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  Door compartment for a refrigeratorUSPTO Application #: 20060279188Title: Door compartment for a refrigerator Abstract: A door compartment for a refrigerator including at least one chamber designed to hold products to be cooled, that can be sealed on all sides. The ceiling of the chamber forms the base of an open tray. (end of abstract) Agent: Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP - Chicago, IL, US Inventors: Kari Alitalo, Tatiana Petrova, Antti Nykanen USPTO Applicaton #: 20060279188 - Class: 312401000 (USPTO) The Patent Description & Claims data below is from USPTO Patent Application 20060279188. Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims
[0001] The present invention relates to a door compartment for accommodating products to be cooled on the inside of the door of a refrigerator. [0002] Conventionally, these door compartments usually take the form of a box open at the top which is mounted fixedly on the door or can be mounted at different heights on the inside of the door as selected by the user. Door compartments comprising a chamber which can be sealed on all sides, frequently designated as a butter compartment, are usually attached fixedly in the upper area of the inside of the door and have a flap pivotable about a horizontal axis which forms a large portion of the front side and possibly also a part of the ceiling of the chamber, and which can be pivoted to access the interior of the chamber. This type of butter compartment is restricted to being attached on the upper edge of the inside of the door since attachment in a different position would result in poor utilisation of space since nothing can be accommodated thereabove. [0003] The object of the invention is to provide a door compartment for a refrigerator comprising at least one chamber that can be sealed on all sides for holding products to be cooled, which can be mounted at any height on an inside of a refrigerator door and makes it possible to utilise space efficiently at every height. [0004] The object is solved by a ceiling of said chamber forming the base of an open tray which for its part can be used as a conventional open door compartment to accommodate further goods to be cooled. [0005] The chamber can be formed by a compartment comprising a pivotally hinged front flap or preferably by a drawer and a compartment from which the drawer can be withdrawn. Such a drawer can also be used for example to remove goods to be cooled which are contained therein, from the refrigerator in order to place them on a dining table or to work with them in the kitchen. [0006] The compartment for its part can be provided with a rear wall which stiffens the tray; however, since the door compartment is generally mounted in the immediate vicinity of the door inner wall, such a rear wall is not absolutely essential. [0007] The compartment and the open tray forming its ceiling are preferably constructed in one piece, for example, by plastic injection moulding. [0008] The compartment can especially be provided to accommodate two drawers, where these can be of different sizes. Thus, regardless of which side the door is hinged, a user can always place the more frequently used drawer on the more readily accessible side of the compartment. [0009] Preferably, at least one of the drawers, optionally also the frame accommodating said drawers, consists of a transparent material which allows the user to identify the contents of the drawer without needing to withdraw it. [0010] Further features and advantages of the invention are obtained from the following description of the exemplary embodiments with reference to the appended figures. In the figures: [0011] FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of a door compartment according to the invention; [0012] FIG. 2 is a partial view of the back of the door compartment facing the refrigerator door; and [0013] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the door compartment. [0014] The door compartment shown in FIG. 1 is constructed from a rectangular compartment 1 comprising base 2, ceiling 3, rear wall 4 and two side walls 5 and an open front and a tray 6 which is joined to the compartment 1 in one piece and is open at the top, whose rear and side walls each represent an extension of the rear and side walls 4, 5 of the compartment 1. [0015] The compartment 1, which is open at the front in the figure, that is on the side facing away from the door of a refrigerator holding the door compartment, accommodates two drawers 7, 8 of different width, of which the larger 7 is shown in a partly withdrawn position. The drawers 7 like the compartment 1 are injection mouldings of plastic which is preferably transparent to allow the user to identify the contents of the drawers 7, 8 without opening these. [0016] The drawers 7, 8 have four side walls and a base where a projecting gripping tab 9 is moulded on a front wall of each drawer, facilitating withdrawal of the drawers 7, 8 from the compartment 1. [0017] The two drawers 7, 8 are held in a common continuous compartment so that a user can exchange their arrangement according to his needs. [0018] Moulded at the upper edge of the rear wall 4 is a fixing tab 10 for mounting the door compartment on an inside of a refrigerator door. The fixing tab 10 consists for the most part of a plate separated from the rear wall 4 by a gap 18 and parallel thereto, which is connected in one piece to the rear wall 4 along its upper edge and possibly, as shown in FIG. 2, by fins 11 extending from the upper edge downwards through the gap 18. Cut-outs 12 of the plate, which are open at the bottom, are provided to each receive the shank 13 of a fixing projection starting from the inside of the door, which projection holds a retaining plate 14 at its free end facing away from the door, whose cross-section is larger than that of the shank 13 and which engages in the gap 18 and thus anchors the compartment 1 on the rear wall. [0019] In the modified embodiment in FIG. 3, the drawers 7, 8 are replaced by pivotable flaps 15, 16. Each flap 15, 16 is used for sealing one of two compartments which are separated from one another by a dividing wall 17 and whose common ceiling 3 forms the base of the tray 6 located thereabove. The flaps 15, 16 are shown as hinged at their lower edge on their respective compartment but a hinged connection at the height of the upper edge of the flaps or at one of its lateral edges can also be considered. Continue reading... Full patent description for Door compartment for a refrigerator Brief Patent Description - Full Patent Description - Patent Application Claims Click on the above for other options relating to this Door compartment for a refrigerator patent application. ###  How KEYWORD MONITOR works... a FREE service from FreshPatents1. Sign up (takes 30 seconds). 2. Fill in the keywords to be monitored. 3. Each week you receive an email with patent applications related to your keywords. Start now! - Receive info on patent apps like Door compartment for a refrigerator or other areas of interest. ### Previous Patent Application: Detent pin bearing retainer lock for a drawer slide Next Patent Application: Plastic chassis and plasma display device including the same Industry Class: Supports: cabinet structure ### FreshPatents.com Support Thank you for viewing the Door compartment for a refrigerator patent info. 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