The present invention relates to compartments which house vertically moveable shelf assemblies and particularly to household frost-free refrigerators having a plurality of vertically adjustable shelf assemblies.
Household refrigerators commonly contain food storage bins and a plurality of shelf assemblies used to hold refrigerable products. Traditionally, these shelf assemblies are made of spaced apart horizontally disposed rigid wires attached to a perimetric wire and were positioned at various heights within the refrigerator compartment. The shelf assembly is held in place with brackets or similar means mounted on the interior walls of the refrigerator compartment. This configuration for a shelf tends to lack aesthetic appeal and the structure allows liquids and food stuffs to fall through the spaced apart wires. Thus, manufacturers have introduced solid translucent or transparent glass shelves to enhance the interior aesthetics of the refrigerator and to be more pleasing to the consumer. Solid glass shelves also prevent food stuffs or liquids from passing through the shelves onto food stuffs below.
For a frost-free refrigerator to function properly refrigerated air must circulate throughout the refrigerator compartment. Conventional wire shelves allow refrigerated air to pass between the wires and circulate adequately. Solid glass shelves must be positioned a distance away from the rear and side walls of the refrigerator compartment to allow the refrigerated air to circulate efficiently. Present frameworks to hold glass shelves in such a position are somewhat complex and, due to their inability to hold close tolerances, allow the glass shelves to move and impact on the metal components of the framework causing an excessive rattling. To alleviate these problems a rigid unitary rectangular framework is necessary to hold glass shelves firmly in place away from the rear and side walls of the refrigerator. Such a framework may be adjustably mounted on a set of two ladder tracks attached to the rear of the refrigerator compartment.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds