The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 29, 1991
Filed:
Mar. 18, 1987
William J Linstromberg, Lincoln Township, Berrien County, MN (US);
Whirlpool Corporation, Benton Harbor, MI (US);
Abstract
A rotatable control for a broad range, temperature controlling thermostat for a refrigeration compartment of a refrigeration unit enables operation of the refrigeration unit in one of several different operational modes. For example, the refrigeration unit may be operated as a wine cooler or as a standard refrigerator or as a freezer. The control includes a control dial having four, integrally formed, spaced apart stops formed on an inner surface. A stop formed on a cover of the thermostat may be placed between a pair of adjacent stops formed on the control dial to prevent adjustment of the set-point temperature of the refrigeration compartment outside of the particular temperature range associated with the preselected operational mode of the refigeration unit. In order to change the operational mode of the refrigeration unit, the control dial is movable axially along a control shaft of the thermostat to enable the stops formed on the control dial to freely rotate past the stop formed on the cover of the thermostat. Thereafter, the stop formed on the cover of the thermostat may be aligned between a different adjacent pair of the stops formed on the control dial. If the control dial is then returned to its initial axial position along the length of the control shaft of the thermostat, the set-point temperature for the refrigeration compartment may be selected and confined between the high temperature and low temperature limits formed by the new pair of stops on the control dial.