Maytag Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation

Richard D Smith, Jr

Douglas A Pohl

John Phillip Myers

Jane A Albert

Todd E Pritts

William J Vestal, Ii

Gloria J Corbin

A refrigerator cabinet includes a shell having first and second laterally spaced, upstanding side walls that are interconnected by a top wall, each of the walls includes an in-turned front edge portion defining a liner receiving cavity. The shell further includes a mullion bar, which partitions the shell into first and second liner cavities, and a base member. Both the mullion bar and base member have respective liner receiving portions. With this arrangement, first and second liners are adapted to be inserted into their respective cavities and flexed such that three sides are inserted into the liner receiving cavities, while the remaining side is positioned against a land of the mullion bar or base member. Once in place, the liners are secured through a mullion bar cover and a base member cover. This construction combines the benefits of a front-load process with that of a flex-load process, lowering assembly time without the need to reinforce the liner.

Refrigerator cabinet assembly

A food storage system mounted in a fresh food compartment of a refrigerator includes an enclosure defined by inner and outer housings, as well as a food receptacle slidably positioned in the inner housing. The inner and outer housings are spaced so as to define a zone therebetween within which air is forced to flow in order to cool the contents of the receptacle. A tunnel insert is positioned in a mullion zone defined between fresh food and freezer liners of the refrigerator, with the tunnel insert being formed with a through hole for directing the flow of cooling air into the food storage system, a channel for directing an exhaust flow of cooling air from the food storage system out of the fresh food compartment within the mullion zone and an enlarged opening defining a return air passage for the overall fresh food compartment. The tunnel insert, within the mullion zone, channels the exhaust air from the food storage system to the return air passage. The channel is preferably defined by four walls, three of which are created by a groove formed in the tunnel insert and the fourth wall being defined by a portion of the fresh food compartment liner which seats against the tunnel insert. An air inlet cover is provided to extend over supply air openings formed in a freezer liner of the refrigerator, with the inlet cover including forwardly angled louvers to assist in directing a flow of cooling air to the food storage system.

Air flow for refrigerator food storage system

A refrigerator temperature control system includes a passageway for delivering a supply of cooling air from a freezer compartment to a fresh food compartment. A diverter member is positioned about the passageway in the freezer compartment for channeling the air through the passageway. A freezer compartment temperature sensor is routed from a temperature control unit in the fresh food compartment, through a bore formed in an insert which defines the air passageway, into a specialized chamber formed as part of the diverter member. The chamber is in fluid communication with the flow of air to the fresh food compartment through a bleed hole. To increase its surface area, the sensor is preferably coiled within the chamber and an insulation jacket extends about the sensor from within the fresh food compartment, with the insulation jacket creating a seal within the bore. In addition, a supporting sleeve extends about the sensor between the temperature control unit and the coiled portion of the sensor.

Refrigerator temperature control system incorporating freezer

A refrigerator door tray assembly is disclosed in which the inner door panel has opposite sidewalls defining a space, a tray having support surfaces on opposite sides of the tray and a mounting device to removably and adjustably attach the tray to the door such that the tray is located between the opposite sidewalls of the door and such that its position may be easily adjusted, or the tray removed from the door. The mounting of the tray on the door is accomplished by a plurality of ribs extending inwardly from the opposite sidewalls of the door, each rib having first and second rib surfaces which extend at acute angles to the support surfaces on the tray, and a third rib surface which extends substantially parallel to the support surfaces. The tray has, in addition to the first and second support surfaces, first, second and third tray surfaces on each opposite sides of the tray located such that the first and second tray surfaces may slidably contact the first and second rib surfaces of a first rib while the third tray surface slidably contacts a first rib surface of an adjacent rib.

Growing community of inventors

Galesburg, IL, United States of America

Richard D Smith, Jr