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:
Jun. 21, 2005
Filed:
Mar. 14, 2003
Richard T. Miller, Manitowoc, WI (US);
James S. Macintyre, Wausau, WI (US);
Lori S. Belongia, Manitowoc, WI (US);
Richard T. Miller, Manitowoc, WI (US);
James S. MacIntyre, Wausau, WI (US);
Lori S. Belongia, Manitowoc, WI (US);
Manitowoc Foodservice Companies, Inc., Sparks, NV (US);
Abstract
An ice-making machine has a substantially vertical ice-forming mold for freezing cubes of ice, a water distributor for distributing water so as to cascade over a front surface of said ice-forming mold and a hinged water curtain with a bottom edge for directing said cascading water into a sump, with the hinge allowing the water curtain to swing out of the way so that ice cubes harvested from the mold may fall past the sump and into an ice collecting bin. The water curtain has an inside surface adjacent to a front surface of the ice-forming mold configured such that as a slab of ice cubes is released from the mold during a harvest cycle, the front of the slab of ice contacts said inside surface and forces the water curtain to open to a point where the bottom of the falling slab of ice cubes will not contact the bottom edge of the water curtain. The water curtain may be further improved by molding one or more downwardly pointing chevrons or other structure on the inside of the water curtain, extending between the ribs so as to tie the ribs together to add rigidity to the water curtain.