General Electric Company

General Electric Corporation Gmbh

Thomas E Jenkins

Donald S Cushing

LeRoy J Herbst

Craig O Husfeld

Thomas E Nelson

Duane Jubenville

Stephen C Lesmeister

Robert R Sisler

Keith W Gerdes

Robert K Hollenbeck

Aleksandr Kolesnikov

David G Beers

Jonathan W Wray

Ronald Gary Foster

Julie D Seroogy

Jimmy R Rickard

John G Crawford

John August Sedovic

Thomas M Hahn

John Marshall Hooker

John L Preher

Darrell W Shewmaker

Samuel J Woolley

Louis A Welle, Sr

Douglas E Corts

Tammy R Jenkins

Charles R Mulligan

Thomas Charles Zimmer

Combination folding chair and toilet support for toddler

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 cabinet has an outer case with lateral walls and a continuous front flange. A pair of liners are nested in the case and have lateral walls with a front edge positioned rearward of the case front flange. A resilient breaker strip connects the case walls to corresponding liner walls. The strip front wall extends inward from the case flange to a point inward of the liner wall and a side wall extends rearward to overlap the liner wall. A bifurcated edge of the strip receives the case flange. The strip side wall is return bent to form an inner wall engaging the inner surface and a resilient finger engaging the outer surface of the liner wall. A resilient mullion, connecting the adjacent inner lateral walls of the liners, has a front wall extending across the space between the liners and a side wall projecting rearward from each edge of the front wall to overlap the liner lateral wall. Each mullion side wall is return bent to form an inner wall engaging the inner surface and a resilient finger engaging the outer surface of the liner wall.

Refrigerator with improved breaker strip assembly

A refrigerator cabinet includes a metal outer case with top and side walls. A narrow front face projects inward from the walls and a stiffening flange, positioned rearward of the face, projects inward of the walls substantially further than the face. A pair of open front liners are received within and spaced from the outer case and from each other. The liners have top and side walls with distal edges located rearward of the stiffening flange. An elongated plastic breaker strip extends between the outer case front face and the liner top and outer side walls. The breaker strip front wall overlaps the outer case front face and extends inward to a position inward of the inner edge of the stiffening flange. The breaker strip side wall extends rearward from the breaker strip front wall to a position overlapping the top and outer side walls of the liners. An elongated plastic mullion has a front wall positioned in the plane of the breaker strip front wall and extending from one liner inner side wall to the other liner inner side wall. The mullion also has side walls which extend rearwardly from its front wall and overlap the liner inner side walls. A pair of doors cover the front of the liners when closed and include flanges which register with the breaker strip front wall and portion of the mullion front wall surrounding the corresponding liner. A gasket is mounted on each door flange and essentially completely covers the corresponding front walls.

Refrigerator cabinet construction

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 mechanism for providing a biasing force in the desired directions at appropriate degrees of refrigerator door opening. An cam mounted to the door has a lateral wall with three interconnected linear sections joined with predetermined included angles. An arm is pivotally mounted in an aligned slot in the refrigerator housing and is spring biased into engagement with the cam. The arm and cam are arranged so that the arm exerts a strong door closing bias on the first cam section when the door is closed, exerts a greater door closing bias on the second section when the door is partially open and exerts a slight door opening bias on the third section when the door is more fully open.

Refrigerator door closure system

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

A storage module assembly for a refrigerator door having an outer shell and an inner liner. The liner includes a rear wall and a pair of side walls forming a recess. The side walls have vertically spaced apart, horizontally aligned pairs of module mounting bosses. Each boss includes top and bottom walls joined by side walls which diverge in the downward direction. Each module includes a bottom wall and side walls positionable adjacent the liner side walls. The module side walls include slots with horizontal portions open to the rear and vertical portions at their opposite ends. The vertical portions have downwardly diverging side walls and receive the bosses in a conforming overfitting manner. A module is mounted in the door by sliding the horizontal portions of the slots over the bosses and then moving the module downward to seat the bosses in the vertical portions.

Refrigerator door module assembly

A refrigerator liner of a vacuum formed plastic with a thickness of about 0.007' to 0.050' has each corner formed without crinkling when thermal insulation material is foamed against the outer surface of the liner. The non-crinkling of each corner of the refrigerator liner is accomplished through forming each of the corners with a flat surface having its periphery as a circle during vacuum forming of the refrigerator liner rather than with a spherical radius. This enables the flat surface to be placed in tension when moved against a corresponding flat surface of a foam plug by the pressure produced during foaming of the foamed thermal insulation material. This results in each corner having a central portion with a convex cross section and an outer portion surrounding the central portion and concave in cross section whereby it does not appear to be crinkled.

Refrigerator cabinet liner having non-crinkled corners

A refrigerator cabinet having an outer metal shell and an inner liner spaced from the shell with foamed-in-place thermal insulation therebetween. The cabinet has an outer metal shell open at the front with two side walls and a top wall each folded to provide a front face with an open fold behind the front face. There is a machinery compartment wall near the bottom of the refrigerator cabinet which is bent upwardly and terminates in a curved front lip having a downwardly facing opening. The inner liner has a peripheral flange which is received in the open fold behind the front face along the side and top walls. At the bottom of the cabinet is a bottom rail assembly which includes a metal cross member with each end secured to the front face at each of the side walls. The metal cross member has a strengthening groove extending between the ends and also has two spaced tabs formed to project downwardly into the groove. There is a snap-on trim member extending the length of the cross member and secured along the top edge and has a front vertical wall engaging the front surface of the cross member terminating at the bottom in a reverse bend hook with the end of the hook engaging the tabs of the cross member. The front vertical wall has an open reverse bend at the top to form a rear wall engaging the rear surface of the cross member. The rear wall has an open reverse bend away from the cross member to receive the bottom peripheral flange of the inner liner and forming an upwardly extending leg having a terminal end received in the downwardly facing opening of the lip of the compartment wall. With this structural arrangement the bottom rail assembly prevents egress of foam past the bottom peripheral flange of the inner liner and past the lip of the machinery compartment wall during the foamed-in-place thermal insulation operation.

Household refrigerator assembly

A household refrigerator having a freezer compartment with a rear wall, top wall, side walls, bottom wall and an open front. An evaporator unit is mounted in a space in front of the rear wall of the freezer compartment and there is a vertical panel separating the evaporator unit from the rest of the freezer compartment to form an evaporator compartment between the panel and rear wall. The bottom wall of the freezer compartment has a plurality of upwardly open grooves extending from the front section of the freezer compartment under the vertical panel and into the evaporator compartment. A cover is hingedly connected to the panel for movement to a raised position above the bottom wall for access to the grooves in the bottom wall for cleaning and to a lowered position horizontal to the bottom wall to provide a flat level shelf area for storage items in the freezer compartment.

Refrigerator freezer compartment floor covering assembly

Method of making a refrigerator cabinet liner having non-crinkled corners

A plurality of shelf supports is molded integrally with each side wall of a refrigerator cabinet liner. Each of the shelf supports on one side wall is in the same horizontal plane as one of the shelf supports on the other side wall. Each of the shelf supports includes an upper surface for supporting a fixed shelf. Each of the shelf supports has a recess extending between its upper and lower surfaces to function as a stop for preventing removal of a fixed shelf through receiving a portion of the fixed shelf therein. Each of the shelf supports has a projection extending downwardly therefrom forwardly of the recess for engaging a portion of a slidable shelf supported on the upper surface of the shelf support thereof. A single ladder track is mounted on the rear wall of the liner to support one side of a cantilever half shelf, which has its other side supported on the upper surface of one of the shelf supports. The cantilever half shelf has a portion cooperating with the recess in the shelf support to prevent the cantilever half shelf from swinging off of the upper surface of the shelf support. Thus, the same shelf support system supports fixed shelves, slidable shelves, and cantilever half shelves.

Shelf support system for a refrigerator cabinet

A refrigerator door assembly comprising an outer metal rectangular shaped shell having a base panel, four upwardly turned side panels on each side and perpendicular to the base panel, and two sets of two opposite facing inturned flanges, each flange being perpendicular to each of the side panels and having free terminal edges. Two cross braces, each having two legs with each of the legs having at one end a U-shaped channel section having an offset portion terminating with a flat tab, an intermediate section and a flat section at the end opposite the channel section. The flat sections of two legs are rigidly secured to each other to accommodate the desired brace length to diagonally span the door such that the cross braces form an X and the flat tabs of each brace are secured to one set of opposite facing flanges.

Method of assembling a refrigerator door

A refrigerator door assembly comprising an outer metal rectangular shaped shell having a base panel, four upwardly turned side panels on each side and perpendicular to the base panel, and two sets of two opposite facing inturned flanges, each flange being perpendicular to each of the side panels and having free terminal edges. Two cross braces, each having two legs with each of the legs having at one end a U-shaped channel section having an offset portion terminating with a flat tab, an intermediate section and a flat section at the end opposite the channel section. The flat sections of two legs are rigidly secured to each other to accommodate the desired brace length to diagonally span the door such that the cross braces form a X and the flat tabs of each brace are secured to one set of opposite facing flanges.

Growing community of inventors

Louisville, KY, United States of America

Thomas E Jenkins