Patent ID: 8146783

Claim:
A refrigerator having a dispenser, comprising: a main body having a cooling chamber and a door that is movable to open and close at least a portion of the cooling chamber; a container accommodating unit that is positioned on a front surface of the door and that defines, within the door, a dispensing cavity able to accommodate at least partial insertion of a container into which content is dispensed, the front surface of the door being a surface of the door that is oriented opposite the cooling chamber when the door is in a closed position; a communication chute that passes through the front surface of the door and that is configured to guide the content to the dispensing cavity defined by the container accommodating unit; and an obstruction unit disposed in the container accommodating unit, and movable, about a plane perpendicular to the front surface of the door, between at least two positions, including a first position in which the content guided by the communication chute is relatively obstructed by the obstruction unit and a second position in which the content guided by the communication chute is relatively unobstructed by the obstruction unit, wherein the obstruction unit comprises: an obstruction member movable, about the plane perpendicular to the front surface of the door, between the first position in which the obstruction member covers an outlet of the communication chute and the second position in which the obstruction member does not cover the outlet of the communication chute; a rotation shaft coupled to the obstruction member; and a driving unit configured to transfer a rotation force to the rotation shaft and, thereby, cause the obstruction member to rotate, about the plane perpendicular to the front surface of the door, between the first position and the second position.