The present invention relates to a refrigerator in the case of which a container, such as a vegetable drawer, for chilled goods can be pulled out guided on extending elements from the refrigerator's interior space. Said extending elements generally comprise a plurality of mutually engaging rails, one of which is secured to the chilled-goods container and another of which is secured to the refrigerator housing. Said rails are usually rendered easily sliding one against the other with little friction by means of rollers or balls arranged between them so that a chilled-goods container guided on extending elements of said type can even when full be pulled out and pushed back with little force applied.
To ensure that the rails can move easily, the extending elements supporting a chilled-goods container must be mounted exactly in parallel to one another, conventionally on the side walls of the chassis of a refrigerator of the aforementioned kind.
In refrigerators of less elaborate design a pull-out chilled-goods container in a bottom compartment within the interior space simply rests on the compartment floor and drags when being pulled out therefrom. The friction occurring while a chilled-goods container of said type is being pulled out is generally distributed unevenly over the pull-out container's underside; moreover, since said friction can also vary while the container is being moved there is a very high risk that, if pulled carelessly, it will position itself obliquely in the compartment and become wedged between the side walls thereof. The risk of that happening increases the greater the ratio of the chilled-goods container's width is to its depth. In the case of refrigerators having a wide interior space it has therefore already been proposed to arrange two chilled-goods containers adjacently in a compartment of the aforementioned kind. Said chilled-goods containers will consequently each have a more favorable width-to-depth ratio and can be handled with a negligible risk of becoming wedged.
To improve the aforementioned type of refrigerator's operating convenience it would per se be desirable also for two chilled-goods containers arranged adjacently in a compartment to be guidable in a low-friction manner by means of extending elements. For that, though, extending elements for guiding the two chilled-goods containers will also need to be accommodated in a space between them and permanently secured exactly in parallel to extending elements engaging on the two chilled-goods containers' outer sides.
Supporting of said extending elements on the interior container's floor can only be considered if the chilled-goods containers occupy the lowest compartment within the interior space.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds