GB2386941A

GB2386941A - A refrigerator drawer with raised surface for drainage of fluid from foodstuffs

Info

Publication number: GB2386941A
Application number: GB0304798A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Claudio Checchin
Original assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corp NV
Current assignee: Electrolux Home Products Corp NV
Priority date: 2002-03-13
Filing date: 2003-03-03
Publication date: 2003-10-01
Also published as: DE20303859U1; ITPN20020016U1; ES1054194Y; FR2837271A3; ES1054194U; FR2837271B3; GB0304798D0

Abstract

A refrigerator appliance comprises at least one enclosure for preserving food and a drawer that can be removed from the enclosure. The drawer 1 is provided with a double bottom formed by the lower wall 2 of the drawer and by a raised surface 3 stood on the lower wall but kept a short distance off it by suitable spacers 5, in such a way as to form a gap. The raised surface is provided with a plurality of openings 6 which allow passage of liquid from the interior of the drawer to the gap. Food placed on the raised surface releases moisture which descends from the surface through the openings and collects in the double bottom, leaving the food contained in the drawer dry.

Description

238694 1

-1 REFRIGERATOR APPLIANCE

WITH IMPROVED REMOVABLE DRAWER

The present invention relates to an improved type of refrigerator appliance 5 with an enclosure containing a removable drawer for keeping food that releases moisture or water, such as fresh vegetables and fruit in particular, but also certain types of meat, etc. For more satisfactory preservation of such foodstuffs it is known practice and usual to have a relatively large drawer, usually in the bottom, colder part of the enclosure, the drawer being removable to facilitate its loading and unloading (the so-called 10 vegetable drawer).

These types of drawer are convenient and widely used; however, in use a drawback has been found, due specifically to the type of foodstuffs stored: because these foodstuffs are rich in water, after even a short period of storage they tend, for wholly natural reasons, to sweat and release some of the water they contain.

15 This water, in the compositions in which it occurs, being released in the liquid state, travels down and gathers at the bottom of the drawer where it stagnates.

There then occurs the well-known problem of the liquid on the bottom of the drawer tending to ferment or go off, with obvious negative effects both on the preservation of the foodstuffs that are in contact with the said liquid, and are contaminated 20 by it, and on the hygiene of the whole enclosure.

To prevent this problem it is of course possible to take the drawer out periodically, remove the food, clean the drawer thoroughly, and then put back the food into the drawer and the drawer into the enclosure.

However, this operation would have to be carried out after first observing 25 the bottom of the drawer, but this is not always possible and almost never convenient.

If on the other hand the drawer is always cleaned at regular intervals, it is obvious that the inconvenience and bother of this work will be felt in the long run.

It would therefore be desirable, and it is an object of the present invention, to provide a refrigerator appliance, preferably for household use, that has an enclosure 30 containing a so-called vegetable drawer for the use described, and that requires much less frequent maintenance and cleaning than currently required, but without the risk of direct contamination of the stored food by the liquid released by the food and deposited on the bottom.

-2 Furthermore, this appliance must be easy to produce with existing technologies and must normally be easy to use.

According to the present invention there is provided a refrigerator appliance comprising at least one enclosure for preserving food and at least one removable drawer for 5 keeping vegetables or foodstuffs that release moisture, wherein the drawer is provided with a double bottom formed by the lower wall of the drawer and by a raised surface stood on the lower wall but kept a short distance off it.

The invention will be further described by way of non-limitative example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: lO Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a refrigerator appliance having a removable drawer in a preferred embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 shows the same drawer seen from above, Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 show respective sections, taken on a vertical plane at right angles to the front wall, of two different forms of a drawer of an embodiment of the present l S invention, and Fig. 5 is a cross section through a drawer of another embodiment of the invention. Referring to the figures, a refrigerator embodying the present invention comprises an enclosure with a removable vegetable drawer 1. It is provided with a double 20 bottom defined beneath by the lower wall or bottom 2 of the said drawer and above by a raised surface 3 which is inserted from above into the said drawer until it almost reaches, but does not touch, the said lower wall 2.

Between the two walls a gap 4 is created on the bottom of the drawer which is used as follows: because food deposited in the drawer is usually rich in water, e.g. fresh 25 vegetables, fruit and even meat, it tends, if kept in storage for a certain period of time, to sweat and lose some of the liquids contained in it.

These liquids naturally tend to drain downwards and deposit on the said surface 3; from here, through passages which can be opened in suitable areas, of which more later, the liquid descends further into the gap 4 beneath and finally comes to rest in 30 this gap, collecting on the bottom or lower wall 2 of the drawer.

This achieves the objective that food deposited in the drawer should never be even slightly immersed in the liquids sweated out from the food itself or produced in

-3- any other way, and they are therefore never contaminated by them, thus greatly improving the quality of the storage.

To maintain the distance between the said bottom 2 and the raised surface 3 there are preferably a plurality of spacers 5 between the devices mentioned immediately S above, and preferably the said spacers are produced by forming suitable protuberances 7 projecting downwards from the underside of the said surface 2.

Advantageously, to ensure rapid and more complete passage of the drained liquids into the said gap 4, the said raised surface 3 is provided with a plurality of through openings 6 which enormously increase the crosssectional area through which the liquids 10 can pass, thereby preventing even temporary stagnation on the said surface 2.

Beneficial use is made of the said openings because their edges can project downwards, thus forming respective extensions 8 having the function of the above-described spacers 5.

Referring to Fig. 5, a more improved Loran of the said raised surface is 1 S shaped as a funnel 10, having at least one nozzle 9 through which the liquid is allowed to drain into the said gap 4. Clearly, there may be several funnel-shaped portions, each with its own nozzle, but this variant is obvious and is not discussed further.

Finally, it is decidedly advantageous for the said raised surface 3 to be separable, either to allow the whole volume of the drawer to be used, or more importantly 20 so that access can be gained to the bottom 2 of the drawer so as to remove the liquid deposited on it and to clean off any dirt and/or residue.

Claims

-4 CLAIMS

1. A refrigerator appliance comprising at least one enclosure for preserving food and at least one removable drawer for keeping vegetables or foodstuffs that release 5 moisture, wherein the drawer is provided with a double bottom formed by the lower wall of the drawer and by a raised surface stood on the lower wall but kept a short distance off it.

2. An appliance according to Claim 1, wherein a multiplicity of suitable

spacers are provided between the lower wall and the raised surface, so as to separate the 10 wall from the surface, forming a gap.

3. An appliance according to Claim 2, wherein the raised surface is provided with a plurality of through openings which allow the passage from the interior of the drawer to the gap of moisture which descends from the surface through the openings and 15 collects in the gap.

4. An appliance according to Claim 2 or 3, wherein the spacers are formed at least partly by respective protuberances projecting downwards from the underside of the raised surface.

5. An appliance according to Claim 2 or 3, wherein the spacers are formed at least partly by respective downward extensions of the edges of the through openings.

6. A refrigerator appliance according to Claim 2, wherein the raised surface is 25 at least partly shaped as a funnel shape that ends in a nozzle leading into the gap.

7. An appliance according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the raised surface is separable and detachable from the drawer.

30

8. An appliance constructed and arranged to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.