[0001] The present invention refers to an improved type of bracket for connecting the outer
wall of a door of a refrigeration appliance installed inside an appropriate kitchen
or similar cabinet, ie. in a typical form of installation that is generally known
as "built-in" in the art, with a door of said cabinet that closes the compartment
containing said refrigeration appliance.
[0002] For reasons of greater comprehensibility, use will solely be made hereinafter of
the term "door panel", or simply "panel", to identify or mean the door of the outer
cabinet to be connected to the door of the refrigeration appliance, which will on
the contrary keep being identified by the general term of "door".
[0003] For such a kind of appliances, a number of methods and means are generally known
and used in the art for applying the door panel of an appropriate cabinet to a respective
door of a refrigeration appliance installed therein; the great majority of such prior-art
solutions, however, share a common drawback deriving from the fact that, usually,
the surface of the door panel is quite obviously larger than the surface of the door
and in particular, to the actual purposes of the present invention, the upper edge
of the door panel must be positioned at a higher level than the upper edge of the
door, wherein such a requirement is practically dictated by the need for the entire
aperture of the compartment containing the appliance to be actually closed, wherein
said compartment is obviously extending from a lower bottom, onto which the base of
the appliance comes to rest, to a compartment ceiling that is of course higher than
the upper portion of the same appliance.
[0004] Furthermore, according to the general experience and common practice the need arises
for the door panel to have its upper edge appropriately fitting, in the sense of becoming
perfectly aligned frontally, also with the lower edge of either another, possibly
movable door panel or the stationary vertical wall situated exactly above the panel
closing the compartment containing the refrigeration appliance.
[0005] Generally, the door panel of the cabinet can only be aligned correctly with respect
to the other outer elements of the cabinet when the door of the refrigeration appliance
is closed. In this case, however, it is practically not possible for said panel to
be attached to the door of the refrigeration appliance itself.
[0006] The problem therefore lies in creating the possibility for the cabinet panel to be
successfully aligned with the door of the appliance when the latter is still open,
through the use of appropriate mutual engagement means.
[0007] A prior-art technique in this connection is described in the patent publication DE
44 43 852. However, the solution proposed by this patent appears to have a number
of drawbacks, which are on the other hand exhaustively explained in the introductory
part of the patent publication DE 197 48 679, so that, for reasons of brevity, they
shall not be dealt with here any further.
[0008] The above mentioned publication DE 197 48 679 actually illustrates an undoubtedly
interesting solution introducing certain improvements over the state of the art; during
the practical use of such a solution, however, some drawbacks eventually emerged,
which can be summarized as follows:
[0009] The first such drawback refers to the fact that an angular retaining member:
a) is first attached provisionally on to the upper side of the door of the appliance
to be built in;
b) that said angular retaining member is then removed from said door in order to undergo
some adjustments; and
c) said angular retaining member itself is finally attached definitively on to the
upper side of the door of the appliance intended for building in.
[0010] It can readily be appreciated that such a double, identical assembly operation and
the resulting intermediate removal operation that must be performed on said angular
retaining member call necessarily for a number of respective tasks to be carried out
and represent a definite amount of extra charges that should on the contrary be desirably
eliminated, considering that the first assembly operation is then practically nullified
by the subsequent removal operation.
[0011] - The second drawback derives from the fact that, upon such an angular retaining
member having so been accurately positioned on the panel, the rule-shaped templates
find themselves with a portion thereof abutting against the upper edge of the same
panel. As a result, in order to remove said rule-shaped templates the need arises
for an appropriate tool, even a common screw-driver, to be used by inserting it between
said portions and said upper edge of the panel, so as to let it act like a lever between
said component parts and be so able to separate and move said rule-shaped templates
away.
[0012] It has however been found that such an operation quite often and most easily causes
said upper edge of the door panel to suffer some kind of visible damages which then
remain permanently exposed to the view and, as a result, impairs the overall aesthetic
result.
[0013] It therefore would be desirable, and is actually a purpose of the present invention
to provide a connection device between the door panel of a cabinet and the door of
a built-in refrigeration appliance with the smallest possible number of operations
and without any possibility for the cabinet panel to become damaged, by means of techniques
that are as fast and simple as possible, but anyway reliably effective.
[0014] According to the present invention, such an aim is reached in a particular type of
fastening bracket associated to a particular type of adjustment template, both of
which are described below by way of nonlimiting example with reference to the accompanying
drawings, in which:
- Figure 1 is a side view of a template capable of being associated to a bracket according
to the present invention;
- Figure 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the same template when engaged with respect
to both the cabinet and the refrigeration appliance during a utilization phase;
- Figure 3 is a side cross-sectional view of the same template as engaged on the bracket,
during a different utilization phase;
- Figure 4 is a front view of the bracket according to the present invention, as associated
to two adjustment templates;
- Figure 5 is a side cross-sectional view of the same template as applied on to the
bracket, in which said template and said bracket are associated to the panel of the
cabinet according to a different utilization phase;
- Figure 6 is a front view from the inside of the template/bracket/panel assembly in
the association illustrated in Figure 5;
- Figure 7 is a perspective view of the combination of elements illustrated in Figure
2;
- Figure 8 is a perspective view of a method for associating a template and a bracket
according to the present invention;
- Figure 9 is a perspective view of the combination of elements illustrated in Figure
6;
- Figure 10 is a simplified perspective view of an intermediate phase in the assembly
of the bracket according to the present invention;
- Figure 11 is a cross-sectional view of a bracket according to the present invention,
in the final utilization position thereof.
[0015] According to a preferred embodiment, a fastening bracket according to the present
invention consists of a substantially plane base plate 1 adapted to be joined on a
face thereof, using generally known means, to the inner surface of a door panel 2.
This plate is provided with at least a plane appendix 3 protruding orthogonally therefrom,
on the opposite face with respect to the face to be joined to the panel. This appendix
is in turn provided with a through-hole 4, the use of which shall be explained in
greater detail further on.
[0016] Capable of being associated to said bracket there is provided at least a template
5, which is best illustrated in Figures 1 and 5 and is composed of a rectilinear rod
6 and two plane members 7, 8, of which at least one 7 is slidably engaged on said
rod and the other one 8 is permanently fixed at an end portion thereof.
[0017] The planes on which said plane members 7 and 8 are arranged are parallel, although
the member 7 is adapted to take different position with respect to said rod. Furthermore,
said members 7 and 8 lie on opposite sides with respect to said rod 6.
[0018] The member 8 permanently fixed to the rod 6 is provided within its thickness with
a slot 9, which is adapted to removably engage said plane appendix 3.
[0019] The method for using this bracket is as follows:
- First of all (Figures 2, 7), the template 5 is leant between the upper edge 10 of
the door 12 of the refrigeration appliance and the lower edge 13 of the panel 14 lying
above said panel 2; the sliding member 7 is leant against said upper edge 10, and
the stationary member 8 is pulled out or moved away from the member 7 until it eventually
abuts against said lower edge 13.
By performing this operation, the distance between the refrigerator door and the upper
panel is determined on the template 5 which represents the distance at which the upper
edge 20 of the panel must rise with respect to the upper edge of the door in order
to enable the upper edge of the panel to come very close to, without interfering with,
the lower edge 13 of the panel 14 thereabove.
- In the second place (Figures 3, 4, 8), the template 5 is applied, upon having being
rotated, on to said bracket.
- In the third place (Figures 6, 9), the bracket-template assembly is associated to
said panel, in such a manner as to enable the adjustable member 7 to come to rest
against the upper edge of the panel 2; the bracket is then fastened with known means
to the panel, while the template (or templates) 5 is (or are) subsequently removed
from said bracket.
- In the fourth place (Figure 10), the panel is "hanged" on to the door by laying said
appendix 3 of the bracket on the upper edge 10 of the door 12 of the refrigeration
appliance.
- Finally, the whole process is concluded by firmly and positively joining the bracket
to the door by means of said through-hole 4 of said appendix 3 by letting it engage,
with the use of known means, appropriate threaded bolts 44 protruding thereabove,
at appropriate locations, from said upper surface 10 of the door of the refrigeration
appliance.
[0020] Upon completion of this final operation, the door-panel-bracket assembly is organized
as illustrated in a vertical cross-sectional view in Figure 11.
[0021] The present invention brings about some advantageous improvements:
- A first improvement is connected with said rod 6: in order to prevent said sliding
member 7 from being able to slide in an accidental, uncontrolled manner respect to
said rod 6, the latter is provided along its edges 16 with a regular knurled pattern,
while said sliding member 7 is in turn provided, at the portion thereof that is adapted
to slidably engage said rod, with a hollow guide whose inner sides intended to slide
along said edges 16 are similarly provided with respective knurled patterns. As a
result, the mutual engagement of the knurled patterns on the rod and said member 7
is such as to ensure a substantial stability of said member, which can therefore be
only displaced if an intentional, albeit moderate effort is made to actuate it.
- A second improvement relates to the number of said appendixes and, of course, the
corresponding templates. In order to ensure a correct relative arrangement of the
panel and the door, in the sense of preventing a possible angularity from being created
between said members, it has been found advantageous for said appendixes to be provided
in the number of two, substantially similar to and appropriately spaced from each
other.
1. Bracket for fastening an outer door panel to the door of a built-in refrigerator,
and adapted to be attached in an appropriate position to both the inner wall of said
outer door panel and the upper portion of the refrigerator door, characterized in that it comprises at least a plane appendix (3) protruding from said bracket, and is capable
of being temporarily associated to at least a template (5) provided with two parallel
surfaces (7, 8), whose distance from each other is adjustable.
2. Fastening bracket according to claim 1, characterized in that said adjustable surfaces are connected to each other by an adjustment rod (6), and
one of said surfaces, whose distance is adjustable, is provided with a slot-like aperture
(9) capable of engaging against said at least one plane appendix (3).
3. Fastening bracket according to claim 2, characterized in that said two parallel surfaces (7, 8) are arranged on the opposite sides with respect
to said adjustment rod.
4. Fastening bracket according to claim 3, characterized in that said at least one plane appendix is adapted to engage against the upper edge (10)
of said refrigerator door.
5. Fastening bracket according to claim 4, characterized in that one (8) of said adjustable surfaces is firmly joined with said adjustment rod.
6. Fastening bracket according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said at least one appendix extends on a plane that is orthogonal to said plate.
7. Fastening bracket according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that said appendixes (3) are in the number of two and each one of them is capable of being
associated to a respective template.
8. Fastening bracket according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the surfaces (16) of said rod and the portion of said sliding member (7) that engage
each other slidably are provided with respective knurled patterns adapted to prevent
any accidental sliding.