A device for locking the upper front molding of a built-in appliance at an adjustable height

Abstract

 In order to make the upper molding (2) adjustable in height relative to the front side (1) of a built-in appliance, said molding (2) is provided, on the inner surface thereof, with slots (4) adapted to receive each time one of the two free ends (5,7) of a substantially Y-shaped elongated resilient member (3a) having the third end thereof fastened to the front side structure. The second free end of said member communicates with the outside by means of an opening (10) through which a tool may be inserted in order to act on said end, whereby said member is inflected and the second end (5) thereof is set free from the previously engaged slot (4), in order to perform locking within another slot to change the height position of said molding (2).

Description

[0001] This invention concerns a device for locking, at an adjustable height, the movable molding of the upper front side of a built-in appliance, in particular a dish-washer.

[0002] As it is already known, built-in appliances must normally satisfy particular furniture maker and fitter requirements, and at present the general trend is one of hiding as much as possible the appliance typical features in that it must look like a simple piece of furniture from the outside, as well as one of making the appliance outside dimensions to match as much as possible those of the adjacent pieces of furniture or appliances. Therefore, it may happen that an appliance upper front molding, in particular in the portion thereof which is mainly decorative rather than supporting the controls, as it is often the case for dishwashers, has to be in line with the front side of adjacent appliances, and placed at a different height for instance because of a different setting of the appliance feet or because of any other reason which might come up during assembly. Therefore, a general trend has recently been established of providing an adjustable portion of the front side, comprising a molding whose height position may be adjusted by the fitter himself rather than adjusting the feet when their adjustment span has been completey used up. In this respect some moldings are already known which may be adjusted in height, at the desired level, for instance by cutting or by providing a molding comprised of a number of parallel strips kept side by side by means of a joint arrangement, and which may be detached at the time of use. Either of these approaches involves, besides a certain waste of material, which has to be partially discarded, quite an amount of labor for performing the necessary measurements and for taking the excess material away.

[0003] According to a different approach, attempting to do away with the above drawbacks, there is provided a molding having the maximum width in the height direction, slidably mounted within the front side, in order to enable height adjustment to be peformed by means of a square nut at both ends of the molding, the nut being pushed against the molding inner surface by means of a spring and being adjustable in height by means of a set screw. However in this case, any push in opposite direction acting on the molding from outside and also a simple hand contact on the latter, shows that there is a play and causes a related motion, giving to the assembly an unpleasant feeling of instability.

[0004] Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a device adapted to adjust the height of said molding relative to the front side and to enable said molding to be locked at the desired height, in a secure and reliable fashion.

[0005] Said object is met by means of a device comprising essentially an elongated flexible member, being substantially fork- or Y-shaped, and having a first end fastened to said front side structure, while of the other pair of free ends, corresponding to the branches of the "Y", one is adapted to fit in a respective slot provided in the molding to be adjusted, and the other ends at an opening communicated with the outside and provided on the structure of the front side itself, beyond the molding end edge.

[0006] The above and further features will become more apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment of the device according to this invention, made for exemplary and non limiting purposes, and referring to the attached drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 shows a schematic side view of the device according to this invention, within a front side of a built-in appliance;
and

Figure 2 shows a sectional view along line II-II of Figure 1.

[0007] Referring now to the drawing, there has been shown at 1 the front side of a built-in appliance, in particular a dishwasher, having a decorative molding 2 mounted in such a way as to be able to slide freely heightwise, relative to the front side, when it is not locked by a device 3 according to this invention, which will be described in the following. The molding 2 inner surface has a certain number of slots 4 equally spaced along the height thereof. Five of said slots have been shown in the drawing and that is also the number of the possible adjustements in height for the whole molding length, but it is understood that their number may be different. For the objects of this invention, and as it is shown in the drawings, they may be limited to the end regions only, where devices 3 are provided, i.e. preferably at each end of molding 2.

[0008] Device 3 according to this invention essentially comprises a substantially fork- or Y-shaped flexible elongated member 3a, having a first end fastened to the structure of front side 1 by means of a pivot pin or bolt 9 while the other pair of ends, corresponding to the pair of branches of the Y, respectively shown at 5 and 7, are normally free.The first of said ends, shown at 5, has a terminal shape adapted to enter and perfectly fit into any one of molding slots 4. The latter will preferably have a frusto-conical shape in order to perform a lead-in action during insertion of said end 5. As it is best shown in Figure 1, the end portion terminating at 5 naturally extends in a substantially horizontal direction, therefore perpendicular to the surface of molding 4 and to the adjusting direction thereof, while elongated arm 3a, which is perpendicular to end 5, provides flexibility to the arrangement.

[0009] As far as the other end 7 is concerned, it ends at an open ing 10 provided (at both sides of the appliance) beyond the end of molding 2, on the stationary portion of front side 1. In order to reach said position, in a direction parallel to end 5, but displaced both height-wise and on the side relative to the latter, elongated member 3a is provided, in the end portion thereof, with a pair of additional elbow turns which provide said member with a certain stiffness in the direction of pushing from the outside through opening 10. In such a way, the force is transmitted, substantially without any change, to the lower end of the vertical portion of member 3a in a plane which is also vertical and perpendicular to molding 2, around the upper elbow turn which connects fastening point 9 to vertical member 3a. When end 7 of device 3 is pushed, through opening 10, by means of a pointed tool, there takes place a rotation of member 3a, which is shown approximately by arrow F in Figure 1, whereby end 5 moves backwards ad sets corresponding slot 4 free. Molding 2, which is relased in this way, provided that said action is performed simultaneously at both ends, in order to unlock both devices 3, may be moved to the most convenient position wherein it gets immediately locked once ends 7 are released so that ends 5 can move back into the closest slot.

[0010] It should be noted that, as it is shown in the drawings, locking end 5 is located in such a way that when molding 2 is in the lowest position, i.e. resting with its lower edge on the bottom of front side 1, said end is engaged with the molding upper slot 4. By raising the latter, the lower slots get locked each time.

[0011] From the above it should be apparent that molding 2, to be used with an adjusting and locking device according to this invention, will simply comprise a strip of material integrally molded with suitable sets of slots, there being no requirement for the molding to comprise a set of strips releasably fitted to each other, nor to be arranged for cutting. Furthermore, the molding locked in the way described above will feel fast and without play when normally contacted by the hand.

Claims

1. A device for locking at an adjustable height the upper front molding (2) in the front side (1) of a built-in appliance, wherein said molding (2) which can be moved relative to said front side (1) has a number of slots (4) evenly spaced along the height on the inner surface thereof, the device being characterized in that it essentially comprises a substantially fork- or Y-shaped elongated flexible member (3a) having a first end fastened to the structure of said front side (1) by means of a fastening device (9) and the other two ends (5, 7) corresponding to the pair of branches of the "Y", being normally free and being respectively adapted: the first one (5) to get into engagement with one of said slots (4) and the second one (7) to end at an opening (10) in communication with the outside through the structure of front side (1), beyond molding (2).

2. The device of claim 1, characterized in that said end (5) has a tapered end in order to match a corresponding lead-in area provided by a frusto-conical shape of said slots (4).

3. The device of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that said end (7) is parallel to the other free end (5) and offset relative to the latter both height-wise and on the side, being connected to said elongated vertical member (3a) through a pair of additional elbow turns relative to end (5), adapted to provide this branch of the fork-shaped device with a certain stiffness, whereby a pushing action performed from outside through said opening (10) is transmitted substantially unchanged to the lower end of flexible span (3a) and causes the latter to resiliently yield until end (5) thereof gets out of slot (4).

4. A device according to any one of the previous claims, characterized in that said slots (4) are provided on molding (2) at least at both ends thereof, an adjusting and locking device (3) being provided at each end of said molding (2).

5. A device according to one or more of the above claims, characterized in that said locking end (5) corresponds, when molding (2) is in its lowest position, to top slot (4) of said molding.

Drawing