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:
Mar. 14, 2000
Filed:
Jun. 23, 1998
Sheldon W Mandel, East Galesburg, IL (US);
John P Myers, Galesburg, IL (US);
Gerald L Wolanin, Galesburg, IL (US);
Maytag Corporation, Newton, IA (US);
Abstract
A plastic kickface, that consolidates a conventional metal face plate and a plastic kickplate, extends across a lowermost frontal portion of a shell of a refrigerator cabinet assembly. At least one lower door hinge bracket is secured to reinforcement structure of the cabinet shell by fasteners that extend through tubular spacers located in holes formed in the plastic kickface. Provisions are made for creating a seal along a lower section of a door of the refrigerator cabinet assembly by interconnecting the kickface with a sealing strip that is adapted to be engaged by a section of an annular gasket attached to the door of the refrigerator cabinet assembly. When the door incorporates a magnetic sealing gasket, a metal strip is provided, with the strip being integrated into a face portion of the kickface in accordance with certain embodiments of the invention while, in accordance with another embodiment, the strip is first attached to the cabinet shell and then the kickface is interconnected to both the strip and the reinforcement structure.