Accessory arrangement for a refrigerator door and can holder for a refrigerator

Abstract

An accessory arrangement for a refrigerator door, and accessories being in the form of can holders (20), median shelves (30), wire frame shelves (30a), and other means for supporting the products to be refrigerated, said door (10) of the refrigerator having an internal wall (11) carrying retaining means (12), which are identical to each other and disposed according to horizontal rows and vertical columns, each retaining means (12) being able to receive and retain, simply by fitting a respective engaging means (40) incorporated to one of said accessories to be removably affixed to the internal wall (11) of the door (10). The distances between the vertical columns of the retaining means (12) and the widths of the accessories are designed so that the useful width of said internal wall (11) is fully occupied with multiple accessories adjacently disposed side by side.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION [0001] The present invention is directed to a an arrangement of accessories, which can have the form of shelves, can holders, and the like, to be removably affixed to the internal wall of a refrigerator door according to a distribution that may be varied as a function of the characteristics of use of the refrigerator. The invention can be applied both to medium or small size refrigerators of individual or restricted use, such as the refrigerators used in hotel rooms, flats, offices, etc., and to large refrigerators. [0002] The invention is further related to a particular can holder construction to be mounted to the internal wall of the door or in the interior of the cabinet of a refrigerator. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] There are well known in the prior art different systems for the fixation of shelves, can holders, and other accessories to the internal wall of a refrigerator door, said accessories being designed and dimensioned to occupy determined pro...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] By reason of the limitations of versatility imposed by the known solutions, it is an object of the present invention to provide an accessory arrangement for a refrigerator door, which allows the user or the manufacturer to modify, substantially and at any time, the positioning and the number of different accessories, such as shelves, can holders, etc., which are removably affixed to the internal wall of the refrigerator door, according to the required use.

[0010] It is a further object of the present invention to provide a can holder, which can be selectively and optionally mounted in different positions to the internal wall of the door or in the interior of the cabinet of a refrigerator and which allows for an efficient circulation of the ambient air inside the refrigerator around the cans stored in the can holder. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012] According to the invention, the refrigerator door presents an internal wall carrying retaining means, which are identical to each other and disposed according to horizontal rows and vertical columns, which are spaced from each other according to a predetermined standard, so that each retaining means can receive and retain, simply by fitting a respective engaging means incorporated to an accessory to be removably affixed to the internal wall of the door. The arrangement is designed with distances between the vertical columns of the retaining means and with widths for the accessories, so that the useful width of said internal wall can be fully occupied with multiple accessories adjacently disposed side by side, each accessory having at least one engaging means fitted in a respective retaining means.

Problems solved by technology

While they allow for a certain variation in the arrangement of the internal accessories of the refrigerator door, said solutions present little versatility, since the accessories are usually restricted to the number and to the positioning defined in the project, most of the time limited to a single option which can only be altered by suppressing the accessory.

In other words, the known arrangements are invariable in terms of the quantity and positioning of the accessories, permitting, only in some cases, the repetition of a determined accessory in a position which, according to the project, should be occupied by other type of accessory, impairing the functional and esthetic characteristics of the refrigerator.

The known arrangements do not allow the user, the manufacturer, or the distributor to adjust the characteristics of the internal wall of the refrigerator according to their needs, or to modify said characteristics according to variable needs of utilization of the refrigerator.

Another limitation to the functionalism of the known accessory arrangements is due to the fact that the can holders are designed to be compulsorily and exclusively mounted in a certain position to the internal wall of the refrigerator door, thus not being able to be used in any other part of the refrigerated environment.

Moreover, the known can holders, which take the form of tubular housings, are insufficiently ventilated, impairing the efficient refrigeration of the cans.

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