Previous types of shelving have been developed for use as refrigerator and other shelves. Shelving designs exist in the prior art which include means for containing liquid spills and leaks from a container stored on a shelf, and preventing the spill from dripping from the shelf onto the floor or into other parts of a refrigerator, commonly referred to as “spill proof” shelving. For example, Kane, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,809, issued Oct. 14, 1996, discloses a shelf assembly with a shelf panel, a shelf support supporting the panel, and a molded one-piece member encapsulating the edge of the shelf panel and a substantial majority of the shelf support.
Herrmann, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,735,589, issued Apr. 7, 1998, discloses a shelf panel for a refrigerator compartment, which includes a shelf panel that is slidably supported for extension and retraction on a support, and which includes slide members that are preferably molded so as to form a rim on the top support surface of the shelf panel to contain liquids.
Bird, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,433, issued Jul. 4, 1995, also describes a refrigerator shelf which is adapted for containment of spills on the shelf. The shelf includes a planar shelf with a rim molded around the perimeter edge of the shelf. The rim projects above the top surface of the shelf to form a dam for containing liquid spills on the shelf.
Meier, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,120,720, issued Sep. 19, 2000, discloses a method of manufacturing a glass shelf with a plastic edge for retaining spills on the shelf. The glass shelf panel is placed in a cavity of a mold and plastic material is injected into the cavity surrounding the glass shelf panel such that a plastic edging is formed around the perimeter of the glass shelf panel.
Additional techniques for containing spills in refrigerator shelving include the use of injection molded plastic, so as to encapsulate a support plate forming the shelf, using plastic molded parts to essentially “sandwich” a support plate between the parts, or using a silicone sealant or various other types of adhesives to form physical spill containment barriers around the perimeter of the refrigerator shelving. In addition to the foregoing, it is known to utilize formed lips or ridges on the surface of the support plate itself, so as to essentially provide a physical barrier as a liquid retention feature.
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