US 6,574,984 B1Granted

Refrigerator door mounted water dispensing assembly

AssigneeCamco, Incorporated

InventorsMichael James McCrea, Dave Brown

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Abstract

A portable water dispensing module is mounted to a refrigerator door inner liner. The liner has side walls with aligned vertically spaced module supports. The water dispensing module comprises a reservoir having a fill chamber located above a main reservoir. The fill chamber has a lid that has an opening closed by a cap. The reservoir supports the fill chamber and has side walls with anchoring supports that releasably and matingly engage with the module supports on the liner side walls to mount the water dispensing module against the liner walls. A lower recessed portion of the front wall of the reservoir protects a spigot, mounted into the recess, from inadvertent contact with a user. The reservoir further includes recessed handle portions on the side walls located forward of the refrigerator door liner side walls and below the fill chamber to facilitate the portability of the water dispensing module from the refrigerator door. The combined use of the fill chamber with the reservoir and the use of a filter in between permits for a relatively large volume of water to be stored in the water dispensing module on the inside of the refrigerator door without the use of any plumbing water lines having to pass through the refrigerator door. Further, when the door is closed, the water contained within the water dispensing module is chilled to provide a supply of filtered chilled water for a user.

Claims14

Dependent claims

A refrigerator door mounted water dispensing apparatus comprising:

a refrigerator door having an outer shell and an inner liner having at least two spaced apart liner side walls and a rear liner wall defining a liner recess between the side walls, the liner side walls having module supports spaced vertically along each of said liner side walls;
and,
a water dispensing module releasably mounted to the refrigerator door and at least partially receivable within the liner recess, said water dispensing module comprising a reservoir having a front wall portion, opposing side wall portions, a rear wall portion and a bottom wall portion, each of the reservoir side wall portions having at least one anchoring support for releasably mating with module supports of the liner side walls to mount the water dispensing module on the refrigerator door with the reservoir rear wall portion adjacent the liner rear wall and the reservoir side wall portions received between, and adjacent to, corresponding liner side walls with the reservoir front wall portion extending across the refrigerator door between the liner side walls, said water dispensing module having a spigot mounted to the reservoir front wall portion adjacent the reservoir bottom wall portion for dispensing water from the reservoir, the reservoir side wall portions each having a leading side wall portion that extends forward of the corresponding liner side wall, the leading side wall portions each having a handle portion recessed into a lower portion of the leading side wall to facilitate mounting and removing of the water dispenser module from the refrigerator door when the door is open, each of the recessed handle portions projecting into the reservoir and defining a shoulder within the reservoir;
and the water dispensing module further including a fill chamber having side walls and a floor with a filter mounted through the floor, the fill chamber being insertable into an upper portion of the reservoir with portions of the floor of the fill chamber resting on and supported by the shoulders defined by the recessed handle portions whereby water poured into the fill chamber is collected by the fill chamber and passes through the filter into a lower portion of the reservoir.

1 more element

A refrigerator door mounted water dispensing apparatus comprising:

a refrigerator door having an outer shell and an inner liner having at least two spaced apart liner side walls and a rear liner wall defining a liner recess between the side walls, the liner side walls having module supports spaced vertically along each of said liner side walls;
and,
a water dispensing module at least partially receivable within the liner recess, said water dispensing module comprising a reservoir having a front wall portion, opposing side wall portions, a rear wall portion and a bottom wall portion, each of the reservoir side wall portions having at least one anchoring support for releasably mating with module supports of the liner side walls to mount the water dispensing module on the refrigerator door with the reservoir rear wall portion adjacent the liner rear wall and the reservoir side wall portions received between, and adjacent to, corresponding liner side walls with the reservoir front wall portion extending across the refrigerator door between the liner side walls, said water dispensing module having a spigot mounted to the reservoir front wall portion adjacent the reservoir bottom wall portion for dispensing water from the reservoir, said water dispensing module having a fill chamber having side walls and a floor with a filter mounted through the floor, the fill chamber being insertable into an upper portion of the reservoir whereby water poured into the fill chamber is collected by the fill chamber and passes through the filter into a lower portion of the reservoir, and the water dispensing module further comprises a lid that fits over the fill chamber.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.