Title of Invention	"AN IMPROVED REFRIGERATOR WITH PEDAL OPERATED MECHANISM FOR OPENING THE DOOR OF REFRIGERATOR"
Abstract	The invention relates to a refrigerator having a pedal operated door. Thus, upon actuation of the pedal, the door of the refrigerator can be opened. A lever mechanism connects the pedal to the door for causing an opening of the door.

Full Text

FILED OF INVENTION This invention relates to an improved refrigerator with pedal-operated mechanism for opening the door of the refrigerator. The pedal-operated door of the present invention for causing an opening of a refrigerator door and closure on release of the pedal is intended for use with a refrigerator having a magnetic door closing system. BACKGROUND OF INVENTION Opening and closure of the door of a refrigerator may be effected by mechanical means having an operable handle provided with the door and main cabinet of the refrigerator. Thus, by manually actuating the handle provided on the door, a closure or opening of the door is effected. Yet another system known in the art comprises a magnetic system provided on the door for ensuring complete closing and sealing of door with main cabinet of the refrigerator. A fixed handle is provided on the door such that when a slight pulling force is manually applied thereto, the door gets opened. A disadvantage associated with such known systems of opening a refrigerator door is that it requires at least one of the hands of an operator to be free. OBJECTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION An object of present invention is to propose a novel construction of a pedal operated door of a refrigerator, which can be opened by operating the pedal. Another object of this invention is to propose a pedal operated door for a refrigerator having a known magnetic door closing system. Still another object of this invention is to propose a pedal operated door of refrigerator, which allows opening of the door even in the instance where both the hands of an operator are occupied. A further object of this invention is to propose a pedal operated door of a refrigerator, which gets automatically closed when pedal is released. Further objects and advantages of this invention will be more apparent from the ensuing description. STATEMENT OF INVENTION According to this invention there is provided an improved refrigerator with pedal operated mechanism for opening the door of the refrigerator comprising conventional refrigerator having magnetic door characterized in that it is provided with a bracket (33) and a pedal-operated mechanism comprising: (a) a door pedal (21) having metallic plate (22) covered with rubber pedal cover (16) and a small magnet (18) disposed between said metallic plate (22) and said rubber pedal cover (16), the said pedal having a vertical metallic member (23) hinged to the horizontal member of hinge plate (25) through pedal hinge pin (24), which is welded to the vertical member of the hinge plate (25) which can rotate around hinge pin (26) and is adapted to cause said member (23) to exert force on hinge plate (23) on pressing down of the said pedal thereby imparting linear motion to the connecting rod (4); (b) a connecting rod (4) mounted on a mounting bracket (3) provided with vertical arms (27) and (28) having slots near the top through which connecting rod (4) can linearly move to and fro, a roller (7) provided at right end of the said connecting rod which is held in position by split pin(ll); (C) an L-shaped arm (12) which can rotate around fulcrum pin(30) , the member (31) of arm (12) having slot (29) through which the roller (7) fitted on right end of the connecting rod (4) can slide to and fro and the member (32) of the said arm (12) can move to and fro through a slot in the pusher (6) in such a way that rotatory movement of member (32)on fulcrum pin (30) imparts forward linear movement to the push rod (15) through brackets (35,36), fulcrum pin(30) being rigidly welded on other side of base plate(l) and the arm (12) being held in position by hex nut(9), bushing(S), washer(8) and split pin(10); (d) a pusher (6) is rigidly connected to the push rod (15), which passes through a compression spring (13), and has a push rod cap (14) at the other end, the push rod (15) being kept in position with the help of two brackets (35, 36) which are secured to the base plate (1), and the spring (13) being held in position with spring stopper (34). DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES The present invention is illustrated with accompanying drawings which illustrate an embodiment of present invention and are not intended to be taken restrictively to imply any limitation on the scope of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings:- Fig 1:- shows the overall assembly of the mechanism provided on the base plate fixed on to the bottom side of the base of the fridge; and bracket provided on the bottom of the door; Fig 2A:- shows the section of the mechanism; Fig 2B:- shows details of the mechanism; Fig 3A:- shows the construction of the pedal; Fig 3B:- shows the construction of the hinge plate; Fig 4:- shows a view of the overall mechanism provided on the bottom side of base of fridge; Fig 5:- shows a view of the pedal in folded position; Fig 6:- shows the opened out position of pedal; DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION Referring to Fig 1, 2A, and 2B, the pedal operated door of a refrigerator which can be opened by operating the pedal, comprises of a pedal operated mechanism provided on a metallic base plate (1) and a door bracket (33) fitted to the bottom side of the door of the refrigerator. The base plate (1) is screwed to bottom plate (20) of the refrigerator with the help of screws like (19). The pedal operated mechanism comprises of a pedal (21), which comprises of a metallic plate (22) covered with a rubber pedal cover (16) in order to have a soft feeling and to provide aesthetic appearance. A small magnet (18) is disposed between the rubber pedal cover (16) and the metallic plate(22). The magnet (18) enables the pedal to get attached to the side of the fridge (as shown in Fig 5) when the pedal is not in use. The pedal (21) has a vertical member (23) (Fig 3) (not shown in fig 1. as it is behind hinge plate 25). This vertical member (23) is connected to the pedal (21) through pedal hinge (24), in such a manner that when the pedal(21) is pressed down, it causes rotation of this vertical member(23) around the pedal hinge(24).There is provided a hinge plate (25), which can rotate around hinge (26). The hinge (24) and hinge (25) are connected to each other through a metallic plate (Fig.2B). A connecting rod (4) is mounted on a mounting bracket(3) and can linearly move forward and backward through a slot provided near the top of each of the vertical plates (27, 28) provided on the mounting bracket(3). One end of the connecting rod (4) presses against the hinge plate (25) so that when pedal (21) is vertically pressed down, its vertical member (23) (fig 3) exerts force on hinge plate (25), which in turn pushes forward the connecting rod (4) by virtue of force transmitted by hinge plate (25) to the left end of connecting rod (4). At the other end of the connecting rod (4), there is provided a roller (7), which is placed in position by a spilt pin (11). During the forward linear movement caused by vertical pressing down of pedal (21), the right end of the connecting rod(4) pushes the roller which slides in the slot (29) provided in the member (31) of the arm (12). The arm (12) is an L-shaped metallic arm, which can rotate around metallic fulcrum pin (30), which passes through a hole in the metallic base plate(l) and is rigidly welded on to the other side of the metallic base plate (1). The fulcrum pin (30) is fixed on the upper side with a hex nut(9), a bushing(S), washer (8) and split pin (10), in such a way that the arm(12) is able to rotate freely around the fulcrum pin (30). The other end of the arm (12) passes through a slot in the pusher (6) and can freely move to and fro through this slot in the pusher(6). The forward movement of the connecting rod (4), pushes forward the member (31) of arm (12), which in turn causes rotating movement of member (32) of arm (12) around the fulcrum (30). A push rod(15) is connected to pusher(6) and passes through a spring(13), which is held in position by spring stopper(34). The push rod(lb) is neia in position by means of two brackets (35, 36) screwed to the base plate (1) by means of self tapping screws (17). The push rod (15) can slide linearly, to and fro, through these brackets(35,36). The push rod(15) is provided with a push rod cap(14) at its other end. When member (32) rotates upward due to the forward push exerted by the connecting rod(4), the end of member (32) causes linear motion to the push rod (15) passing through spring (13), which in turn pushes forward the push rod cap (14). The forward movement of push rod cap (14) pushes forward the door bracket (33) screwed on to the bottom of the door of the refrigerator, thereby causing opening the door. During the forward motion of the push rod (15), the spring (13) gets compressed, so that when pedal (21) is released, push rod (15) gets restored to normal position due to spring action of the spring (13) and pedal retracts it to Horizontal position. METHOD OF WORKING In the normal position when fridge door is to be kept in closed position, the pedal (21) can be folded as shown in fig (5). The magnet (18) disposed between the metallic plate (22) and rubber pedal cover (16), keeps the pedal (21) attached to a side of the refrigerator, in a folded condition. When the door of the fridge is to be opened by an operator through the operation of pedal, without use of hands, he would first bring the pedal (21) to operational condition as shown in fig 6 and would press the pedal(21) vertically downwards by foot. The pressing down of the pedal (21), would cause member (23) of the pedal (21) to rotate upwards around the hinge(24). This upward rotating member(23) would press against hinge plate (25) and cause it to rotate around hinge (26), which in turn would push the connecting rod (4) forward. Thus, vertical downward motion of pedal caused by pressing down of the pedal by foot, by an operator, is transferred as linear motion of the connecting rod (4) through slots in the vertical plates (27, 28) provided on the mounting (3). The linear motion of the connecting rod (4) would in turn, through the action of roller (7), result in forward motion of the member (31) of arm (12). Thus would lead to upward rotation of member (32) around fulcrum pin(30). The upward rotation of member (32) around fulcrum (30) would in turn cause the pusher (6) to slide the push rod (15) through the brackets (35,36). The spring (13) gets compressed and the push rod cap (14) pushes the door bracket (33) fitted under the fridge door and thereby results in opening of the door of the refrigerator. On removal of the force exerted on the pedal by foot by an operator, the spring action of spring (13) restores the push rod (15) and push rod cap(14), back to normal position. The member(32) rotates down and member(31) rotates upward which push back the connecting rod(4) back to normal position and thereby the pedal(21) is also restored back to normal position as shown in fig.6. It is to be understood that the system of the present invention is susceptible to modifications, changes, adaptations by those skilled in the art. Such variant embodiments embodying the features and concepts of the present invention are intended to be within the scope of the present invention, which is further set forth under the following claims: WE CLAIM: 1. An improved refrigerator with pedal-operated mechanism for opening the door of the refrigerator comprising conventional refrigerator having magnetic door characterized in that it is provided with a bracket-(33) and a pedal-operated mechanism comprising: (a) a door pedal (21) having metallic plate (22) covered with rubber pedal cover (16) and a small magnet (18) disposed between said metallic plate (22) and said rubber pedal cover (16), the said pedal having a vertical metallic member (23) hinged to the horizontal member of hinge plate (25) through pedal hinge pin (24), which is welded to the vertical member of the hinge plate (25) which can rotate around hinge pin (26) and is adapted to cause said member (23) to exert force on hinge plate (23) on pressing down of the said pedal thereby imparting linear motion to the connecting rod (4); (b) a connecting rod (4) mounted on a mounting bracket (3) provided with vertical arms (27) and (28) having slots near the top through which connecting rod (4) can linearly move to and fro, a roller (7) provided at right end of the said connecting rod which is held in position by split pin(l 1); (c) an L-shaped arm (12) which can rotate around fulcrum pin(30) , the member (31) of arm (12) having slot (29) through which the roller (7) fitted on right end of the connecting rod (4) can slide to and fro and the member (32) of the said arm (12) can move to and fro through a slot in the pusher (6) in such a way that rotatory movement of member (32)on fulcrum pin (30) imparts forward linear movement to the push rod (15) through brackets (35,36), fulcrum pin(30) being rigidly welded on other side of base plate(l) and the arm (12) being held in position by hex nut(9), bushing(5), washer(8) and split pin(10); (d) a pusher (6) is rigidly connected to the push rod (15), which passes through a compression spring (13), and has a push rod cap (14) at the other end, the push rod (15) being kept in position with the help of two brackets (35, 36) which are secured to the base plate (1), and the spring (13) being held in position with spring stopper (34). 2. An improved refrigerator with pedal-operated mechanism for opening the door of the refrigerator as herein substantially described and illustrated.

Documents:

643-del-2002-abstract.pdf

643-del-2002-claims.pdf

643-del-2002-correspondence-others.pdf

643-del-2002-correspondence-po.pdf

643-del-2002-description (complete).pdf

643-del-2002-drawings.pdf

643-del-2002-form-1.pdf

643-del-2002-form-19.pdf

643-del-2002-form-2.pdf

643-del-2002-form-3.pdf

643-del-2002-form-4.pdf

643-del-2002-form-5.pdf

643-del-2002-gpa.pdf