Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
         [0001]    1. Field of the Invention  
           [0002]    The present invention pertains to the art of appliances and, more particularly, a vertically adjustable wheeled platform assembly adapted to support an appliance cabinet, such as a refrigerator.  
           [0003]    2. Discussion of the Prior Art  
           [0004]    Many types of appliances are commonly found in domestic households. These appliances include clothes washers and dryers, dishwashers, ranges and refrigerators. In the case of the latter, there exist various styles of refrigerators on the market. Most common are side-by-side, top mount, and bottom mount models. In a side-by-side model, fresh food and freezer compartments are arranged laterally adjacent one another. A top mount refrigerator includes an upper freezer compartment and a lower fresh food compartment. Finally, bottom mount models have the fresh food compartment located above the freezer compartment. One advantage of the bottom mount design is the ability of the consumer to view the contents of the fresh food compartment without having to bend over or stoop. However, it may still be desirable to adjust the height of the refrigerator to reduce the amount of bending or kneeling required to access portions of the freezer compartment or to simply further raise the shelving of the fresh food compartment.  
           [0005]    In the art of household appliances in general, it has become customary to equip heavy domestic appliances with wheel assemblies or casters to enhance the mobility of the appliances. Often, it is also desirable to permit some degree of vertical adjustability between the appliance cabinet and the surface upon which the wheel assemblies are supported for leveling the appliance. One example of such a vertically adjustable wheel assembly is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,408. Typical supports for refrigerators are adjustable only to the extent of allowing for leveling of the appliance and are not intended to act as overall height adjustment devices for refrigerator cabinets.  
           [0006]    Based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a raised platform assembly for an appliance, particularly a bottom mount refrigerator, which can readily take the place of other leveling and/or moving hardware, and that has the advantages of vertically adjustable wheels for supporting the appliance.  
         SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
         [0007]    The present invention is directed to an integrated raised appliance platform. More specifically, a raised platform for an appliance, preferably a refrigerator and, most preferably, a bottom mount refrigerator, includes four leg members with adjustable casters and mounting apertures. After any factory installed leveling and/or moving hardware is detached from brackets on the bottom of the appliance, fasteners can be extended through the brackets and into the mounting apertures in the platform assembly to fix the platform assembly to the bottom of the appliance. The casters can be adjusted to customize the height of the overall appliance/platform assembly. Preferably, a decorative faceplate is removably attached to the front facing side of the appliance/platform assembly in order to match or blend the platform assembly to any surrounding cabinetry.  
           [0008]    Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views. 
       
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0009]    [0009]FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator/platform assembly constructed in accordance with the present invention;  
         [0010]    [0010]FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the platform assembly of the invention, with a portion of a refrigerator shown in phantom to illustrate mounting structure between the refrigerator and the platform assembly; and  
         [0011]    [0011]FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of one leg member of the platform assembly of the invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT  
       [0012]    With initial reference to FIG. 1, a refrigerator is generally indicated at  2 . Refrigerator  2  includes a cabinet shell  6  to which is attached a fresh food compartment door  10 . At this point, it should be readily recognized that refrigerator  2  constitutes a bottom mount style refrigerator wherein fresh food compartment door  10  is adapted to seal off an upper fresh food compartment (not shown) defined within cabinet shell  6 . In a manner known in the art, fresh food compartment door  10  is preferably, pivotally mounted about a vertical axis to cabinet shell  6  through upper and lower hinges (not shown). A substantially vertically extending handle  12  is mounted along one front side portion of refrigerator  2  for opening fresh food compartment door  10 . Refrigerator  2  also includes a lower freezer compartment door  13 . Freezer compartment door  13  preferably includes a horizontally extending handle  15  for use in sliding freezer compartment door  13  relative to cabinet shell  6 . To this point, the above-described general structure associated with refrigerator  2  is known in the art and is presented only for the sake of completeness. The present invention is actually directed to a raised platform assembly generally indicated at  20 .  
         [0013]    Reference will now be made to FIG. 2 in describing the preferred construction of platform assembly  20  and the manner in which platform assembly  20  and refrigerator  2  are interconnected. Platform assembly  20  preferably includes four frame members  21 - 24  and a reinforcing cross frame member  25 . Frame members  21 - 25  can be any type of suitable material for supporting a refrigerator, such as square steel tubing. Additionally, platform assembly  20  includes four legs  26 . Each leg  26  includes an upper end plate  28  provided with a first threaded mounting aperture  30 , and a lower end plate  32  formed with a second threaded mounting aperture  34 . Platform assembly  20  also includes four adjustable roller members, preferably in the form of casters  35 . Each caster  35  includes a roller ball  36 , a support cup member  37 , and a mounting stud  38 . In accordance with the most preferred embodiment of the invention, each caster  35  is vertically, adjustably interconnected to the bottom end plate  32  of a respective leg  26 , with mounting stud  38  being threaded into a corresponding second mounting aperture  34 . In this manner, mounting stud  38  can be threaded into a respective leg  26  a desired amount in order to establish a requisite height for frame members  21 - 24  relative to a supporting surface.  
         [0014]    In accordance wit the most preferred embodiment, frame members  21 - 24  and legs  26  are made from steel tubing which are welded together to establish a substantially planar upper support surface  40 . Various, gussets, one of which is shown at  42 , are preferably welded at the interconnection of respective ones of frame member  21 - 24  to provide additional strength to platform assembly  20  for supporting refrigerator  2 . Upper end plate  28  preferably constitutes a  10  gauge metal plate which is welded to steel tubing leg  26 . Additionally, bottom end plate  32  is also preferably constituted by a  10  gauge metal plate which is welded to the bottom side of a respective one of legs  26 . This preferred construction is considered to provide adequate strength and stability to platform assembly  20  for bearing the substantial weight of refrigerator  2 . Of course, casters  36  function to distribute the weight of refrigerator  2  and platform assembly  20  in such way that damage to flooring is avoided.  
         [0015]    Support surface  40  of platform assembly  20  is sized to accommodate refrigerator  2 . To this end, as shown best in FIG. 2, refrigerator cabinet  6  includes a bottom end  44  provided with a plurality of fastening brackets  46 , each of which has an associated hole  47 . In general, brackets  46  are of the type associated with conventional leg levelers (not shown). Before mounting refrigerator  2  upon platform assembly  20 , any factory installed leveling and/or moving hardware (not shown) is detached from fastening brackets  46  and removed from refrigerator  2 . Thereafter, bottom end  44  of cabinet  6  is placed upon support surface  40  of platform assembly  20  such that holes  47  of fastening brackets  46  are aligned with the first mounting apertures  30  in platform assembly  20 . Fasteners  48  are extended through holes  47  in fastening brackets  46  and threaded into a respective first mounting apertures  30 , thereby fixing refrigerator  2  upon platform assembly  20 . Fasteners  48  are preferably constituted by threaded bolts, but can be any equivalent fastening means. Once refrigerator  2  is secured to platform assembly  20 , a decorative faceplate  50 , including a front face portion  52  and side wall portions  53  and  54 , is placed against the front legs  26  of platform assembly  20 , while side wall portions  53  and  54  extend about the front legs  26 . Decorative faceplate  50  can be made of wood, plastic, or any other decorative material that can be matched to existing wood or laminate cabinet fixtures adjacent refrigerator  2 . Preferably, decorative faceplate  50  extends to directly beneath freezer door  13  as shown in FIG. 1. This arrangement provides a more built-in look for refrigerator  2  and platform assembly  20 . Decorative faceplate  50  can be attached using any known type of fastening means, including adhesive strips, mechanical fasteners or the like (not shown). Decorative faceplate  50  preferably includes vents  58 , which allow for air circulation under refrigerator  2 .  
         [0016]    With this arrangement, refrigerator  2  can be lifted to a more accessible height, generally in the order of 15 inches (38 cm) in the most preferred embodiment with a bottom mount style refrigerator  2  having a freezer height in the order of 24 inches (61 cm) and a fresh food compartment height of approximately 37 inches (94 cm), with the height being fine-tuned through the use of casters  35 . At the same time, refrigerator  2  can be leveled through casters  35  for proper operation. In any event, although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the invention, it should be readily understood that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. For instance, instead of having a plurality of separate fastening brackets  46 , cabinet  6  could simply have a bottom plate which sits upon supporting surface  40  and which receives fasteners  48 . In addition, various other types of mounting arrangements could be employed. Furthermore, although refrigerator  2  is shown mounted on platform assembly  20 , it is understood that this invention could be useful for supporting other types of appliances, such as raising a conventional clothes washer, clothes dryer or range, for enhanced use by a taller than average person. In general, the invention is only intended to be limited by the scope of the following claims.

Technology Category: 2