General Electric Company

Joseph Murphy Miller

Ronald Scott Tarr

Derek Lee Watkins

John Joseph Roetker

Matthew William Davis

Bruce L Ruark

Jerry C Martin

Steve Bernard Froelicher

Jeffrey Lynn Jessie

Duane Jubenville

Michael Joseph McCauley

Phillip D Baker

Phillip Eugene Koloff, Jr

James R Cahoe

John Joseph Domagala

Michael Stephen Csernik

Amarnath Nithyananda Bangalore

Mark Walter Steiner

Gordon Turner Walker

Dennis Paul Matz

Gerald Lee Mitchell

Charles William Nelson

Amit Kurhekar

A hinge assembly and a refrigerator using the assembly are disclosed. The assembly rotatably mounts an access door for a compartment of the refrigerator to part of refrigerator that defines the compartment. The hinge assembly has a body coupled to the part and a hinge manifold supported by the body and slidably received in the access door. The manifold has a first supply conduit for supplying a working medium to an icemaker disposed in the access door and a first return conduit for returning the working medium from the icemaker. The hinge assembly can be manufactured as a separate module to be assembled with the refrigerator or retrofit into an existing refrigerator.

Hinge assembly for a refrigerator

A refrigerator drawer assembly includes a pan support that includes a wire member that has a first side and a second side. A first bracket is coupled to the first side using a first coupling system. A second bracket is coupled to the second side using a second coupling system different than the first coupling system. The second bracket is substantially identical to the first bracket.

Support assembly for a refrigerator storage pan

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

An accumulating control clutch mechanism responsive to reciprocation of the coin slide of a coin receiving mechanism. The control clutch is arranged such that the shaft of a timer mechanism associated therewith is rotated unidirectionally to start the timer in response to a predetermined desired number of reciprocation movements of the coin slide. By this accumulating control clutch mechanism there is provided a means for changing a single slide reciprocation operation to start the timer mechanism to a multiple slide reciprocation operation without changing the coin receiving mechanism.

Accumulating control clutch mechanism

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Joseph Murphy Miller