US2206755A - Hinge for refrigerator doors - Google Patents

Description

July 2, 1940. E. F. scHwELLER HINGE FOR REFRIGERATOR DOORS 2 sheets-sheet 1 Filed Sept. 2 8, 1957 INVENTOR.

//S ATTORNEYS.

July 2, 1940.I E. F. SCHWELLER HINGE FOR REFRIGERATOR DOORS Filed Sept. 28, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. 2v/mwa 7:." Sex/M5445?.

f//' ATTORNEYS `Patented July 2, 1940 v l UNITED STATES PATENT CFFICE HINGEn ron nEFnIGEnAToa noons Edmund F. Schwelier, Dayton, Ohio, assigner to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application September 28, 1937, Serial No. 166,198

1 Claim.

This invention relates to hinges and particularly to concealed hinges for use on doors of refrigerators or similar structures. :s

Heretofore so-called concealed hinges were only 5 partly concealed due to the fact that if entirely concealed access thereto could not be had for 20 an improved concealed hinge for a refrigerator cabinet door which is adjustable through a wall of the door. Y

A further object of myA invention is to provide a hinge which is entirely concealed partly within "I the Walls of va refrigerator cabinet and partly within the refrigerator cabinet door and which can be adjusted without dismantling parts of the cabinet or door to thereby facilitate alignment of thedoor with the cabinet door opening and to 0 permit removal of the door in case the same should become damaged.

In carrying out the foregoing objects the invention includes other objects which consist in the details of construction, and in novel arrange- 35 ments and combinations of parts to be hereinafter more fully set forth and claimed, w

In describing the invention in detail reference will he made to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application and wherein 40 like `characters denote corresponding pants in the several views in whichl J Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator cabinet having my invention embodied therein;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1 showing a portion of the hinge of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary View showing the refrigerator cabinet door in an open position and partly broken away to illustrate the adjustment of a hinge constructed in accordance with my invention; .and

Fig. `4 is` a verticalV sectional view taken along the lmet- 4 of Fig. 1 showing the refrigerator cabinet door hinges partly in sectional and partly i in elevation.

Referring to the drawings, for illustrating the present invention, I have shown in Fig. 1 thereof a refrigerator cabinet Ill including insulating walls bounded by metallic members I2 and I3 (see Fig.`2). The insulating walls II surround a food 6 storage compartment I4 provided'in the cabinet I0 and the metal members I2 and I3 are secured to a heavy metal supporting bracket 5 located at the front of the cabinet inwardly of member i3. The food storage compartment I4 is provided 10 with an access opening I 6 which is closed by a door Il. The metal member I2 forms a liner for the walls of compartment I4 and the member |3 forms the finished exterior walls of 'the cabinet l I0. These walls I2 and I3 may be coated with I vitreous enamel or any other suitable coating or finish material. The metal liner I2 terminates at the front of the cabinet in a reversely curved flange 2| and has a plurality of spaced apart straight narrow portions 22 extending outwardly therefrom. The metal member I3 is shaped to fit around the metal support |5 and an edge portion 23 thereof is located under the narrow extensions 22 on member I2. An insulating washer 24 is placed between the overlapping portions 22 and 23 of members I2 and I3 respectively to break the metal-to-metal contact thereof adjacent the door opening I6. A screw 25, having an outwardly flanged metal strip 26 located under its head, is threaded into Vthe heavy metal support I5 to i thereby rigidly secure the members I2 and I3 to the support bracket l5 at the front of the cabinet II). A trim strip or mold member 21 of a resilient material such, for example, as rubber has a curved slot 28 provided therein and which slot receives y v the curved edge 2| of liner I2. The rubber trim strip 2`|h also has` a groove provided therein for the reception of the outwardly anged portions of metal strip 26 which extends around the door opening IB.- The resilient trim strip 2l is first locked upon the liner I2 by inserting the curved edge 2| of the liner into the slot 28 of the strip 21. The groove provided in trim strip 2l is then spread apart and snapped over the ilanged metal strip 26 to secure the strip 2l in position upon the cabinet so that the same forms walls of the food compartment door or access opening I6. Heavy metal cups 3| `and 32 (see Figs. 3 and 4) are located beneath the `cabinet exterior finish wall I3 above and below the door opening IB respectively of compartment I4 and are welded or otherwise rigidly secured tothe supporting member I5. Cups 3| and 32 are vertically aligned near one side of the opening I6 and within a portion of the cabinet front wall which is bulged outwardiff ly to match the exterior bulged contour of door I1. It will be noted that the portion of exterior metal wall I3 of cabinet Ill which is bent inwardly toward the opening I6 of compartment I4 and the corresponding portion of support member |5 are provided with registering openings 33 aligned with the open end of cups 3| and 32. The cups 3| and 32 form a stationary bearing portion or member of each of a pair of hinges to be hereinafter more fully described.

The door |1 of the refrigerator cabinet I0 comprises an outer metal pan 35 and an inner metal pan 36 which form a chamber therebetween for the insulation 31. Outer door pan 35 has an angular inwardly turned portion 38 terminating with a lip edge 39. A plurality of relatively narrow metal pieces 4I are welded or otherwise rigidly secured to and in spaced apart relation along the sides of portion 38 of pan 35 and ex-,. tend inwardly therefrom to a point to space the pans 35 and 36 apart a desired or predetermined distance. Each piece 4| includes a nat portion 42 and an inwardly directed fianged portionv 43. The ange 43 ofl each metal piece 4I provides a backing for the inner door pan 36 and this pan is secured to the flange 43 by a plurality of screws 44. It will be noted that the peripheral edge of pan 36 is curved as at 45 and that this curved edge overlaps and engages an edge of a rubber or the like trim strip 46. 'Ihis 'trim strip 46 abuts the flat portion 42 of metal piece 4I and has a groove 41 cut therein for`receiving the lip edge 39 of the inwardly turned part 38 of pan 35. The lip edge 39 of pan 35 and the curved edge 45 of pan 36 locks the trim strip 46 in position on the door I1. has an integral extended portion 49 which terminates in the form of a flexible hollow bead 5 I The bead 5| and portion 49 of trim strip 46 abut and may, if desired, be glued or cemented to the inturned portion 38 of outer door pan 35. The bead 5| on strip 46 is normally of a substantially D-shape and engages a nat portion 52 provided on the cabinet outer metal wall I3. Bead5l is compressed between the cabinet wall and the door I to form a sealv for closing the door opening I6 to prevent escape of cold air from the food storage compartment I4 of the refrigerator cabinet I0. It will be seen that strip 46 therefore serves as a combined seal and trim or mold member. n

Prior to assembling the door I1 into a unitary structure as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings a pair of cast metal members 55 and 56 are welded., in vertical alignment with one another, tothe inner face of the fiat angularly disposed inturned portion 38 of pan 35. The one cast member or hinge portion 55 is located at the top of the door I 1 while the other member or hinge portion 56 is located at the bottom of the door. Each cast metal member 55 and 56 forms a part of the hinge of the present invention and is hollowed out as at 51 to provide a vertical opening therethrough. Each` cast member 55 and 56fhas a hinge bolt 58 located within the opening 51 thereof and each Iof these bolts 58 is provided with a plurality of straight horizontal rack-like threads 59 extending from one end thereof throughout a partof their length. The plain end of bolt 58 inthe upper casting 55 extends through an opening provided in the top edge of the door pan 35 and through openings 33 provided in cabinet wall I3 and support I5 into the upper metal cup or stationary hinge bearing portion 3|. The plain end of bolt 58 in the lower casting, 56 likewise extends through the Wall of Trim strip 46v door I1 and the cabinet wall I3 into the lowermost metal cup or stationary hinge bearing portion 32. A hardened steel ball 6| is disposed between the end of the lowermost bolt 58 and the closed end of cup 32 (see Fig. 4) and this ball serves to permit free swinging of door I1 about its hinges or pivotal mounting. It will be noted that each metal casting 55 and 56 has a relatively large horizontal hole 62 drilled therethrough and that this hole alsoextends through the inturned portion 38 of door pan 35 for a purpose to be hereinafter more fully described. Another somewhat similar horizontal hole 63 is also drilled through castings 55 and 56 and through portion 38 of door pan 35 and has a pin 64 located therein. Pin 64, is forcibly driven into hole 63 and past the threads 59 on bolt 58 to deform a part of these threads and thereby wedge the pin between the bolt and the castings 55 or 56.

The drive fit of pin 64 with'the threads 59 of bolt 58 locks the bolt to a casting 55 or 56 and prevents movement thereof relative to the casting. Thus bolts 58 rotate Within the cups or bearing portions 3| and 32 of the concealed hinge structure when the door I1 of cabinet I9 is moved about its pivotal mounting to open or close the food compartment access opening I6. The weight of the door I1 rests upon the apex of ball 6I and this construction prevents binding of the door during movement thereof.

Having described the construction of the improved concealed hinge I will now describe the method of adjusting same to permit assembly of the door I1 upon the refrigerator cabinet.

The door I1 may be assembled into a unitary structure as shown in Fig. 2 of the'. drawings prior to being mounted upon the cabinet I0. When it is desired to mountuthe door I1 upon the cabinet the resilient bead or seal portions 5I of rubber strip 46 isflexed away from the portion 38 of door pan 35 to permit access to the openings 62 and 63 located thereunder along one edge of the door. I have provided a pinioned wrench or the like 65 (see Fig. 3) which is then inserted in opening 62 from outside Walls of door I1. A bolt 58 is inserted into each of the castings 55 and 56 and the wrench 65 extending horizontally through the castings is rotated to cause teeth 66 provided thereon to engage and`thread upon the threads 59 of the bolts. The bolts 58 may be projected through the top and bottom edges of door I1 by wrench 65, into the projected position thereof shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, to permit movement of the door into a position to align the projecting ends of bolts 58 with the openings 33 and cups or bearings 3| and-32 on the cabinet. Thereafter vfurther rotation of vthe Wrenches 65 will move the bolts 58 further outwardly of door I1 and into the cups or bearings 3| and 32. When the proper verticalalignment of door I1 audits seal 5I with the door or food compartment access opening I6 has been obtained a pin 64 may be forcibly driven into hole 63 in each casting 55 and 56. The pins 64 slightly deform the portion of bolts 58 aligned with the opening 63 and lock the pins to the bolts and to the castings to prevent movement thereof relative to one another. The wrenches 65 are then removed from the openings 62 and the seal portion 5| of strip 46 is permitted to ex back against the portion 38 of door pan 35 to cover and conceal the openings 62 and 63 along the one edge of the door. The door I1 has therefore now been mounted in a pivotal manner upon cabinet I0 by means accessible through an exterior Wall of the y of the openings 63 in castings 55 and 56 or entirely therethrough and wrenches applied to bolts 58 through openings 62 to move the bolts out of engagement with their bearings 3| and 32.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided an improved hinge structure for a refrigerator cabinet door member or the like that is truly a concealed hinge and yet accessible to permit removal of the door from the cabinet member. yMy improved hinges are adjustable without danger of marring the refrigerator cabinet and door exterior nished metal walls. The improved hinges are simple in construction, strong and of low cost and permit the exterior appearance 'of the refrigerator cabinet to be greatly improved.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claim. l

What is claimed is as follows:

A hinge structure for pivotally mountingV a door upon a door frame construction, said hinge structure comprising a. bearing element secured to the door opening frame construction, said hinge structure also comprising a bolt carrying element secured to the door, a bolt associated with said bolt carrying element and projecting outwardly from the door into said bearing element, said bearing element being located inwardly of the wall surface of the door opening frame construction and the bolt carrying element and said bolt being located inwardly of walls of the door to conceal said elements .of said hinge structure, means located inwardly of walls of said door engaging said bolt and said bolt carrying element for locking said bolt in a predetermined position relative to said carrying element, an end portion of said bolt engaging the bearing element whereby said bearing element supports the door solely through said bolt to maintain the door in alignment with walls of the opening of the door frame construction, means providing access through a wall of the door to said locking means for releasing same from said bolt to permit adjustment of the bolt relative to its carrying element, means providing access through a wall of the door to said bolt by a tool adapted to engage and hold said bolt in substantially said predetermined position thereof during the act of` releasing said bolt locking means, and the bolt engaging tool being operable while said bolt is released to adjust thebolt relative to its carrying element for moving the door and changing its position of alignment with respect to walls of the opening of the door frame construction.

EDMUND F. SCHWELLER.

Images