Whirlpool Corporation

Brian P Kelley

Gregory Gene Hortin

Travis Michael Perkins

James F Dasher

Michael H Fisher

Armon A Adler

A vacuum release valve for use in a refrigerated compartment such as a domestic refrigerator which allows a small amount of outside air to enter the refrigerated compartment to prevent a vacuum from forming in the refrigerated compartment caused by warm air entering the compartment during door access into the compartment and then contracting by being cooled. The vacuum release valve includes a tubular valve body which penetrates through a floor of the compartment and a cap which is loosely captured to an end of the tubular body and which normally closes the tubular body but which can be lifted from the tubular body by a vacuum formed within the compartment.

Vacuum release valve tube assembly

An appliance including a compartment liner having a back wall, side walls, and rounded corners connecting the back wall to the side walls includes a shelf mounting system having a linear portion secured to the back wall, a hooked portion forming one edge of the linear portion and a folded leg forming an opposite edge. Spacer members extend between the linear portion and the back wall of the liner. A vertical series of slots to receive shelf brackets is laterally offset to the outside of a vertical series of fastener apertures.

Shelf ladder for refrigerator or freezer

An ice storage and delivery system is provided for a refrigeration apparatus including a refrigerated compartment housing an ice making apparatus and a door providing selective access to the compartment and including a dispenser for delivering formed ice bodies. The system includes an ice container assembly in the refrigerated compartment having a container for storing ice bodies and an auger for conveying ice bodies from the container to a downwardly facing discharge opening. A platform rests on a shelf in the compartment below the ice making apparatus. The platform includes support means for supporting the container assembly below the ice making apparatus and an ice chute for delivering ice bodies from the container discharge opening to the dispenser. A drive motor is mounted to the platform and is operatively associated with the wire auger for driving the wire auger.

Growing community of inventors

Newburgh, IN, United States of America

Brian P Kelley