Refrigerator door-in-door latch

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10087658-B2
Application number	US-201514978199-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2015
Priority date	Dec 22, 2015
Publication date	Oct 2, 2018
Grant date	Oct 2, 2018

Abstract

A door-in-door refrigerator includes a door having an inner door and an outer door. When the inner and outer doors are in open positions, food items stored in a main refrigerated compartment are accessible. When the inner and outer doors are in closed positions, the door seals the refrigerated compartment, and food items stored in the main refrigerated compartment are not accessible. When the inner door is in a closed position and the outer door is in an open position, food items stored in a storage structure coupled to the door are accessible. A latch includes a trigger that moves in a direction substantially parallel to a handle. Movement of the trigger shifts the latch between a latched position, in which pulling on the handle causes the inner and outer doors to open, and an unlatched position, in which pulling on the handle causes the outer door to open while the inner door remains closed.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A door-in-door refrigerator comprising:
a cabinet including a liner that defines a refrigerated compartment;
a door configured to selectively seal the refrigerated compartment, the door including an inner door and an outer door;
a storage structure coupled to the door, the storage structure being configured to store food items, wherein, when the inner and outer doors are in open positions, food items stored in the refrigerated compartment are accessible, when the inner and outer doors are in closed positions, the door extends across and seals the refrigerated compartment and food items stored in the refrigerated compartment are not accessible, and, when the inner door is in a closed position and the outer door is in an open position, food items stored in the storage structure are accessible;
a handle coupled to the outer door; and
a latch configured to selectively couple the inner door to the outer door, the latch including a trigger coupled to the outer door and configured to move in a direction substantially parallel to the handle, wherein movement of the trigger shifts the latch between a latched position, in which pulling on the handle causes the inner and outer doors to simultaneously open, and an unlatched position, in which pulling on the handle causes the outer door to open while the inner door remains closed.

2. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the trigger is configured to move in a substantially vertical direction.

3. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the handle includes a first foot coupled to the outer door and a bar mounted to the outer door through the first foot, with the bar being configured to be gripped by a user's hand and the trigger being configured to move in a direction substantially parallel to the bar.

4. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 3 , wherein the handle further includes a second foot coupled to the outer door, the bar further mounted to the outer door through the second foot.

5. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 4 , wherein the trigger is located between the first foot and the second foot.

6. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 3 , wherein the trigger is located between the outer door and the bar.

7. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 3 , wherein:
the first foot includes an opening; and
the trigger is configured to slide within the opening during movement of the trigger.

8. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the latch further includes a latching bar and a catch, the latching bar being configured to selectively contact the catch, wherein, when the latching bar contacts the catch, the latch is latched, and, when the latching bar does not contact the catch, the latch is unlatched.

9. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 8 , wherein:
the trigger is coupled to the latching bar;
movement of the trigger causes the latching bar to move into or out of contact with the catch; and
the latch further includes a spring configured to bias the latching bar into contact with the catch.

10. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 9 , wherein:
the latching bar is coupled to the outer door; and
the catch is coupled to the inner door.

11. The door-in-door refrigerator of claim 1 , wherein the trigger is configured to be directly acted upon by a user.

12. A method of coupling an inner door to and decoupling the inner door from an outer door of a door-in-door refrigerator, the door-in-door refrigerator including: a cabinet including a liner that defines a refrigerated compartment; a door configured to selectively seal the refrigerated compartment, the door including the inner door and the outer door; a storage structure coupled to the door, the storage structure being configured to store food items, wherein, when the inner and outer doors are in open positions, food items stored in the refrigerated compartment are accessible, when the inner and outer doors are in closed positions, the door extends across and seals the refrigerated compartment and food items stored in the refrigerated compartment are not accessible, and, when the inner door is in a closed position and the outer door is in an open position, food items stored in the storage structure are accessible; a handle coupled to the outer door; and a latch configured to selectively couple the inner door to the outer door, the latch including a trigger coupled to the outer door, said method comprising:
moving the trigger in a direction substantially parallel to the handle to shift the latch between a latched position, in which pulling on the handle causes the inner and outer doors to open, and an unlatched position, in which pulling on the handle causes the outer door to open while the inner door remains closed.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein moving the trigger includes moving the trigger in a substantially vertical direction.

14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the handle includes a first foot coupled to the outer door and a bar mounted to the outer door through the first foot, with the bar being configured to be gripped by a user's hand, said method further comprising moving the trigger includes moving the trigger in a direction substantially parallel to the bar.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the handle further includes a second foot coupled to the outer door, the bar is further mounted to the outer door through the second foot and the trigger is located between the first foot and the second foot, said method further comprising:
moving the trigger includes moving the trigger away from one of the first and second feet and toward the other of the first and second feet.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein moving the trigger includes moving the trigger in a space between the outer door and the bar.

17. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first foot includes an opening, said method further comprising: moving the trigger includes sliding the trigger within the opening.

18. The method of claim 12 , wherein the latch further includes a latching bar and a catch, the latching bar being configured to selectively contact the catch, and the trigger is coupled to the latching bar, said method further comprising: moving the trigger includes causing the latching bar to move into or out of contact with the catch.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein moving the trigger includes causing the latching bar to move out of contact with the catch and shifting the latch to the unlatched position, wherein the latch further includes a spring, the method further comprising biasing the latching bar into contact with the catch.

20. The method of claim 12 , wherein the trigger is configured to be directly acted upon by a user.

Assignees

• Whirlpool Co

Inventors

• Gresham Iv Joseph
• Kessick Evan W
• Post Ryan M
• Quinlan Daniel
• Wadke Rahul

Classifications

• F25D23/028

  Details · CPC title

• E05Y2900/31

  for refrigerators · CPC title

• F25D23/04

  with special compartments, e.g. butter conditioners · CPC title

• E05C3/30

  in the form of a hook {(hook-like fastenings E05C19/10; locks for sliding wings with pivoting bolts E05B65/0811, E05B65/0835)} · CPC title

• F25D2325/021

  Shelves with several possible configurations · CPC title