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US 5,908,228 AGranted
Door opening/closing handle apparatus for a refrigerator
AssigneeSamsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
InventorYeon-Hark Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A refrigerator includes a cabinet and a door. The door includes a gasket which, when the door is closed, is held by magnetic force against the cabinet. A handle assembly mounted on the door includes a finger-actuated lever which can be actuated by a user's finger to displace a slide which initially pushes open the door by a predetermined distance sufficient to separate the gasket from the cabinet. Then the door can be opened by pulling easily on a rigid part of the handle that is fixed to the door.
Claims10
A refrigerator comprising:
- a cabinet forming a refrigerating compartment for storing food;
- a door hinged to the cabinet;
- a gasket including a magnet for releasably holding the door against the cabinet by magnetic force;
- and
- a door-opening assembly mounted on the door, the door-opening assembly including a handle unit fixed to the door for enabling the door to be manually pulled open, a finger-actuated element mounted on the handle unit and movable relative thereto by a user's finger, and a force-transmitting mechanism for converting movement of the finger-actuated element into a pushing force against the cabinet for opening the door by a predetermined amount sufficient to separate the gasket and magnet from the cabinet, the force-transmitting mechanism including a slide engaging the cabinet whenever the door is in a closed state, and arranged to be pressurized against the cabinet in response to actuation of the finger-actuated element.
2 more elements
A refrigerator comprising:
- a cabinet forming a refrigerating compartment for storing food;
- a door hinged to the cabinet;
- a gasket including a magnet for releasably holding the door against the cabinet by magnetic force;
- and
- a door-opening assembly mounted on the door, the door-opening assembly including a handle unit fixed to the door for enabling the door to be manually pulled open, a finger-actuated element mounted on the handle unit and movable relative thereto by a user's finger, and a force-transmitting mechanism for converting movement of the finger-actuated element into a pushing force against the cabinet for opening the door by a predetermined amount sufficient to separate the gasket and magnet from the cabinet, the handle unit being hollow and forming a chamber, a portion of the force-transmitting mechanism being situated in the chamber.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.