Electrolux Home Products, Inc.

Electrolux Home Products Corporation N.v.

Norbert Dänzer

Arnd Hofmann

Abdel-Ilah Zbat

Stefan Bayerlein

Stefan Dänzer

Martin Gasch

Reinhold Hofmann

A household appliance is provided having a plurality of decorative external panels that provide reinforcement to and an exterior face of the appliance. At least one of the panels has a main body portion and an interior body portion integrally formed together from a common sheet of material. The interior body portion has a plurality of integral structural reinforcements formed from bending the sheet of material in the interior body portion adjacent the main body portion. The integral structural reinforcements can include a pair of opposed parallelly extending pillars each defining a columnar volume, and a pair of opposed rearwardly bent flanges each being bent to engage the pair of pillars to form a box frame adjacent to and integral with the main body portion. In preferred embodiments, the plurality of reinforced external panels together can define a chassis of the appliance.

Housing for household appliance with external panel having integrated reinforcement

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Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Norbert Dänzer