Insulated door with reversible cover

[57] ABSTRACT

An insulated refrigerator door is made from a rectangular metal sheet having wide flanges on four sides to which is connected a plastic inner door pan. The space in between is filled with polyurethane foam insulation. A molded flanged rectangular plastic member fits over the metal sheet and its flanges in two alternate positions located 180° apart. The metal sheet is fitted for hinging on either side. The plastic member is provided with an integral door handle adjacent one side usable in the proper position with either hinging of the door.

Claims, 4 Drawing Figures

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PATENTED*!··· r 1619??

3,662,492

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ATTORNEY

3,662,492

INSULATED DOOR WITH REVERSIBLE COVER

Styling is an important consideration of refrigerator doors since such doors compose major portions of the front of the cabinet. Styling differences are needed to differentiate different models and brands. It is comparatively expensive to provide such differences in metal parts. It is also highly desirable that such doors be easily adaptable for hinging on either side.

It is an object of this invention to provide an insulated door incorporating a basic flanged metal structure which can be hinged on either side and provided with a removable molded cover and integral handle capable of great variations in styling and appearance which can be oriented to fit the metal structure in either pivoting arrangement.

It is another object of this invention to provide such a cover for such a door which can be varied inexpensively in styling and appearance through the use of different forms of inserts without any expensive changes in the tooling required.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein preferred embodiments of the present invention are clearly shown.

IN THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary front view of an insulated refrigerator door embodying one form of my invention;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, horizontal, sectional view taken along the line 2—2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an irregular horizontal sectional view taken along the line 3—3 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 4 is a horizontal, sectional view of a modified form of the invention applied to side-by-side double insulated refrigerator doors.

Referring now more particularly to FIG. 3, there is shown an insulated refrigerator door 20 and the adjacent portions 22 of the refrigerator cabinet. This refrigerator door is composed of a rectangular sheet metal member 24 having rearwardly extending flanges 26 on all four sides. These flanges 26 are per- 4θ pendicular to the front portion 24. These flanges extend to inwardly turned flanges 28 at the rear of the door to which is fastened the plastic inner door pan 30. This arrangement provides a large insulation space 32 between the front planar portion 24 and the inner door pan which is preferably filled with 45 polyurethane foam insulation or any other suitable insulating means.

Extending completely around the door between the flange 28 and the adjacent portion of the cabinet 22 is a magnetic seal 34 which may be of the type illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,331,648 issued July 18, 1967 or U.S. Pat. No. 3,075,258 issued Jan. 29, 1963. The rectangular sheet metal member 24 and its integral flanges 26 and 28 may be made of galvanized prepainted sheet steel. Preferably, it is provided with hinge pin sockets at opposite ends of both the top and bottom flanges in the flange portion 26. One form of such a hinge pin arrangement is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,314,196 issued Apr. 18, 1967. One of the hinge pin sockets is designated by the reference character 36 at the right end of FIG. 3 and its location is also indicated by the same reference character in FIG. 1. The location for the alternate hinge pin socket and hinging arrangement is illustrated by a dot-dash outline bearing the reference character 38 in the upper left-hand corner of FIG. 1.

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The hinge pm socket 36 is engaged by a hinge pin 40 sup- ₆₅ 148 and 149 have apertures 162 and 163 rearwardly of the nnrfpn nnnn th» nntnr αν&gt;Λ J___t_:___ . . - . . _ _ ^J ported upon the outer end of a triangular-shaped door hinge bracket 42 which is fastened to the top of the cabinet by suitable screws 44. To change the door so that it pivots from the opposite side the door hinge bracket 42 is inverted and placed &lt; ’ .....

being reversed so as to enter the socket 38 upon that side. The corresponding arrangement is provided at the bottom of the door. If desired, any other hinge pin arrangement may be used, such as that shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,455,061 issued July 15, 1969.

ledges of the handles 156 and 157 to make possible the use of an insert in the molds for molding the handle. These apertures 162 and 163 are covered by decorative inserts 164 and 165 ., . r------ which extend between the base ofthe handles and the bases of on the opposite side of the top of the cabinet with the pin 40 70 the adjacent beads 154 and 155.

In the molding of the covers 148 and 149, additional embellishments may be added, including bands with medallions, various additional surface ornamentations and various patterns of beads and recesses. These changes can be made 75 through the use of the movable inserts in the molds, thereby

According to this invention, the rectangular sheet metal member 24 is provided with an injection molded rotatable plastic cover 48 which covers the entire front of the door and also has flanges SO on all four sides of the door covering the major portion of the flanges 26 throughout substantially their entire length. The flanges 50 are substantially perpendicular to the face of the cover 48 and the front face of the rectangular sheet metal member 24. The cover 48 may be molded of any suitable plastic such as acrylic butadiene styrene copolymer or polyethylene or polypropylene. The flange portions 50 should fit the flanges 26 snugly. The flanges 50 preferably are provided with cut-out slots 52 for reception of the hinge pin upon both sides of the door. However, if desired, apertures may be provided instead of the slots. The slots, however, serve an additional purpose of accommodating differences in thermal expansion between the plastic cover member 48 and the sheet metal member 24. Further, according to the invention, the cover 48 has been embellished by a forwardly extending bead 54 protruding forwardly from the flange 50 entirely around the front of the door. It is truncated in the shape shown but may be made of other shapes for varying styling thereof.

On the one side there is provided an outwardly extending door handle 56. Preferably, it extends substantially from the top to the bottom of the door. However, it may be made shorter, if desired, but it should be in such location that it is usable when the cover 48 is rotated 180° during a reversal of the hinging of the door. A forwardly extending bead 58 extends entirely around the handle forming a recess 60 for receiving various forms of inserts to change the decorative pattern of the door cover 48. The plastic used in molding the door 48 may be of various colors to provide various color combinations and styling.

To reverse the door, it is necessary to move the door hinge bracket 42 to the opposite side and to remove the cover 48 from the door and rotate it 180° thereby placing the handle 56 on the opposite side. The hinge pin of the bracket 42 is fitted into the socket 38 on the opposite side of the door, and a similar shift of the pin is made at the bottom of the door thereby completing changing of the door from pivoting on the right side to pivoting on the left side. The cover member 48 is then removed and rotated 180° before being replaced upon the sheet metal member 24.

In FIG. 4, the invention is shown applied to a side-by-side double door arrangement for a refrigerator cabinet. In this form, there are shown two insulated doors 120 and 121, each incorporating a similar flanged rectangular sheet metal member 124 and 125 provided with flanges 126 and 127 extending rearwardly at 90° to the front and provided at the rear with the inturned flanges 128 and 129. These doors are provided with a plastic inner door pan and insulating means similar to that of the first embodiment. If desired, these doors can be arranged to pivot from either side in a manner similar to that described for the first embodiment. In this form, it is customary to pivot the doors from their outer edges and to have the handles near the center edges of the doors. These doors each include a perimeter bead 154 and 155 similar to 6q the first embodiment. The arrangement for the handle, however, is different. In this form, the handles 156 and 157 protrude forwardly from the faces of the doors and have ledges facing toward the center thereof. These handles 156 and 157 are integral with the covers 148 and 149. The covers

3,662,492 making it possible to use the same molds for many different styles of doors.