Patent Publication Number: US-5156021-A

Title: Refrigerator shelf-like water tank

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to accessories for refrigerators, particularly fluid tanks to be cooled within the refrigerator cooling chamber. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     To cool water in a water tank, one preferred method is to put the loaded tank into the cold chamber of a refrigerator for a few hours. This of course requires a good deal of available space in the refrigerator chamber, the more so if the tank volume is large. Additionally, the conventional grill-work shelves laid therein in horizontal arrangements, are interspaced in successive pairs by relatively small vertical clearances which may not enable free engagement of the water tank unless one shelf is removed--a nuisance. 
     Those skilled in the art have thus in the past tried to improve the efficiency in space allocation within a refrigerator. Indeed, a refrigerator is usually one of the most expensive--if not the most expensive--of all the household appliances. The retail price of--say--a 18 cubic feet volume refrigerator can be as high as twice the retail price of a 15 cubic feet volume refrigerator. Therefore, the smallest refrigerator for the household needs is certainly desirable from a financial standpoint. 
     The U.S. Pat. No. 2,788,642 issued in 1957 to Bessie and Joseph BURKHEAD, does disclose a combined refrigerator shelf and liquid tank 28 to be removably edgewisely supported by one of the same side support brackets 26 as are used to support the regular grill-work shelves. The tank includes a flat rectangular shelf top wall, for receiving thereon foodstuff. The tank includes a water inlet means 38, 44 and a water outlet 46 extending through a side wall of the refrigerator and provided with a stopcock valve 48 on the outside. 
     One drawback of the Burkhead water tank is that its water outlet faucet 46 is embedded into one side wall of the refrigerator. This substantially complicates matters when removal of the tank from the refrigerator is required, for example for maintenance purposes. 
     OBJECT OF THE INVENTION 
     The gist of the invention is to address the problem outlined in the above background of the invention paragraph. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In accordance with the object of the invention, there is disclosed a refrigerator defining a front access door leading to an inner cooling chamber and a back wall opposite said access door, said inner chamber adapted to be divided in subcompartments by a number of vertically spaced, horizontally extending foodstuff shelves each supported by support bracket means, a liquid tank of a size to fit within said inner chamber being mounted therein between two successive horizontal grill-work shelves; said tank being supported by one of said support bracket means, the latter consisting of a few elongated, fore and aft extending, each bracket plate anchored at its rear end to said back wall by anchor means and having a front end extending short of said access door and defining an upturned ledge; said tank having a flat top wall for use as a foodstuff shelf, a bottom wall for supporting engagement with said support bracket plates, and an edgewise wall merging said top and bottom walls, a fluid inlet provided on its top wall, a fluid outlet provided on a front portion of said edgewise wall, a few fore and aft extending elongated, substantially straight grooves edgewisely slidingly releasably engaged by corresponding said support bracket plates for guided fore and aft displacement of the tank in a substantially horizontal plane, each said elongated groove defining an inwardly offset front portion being deeper than the remainder thereof and slidingly releasably engaged by said front upturned ledge of the corresponding support bracket plate whereby a partially forwardly retracted limit position of said tank is defined upon said horizontal displacement of the tank bringing said ledge against the rear edge of said groove deeper front portion, said fluid outlet clearing said cooling chamber in said partially retracted limit position of the tank. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     FIG. 1 is an isometric broken view of an intermediate portion of upstanding refrigerator, with a cut-away thereof revealing therein the combined water tank and horizontal shelf of the invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a sectional side elevation of the refrigerator portion of FIG. 1, suggesting how the present invention water tank may be manually disengaged from with its fully engaged position inside the refrigerator main chamber; 
     FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of the maneuvering handle of the tank; 
     FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the water tank, fitted to the back wall of the refrigerator according to the invention; 
     FIG. 5 is a sectional plan view of the elements of FIG. 4, taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 6 is an enlarged cross-section taken along line 6--6 of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 7, on the third sheet of drawings, is an enlarged cross-section taken along line 7--7 of FIG. 5; 
     FIG. 8, on the second sheet of drawings, is an enlargement of area 8 of FIG. 6; 
     FIG. 9 is an enlarged cross-sectional view taken along line 9--9 of FIG. 4; 
     FIG. 10 is an enlarged view of the area within area 10 of FIG. 4; and 
     FIG. 11 is an exploded view of the stay assembly for supporting the water tank of the invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Refrigerator 20 consists of a housing 22 enclosing a thermally insulated inner chamber 24. Housing 22 conventionally includes a back wall 26, side walls 28, 28, top and bottom walls (not shown), and a front opening 30 closed by an edgewisely hinged door 32. Freon means lowers and maintains the temperature within chamber 24 to about 4° C. Grill-work shelves (not illustrated) are positioned horizontally in vertically spaced fashion on side support brackets 36, within the refrigerator chamber 24, in the usual manner. 
     Accordingly with the invention, one of the grill-work shelves is removed from the refrigerator and replaced by a water tank 34. Tank 34 is generally rectangular but relatively thicker, to generally conform to the shape of the grill-work that it replaces, and is removably supported by the same side support brackets 36 as are used for support of the regular grill-work shelves. Preferably, tank 34 is of integral construction, consisting of two quadrangular, main, opposite, top and bottom walls 36, 38, edgewisely joined parallel to one another by convex, peripheral side walls 40a-40d at the four sides thereof. Advantageously, the tank top wall 36 includes a large, central, see-through plastic window 42, and bottom wall 38 includes at least three fore and aft extending invaginations or grooves 44a, 44b, 44c. Grooves 44a-44c extend short of front convex edge portion 40a, but does extend through rear convex edge portion 40b as suggested by the phantom lines in FIG. 5. Tank 34 sealingly encloses an inner chamber 46. Water may be poured into tank 34 through an inlet 48 on top wall 36, a plug 50 releasably closing inlet 48 in any suitable fashion. 
     A water outlet 52 is provided intermediately of front wall 40a. A handle 54 is anchored into outlet 52 and defines a first channel portion 56, extending through wall 40a into chamber 46, and a second channel member 58, forming a continuous elbowed channel with portion 56 and extending outwardly from chamber 46 vertically downwardly beyond the plane of bottom wall 38. Channel 56, 58 enables escape of water from chamber 46, through wall 40a downwardly forwardly of the fluid container 34. Channel 56 includes a water intake 56a, at its inner end and a diametrally smaller outer section 56b, wherein an intermediate annular conical seat 56c is defined. Intake 56a defines a radially inward annular groove 56d engaged by an annular ring 60. A conical valve 62 is biased against conical seat 56c by a coil spring 64, extending within channel 56 and endwisely abutting against ring 60 at its inner end. Thus, spring biased valve 62 seals channel 56, preventing fluid passage therethrough. A piston rod 66 is endwisely connected to the outer apex of conical valve 62, and extends through channel 56b and through a diametrally still smaller coaxial channel extension 56e which opens outwardly of handle 54. A stud 68 projects from the outer end of rod 66 partly beyond channel 56e. Stud 68 conforms diametrally to channel 56e, to prevent passage of water through the latter--although water will not normally engage channel extension 56e which is downstream of vertical water outlet channel 58 through which water will fall under gravity. Pushing stud 68 inwardly releases valve 62 from seat 56c, against the bias of spring 64 thus reestablishing fluid communication between elbowed channels 56b and 58. 
     Each groove 44a-44c of the water tank 34 is to be lengthwisely engaged by conventional refrigerator support brackets 70a-70c respectively, of the type used for supporting conventional grill-work shelves. Brackets 70a-70c are endwisely connected to an integral transverse web plate 72. Hook plates 74, 74 are to be anchored to web plate 72 by screws (not shown), extending through bores in the former and lengthwise slits 76 on the latter. Hooks 74 are then clamped releasably to the standard vertical railing 78 (FIG. 4) anchored to the refrigerator back wall 26 adjacent side walls 28, 28 at a selected height in the well known fashion. Thus, slits 76 on web 72 enable adjustment of the tank support brackets 70a-70c to refrigerators of various widths. 
     Preferably, the front leg of each groove 44a-44c--extending short of the front wall 40a--is itself grooved, see reference 44bb at FIG. 7. Since each bracket leg 70a-70c has a conventional upturned ledge 80 at its free end, the latter will freely engage into deeper grooves 44aa, 44bb and 44cc while the main part thereof abuttingly supports flooring 38 within grooves 44a, 44b, 44c. Hence, as suggested in FIG. 2, tank 34--when applied against back wall 26 and supported by brackets 70a-70c-will be horizontally forwardly slidable over brackets 70a-70c, away from back wall 26, for a fraction of the total length of the water tank i.e. a distance equal to groove portions 44aa, 44bb, 44cc, until the ledges 80 come to sit against the rear edge of the latter groove portions. At this partially retracted position of the water tank, the front stopcock 54 will clear the underlying grill-work shelves thus enabling its opening for pouring water from tank 34 into a hand supported glass. It is understood that in such a condition, there is no need to hold in position the tank 34, wherein due to its horizontal plane, it will allow easy outflow of water without having to lift the rear portion thereof. Thereafter, to release tank 34 from brackets 70, one will have to simply lift same therefrom, thus preventing accidental fall-out thereof if the pulling force is too strong. 
     Handle 44 is used with one&#39;s hand H: 
     (a) as a pulling means, to slidingly pull tank 34 horizontally away from back wall 26, see FIG. 2; 
     (b) as an abutment means, for the manual holding in place of tank 34 (to prevent rearward displacement thereof) during compression of stopcock valve release button 68, for escape of water through water outlet 58, see FIG. 3; 
     (c) as a means for pivotally lifting the water container 34 from its horizontal position, upwardly rearwardly to a vertical position; and as a means for hand-carrying tank 34 in vertical suspended condition over ground. 
     Window 42 may simply be a transparent plastic plate having an edgewise groove member 82, being engaged by an upturned ledge 84 defining the contour of the aperture 86 in wall 36 closed by window 42.