Patent Publication Number: US-2006010829-A1

Title: Accessory arrangement for a refrigerator door and can holder for a refrigerator

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention is directed to a an arrangement of accessories, which can have the form of shelves, can holders, and the like, to be removably affixed to the internal wall of a refrigerator door according to a distribution that may be varied as a function of the characteristics of use of the refrigerator. The invention can be applied both to medium or small size refrigerators of individual or restricted use, such as the refrigerators used in hotel rooms, flats, offices, etc., and to large refrigerators.  
      The invention is further related to a particular can holder construction to be mounted to the internal wall of the door or in the interior of the cabinet of a refrigerator.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      There are well known in the prior art different systems for the fixation of shelves, can holders, and other accessories to the internal wall of a refrigerator door, said accessories being designed and dimensioned to occupy determined project positions, according to which retaining means are provided, incorporated to the internal wall of the refrigerator door.  
      These commonly used constructive solutions allow the shelves, the can holders, and other accessories of this kind, which are previously manufactured in separate pieces, to be removably fitted and retained in retaining means that are incorporated, generally as a single piece, to the internal wall of the refrigerator door.  
      While they allow for a certain variation in the arrangement of the internal accessories of the refrigerator door, said solutions present little versatility, since the accessories are usually restricted to the number and to the positioning defined in the project, most of the time limited to a single option which can only be altered by suppressing the accessory. In other words, the known arrangements are invariable in terms of the quantity and positioning of the accessories, permitting, only in some cases, the repetition of a determined accessory in a position which, according to the project, should be occupied by other type of accessory, impairing the functional and esthetic characteristics of the refrigerator.  
      The known arrangements do not allow the user, the manufacturer, or the distributor to adjust the characteristics of the internal wall of the refrigerator according to their needs, or to modify said characteristics according to variable needs of utilization of the refrigerator.  
      Another limitation to the functionalism of the known accessory arrangements is due to the fact that the can holders are designed to be compulsorily and exclusively mounted in a certain position to the internal wall of the refrigerator door, thus not being able to be used in any other part of the refrigerated environment. Moreover, the known can holders, which take the form of tubular housings, are insufficiently ventilated, impairing the efficient refrigeration of the cans.  
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION  
      By reason of the limitations of versatility imposed by the known solutions, it is an object of the present invention to provide an accessory arrangement for a refrigerator door, which allows the user or the manufacturer to modify, substantially and at any time, the positioning and the number of different accessories, such as shelves, can holders, etc., which are removably affixed to the internal wall of the refrigerator door, according to the required use.  
      It is a further object of the invention to provide an accessory arrangement such as mentioned above, which is presented in the modular form, allowing at least one entire fraction of the space occupied by one accessory in the internal wall of the refrigerator door to be selectively and optionally occupied by another accessory different from that whose space is being used.  
      It is a further object of the present invention to provide a can holder, which can be selectively and optionally mounted in different positions to the internal wall of the door or in the interior of the cabinet of a refrigerator and which allows for an efficient circulation of the ambient air inside the refrigerator around the cans stored in the can holder.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      The invention proposes an arrangement of accessories for a refrigerator door, said accessories comprising shelves, can holders, and other means for supporting the products to be refrigerated.  
      According to the invention, the refrigerator door presents an internal wall carrying retaining means, which are identical to each other and disposed according to horizontal rows and vertical columns, which are spaced from each other according to a predetermined standard, so that each retaining means can receive and retain, simply by fitting a respective engaging means incorporated to an accessory to be removably affixed to the internal wall of the door. The arrangement is designed with distances between the vertical columns of the retaining means and with widths for the accessories, so that the useful width of said internal wall can be fully occupied with multiple accessories adjacently disposed side by side, each accessory having at least one engaging means fitted in a respective retaining means. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The invention will be described below, with reference to the enclosed drawings, given by way of example of a possible embodiment for the present arrangement and in which:  
       FIGS. 1 and 2  are inner perspective views of two models of a refrigerator door, with the internal wall being constructed to receive different accessory arrangements, each figure illustrating one arrangement;  
       FIG. 3  is a front elevational view of the internal wall of a refrigerator door constructed according to the invention and to which is adapted an accessory module in the form of a can holder;  
       FIG. 4  is a horizontal cross-sectional view of the door, taken according to line IV-IV of  FIG. 3 ;  
       FIG. 5  is an enlarged detail of the left-hand end portion of  FIG. 4 ;  
       FIG. 6  is a rear perspective view of the can holder module illustrated in  FIG. 3 ;  
       FIGS. 7, 8 ,  9 , and  10  are, respectively, front, lateral, rear and upper views of the accessory module in the form of a can holder illustrated in  FIG. 3 ; and  
       FIG. 11  is a lateral elevational view of the can holder in the condition in which it is mounted below an internal shelf of a refrigerator cabinet. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
      As illustrated in the appended drawings, the invention has the purpose to provide the internal wall  11  of the door  10  of a refrigerator with different accessories in the form of can holders  20 , median shelves  30 , and wire frame shelves  30 a, which can take forms different from those illustrated in the drawings.  
      According to the drawings, the internal wall  11  of the door  10  is configured to carry retaining means  12  disposed according to horizontal rows and vertical columns, which are spaced from each other according to a predetermined pattern, so that each retaining means  12  can receive and retain, simply by fitting a respective engaging means  40  incorporated to one of said can holders  20 , median shelves  30 , and wire frame shelves  30   a  to be removably affixed to the internal wall  11  of the door  10 .  
      In the illustrated embodiment, the retaining means  12  of each vertical column are formed in the same channel  13  having a bottom wall  13   a  that is lowered in relation to the internal wall  11  of the door  10 , each retaining means  12  being defined by a respective extension of the channel  13  presenting a front opening with reduced width, defining therein a female fit of the dove tail type, so as to receive, by a downward fit, a respective engaging means  40 .  
      The distances between the vertical columns of the retaining means  12  and the width of the accessories are designed so that the useful width of the internal wall  11  of the door  10  can be fully occupied by multiple accessories disposed side by side, each having at least one engaging means  40  to be fitted in a respective retaining means  12 .  
      In the preferred construction, the distances between the vertical columns of the retaining means  12 , i.e., the distances between the channels  13  are equal to each other and correspond to the width of an accessory, which in the illustrated example is a can holder  20 , or they may also correspond to half the width of the accessory or to other entire fraction of the width of the accessory, as in the case of the median shelves  30  and the wire frame shelves  30   a , which present a width that is twice the distance between two adjacent retaining means  12  in the same horizontal row.  
      Although the horizontal rows of the retaining means  12  may occupy the whole useful height of the internal wall  11  of the door  10 , in the illustrated embodiment they occupy only part of said height, from an upper edge of the door  10 .  
      Preferably, the horizontal rows of the retaining means  12  comprise at least two groups of rows, with the rows of each group being equally spaced from each other and the confronting rows of two adjacent groups being separated from each other by a distance that is larger than that of the rows of each group. This arrangement, in which two groups of horizontal rows are spaced from each other is adequate, since median shelves  30  and wire frame shelves  30   a  are used in conjunction with the can holder  20 , said shelves usually requiring a certain free space above them, so as to be fully used. Regarding the construction of the retaining means  12  in the form of a dove tail female fit, each engaging means  40  comprises a rear projection, of the respective accessory in the form of a can holder  20 , of a median shelf  30 , or of a wire frame shelf  30   a , presenting a cross section contour that is similar to and slightly smaller than the cross section contour of the extensions of the channel  13  that define the retaining means  12 , so as to be fitted in the interior of said extensions when said engaging means  40  is slidingly downwardly displaced after inserted in the channel  13 , immediately above the adjacent retaining means  12 . For the downward vertical locking of the accessory, its rear end, which defines the engaging means  40 , presents an upper end  41  with a contour which is similar to and slightly smaller than that of the channel  13  and which seats on the upper edge of the retaining means  12 .  
      In the illustrated embodiment, each engaging means  40  comprises a pair of flaps  42  divergingly projecting from a respective accessory in the form of a can holder  20 , median shelf  30 , or wire frame shelf  30   a , in order to define a dove tail fit with the retaining means  12  formed in the channel  13 .  
      According to the exemplary construction illustrated, each accessory in the form of a can holder  20  comprises at least two mutually parallel tubular frames  21 , which are vertically aligned and laterally adjacent and have rear ends, defined by respective bottom walls  22  coplanar to each other and which will be seated against the internal wall of the door  10 , and open front ends, which are substantially parallel to the bottom walls  22  and incorporated to a front flange  23  of rectangular contour.  
      As illustrated, the tubular frames  21  define housings for small beverage cans and have their axes upwardly inclined from the bottom walls  22 . The tubular frames  21  have preferably cylindrical lateral walls, intersecting and laterally communicating in relation to each other and provided with windows  26 .  
      In the construction of the illustrated can holder  20 , the bottom wall  22  of the upper tubular frame  21  is externally provided with a respective engaging means  40  which can be constructed as described above. In this case, each can holder  20  is suspended by the tubular frame  21 , although extending downwardly, so as to have its lower tubular frame  21  covering the retaining means  12  disposed immediately below.  
      As already illustrated, each can holder  20  has its front flange  23  incorporating upper and lower end flaps  24  projecting rearwardly orthogonal to the plane of the bottom walls  22  and which are medianly provided with a cut  27  in order to save material and to increase ventilation, the upper end flap  24  being attached to the adjacent cylindrical lateral wall of the upper tubular frame  21  by means of structural ribs  25  located in both sides of the cut  27 .  
      As already mentioned, the invention aims at providing a versatile can holder  20 , which can be applied both to the internal wall  11  of the door  10 , and to an internal region of the refrigerator cabinet, allowing the cans, in either of the mounting conditions, to be adequately submitted to the circulation of refrigerated air inside the refrigeration appliance. The illustrated construction described for the can holder  20  allows the latter to be easily mounted below a shelf  15  provided inside the refrigerator and which presents, inferiorly, a pair of rails  16  over which is slidingly seated the upper end flap  24  of the can holder  20 , as illustrated in  FIG. 11 .  
      It should be further understood that the shelf  15  could be of the type attached against the internal wall  11  of the door  10 . In this case, the can holder  20  can be removably adapted under any shelf of a refrigerator door lacking the retaining means  12 , it being sufficient that the usual shelves of the door be inferiorly provided with assemblies of pairs of rails  16  disposed so as to permit the fit of the upper end flaps  24  of respective can holders  20 , which can also be arranged side by side, as a function of the distance defined between each pair of adjacent rails  16 .  
      In  FIGS. 1 and 2  of the drawings, two distinct accessory arrangements affixed to the internal wall  11  of the door  10  are illustrated. In the example of  FIG. 1 , there are affixed to the upper region of the internal wall  11  of the door  10  four can holders  20  for storing small beverage cans. In the median region of the internal wall  11  there are affixed two median shelves  30 , which are identical to each other and present a substantially parallelepipedic shape with an open top. In the region of the internal wall  11  there is affixed, by locking means  17  disposed close to the opposite sides of the internal wall  11 , a lower shelf  30   b  occupying the whole useful internal width of the door  10 . It should be noted that the locking means  17  are different from the retaining means  12  and that they can be constructed in any way that is adequate for locking the lower shelf  17 .  
      In  FIG. 2  there is illustrated a door  10  presenting a lower height than that of  FIG. 1  and having its internal wall equally provided with four vertical columns of retaining means  12 . To said columns there are attached one median shelf  30 , three wire frame shelves  30   a , and a lower wire frame shelf  30   c  that can be affixed to the internal wall  11  by the locking means  17  described above in relation to the lower shelf  30   b  of the door illustrated in  FIG. 1 . Each of the accessories defined by the median shelves  30  and wire frame shelves  30   a  comprises a pair of engaging means  40  to be fitted in respective retaining means  12  disposed in the same horizontal row, but in two adjacent vertical columns.  
      As mentioned above, the construction proposed herein allows both the positioning and the number of the can holders  20  and of the median shelves  30  and wire frame shelves  30   a  to be altered. In  FIG. 2 , for example, the three wire frame shelves  30   a  can be replaced by six can holders  20 , four of them disposed as in  FIG. 1  and the other two disposed immediately below, at the right hand half of the internal wall  11 .  
      While only two possible arrangements for mounting the accessories in one type of retaining means incorporated to the internal wall of the door have been described and illustrated, it should be understood that alterations of shape and distribution could be made without departing from the inventive concept defined in the claims that accompany the present specification.