Curtain for open front freezer or refrigerator

In a display-type refrigerated food cabinet having an access opening communicating with the atmosphere, and including:

• a barrier supported for movement on said cabinet to an open position from a closed position substantially obstructing said access opening and substantially preventing air movement therethrough between the inside and outside of said cabinet, wherein the improvement comprises:
• a curtain comprising a plurality of side-by-side elongate strips of flexible transparent sheet material, the upper ends of said strips being fixed together and the lower ends of said strips being free to move with respect to each other;
• means for attaching the upper ends of said strips to said cabinet along and substantially parallel to the upper edge of said access opening with said strips depending down across said access opening spaced from said barrier,
• the lower portions of said strips being laterally displaceable one from another for permitting physical access to the inside of said cabinet when said barrier is open,
• the lower ends of said strips being spaced above the bottom edge of said access opening by a narrow horizontally extending slot.

In a refrigerator of the kind having an openfront cabinet, said cabinet having upper and lower front wall portions extending the width of the cabinet and respectively bounding the top and bottom of an access opening into the cabinet, said upper and lower front wall portions substantially sharing a common plane;

• air curtain means for providing a refrigerated stream of air crossing said access opening in spaced relation behind said common plane, said air curtain means including an air outlet slot in said cabinet behind said upper front wall portion and an air return slot in said cabinet behind said lower front wall portion, said slots extending the width of said cabinet for providing a substantially planar downwardly moving curtain of air spaced behind the front wall of said cabinet;
• the improvement comprising:
• a strip curtain fixed with respect to said upper front wall portion of said cabinet and depending therefrom into close spaced relation to the upper edge of said lower front wall portion of said cabinet, said strip curtain comprising a plurality of side-by-side elongated strips of flexible transparent sheet material, said strips being fixed together at the upper ends thereof but not at the lower ends thereof;
• means for attaching the upper ends of said strips to said cabinet and extending substantially parallel to the upper edge of the access opening of said cabinet, with said strips depending across said access opening, the depending portions of the strips being laterally displaceable one from another for permitting physical access to the inside of said cabinet, said strips when undisturbed covering said access opening from the top thereof substantially to the bottom thereof to obstruct air movement between the inside and outside of the cabinet while permitting visual inspection therethrough of the inside of the cabinet, said strip curtain being spaced forwardly from said air curtain means, the lower ends of said strips being spaced above the upper edge of said lower front wall portion by a vertically narrow space extending widthwise of said access opening, the lower ends of said strips lying adjacent the front edge of said air return slot of said air curtain means, the space being provided so as to prevent the lower ends of the strips from being displaced or sucked into the air return grill and to permit a modest flow of air through the gap between the strip ends and cabinet edge wall.