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EP 1 145 667 B1 |
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EUROPEAN PATENT SPECIFICATION |
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Mention of the grant of the patent: |
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02.06.2004 Bulletin 2004/23 |
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Date of filing: 19.02.2001 |
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Method for fastening a cupboard door to the door of a built-in refrigerator
Verfahren zur Befestigung einer Schranktür an die Tür eines eingebauten Kühlschrankes
Procédé de fixation d'une porte de placard à une porte d'un réfrigérateur intégré
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Designated Contracting States: |
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DE ES FR GB IT |
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Priority: |
11.04.2000 IT PN000012
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Date of publication of application: |
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17.10.2001 Bulletin 2001/42 |
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Proprietor: ELECTROLUX HOME PRODUCTS ITALY S.p.A. |
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33080 Porcia (Pordenone) (IT) |
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Inventors: |
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- Avezzu, Felice
33170 Pordenone (IT)
- Bassan, Alfredo
31015 Conegliano, Treviso (IT)
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Representative: Giugni, Valter et al |
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PROPRIA S.r.l.,
Via Mazzini 13 33170 Pordenone 33170 Pordenone (IT) |
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References cited: :
EP-A- 0 108 677 EP-A- 0 877 215
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EP-A- 0 647 821
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Note: Within nine months from the publication of the mention of the grant of the European
patent, any person may give notice to the European Patent Office of opposition to
the European patent
granted. Notice of opposition shall be filed in a written reasoned statement. It shall
not be deemed to
have been filed until the opposition fee has been paid. (Art. 99(1) European Patent
Convention).
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[0001] The present invention refers to a method 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:
- 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.
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.
- 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.
[0009] 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.
[0010] EP 0 647 821 refers to a refrigerator for installation in a furniture recess of a
fitted kitchen arrangement having an appliance door which is provided, on its outer
side facing the opening of the furniture niche, with a furniture front panel which
can be aligned with the furniture fronts of the neighbouring furniture by means of
a fitting associated with the furniture front panel and a fitting associated with
appliance door, arranged at a horizontal door section. The fitting associated with
the appliance door is constructed as a recesses arranged at one of the horizontal
door sections and project, niche-like, into the door body. The fitting arranged at
the furniture front panel is substantially capable of penetrating into the recesses
with the play required for the three-dimensional alignment, and is connected to the
fitting associated with the appliance door by means of the setting and clamping-screw
arrangement.
[0011] It would be desirable, and is actually a purpose of the present invention to provide
a method for connecting 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.
[0012] According to the present invention, such an aim is reached by a method in which is
made use of a particular type of adjustment template associated to a fastening bracket,
both of which are described below by way of non-limiting 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 and
for use in the method 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 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.
[0013] According to a preferred embodiment, in the method according to the present invention
is made use 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.
[0014] 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.
[0015] 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.
[0016] 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.
[0017] 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 moved to rest upon 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 been
turned upside down, 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.
[0018] Upon completion of this final operation, the door-panel-bracket assembly is organized
as illustrated in a vertical cross-sectional view in Figure 11.
[0019] 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. Method for fastening a cupboard panel door (2) to the door (12) of a refrigerator
built into the cupboard
characterized in that it comprises the following steps:
placing an adjustable, slidable member (7) of a vertically oriented, appropriate template
(5) against the upper edge (10) of said refrigerator door (12),
moving a stationary member (8) of said template (5) away from said sliding member
(7) until said stationary member (8) abuts the lower edge (13) of a cupboard wall
(14) lying above the cupboard panel door (2),
applying said stationary member (8), upon having rotated the template (5) 180° upside
down, on to a horizontal appendix (3) of a fastening bracket,
associating the bracket-template assembly to said panel door (2), in such a manner
as to enable the adjustable member (7) to come to rest against the upper edge (20)
of the panel door (2),
fastening said bracket to said panel door (2),
removing said template (5) from said bracket,
arranging the cupboard panel door (2) to hang on the refrigerator door (12) by placing
said appendix (3) of the bracket on the upper edge (10) of said refrigerator door
(12),
attaching the bracket to the refrigerator door (12) by means of said appendix (3)
by engagement with appropriate fastening means (40) protruding from said upper edge
(10) of the refrigerator door (12).
2. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the distance determined on the template (5) between said adjustable member (7) and
said stationary member (8) representing the distance at which the upper edge (20)
of the panel door (2) must rise with respect to the upper edge (10) of the refrigerator
door (12) in order to enable the upper edge (20) of the panel door (2) to come very
close to, without interfering with, the lower edge (13) of the cupboard wall (14).
3. Template for use in a method according to claim 1, characterized in that it comprises an adjustment rod (6) provided with an adjustable member (7) slidably
engaged on said rod (6) and a stationary member (8) joined with said rod (6), the
distance between said adjustable member (7) and stationary member (8) being adjustable.
4. Template according to claim 3, characterized in that said stationary member (8) is provided with a slot-like aperture (9) capable of engaging
against the appendix (3) of said fastening bracket.
5. Template according to claim 3, characterized in that said adjustable member (7) and said stationary member (8) defining two parallel surfaces
arranged on the opposite sides with respect to said adjustment rod.
6. Template according to claim 3, characterized in that the surfaces (16) of said rod (6) and the portion of said adjustable member (7) adapted
to slidably engaged said rod (6) are provided with respective knurled patterns to
prevent any accidental sliding.
1. Verfahren zum Befestigen eines Küchenschrank-Türflügels (2) an der Tür (12) eines
im Küchenschrank eingebauten Kühlschrankes,
dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass es folgende Verfahrensabschnitte zur
- Anordnung eines einstellbaren Gleitgliedes (7) einer entsprechenden, vertikal gerichteten
Schablone (5) gegen die Oberkante (10) der genannten Kühlschranktür (12),
- Schiebung eines Festgliedes (8) der genannten Schablone (5) weg vom genannten einstellbaren
Gleitglied (7), bis das genannte Festglied (8) an der Unterkante (13) einer über dem
Küchenschrank-Türflügel (2) liegenden Küchenschrankwand (14) anschlägt,
- Anbringung des genannten Festgliedes (8) an einem Horizontalansatz (3) eines Befestigungsbügels,
nachdem die Schablone (5) um 180° umgekippt worden ist,
- Verbindung des so zusammengebauten Bügel- und Schablonenbauteils mit dem genannten
Türflügel (2), indem das einstellbare Gleitglied (7) zum Anschlag auf die Oberkante
(20) des Türflügels (2) gebracht wird,
- Befestigung des genannten Bügels am genannten Türflügel (2),
- Entfernung der genannten Schablone (5) vom genannten Bügel,
- Anordnung des Küchenschrank-Türflügels (2) hängend an der Kühlschranktür (12), indem
der genannte Ansatz (3) des Befestigungsbügels auf der Oberkante (10) der genannten
Kühlschranktür (12) zum Liegen kommt,
- Verbindung des Bügels mit der Kühlschranktür (12) unter Zusammenwirken des genannten
Ansatzes (3) mit entsprechenden, aus der genannten Oberkante (10) der Kühlschranktür
(12) hinausragenden Befestigungsmitteln (40),
umfasst.
2. Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass der auf der Schablone (5) zwischen dem genannten einstellbaren Glied (7) und dem
genannten festen Glied (8) eingestellte Abstand dem Abstand entspricht, um welchen
sich die Oberkante (20) des Türflügels (2) im Vergleich zur Oberkante (10) der Kühlschranktür
(12) emporheben soll, damit die Oberkante (20) des Türflügels (2) ganz nahe an die
Unterkante (13) der Küchenschrankwand (14) kommen kann, ohne jedoch dabei gegeneinander
einzuwirken.
3. Schablone für die Anwendung in einem Verfahren nach Anspruch 1, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass sie einen Einstellstab (6) aufweist, welcher mit einem verstellbaren, gleitend mit
dem genannten Einstellstab (6) im Eingriff stehenden Glied (7) und einem fest mit
dem genannten Einstellstab (6) verbundenen Festglied (8) versehen ist, wobei der Abstand
vom genannten verstellbaren Glied (7) zum genannten Festglied (8) einstellbar ist.
4. Schablone nach Anspruch 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass das genannte Festglied (8) mit einer schlitzförmigen Öffnung (9) versehen ist, welche
dazu geeignet ist, mit dem Ansatz (3) des genannten Befestigungsbügels eingreifend
zusammenzuwirken.
5. Schablone nach Anspruch 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass das genannte verstellbare Glied (7) und das genannte Festglied (8) zwei parallel
zueinander laufende, sich in entgegengesetzten Richtungen seitlich am genannten Einstellstab
erstreckende Flächen bilden.
6. Schablone nach Anspruch 3, dadurch gekennzeichnet, dass die Flächen (16) des genannten Einstellstabes (6) und der mit dem genannten Einstellstab
(6) gleitend im Eingriff stehende Teil des genannten verstellbaren Glieds (7) mit
jeweiligen Rändelungsmustern versehen sind, um ein unbeabsichtigtes Gleiten auszuschließen.
1. Procédé pour fixer un panneau de porte (2) d'un meuble de cuisine à la porte (12)
d'un réfrigérateur installé dans le même meuble,
caractérisé en ce qu' il comprend les phases suivantes de :
- placer un élément glisseur réglable (7) d'un gabarit de montage convenable orienté
verticalement (5) contre le bord supérieur (10) de la porte (12) dudit réfrigérateur,
- écarter un élément fixe (8) dudit gabarit (5) de l'élément glisseur réglable (7)
de ce dernier, jusqu'à ce que ledit élément fixe (8) va buter contre le bord inférieur
(13) d'une paroi (14) du meuble se situant au-dessus du panneau de porte (2) du meuble,
- appliquer ledit élément fixe (8), après avoir retourné le gabarit (5) de 180°, sur
un appendice horizontal (3) d'une équerre de fixation,
- associer l'assemblage équerre-gabarit audit panneau de porte (2), de façon telle
à permettre à l'élément réglable (7) de s'appuyer contre le bord supérieur (20) du
panneau de porte (2),
- fixer ladite équerre audit panneau de porte (2),
- retirer ledit gabarit (5) de ladite équerre,
- disposer le panneau de porte (2) du meuble de cuisine de façon à l'accrocher à la
porte (12) du réfrigérateur en appuyant ledit appendice (3) de l'équerre sur le bord
supérieur (10) de ladite porte (12) du réfrigérateur,
- fixer l'équerre à la porte (12) du réfrigérateur au moyen dudit appendice (3) s'engageant
avec des moyens de fixation appropriés (40) faisant saillie dudit bord supérieur (10)
de la porte (12) du réfrigérateur.
2. Procédé selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que l'écart déterminé sur le gabarit (5) entre ledit élément glisseur réglable (7) et
ledit élément fixe (8) représente la distance de laquelle le bord supérieur (20) du
panneau de porte (2) doit monter par rapport au bord supérieur (10) de la porte (12)
du réfrigérateur afin de permettre au bord supérieur (20) du panneau de porte (2)
de parvenir tout près du bord inférieur (13) de la paroi (14) du meuble de cuisine,
sans toutefois y interférer.
3. Gabarit pour l'utilisation dans un procédé selon la revendication 1, caractérisé en ce que il comprend une tige de réglage (6) pourvue d'un élément réglable (7) s'engageant
de façon glissante avec ladite tige (6), ainsi que d'un élément fixe (8) joint à ladite
tige (6), la distance entre ledit élément réglable (7) et ledit élément fixe (8) étant
réglable.
4. Gabarit selon la revendication 3, caractérisé en ce que ledit élément fixe (8) est pourvu d'une ouverture (9) sous forme d'une fente, qui
est apte à s'engager contre l'appendice (3) de ladite équerre de fixation.
5. Gabarit selon la revendication 3, caractérisé en ce que ledit élément réglable (7) et ledit élément fixe (8) définissent deux surfaces parallèles
s'étendant en directions opposées aux côtés de ladite tige de réglage.
6. Gabarit selon la revendication 3, caractérisé en ce que les surfaces (16) de ladite tige (6) et la partie dudit élément réglable (7) étant
apte à s'engager de façon glissante avec ladite tige (6) sont pourvues de crénelage
ou moletage tel à prévenir tout glissement accidentel.