Patent ID: 7798542

Claim:
An appliance door-locking system, comprising: (i) a door-lock apparatus including (a) a first elongate leg member; (b) a second elongate leg member; and (c) a web from which each of the first elongated leg member and the second elongated leg member depends, each of the first elongated leg member and the second elongated leg member comprising a respective web end, connected to the web, and a respective distal end opposite the respective web end, wherein at least upper portions of said first and second elongate leg members are disposed in fixed spaced relation relative to one another; said leg members are disposed substantially along a common plane; the first elongated leg member and the second elongated leg member define a spacing therebetween; and the spacing widens in a direction from the web toward the distal ends; (ii) an appliance including (a) at least one compartment; (b) first and second doors pivotally mounted to said appliance in side-by-side relation, said doors being movable between closed and open positions, whereby access to said one or more compartments from a location outside said appliance can be blocked or allowed, respectively; (c) first and second elongate handles, each extending generally vertically along a face of a respective one of said doors, such that said handles are disposed proximate one another when said doors are in said closed position; wherein said handles each includes a portion spaced forwardly of the face of its respective door, thereby defining first and second elongate channels between portions of said handles and underlying portions of said doors; (iii) wherein, with said doors in said closed position, said first and second elongate legs are received within said first and second elongate channels, respectively; thereby locking said doors in said closed position; whereby the widening of the spacing between the first and second leg members enables use of the door-lock apparatus on different handle configurations having different distances between first and second channels in a closed position.