GB2079589A

GB2079589A - A door for domestic electrical appliances

Info

Publication number: GB2079589A
Application number: GB8114597A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Industrie Zanussi SpA
Current assignee: Industrie Zanussi SpA
Priority date: 1980-07-03
Filing date: 1981-05-13
Publication date: 1982-01-27
Also published as: DE8110398U1; FR2485913A3; GB2079589B; IT8034027V0; FR2485913B3

Abstract

A door for domestic electrical appliances, comprises a body (4) on which an external cover panel (7) is mounted, the body (4) and panel (7) being connected together by at least one upper arm member (8) and at least one lower arm member (9) which are simply pivoted at the respective ends to said body and said panel, thereby to form a pivot mounting of parallelogram-type. Preferably the length of said upper arm member (8) is greater than that of the lower arm member (9). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION A door for domestic electrical appliances The present invention relates to the doors for domestic electrical appliances, in particular, but not exclusively doors for dishwashing machines, of the types intended to be built into kitchen furniture.

As is known, a technical design which is becoming more and more widespread is that which involves domestic electrical appliances being completely inserted into kitchen furniture. This arrangement requires the front of the appliances to be covered with panels which are the same as those of the units of furniture themselves, in particular wood panels.

This requirement has been met be fitting hinges and/or guides which permit relative movement of the panel with respect to the door of the appliance during the operations of opening and closing the actual door.

In one case, the panel is hinged to the door at the respective lower edges and is further secured to the door by means of connecting and guide elements which are interposed between the panel and the door.

In another case, the panel is hinged to the door at the respective upper edges and is guided at the bottom in such a way as to move away from the door in the open position.

These designs suffer from various disadvantages since they require the fitting of suitable hinges and impose modifications on the plinth of the units of furniture. In particular, it is necessary to provide a recess in the actual plinth, as the panel has to be partially inserted with its lower edge into a suitable space in the front of the machine at the base thereof, when the door is opened.

According to the invention there is provided a door for a domestic electrical appliance, comprising a body on which an external cover panel is mounted, wherein said body and said panel are connected together by at least one upper arm member and at least one lower arm member which are simply pivoted at the respective ends to said body and said panel, thereby to form a pivot mounting of parallelogram-type.

As will become apparent from the following description the present invention can provide a door for domestic electrical appliances with a front cover panel, which is easy to fit and which does not require delicate members such as hinges, and modifications to the units of furniture.

The front panel, in the closure position, can ensure complete covering for the unit of furniture and, in the open position, does not involve engagement into the front base space of the unit of furniture and consequently does not require the provision of any recess on the base plinth.

The features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description which is given solely be way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawing, which diagrammatically shows a side view of a domestic electrical appliance, for example a dishwashing machine, which is provided with a door made in accordance with the invention.

The dishwashing machine illustrated comprises a casing 1 which is of substantially parallelepipedonal shape and which is provided at the front with a door 2, while the units of furniture in which the machine is intended to be installed comprise a front base plinth 3. The door 2 is formed by a body 4 which is hinged to the casing 1 at Sin known manner (not shown); secured to the body 4 at the top thereof is a control panel 6 including the means for controlling the machine.

Mounted on the outside of the body 4 is a cover panel 7 which is preferably of wood and which is of the same aesthetic and dimensional characteristics as the units of kitchen furniture with which the dishwashing machine is to be associated.

The body 4 and the panel 7 are connected together by at least one upper arm member 8 and at least one lower arm member 9, the ends of which are simply pivoted to the body and to the panel respectively.

Preferably, the length of the upper arm member 8 is slightlygreaterthan the length of the corresponding lower arm member 9. This expedient arrangement provides a pivot mounting of a parallelogram-type with the two shorter sides of the parallelogram being of slightly different lengths and permits the upper edge of the panel 7 to move more rapidly away from the control panel 6 (projecting from the body 4) at the beginning of the opening movement of the door 2. During the opening movement of the door, the panel 7 is caused to move away from the door 4, by a parallelogram-type movement, by virtue of the weight of the panel 7 and therefore simply by gravity. In the position of complete opening of the door 2, the panel 7 is simply suspended from the body 4, as shown by the broken lines in the drawing.

The illustrated design, by virtue also of suitable dimensioning and positioning of the arm members 8 and 9, makes it possible to ensure that the lower edge of the panel 7, in the open position, does not take up a position such as to require a recess in the base plinth of the units of furniture. This therefore overcomes the disadvantage of the prior designs, which required a suitable modification to the plinth 3, while the arrangement according to the invention ensures maximum freedom and scope in regard to adapting the panel 7 to the units of furniture disposed beside the electrical appliance, while also ensuring that the front of the machine is completely covered, by virtue of the panel 7 and the base plinth 3, between which no aesthetically unattractive join space can be seen. The foregoing description clearly demonstrates the structural simplicity and the practical advantages of the illustrated design, which can obviously be modified without thereby departing from the scope of the invention. For example, the arm members 8 and 9 may be pivoted to suitable shaped members which are provided on or fixed to the body 4 and the panel 7 respectively, for the purposes of providing for more precise alignment of the corresponding pivots. In addition, the effect of moving the panel 7 away from the body 4 during the opening movement of the door may be facilitated by the adoption of kinematic mechanisms (not shown) which add their effect to the action of the force of gravity.

Claims

1. Adoorfora domestic electrical appliance, comprising a body on which an external cover panel is mounted, wherein said body and said panel are connected together by at least one upper arm member and at least one lower arm member which are simply pivoted at the respective ends to said body and said panel, thereby to form a pivot mounting of parallelogram-type.

2. Adoorfordomestic electrical appliances according to claim 1, wherein the length of said upper arm member is greater than that of the lower arm member.

3. A door for a domestic appliance, such door being constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

4. A domestic appliance incorporating a door according to any one of the preceding claims.