Patent Publication Number: US-6708374-B2

Title: Refrigerator door handle

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention pertains to the art of refrigerators and, more particularly, to the construction and mounting of a handle to the door of a refrigerator. 
     2. Discussion of the Prior Art 
     Although refrigerator handles which are generally recessed with respect to front panels of doors are known, the clear majority of the refrigerators on the market today are provided with handles which are attached to and project from the front panels. The projecting portions of the handles define zones which can be gripped by a user to open or close the refrigerator doors. Often, such a known refrigerator handle is secured solely to a respective front door panel, generally by securing a base plate to the door panel, then securing a handle to the base plate, and finally attaching a cover strip to the handle. Another known handle arrangement has one end portion of a handle secured directly to the front door panel, with an opposing end of the handle extending across and being secured to an in-turned top portion of the door. 
     In order to reduce costs and often times increase the aesthetics of refrigerator handles, it is heretofore been proposed to form handles from plastic. In such situations, it must be realized that refrigerator handles actually need to withstand a fair level of fatigue loading that can loosen mounting screws and even cause a handle to crack. To address at least these concerns, there exists a need in the art for a refrigerator handle mounting arrangement, particularly for refrigerator handles formed from plastic, which establishes a relatively large mounting or clamping surface, and minimizes the placement of the plastic in the mounting zone in tension, thereby promoting reliability in the overall mounting of the handle. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention is directed to the mounting of an end portion of a refrigerator handle to an in-turned upper portion of a refrigerator door. More specifically, the handle includes a main body portion that extends along the front panel of the refrigerator door, with the main body portion leads through a curved section to a terminal end portion which is adapted to be secured to the in-turned upper portion of the door through the use of mechanical fasteners, such as screws. In accordance with the invention, the terminal end portion is formed with tie-down flanges which define a channel at the terminal end portion. 
     In a preferred embodiment, the handle, particularly the terminal end portion, is molded of plastic such that the tie-down flanges are integrally formed as part of the remainder of the terminal end portion and, most preferably, the entire handle. The mounting assembly also incorporates a metal plate which slips into the channel and receives the mechanical fasteners such that the fasteners extend into the terminal end portion of the plastic handle, through the metal plate, and into the door. With this arrangement, the metal plate functions to clamp down the tie-down flanges to the door when the fasteners are tightened. 
     Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawing wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an upper right perspective view of a refrigerator incorporating the door handle arrangement of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is an exploded view of an upper end portion of the door handle constructed in accordance with the present invention; and 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the upper end portion of the door handle in an assembled condition. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     With initial reference to FIG. 1, a top mount refrigerator  2  includes a cabinet shell  5  defined, at least in part, by first and second upstanding side panels  8  and  9  that are interconnected and laterally spaced by a top panel  11 . Although not shown in this figure, cabinet shell  5  would also include a rear panel and internal reinforcing structure. Since refrigerator  2  constitutes a top mount style refrigerator, a mullion (not separately labeled) is provided which extends laterally across shell  5  and divides refrigerator  2  into an upper freezer compartment  19  and a lower fresh food compartment  22 . Although not particularly illustrated, both the freezer and fresh food compartments  19  and  22  are preferably defined by respective liners installed within shell  5  in a manner known in the art. 
     As illustrated, a freezer door  25  is provided to selectively seal freezer compartment  19  and a fresh food door  27  is provided to selectively seal fresh food compartment  22 . Door  27  is actually mounted for pivotal movement relative to shell  5  by means of a lower hinge unit  35  that is secured to reinforcement structure of refrigerator  2  at the level of a conventional kickplate  37  and a center hinge unit  39 . Freezer door  25  is also mounted through center hinge unit  39  and an upper hinge unit  43  for pivotal movement relative to shell  5  in order to provide selective access to within upper freezer compartment  19 . In order to open and close doors  25  and  27 , refrigerator  2  is provided with handles  47  and  49  respectively. 
     At this point, it should be recognized that the basic structure described above is known in the art and refers to conventional top mount refrigerator structure. Substantially corresponding structure exists with respect to bottom mount refrigerators wherein the freezer compartment is merely located below the fresh food compartment, side-by-side refrigerators wherein the fresh food and freezer compartments are located laterally adjacent each other, and other combinations of these arrangements. As this structure is known, it will not be discussed further here. Instead, the present invention is particularly directed to the manner in which one or more of handles  47  and  49  are secured to doors  25  and  27  and, more particularly, the structure and mounting arrangement for one or more of handles  47  and  49  to a respective in-turned upper portion  55 ,  56  of doors  25  and  27  respectively. Since handles  47  and  49  are preferably constructed and mounted in identical manners in accordance with the invention, the most preferred construction and mounting of handle  47  will now be described in detail and it is to be understood that a corresponding arrangement exists with respect to handle  49 . 
     As shown, handle  47  includes a first end portion  75 , an intermediate, gripping portion  76  and a second, elongated end portion  77 . In accordance with the most preferred form of the invention, the handle  47  is entirely made of plastic and can take various different configurations without departing from the invention. Handle  47  is preferably attached to door  25  at both first and second end portions  75  and  77 . However, the specific manner of attachment of second end portion  77  to door  25  does not form part of the present invention. Instead, this attachment can be performed in any manner known in the art, such as by initially affixing a base plate (not shown) to the front of door  25  and then attaching second end portion  77  to the base plate. 
     FIG. 2 illustrates the preferred construction of first end portion  75 . As shown, first end portion  75  includes a first section  82  and a second section  84 . Second section  84  has a reduced thickness as compared to first section  82  such that a substantially vertical wall  86  is defined at the junction between first and second sections  82  and  84 . As shown, first and second sections  82  and  84  have a common top wall  88 . Second section  84  also has opposing side walls  90  and  91 , each of which terminates in a respective in-turned, tie-down flange  94 ,  95 . As shown, flanges  94  and  95  are spaced and extend substantially parallel to each other. With this construction, second section  84  defines a channel  98 . In addition, second section  84  is formed with a pair of spaced holes  100  and  101  which extend through top wall  88  and lead into channel  98 . In accordance with the most preferred form of the invention, holes  100  and  101  are sized to receive the head  105  of a respective fastening screw  108 . 
     Holes  100  and  101  are spaced in second section  84  a distance the same as holes  110  and  111  provided in a mounting plate  120 . Mounting plate  120  is preferably made of metal, such as steel or aluminum. Plate  120  is sized to snugly fit into channel  98 , whereupon plate  120  rests upon flanges  94  and  95  (see FIG.  3 ). With this arrangement, first end portion  75  is adapted to be mounted to in-turned upper portion  55 , with second section  84  resting directly upon upper portion  55  and wall  86  generally abutting a front panel portion (not separately labeled) of door  25 . At this point, plate  120  is arranged within channel  98  such that, upon inserting screws  108  through respective aligned holes  100 ,  110  and  101 ,  111  and tightening the screws  108  into upper portion  55  of door  25 , first end portion  75  is affixed to door  25  with heads  105  being substantially flush with or slightly recessed within top wall  88 . More specifically, first end portion  75  is mounted to door  25  by clamping flanges  94  and  95  directly against upper portion  55  through plate  120 . Although not required, heads  105  preferably bear directly against plate  120  to avoid local stresses on the plastic at second section  84 . In any event, with this arrangement, metal plate  120  functions to clamp the tie-down flanges  94  and  95  to door  25  when the fastener screws  108  are tightened to provide a structurally sound and overall cost efficient handle assembly. 
     Although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be readily understood that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. In general, the invention is only intended to be limited by the scope of the following claims.