Cupboard built in arrangement for a dishwasher

Abstract

 This invention relates to a cupboard built in arrangement for a household machine, for instance a dishwasher. The arrangement comprises an inner door (19) belonging to the machine (10) and in its closed position covering a treatment chamber (17) and an outer door (13) which in its closed position hides the inner door and which is adapted to the cupboard. The machine (10) is connected to at least one distance means (23) by means of which the machine when being mounted is placed and fixed in a predetermined position in the cupboard (11). The outer door (13) is provided with one or several hinges (14) co-operating with hinge supports (28) which are fixed with respect to the machine (10).

Description

[0001] This invention relates to a cupboard built in arrangement for a household machine, for instance a dishwasher, the arrangement comprising an inner door belonging to the machine and in its closed position covering a treatment chamber of the machine and an outer door which in its closed position hides the inner door and which is adapted to the cupboard.

[0002] It is previously known to provide the door of floor supported built in dishwashers with a an external full height door that is provided with a wood panel, or a panel of some other material, in order to hide the machine and adapt it to the other cupboard panels in the kitchen. The control means of these machines are usually placed at the upper part of a middle door that is mounted on the inner door of the machine which inner door faces the treatment chamber. In order to make it possible for the inner door to swing to a horizontal position the outer door is arranged such that its lower part moves into the free space at the base.

[0003] With regard to cupboard built in machines there are for the time being no corresponding solution. In order to make it possible to use an outside door having full width it would in such a case be necessary to cut away parts of the side walls of the cupboard to give this door a possibility to move into the cupboard with its lower parts. This of course creates great disadvantages.

[0004] The purpose of this invention is to achieve a cupboard built in arrangement for a dishwasher or another similar type of machine. The machine is provided with an inner door whereas the cupboard is provided with an outer door connected to the inner door. The outer door is a door that belongs to the cupboard and is adapted to the kitchen environment and has a standard height and width. The opening movement of the dishwasher door with the outer door thereby corresponds to the opening movement of the other cupboard doors with respect to their motion and distances to adjacent doors.

[0005] By positioning the program controls at the upper edge of the inner door and by using a door that completely covers the opening such that the lower part of the door moves in between the side walls of the machine the machine might also be used as a free standing unit. Consequently two different variants can be produced with smallest possible differences with regard to components and structure.

[0006] This is achieved by means of a device having the characteristics mentioned in the claims.

[0007] An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings on which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a dishwasher which is to be mounted into a cupboard, Fig. 2 is a vertical section through said dishwasher whereas Fig. 3 is an enlarged part of Fig. 2.

[0008] The arrangement shown in the figures comprises a table top dishwasher 10 which is to be mounted at a suitable height in a cupboard 11 the cupboard comprising side walls 11a, 11b, a rear wall 11c and several shelves 11d which together constitute several compartments each covered by a door 11e. One of the compartments 12 has such a size that it encloses the dishwasher 10. The compartment is provided with an associated door 13 which is a standard door belonging to the cupboard and which with regard to material and colour corresponds to the other cupboard doors 11e or which is a special door adapted to the cupboard but with a different appearance. The door 13 is provided with two conventional hinges 14 arranged at the lower edge part of the door and also with two vertical guide rails 15 arranged close to the side walls of the door and at its upper part. The lower part of each guide rail 15 has a stop means 16 whose purpose will be explained below.

[0009] The dishwasher 10 is provided with a treatment chamber having a fill opening 18 normally covered by a door 19. The door is supported for turning motion about an axis 20 at the lower part of the machine. The upper edge part of the door is provided with control means 21 for the machine. The door 19 further supports two removable guides 22 each arranged near the side edges of the door 19 and at its upper part. The guides are arranged to co-operate with the guide rails 15 of the cupboard door 13.

[0010] The dishwasher arrangement also comprises a distance means designed as an elongated mounting steel plate 23 having a front edge part 24 directed downwards and a rear L-shaped part 25 with two openings 26 through which screws 27 are inserted in order to fix the plate 23 at the bottom of the dishwasher. The plate is also provided with two hinge supports 28 in which the hinges 14 of the cupboard door are secured and two L-shaped flanges 29 extending from the plate 23. The flanges can get into engagement with a corresponding recess of the dishwasher in order to stabilise the mounting steel plate 23 with respect to the dishwasher. The mounting steel plate 23 also has two openings with nuts 30 fixed at the upper side of the plate. These nuts are arranged to co-operate with two screw joints 31 extending through the shelf 11d to secure the mounting steel plate at the shelf.

[0011] In order to secure the dishwasher in the cupboard there are two tube shaped means 32 which are placed between the front edge of the side walls of the dishwasher and the adjacent cupboard walls 11b, 11c by means of screws 33. The lengths of the tube shaped means are such that they correspond to the distance between the dishwasher and the cupboard walls.

[0012] The dishwasher is mounted into the cupboard in the following manner. The mounting steel plate 23 is centred on the shelf 11d such that the front edge part 24 abuts the front edge part of the shelf at the same time as it is checked that the shelf is firmly secured to the cupboard and that its front edge part is flush with the front edge of the side walls 11a and 11b of the cupboard. Then two holes 34 are drilled through the shelf 11d after which the mounting steel plate 23 is removed and fixed to the dishwasher 10 by inserting the flanges 29 through corresponding openings in the dishwasher whereas the screws 27 are used to secure the steel plate at the bottom of the dishwasher. When openings have been taken up in the walls of the compartment for water supply, for a drain hose and for electric supply the dishwasher is placed with the mounting steel plate on the shelf 11d. The plate is fixed to the shelf by inserting the screws 31 from below through the holes 34 and securing them to the nuts 30 that are fixed on the plate. Then the machine is additionally secured to the compartment 12 by applying the tube shaped means 32 between the side walls of the dishwasher and the cupboard walls 11a and 11b whereby the tube shaped means are fixed by the screws 33 which are inserted from the inside of the edge part surrounding the door 19 of the dishwasher and are screwed into the side walls 11a and 11b of the cupboard.

[0013] When the hinges 14, the guide rails 15 and the handle (not shown), have been mounted at the cupboard door 13 (preferably by screwing them into pre-drilled holes in the door) the door is fixed at the cupboard by snapping the hinges 14 to the hinge supports 28, which are pre-mounted, on the mounting steel plate after which the guides 22, which are movable sideways and tiltable around screws 35, are de-mounted by removing the screws 35 holding the guides. The guides 22 can then be applied on the guide rails and when the two doors 13, 19 are then moved against one another the guides can again be fastened at the door 19 of the dishwasher by menas of the screws 35. The arrangement is then ready to be used.

[0014] Thus, the movement of the outer door, i.e. the cupboard door, will now be connected to the inner door, i.e. the door of the dishwasher. When the doors are opened the guides 22 slide on the guide rails 15 until the inner door is mainly horizontal which means that the lower part of the guides will abut the stop means on the guide rails. Thus, the movement of the doors is stopped before the hinges have reached their maximum folded down position which means that the hinges will not directly become loaded by the moment forces created by the weight of the door.

[0015] Thus, the arrangement has the advantage that the position of the cupboard door 13 is exactly defined with respect to the mounting steel plate 23 whose position is exactly defined with respect to the dishwasher and its door 19 as well as the compartment 12. This means that there will be no problems with regard to internal adaptation of the two movements of the doors and that the outer door will get the right position with regard to the walls of the cupboard and the other doors in the cupboard. By using conventional hinges it is also possible to get an adjustment of the position of the cupboard door 12 similar to the other cupboard doors 11e.

[0016] The arrangement also admits cleaning between the two doors by de-mounting the guides whereby the doors can be separated from one another.

Claims

1. Cupboard built in arrangement for a household machine, for instance a dishwasher, the arrangement comprising an inner door (19) belonging to the machine (10) and in its closed position covering a treatment chamber (17) and an outer door (13) which in its closed position hides the inner door and which is adapted to the cupboard characterized in that the machine (10) is connected to at least one distance means (23) by means of which the machine when being mounted is placed and fixed in a predetermined position in the cupboard (11) and that the outer door (13) is provided with one or several hinges (14) co-operating with hinge supports (28) which are fixed with respect to the machine (10).

2. Arrangement according to claim 1 characterized in that the hinge supports (28) are placed at the distance means (23).

3. Arrangement according to claim 1 or 2 characterized in that the distance means (23) is shaped as a unit which is removably arranged at the machine, preferably at its bottom.

4. Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that the distance means (23) is a steel plate.

5. Arrangement according to the preceding claims characterized in that the distance means (23) is provided with one or several downwards directed abutting surfaces (24) intended to co-operate with the front edge of a shelf (11d) arranged in the cupboard or with the front edge of the side walls (11a, 11b) of the cupboard.

6. Arrangement according to claim 5 characterized in that the distance means (23) is provided with openings which when being placed at the shelf (11d) define several points at which the shelf (11d) is intended to be drilled through in order to lock the distance means (23) at the shelf (11b) by means of screw joints (31) extending through the openings.

7. Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that the inner door (19) at its outside is provided with one or several guides (22) co-operating with guide rails (15) arranged at the inner side of the outer door (13).

8. Arrangement according to claim 7 characterized in that the guides (22) are removably arranged at the inner door (19).

9. Arrangement according to any of claims 7 or 8 characterized in that the guide rails (15) are provided with stop means (16) that by co-operation with the guides (22) limit the turning motion of the outer door.

10. Arrangement according to any of the preceding claims characterized in that the inner door (19) comprises an edge part between the outside and the inside of the door the control panel (21) of the machine being arranged at the upper part of said edge part when the door is in its closed position.

Drawing