Closure for refrigerated housing

[57] ABSTRACT

A closure for a refrigerated housing and the like, having a rectangular opening in an upper wall thereof. A planar door having opposed flanges extending from opposite sides rides on glide strips carried adjacent the rectangular opening. The planar door includes a lower member, and an upper member with insulation carried therebetween. The upper member is attached to the lower member so that the upper member can expand to a different degree from said lower member without said door buckling. A thin plastic sheet is carried between the upper member and the insulation so as to permit the upper member to substantially float when expanding relative to the lower member.

Claim, 3 Drawing Figures

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PATENTED™ 5BM

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CLOSURE FOR REFRIGERATED HOUSING

This invention relates to a closure, and more particularly to a planar door for use in a refrigerated housing and the like.

In recent years the demand for refrigerated foods has increased rapidly requiring many more refrigerated housings in stores and the like. In the past such refrigerated housing consummed large areas due to the bulky doors and walls of the unit. One problem in utilizing thin lightweight doors is that due to thermal expansion the doors would tend to buckle, allowing the cool air enclosed in the housing to escape. In order to avoid these problems heavy reinforced doors have been utilized. However, such made it difficult to open the door, and in some instances the doors had to be mounted on rollers. When the doors were horizontal doors carried in an opening on top of the cooler such sometimes were supported in channels so that they could be shifted rearwardly to provide access to the refrigerated housing.

If trash and grit accumulated in these channels, such interferred with the operation of the door in addition to producing an unsanitary condition.

Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a lightweight closure for a refrigerated housing that can be constructed of molded plastic and metal with a minimum of reinforcement.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide a lightweight closure for a refrigerated housing that can be supported on glide strips for easily shifting to provide access to the refrigerated housing.

Still another important object of the present invention is to provide a door for refrigerated housings and the like, which includes an upper member and a lower member with insulation interposed therebetween attached together so to permit said members to expand relative to each other without buckling.

Still another important object of the present invention is to provide a door for refrigerated units and the ⁴⁰like which includes a lower member and an upper member with insulation carried in the lower member isolated from the upper member by a smooth planar member so as to permit the upper member to expand relative to the lower member without binding against the insulation carried therein.

Other objects and advantages of this invention will become more apparent from a reading of the following detailed description and appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating a refrigerated housing having doors mounted thereon constructed in accordance with the present invention,

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective view, with parts broken away, illustrating a door constructed in accordance with the present invention, and

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 3—3 illustrating a door constructed in accordance with the present invention supported on a glide strip carried on an upper wall of the housing.

Referring in more detail to the drawing, there is illustrated a refrigerated housing A having a rectangular opening in the upper wall thereof for providing access thereto. Flat glide strips B are carried on opposed surfaces of the housing A on the opposite side of the rectangular Opening. A horizontal planar door is provided for spanning said rectangular opening. The planar door includes a lower member C having a bottom wall and vertical walls extending upwardly therefrom, and a planar upper member D extending over and spanning the lower member. Insulation is carried in the lower mem5 ber below said planar upper member and means is provided for attaching the upper member to the lower member so that the upper member D can expand relative to the lower member C without the door buckling.

The refrigerated housing is substantially rectangular 10 in shape and has elongated vertical front and rear walls 10 which are joined by end walls 12. The lower portion of the walls 10 and 12 are recessed. A top horizontal upper wall 14 spans the front and rear walls for providing a closure. Rectangular openings are provided in the 15 upper wall 14 for accommodating doors 16. A raised overlapping member 18 is carried above and adjacent the rear of the upper wall 14 for covering a rear portion of said rectangular opening and for allowing the door 16 to be shifted thereunder to provide access to the re20 frigerated housing. The door 16 is adapted to ride under flange 18. When the door 16 is shifted forward into the position illustrated in FIG. 1 such cooperates with the overlapping member 18 to provide a closure for the rectangular opening. A flexible sealing strip ²⁵ (not shown) extends downwardly from a lower portion of the overlapping member 18 and engages an upper surface of the door 16 so as to seal the interior of the refrigerated housing from the outside.

The refrigerated housing is provided with a conven³⁰ tional refrigerating unit and has insulation 20 carried between an inner wall 22 and the outer walls 10 and 12.

The door 16 is constructed of a lower member C and an upper member D. The lower member, in one particular embodiment, is constructed of molded polyvinyl chloride and has a planar bottom wall 24 with vertical side walls 26 extending upwardly therefrom. Integral with the upper edge of the vertical side walls 26 is an outwardly extending flange 28. On the rear of the lower member instead of the flange 28 extending outwardly such is turned upwardly as shown at 28α.

The upper member D, in one preferred embodiment, is constructed of stainless steel and has a flat planar main body portion with downwardly and inwardly turned edges 30 and 32, respectively, integral with the front and side of the main body portion of the upper member D. Positioned adjacent the rear of the main body portion of the upper member D and integral therewith is an upwardly and outwardly turned flange ₅θ 34. When assembled the downwardly and inwardly turned edges 30 and 32, respectively, of the upper member D extend around the outwardly extending flanges 28 of the lower member C in a loosely fitting relationship. The upwardly turned flange 34 abuts against ₅₅ the upper flange 28α of the lower member C. The means for attaching the upper member D to the lower member C in the preferred embodiment includes a single rivet 36 which extends through the rear upper flanges 34 and 28α, respectively. Since the rivet is car₆₀ ried adjacent a central portion of the door, the upper member D is allowed to expand freely outwardly therefrom relative to the lower member C. Such results freely carried the upper member D substantially floating on the lower member with the exception of the fixed connection at rivet 36.

In order to insure that the upper member D is allowed to expand relative to the lower member C a thin planar sheet 38 is carried between the upper member

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D and the insulation 40 carried in the lower member C. In one particular embodiment the thin planar sheet is constructed of polyvinyl chloride. The insulation may be any suitable insulation, such as expandable polyurethane. If the insulation 40 were allowed to adherre to the upper member D, such would interfere with the floating effect created between the upper member D and the lower member C, possibly causing the door to buckle when thermal expansion takes place. A handle 16α is attached to the upper member C by gluing or the like, or bolts may be used as long as the floating effect between the upper member D and lower member C is not destroyed.

Referring in more detail to FIG. 3, a vertical ridge, generally designated by the reference character 42, is provided in the upper wall 14 and extends around the rectangular openings provided for accommodating the doors 16. Interposed in the upper wall 14 adjacent the vertical ridge is a wooden block 44. The vertical ridge is defined by inwardly turned edges 14α of the upper wall and 22α of an inner wall. A vertical sealing strip 46 having a barb 48 projecting inwardly therefrom is secured by the barb 48 in the wooden block 44. The flat glide strip B has a shank portion 48 extending downwardly therefrom with a protrusion 50 adjacent the lower end thereof which mates with a recess 52 provided in the vertical sealing strip 46 for securing the glide strip B between the vertical sealing strip 46 and the vertical ridge 42.

In one particular embodiment the glide strip B is constructed of polypropylene.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the planar door is supported on the glide stirps B by the metallic inwardly turned edge 32. Since the flange portion 34 of the door is carried behind the overlapping member 18, such permits the door to be pushed rearwardly under the overlapping member 18 to provide access into the housing.

There is a minimum of wear in opening and closing the door since there is no metal to metal contact between the sliding planar door and the housing.

Between adjacent doors horizontal runners (not shown) with glide strips B carried thereon can be utilized instead of the arrangement illustrated in FIG. 3.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been described using specific terms, such description is for illustrative purposes only, and it is to be understood that changes and variations may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of the following claims.