US 2010/0147012 A1Published application

Refrigerator having dispenser

AssigneeLG Electronics Inc.

InventorsSeung-Hwan OH, Ho-Youn LEE, Jun-Young LIM

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Abstract

Disclosed is a refrigerator having a dispenser, including a main body having a cooling chamber and a door for selectively shielding the cooling chamber. The refrigerator also includes a container accommodating unit and a communication chute that passes through a front surface of the door and guides content to a dispensing cavity defined by the container accommodating unit. The refrigerator further includes an obstruction unit disposed in the container accommodating unit, and movable, about a plane perpendicular to the front which content guided by the communication chute is relatively obstructed by the obstruction unit and a second position in which content guided by the communication chute is relatively unobstructed by the obstruction unit.

Claims25

Dependent claims

A refrigerator having a dispenser, comprising:

a main body having a cooling chamber and a door that is movable to open and close at least a portion of the cooling chamber;
a container accommodating unit that is positioned on a front surface of the door and that defines, within the door, a dispensing cavity able to accommodate at least partial insertion of a container into which content is dispensed, the front surface of the door being a surface of the door that is oriented opposite the cooling chamber when the door is in a closed position;
a communication chute that passes through the front surface of the door and that is configured to guide content to the dispensing cavity defined by the container accommodating unit;
and
an obstruction unit disposed in the container accommodating unit, and movable, about a plane perpendicular to the front surface of the door, between at least two positions, including a first position in which content guided by the communication chute is relatively obstructed by the obstruction unit and a second position in which content guided by the communication chute is relatively unobstructed by the obstruction unit.

2 more elements

A refrigerator comprising:

a main body having a cooling chamber and a door that is movable to open and close at least a portion of the cooling chamber;
a container accommodating unit that is positioned on a front surface of the door and that defines, within the door, a dispensing cavity able to accommodate at least partial insertion of a container into which content is dispensed, the front surface of the door being a surface of the door that is oriented opposite the cooling chamber when the door is in a closed position;
a communication chute that passes through the front surface of the door and that is configured to guide content to the dispensing cavity defined by the container accommodating unit;
and
an obstruction member disposed in the container accommodating unit, and movable between at least two positions, including a first position in which an outlet of the communication chute is relatively obstructed by the obstruction member and a second position in which an outlet of the communication chute is relatively unobstructed by the obstruction member, the obstruction member being configured to move from the first position to the second position without any portion of the obstruction member further invading an area of the dispensing cavity directly below the outlet of the communication chute than when the obstruction member is in the first position.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.