General Electric Company

Duane Jubenville

Thomas E Jenkins

Bruce L Ruark

Jerry C Martin

Michael Joseph McCauley

Joseph Murphy Miller

Phillip D Baker

John Joseph Domagala

Michael Stephen Csernik

Gerald Lee Mitchell

Mark Walter Steiner

Gordon Turner Walker

Charles William Nelson

Dennis Paul Matz

Charles R Mulligan

A refreshment center having a modular construction and including a mini door and a frame is described. The mini door is fabricated and assembled separate from the frame, and the mini door includes a hinge system and a trigger. The mini door provides quick and convenient access to the refreshment center by being simple and easy to open and close. The frame, in an exemplary embodiment, is a one piece plastic molded part which serves as the main structural member of the assembly. The frame includes first and second spaced apart planar members, and further includes a keeper slot and a keeper for being inserted within the slot. The keeper extends from the slot and at least partially through a keeper slot in the door trim. The frame further includes a switch cavity for housing at least a portion of a switch assembly. A switch bracket is provided to be secured over the switch cavity and is engaged to the frame by a screw. The mini door is secured to the frame by a hinge system which includes a hinge arm which extends between, and is secured to, the mini door and the frame. More specifically, at the frame, the hinge arm is secured to a slide located between the frame first and second planar members. Hinge pins are secured to the mini door outer door member and extend from the outer door member and through the bushings of pivot slides. The pivot slides are secured to the frame by retainers, and springs are provided to maintain the pivot slides in position within the retainer. The switch assembly includes a switch having a switch actuator arm. Wires extend from the switch to a harness which mates with a receptacle. The receptacle is in electric circuit with a light in the fresh food compartment. The light used to illuminate the refreshment center can be one of the existing lights used in current side-by-side refrigerators since the inner cover is transparent.

Modular refreshment center for refrigerator fresh food compartment

A refrigerator door has an outer member formed from a folded sheet of steel, with a front panel and a perpendicularly projecting flange forming a cavity. A reinforcing member of thin sheet steel has a front panel, smaller than the outer member front panel, with a perpendicularly projecting flange. The reinforcing member is positioned in the cavity. A body of insulation foamed-in-place in the cavity secures the reinforcing member within the cavity in spaced apart relationship with the outer member.

Refrigerator door assembly

A refrigerator door is formed of a unitary sheet of pre-painted metal. The door has a front wall with top, bottom and side walls projecting from its edges. The top and bottom walls have indented portions adjacent each of their ends. The ends of the side walls have inwardly projecting tabs which overlap the indented portions of the top and bottom walls. The tabs and indented portions are secured together by mechanical interlocks, such as toggle locks.

Refrigerator door construction

A refrigerator has a cabinet with an outer case and an inner liner. The liner forms a storage compartment with an access opening. A cabinet face portion surrounds the opening and a door selectively closes the compartment. The door includes a flange which overlaps the face portion and a gasket mounted on the flange engages face portion. The gasket is an elongated body of a co-extruded material and includes a base wall of a rigid material mounted on the door frame, a contact wall spaced from the base wall for sealing engagement with the face portion and a pair of side walls connecting the base and contact walls to form a hollow interior. The contact wall includes a pair of spaced apart elongated strips of more rigid material connected by an elongated strip of less rigid material. The less rigid strip has an elongated outward projecting bow shape. The side walls are indented in a 'V' shape and the apex of the V has a reduced thickness. A strip of fiber glass, with a net like backing on one side, is in the interior of the gasket.

Refrigerator gasket assembly

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Duane Jubenville