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US 12,264,873 B2Granted
Refrigerator
AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.
InventorSeonwoo Choi
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator may include a rack gear assembly provided on a lower surface of a drawer. The rack gear assembly may have a first rack member and a second rack member that are pushed out by being moved forward sequentially so that a pushing-out distance of the drawer is maximized and the drawer is fully closed even when opposite sides thereof are pushed in a storage chamber without being in parallel.
Claims3
A refrigerator comprising:
- a cabinet having an opening to access a storage chamber provided within the cabinet;
- a drawer including a front panel and a storage bin coupled to a rear of the front panel, the drawer being coupled to the cabinet such that drawer moves between a first position in which the front panel closes the opening of the cabinet and the storage bin is received in the storage chamber, and a second position in which the front panel is spaced away from the opening of the cabinet and at least a portion of the storage bin is positioned outside of the storage chamber;
- at least first and second pinions positioned at a lower surface of the storage chamber;
- a driving motor to supply a driving force for rotation of the first and second pinions;
- and
- at least two rack gear assemblies positioned at a lower surface of the storage bin, and to operate based on rotations of the first and second pinions so that the drawer moves between the first position and the second position,
- wherein the first rack gear assembly includes:
- a first rack having a first rack gear to engage with gear teeth of the first pinion;
- and
- an idle gear provided at the first rack to engage with the gear teeth of the first pinion, and the idle gear to allow the first pinion to idle,
- wherein lower ends of teeth of the idle gear are lower than a lower end of gear teeth of the first rack gear,
- wherein a spaced distance L between the first pack gear and a rear side gear tooth of the idle gear is formed longer than a pitch of each year tooth.
9 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.