White Consolidated Industries, Inc.

White Consolidated Limited

Duane H Harris

Harold S Mawby

Myrne E Fryover

A low cost automatic ice cube maker of simplified construction for use in the freezer compartment of a domestic refrigerator. The ice maker includes a one-piece, molded plastic bail or sensing arm for monitoring the level of ice cubes in an underlying storage bin. The movable bail includes fingerlike resilient projection extending radially from one of the end portions of the bail. The distal end of the projection engages a portion of the ice maker fixed in position relative to the movable bail wherein the resilient projection functions as a springlike member biasing the bail toward a lowermost position. The ice maker also includes a pivotally mounted ice tray that can be easily snapped out of its ice making position for removal and cleaning at a location outside the freezer compartment. An externally accessible mechanism for actuating a test switch of the internal control circuit of the ice maker is provided to facilitate servicing of the ice maker.

Ice maker

A low cost automatic ice cube maker of simplified construction for use in the freezer compartment of a domestic refrigerator. The ice maker includes a onepiece, molded plastic bail or sensing arm for monitoring the level of ice cubes in an underlying storage bin. The movable bail includes a fingerlike resilient projection extending radially from one of the end portions of the bail. The distal end of the projection engages a portion of the ice maker fixed in position relative to the movable bail wherein the resilient projection functions as a springlike member biasing the bail toward a lowermost position. The ice maker also includes a pivotally mounted ice tray that can be easily snapped out of its ice making position for removal and cleaning at a location outside the freezer compartment. An externally accessible mechanism for actuating a test switch of the internal control circuit of the ice maker is provided to facilitate servicing of the ice maker.

An ice cube storage bin located beneath an automatic ice maker of a domestic refrigerator contains a pair of elongated ice dispensing rams that reciprocate along parallel lines, one of the rams moving toward the front of the bin, as the other moves toward the rear. The rams are interconnected by a pulley mounted belt that pulls one ram to the rear of the bin, as the other ram is pushed toward the front of the bin by a drive mechanism. The drive mechanism includes a pair of cam discs eccentrically mounted in opposed relation on a common motor shaft located outside of the bin adjacent its rear wall. A pair of resilient lever arms, having their top ends pivotally mounted to the outside of the rear wall of the bin and their bottom ends pivotally connected to the rearward ends of the rams which extend from the interior of the bin, are engaged at their intermediate portions by the rotating cam discs wherein the rams are alternately pushed by the bottom ends of the lever arms toward the front of the bin. The use of dual reciprocating rams, and the simplified push-pull drive means including the pulley mounted belt and the eccentric cam discs, provide a highly efficent and reliable ice dispensing mechanism.

Ice dispensing mechanism

A low cost automatic ice cube maker of simplified construction for use in the freezer compartment of a domestic refrigerator. The ice maker includes a one-piece, molded plastic bail or sensing arm for monitoring the level of ice cubes in an underlying storage bin. The movable bail includes a fingerlike resilient projection extending radially from one of the end portions of the bail. The distal end of the projection engages a portion of the ice maker fixed in position relative to the movable bail wherein the resilient projection functions as a springlike member biasing the bail toward a lowermost position. The ice maker also includes a pivotally mounted ice tray that can be easily snapped out of its ice making position for removal and cleaning at a location outside the freezer compartment. An externally accessible mechanism for actuating a test switch of the internal control circuit of the ice maker is provided to facilitate servicing of the ice maker.

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Gowen, MI, United States of America

Duane H Harris