Support and retention liner gasket

A refrigerated cabinet construction comprising:

• a food liner formed of a thin plastic sheet having side walls and an end wall defining an open ended storage space, said food liner side walls being capable of limited flexure whereby exceeding the limit would subject said saide walls to cracking, said side walls terminating at the open end of the storage space with an outwardly turned peripheral flange of a predetermined thickness and frontal area;
• an enclosure having outside walls terminating with an inwardly turned peripheral rim having an inner edge circumscribing an area larger than said frontal area;
• a channel formed integrally with the inner edge of the rim and extending inwardly therefrom, said channel being defined by a first leg substantially parallel to the side walls, a base substantially parallel to the rim, and a second leg spaced inwardly of the first leg and substantially parallel thereto, whereby said base and legs define a groove of predetermined width;
• a liner support gasket formed of an elastomeric material for mounting the food liner on the enclosure without flexure of said food liner, said gasket including a barbed body having a free width greater than the width of the groove so as to be resiliently compressively insertable therewithin;
• an arm projecting perpendicularly from the body;
• a neck generally aligned with the body to extend therefrom adjacent a base of the arm;
• a head section formed at an end of the neck opposite said body and having an inwardly extending nose section adjacent said arm to define therebetween a slot adapted to receive said food liner flange;
• and a projecting surface on the head section engaging the first leg upon insertion of the body in the groove to deflect said head section toward said arm to narrow the slot such that the flange is resiliently compressively gripped in assembly therebetween.

A refrigerated cabinet construction comprising:

• a plastic sheet food liner having side walls and an end wall defining an open ended storage space, said food liner side walls being capable of limited flexure whereby exceeding the limit would subject the side walls to cracking, said side walls terminating at the open end with an outwardly turned peripheral flange of a predetermined frontal area;
• a sheet metal enclosure having outside walls terminating with an inwardly turned rim having an inner edge circumscribing an area larger than said frontal area;
• a generally J-shaped channel formed integrally with the inner edge of the rim defined by a long leg and a short leg being substantially parallel to each other and said outside wall and a base extending therebetween, said long leg, said short leg and said base defining a groove of predetermined width;
• a reversely turned lip formed at a terminal edge of the short leg, said lip and short leg defining a surface of a fixed width;
• a liner support gasket for mounting the food liner on the enclosure without flexure thereof, said gasket including a barbed base section having a free width greater than the predetermined width of the groove so as to be resiliently compressively insertable therewithin;
• an arm projecting perpendicularly from the base section and terminating with a finger extending in a direction parallel with said base section to define a space therebetween having an undeflected width less than the fixed width of the surface;
• a neck extending from the base section in alignment therewith;
• a head section formed at the extended end of the neck and having an inwardly extending nose section defining with said arm a slot adapted to receive said food liner flange with the flange being resiliently compressively gripped in assembly therebetween;
• and a projecting ledge at the outer edge of said head section being alignable with said long leg so as to be engageable therewith in assembly to downwardly deflect the head section about the neck whereby inserting said base section in said groove after said flange is received within said slot causes deflection of said head section and deflection of said arm as said finger acts on said lip to increase the retaining force of said flange in said slot.