice maker  50  falls into ice bin  52 . Alternatively, a user may remove ice bin  52  allowing top drawer  42  to fill completely with ice produced by ice maker  50 . When the amount of ice in ice bin  52  (or top drawer  42  if the bin is removed) reaches a certain height, ice maker  50  ceases to produce ice until ice has been removed from the bin (or the drawer) providing a sufficient space for more ice. 
     Referring again to  FIG. 3 , top drawer  42  may be fully extended to expose the drawer&#39;s contents. When opened, top drawer  42  provides a user with unobstructed access to ice bin  52  in its entirety and the ice stored therein. If ice bin  52  has been removed, top drawer  42  provides a user with unobstructed access to the ice stored in the entire drawer. The user can easily retrieve ice from top drawer  42  either by hand or by using ice scoop  57 . As described above, ice maker  50  is fixedly attached to the underside of horizontal wall  28  so that when top drawer  42  is fully extended, the ice maker remains in upper freezer area  38 , thereby preventing obstruction to the ice bin (or top drawer  42 ) by the ice maker. Indentations  56  allow top drawer  42  and ice bin  52  to slide past ice maker  50  without obstruction by or contact with the portion of the ice maker occupying space in the drawer (denoted in  FIG. 2  by shadow lines  54 ) when the drawer is extended to an open position. 
     In another embodiment and referring to  FIGS. 5 and 6 , a rectangular portion of ice bin  52  and top drawer  42  form a dropdown segment  88  capable of opening (denoted by arrow  90 ) to create an aperture between drawers  42  and  44 . It should be understood to one of ordinary skill in the art that other devices may be substituted for segment  88  or that the segment may employ other manners of operation, such as a removable segment or one that slides laterally to create an aperture similar to the one described above. It should also be understood that various means of attaching segment  88  to top drawer  42  in order to keep the segment in the closed position, such as a latch or fastener (commonly denoted at  92  in  FIG. 6 ), may be used without departing from the scope of the invention. In another embodiment, ice bin  52  defines a hole  94  located directly above dropdown segment  88  ( FIG. 6 ). 
     In operation, opening segment  88  creates an aperture between top drawer  42  and bottom drawer  44 . As a result, ice produced by ice maker  50  or ice stored in bin  52  drops into bottom drawer  44 . This allows a much larger quantity of ice to be collected. Segment  88  can be opened either manually by the user or configured to open automatically when the weight of the ice above the segment reaches a certain weight. For example, segment  88  may include a torsion spring  96  or other suitable means to urge it normally into a closed position. In such an embodiment, the weight of the ice then pushes segment  88  open, allowing ice to drop into bottom drawer  44 . Segment  88  can also be locked into place to prevent creating an aperture between drawers  42  and  44 , thus preventing ice from dropping into bottom drawer  44  until the aperture is opened by a user. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , bottom drawer  44  may be fully extended to entirely expose the drawer&#39;s contents similar to top drawer  42  ( FIG. 3 ). As described above, bottom drawer  44  preferably includes removable divider  58  capable of partitioning the drawer into separate sections. Accordingly, a user is able to separate bottom drawer  44  into sections and also change how the sections are divided. Divider  58  can also be removed to convert the separate sections of bottom drawer  44  into one undivided area. 
     When segment  88  ( FIG. 5 ) is opened allowing ice to fall into bottom drawer  44 , divider  58  allows the user to determine what portion of the bottom drawer is to be used to store the ice. Specifically, moving divider  58  to the left reduces the portion of bottom drawer  44  to be used to store ice. Conversely, moving divider  58  to the right enlarges the portion of bottom drawer  44  to be used to store ice. Alternatively, divider  58  may be removed to allow the entire space occupied by bottom drawer  44  to be used to store ice. The user can easily retrieve the ice from bottom drawer  44  by hand or by using ice scoop  57  ( FIG. 3 ). 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 ,  4 , and  5 , once the section of bottom drawer  44  allocated to store ice by the user fills with ice, ice bin  52  (or top drawer  42  if the bin is removed) will then begin to fill with ice. When the amount of ice in ice bin  52  (or top drawer  42  if the bin is removed) reaches a certain height, ice maker  50  ceases to produce ice until ice has been removed either from bin  52 , top drawer  42 , or bottom drawer  44 , thus providing a sufficient amount of space for more ice. 
     It should be understood to one of ordinary skill in the art that the above description provides a refrigerator user with improved, unobstructed access to ice located in the freezer compartment of a refrigerator. It also provides the user with the ability to alter the amount of space used to store ice. As described above with respect to  FIGS. 2 and 3 , ice produced by ice maker  50  is stored in ice bin  52  during normal operation. Ice bin  52  may be removed so that ice may be stored in the entire space enclosed by top drawer  42 . As described above with respect to  FIG. 5 , segment  88  can be opened allowing ice produced by ice maker  50  to fall into bottom drawer  44 . This allows the user to store additional ice for other uses requiring a greater amount of ice than normal use, such as social gatherings or to fill an external container with ice. The use of removable bin  52  ( FIG. 3 ) and divider  58  ( FIG. 4 ) allows the user to determine how much of freezer compartment  36  will be used to store ice, such that a maximum amount of ice can be stored when both the bin and divider are removed permitting drawers  42  and  44  to fill entirely with ice. 
     While one or more preferred embodiments of the invention have been described above, it should be understood that any and all equivalent realizations of the present invention are included within the scope and spirit thereof. The embodiments depicted are presented by way of example only and are not intended as limitations upon the present invention. Thus, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in this art that the present invention is not limited to these embodiments since modifications can be made. Therefore, it is contemplated that any and all such embodiments are included in the present invention as may fall within the scope and spirit thereof.