Abstract:
Refrigerator which enables smooth fastening of a handle thereto, and prevents damage to a front of a door during fastening of the handle. 
     For this, the refrigerator includes a body, a door for opening/closing the body, and a handle spacer fastened to the handle in a sliding fashion for holding and connecting the handle to the door.

Description:
[0001]    This application claims the benefit of the Patent Korean Application No. 10-2007-69921, filed on Jul. 12, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to refrigerators, more particularly, to a refrigerator which enables smooth fastening of a handle thereto, and prevents damage to a front of a door during fastening of the handle. 
         [0004]    2. Discussion of the Related Art 
         [0005]    The refrigerator is a home appliance for refrigerated or frozen storage of food by producing cold air with a refrigerating cycle of compression, condensing, expansion and evaporation. 
         [0006]    The refrigerator is provided with a body having a storage chamber, and the door for opening/closing the storage chamber. The door is provided with a handle for easy opening/closing of the door, so that a user pulls handle to open the storage chamber as the door rotates together with the handle. 
         [0007]    A related art refrigerator has the handle fastened to the door with fastening members, such as screws, wherein such a handle fastening system takes much time required for fastening the handle, leading productivity of the refrigerator poor. 
         [0008]    Moreover, it is liable that an edge or corner of the handle comes into contact with the front of the door, to form a scratch on the front of the door, which damage beauty of the door. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0009]    Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a refrigerator which enables smooth fastening of a handle thereto, to improve productivity of the refrigerator. 
         [0010]    An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator which enables to prevent contact between a door and a handle during fastening of the handle to the maximum, thereby preventing an exterior appearance of the door suffering from damage. 
         [0011]    Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings. 
         [0012]    To achieve these objects and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention, as embodied and broadly described herein, a refrigerator includes a body, a door for opening/closing the body, and a handle spacer fastened to the handle in a sliding fashion for holding and connecting the handle to the door. 
         [0013]    The handle has a bar shape, and a plurality of the handle spacers are provided to arrange on a front of the door opposite to both ends of the handle spaced from each other. 
         [0014]    The refrigerator of further includes a fastening bolt for placing in a rear side of the handle, and a guide slot in a front of the handle spacer for placing a portion of the fastening bolt therein and slide thereon in mounting the handle to the handle spacer. 
         [0015]    The fastening bolt includes a body placed in the rear surface of the handle, and a head at one end of the body having a diameter greater than the body, and the guide slot includes a first guide slot having a width enough to place the head therein, and a second guide slot which is an extension from the first guide slot to one side with a width smaller than the width of the first guide slot for preventing the head portion from falling off toward a front direction of the first guide slot in a case the head is slid moved. 
         [0016]    The first guide slot and the second guide slot are arranged in succession according to a direction of mounting of the handle. 
         [0017]    The handle has a curvature for user&#39;s easy holding, and the handle spacer has a sloped surface curved in conformity with the curvature of the handle. 
         [0018]    The door includes a first door mounted to an upper portion of the body for rotatably opening/closing the upper portion, and a second door mounted to a lower portion of the body for opening/closing the lower portion in a sliding fashion, wherein the first door has the handle mounted thereto in a vertical direction such that the handle is slidably detachable from the handle spacer in an up/down direction, and the second door has the handle mounted thereto in a horizontal direction such that the handle is slidably detachable from the handle spacer in an left/right direction. 
         [0019]    The handle spacer has a thickness for spacing between the handle and the door to prevent the handle from brought into contact with the door. 
         [0020]    It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description of the present invention are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0021]    The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principle of the invention. In the drawings: 
           [0022]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerator in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0023]      FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view illustrating an upper side of a refrigerator body and handles in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention with partial enlarged views. 
           [0024]      FIG. 3  is an exploded perspective view illustrating a lower side of a refrigerator body and a handle in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention with partial enlarged views. 
           [0025]      FIGS. 4(A) and 4(B)  are partial plan views illustrating steps of fastening a handle to a door. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0026]    Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Wherever possible, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like parts. 
         [0027]    Referring to  FIG. 1 , the refrigerator of the present invention includes a body  1  having a storage chamber (not shown) therein, and a door  3  on a front of the body  1 . The door  3  includes a first door  4  rotatably mounted to an upper side of the body  1 , and a second door  5  on a lower side of the body  1  mounted slidable in front/rear directions connected to an inner storage chamber. 
         [0028]    The door  3  has bar shaped handles  8 , with handle spacers  10  between the handles  8  and the door  3  for providing spaces and holding the handles  8 . 
         [0029]    It is preferable that the handle  8  has a shape of a curved bar with a curvature to make a center portion thereof to bulge outward, so that a sense of beauty and high quality product is provided and the user can hold the handle, easily. 
         [0030]    Referring to  FIG. 2 , the handle spacers  10  are fixedly secured to the front of the first door  4 , and the handle  8  is fastened to the handle spacers  10 . 
         [0031]    For this, the handle  8  has rear side portions in the vicinity of an upper end and a lower end with fastening bolts  22  placed in fastening holes  11  formed therein, respectively. 
         [0032]    The fastening bolt  22  includes a body  24  placed in the fastening hole  11 , and a head  26  at one end of the body  24  having a diameter greater than the body  24 . 
         [0033]    The handle spacer  10  has a front with a guide slot  12  formed therein so that the fastening bolt  22  is placed therein, slide and fastened in the slot. The guide slot  12  includes a first guide slot  14  having a width enough to place the head  26  of the fastening bolt  22  therein, and a second guide slot  16  extended from the first guide slot  14  to one side with a width smaller than the width of the first guide slot  14 . 
         [0034]    The width of the second guide slot  16  is smaller than the width of the first guide slot  14  for preventing the head  26  from falling off the door  3  as the head  26  is caught at the second guide slot  16  in a case fastening of the handle  8  to the door  3  is finished by placing the head  26  of the fastening bolt  12  fastened to the handle  8  in the first guide slot  14  and moving the head  26  into the second guide slot  16 . 
         [0035]    Therefore, it is preferable that the width of the second guide slot  16  is the same with a diameter of the body  24  of the fastening bolt  22  substantially, or at least it is required that the width of the second guide slot  16  is smaller than the diameter of the body  24  of the fastening bolt  22 . The width of the second guide slot  16  is preferably the same with a diameter of the body  24  of the fastening bolt  22  substantially for forced fit of the body  24  in the second guide slot  16  to prevent the handle  8  from shaking after mounting of the handle  8  to the door  3 , making the handle  8  to keep a mounted position, rigidly. 
         [0036]    In the meantime, the spacer  10  has a sloped upper portion  18  with a curvature in conformity with the curvature on the rear of the handle  8 , for preventing a gap from forming between the rear of the handle  8  and the handle spacer  10 . 
         [0037]    Thus, the fastening bolts  22  are provided close to opposite ends of the rear of the handle  8 , and the handle spacers  10  are provided to the front of the first door  4  at locations matching to the fastening bolts  22  spaced from each other, wherein the handle spacers  10  are arranged in an up/down direction on the first door  4 . In order to make easy sliding and fastening of the handle  8  in above arrangement, it is required that the first guide slot  14  in the handle spacer  10  on the first door  4  is located higher than the second guide slot  16 . 
         [0038]    This is because, by placing the head  26  of the fastening bolt  22  in the first guide slot  14  completely, and pulling down the handle  8  to make the head  26  caught at the second guide slot  16 , the handle  8  can be mounted easily to secure the handle  8  more rigidly. 
         [0039]      FIG. 3  illustrates the handle  8  and the handle spacers  19  arranged on the second door  5 , wherein the handle spacers  10  are arranged in a left/right direction spaced from each other. 
         [0040]    The handle spacers  10  are arranged thus for user&#39;s easy pulling/pushing of the second door  5  which is mounted to the refrigerator slidable in a front/rear direction. 
         [0041]    Since structures of the handle spacers  10  and the handle  8  mounted to the second door  5  is identical to ones on the first door  4 , description of the structure will be omitted. 
         [0042]    A direction of the first and second guide slots  14  and  16  of the handle spacers  10  mounted to the second door  5  is in conformity with a direction of mounting of the handle  8 . In mounting the handle  8 , the drawing shows that the head  26  of the fastening bolt  12  is placed in the first guide slot  14  on a right side, and the handle  8  is pushed to a left side in a direction of the second guide slot  16 . However, locations of the first and second guide slots  14  and  16  depend on mounting directions, and are not limited to a structure of arrangement shown in the drawing. 
         [0043]    A process for mounting the handle will be described with reference to the attached drawings. 
         [0044]    Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4(A) , upon placing the head  26  of the fastening bolt  22  in the handle  8  in the first guide slot  14 , the rear surface of the handle  8  and the sloped surface of the handle spacer  10  come into contact with each other. 
         [0045]    Then, referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4(B) , upon pulling the handle  8  in a left side, the fastening bolt  22  moves from the first guide slot  14  to the second guide slot  16 , preferably in a forced fit condition between the second guide slot  16  and body  24  of the fastening bolt  22 . 
         [0046]    Because the handle  8  moves to a left side no more once the body  24  of the second fastening bolt  22  reaches to a left most end of the second guide slot  16 , the person mounting the handle  8  can know that the mounting of the handle  8  is finished. 
         [0047]    As described before, since the diameter of the head  26  is greater than the diameter of the second guide slot  16 , preventing the fastening bolt  22  from falling of in a front direction as the head  26  is caught at the second guide slot  16 , the front direction falling off of the handle  8  which is fastened to the fastening bolt  22  is prevented. 
         [0048]    Moreover, the forced fit of the body  24  in the second guide slot  16  prevents the fastening bolts  22  from moving in a dismounting direction even with user&#39;s general force or usual impact, stable mounting of the handle  8  can be secured. 
         [0049]    In this instance, the matching of the sloped surface on the front of the handle spacer  10  and the curvature on the rear surface of the handle  8 , to prevent a gap from forming between the handle spacer  10  and the handle  8 , both stability and a sense of beauty can be secured. 
         [0050]    Moreover, since the handle  8  is brought into contact with, and moves on, not the door  3  directly, but the handle spacers  10  only, no damage, such as scratch, is formed on the front of the door  3 . 
         [0051]    Though a process for mounting the handle  10  to the second door  5  has been described, since the handle  10  is mounted to the first door  4  by an identical process, except that, though a mounting direction on the second door  5  is horizontal, the mounting direction on the first door  4  is vertical, detailed description of a process for mounting the handle  10  to the first door  4  will be omitted. 
         [0052]    It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the inventions. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. 
         [0053]    As has been described, the refrigerator of the present invention has the following advantages. 
         [0054]    The easy mounting of the handle to the door permits to reduce a time period required for the mounting to improve productivity of the refrigerator. 
         [0055]    Moreover, the space between the handle and the front of the door can prevent negative factors that can harm a sense of beauty of an exterior of the refrigerator, such as scratch, from taking place during mounting of the handle.