EP2859814A1

EP2859814A1 - Handle with reinforced grip

Info

Publication number: EP2859814A1
Application number: EP20140188233
Authority: EP
Inventors: Bruno Gasparini
Original assignee: LacoplastIT Srl
Current assignee: LacoplastIT Srl
Priority date: 2013-10-11
Filing date: 2014-10-09
Publication date: 2015-04-15
Also published as: ITTV20130161A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to furnishing units and electric household appliances, in particular fridges, which have at least one handle which comprises a grip (3) and one or more parts (2) which connect the grip to a door or drawer. The grip comprises an inner reinforcement (6) and an outer casing (4, 5); these parts by interfering mechanically ensure that the grip behaves mechanically in the manner of a single body.

Description

The present invention relates to doors, furnishing units and electric household appliances, in particular fridges, which have at least one handle. By means of the handle, the user may perform closing and opening of a drawer or door.
In general, the handles, both of furniture and electric household appliances, do not have to withstand major mechanical stresses; however it is preferable that the user should not be able to sense any deformation of the handle during the closing and opening process.
The handles are of particular importance because they are directly operated by the user. The overall reliability of the electric household appliance or furniture unit is often assessed on the basis of the solidity and robustness of the parts with which the user interacts.
In the particular case of fridges, the aesthetic appearance of the handles is of fundamental importance since the handles constitute a highly distinctive part. Substantially similar apparatus, manufactured by a same producer, are often sold under different brand names.
In the case of handles of furniture and electric household appliances, the state of the art is rich in technical solutions; in this description are included: (i) metal handles, (ii) thermoplastic handles produced by means of the injection-moulding process, (iii) assembled plastic and metal handles, (iv) composite handles produced by means of moulding with a metal internal reinforcement and thermoplastic lining.
Thermoplastic handles, which are typically produced by means of injection-moulding, undoubtedly have a comfortable feel, although they may be used only in the case where the dimensions are relatively small. The dimensions are limited in order to prevent deformation during opening and closing.
In the case of large-size electric household appliances, in particular vertical fridges, sometimes particularly long handles are required, being typically mounted vertically, so that they may be gripped easily both by adults and by children. This problem is overcome by the use of metal handles or handles with metal reinforcements.
In order to ensure the mechanical strength, a thickness of thermoplastic material is moulded onto a core made of reinforcing material, typically metal. Howie (US 5,675,867 ) proposes a composite handle with a hollow metal core lined with a thin layer of plastic in order to minimize the amount of material used.
Metal handles are widely used, in particular in modern electric household appliances, since they are equated with high-quality products. They satisfy both the strength requirements and the ornamental requirements. Standard processes are used to manufacture them. However, they are costly owing to the materials used and any secondary machining processes, in particular decorating processes (painting, cladding, chrome-plating, etc.).
With regard to assembled handles, numerous solutions have been proposed, these being characterized in general by a certain constructional complexity. Roberts (US patent 3,766,598 ) proposes an assembled handle composed mainly of a structure having a reinforcing element assembled with screws. Bae et al. (US patent 8,108,972 B2 ) proposed an assembled handle having a seat designed to house an insert with ornamental functions.
Shanok (US patent 5,832,564 ) proposes a fridge handle formed by a base which withstands mechanical stresses and by a cover element which has ornamental functions. However, the solidity of the fastening of the decorative element is debatable.
Johnson and Crump, in the patent application published under number US 2012/0227218 A1 , proposed an assembled handle having a plastic base and a cover element made of metal or plastic or laminated material mounted by means of snap-engagement onto the base. While having the undoubted advantage of easy assembly, the manufacture requires relatively costly processes; in fact it is implicit that parts made of plastic are preferably produced by means of injection-moulding.
Handles with different designs are present on the market; the handles according to the present patent are those consisting of:

at least one straight (or slightly curved) long part which allows the user to grip the handle, this part being referred to in this document as "grip" (see detail 3 in Figure 1). The grip 3 is designed to be gripped and held by the user so as to be able to perform opening and closing of a door or drawer (detail 1 in Figure 1). The grip 3 has usually the long form typical of a bar;
at least one connecting part (detail 2 in Figure 1), which connects the grip 3 to the element 1 which is opened and closed (door or drawer).

The object of the present patent is to devise a grip 3 which is solid and robust and deformation of which cannot be felt by the end user when operating it.
A further object is to define a handle grip 3 which may be produced using standard processes and at a low cost.
Last but not least, an object is that the external surfaces should be able to be easily decorated.
This document proposes a grip 3 consisting of an outer casing and inner reinforcing element (detail 6 in Figure 2). The outer casing is formed by a base (detail 4 in Figure 2) and by a cover (detail 5 in Figure 2). The three elements forming the grip 3 of the handle have preferably a constant cross-section. When the three elements (base of the casing 4, cover of the casing 5 and inner reinforcement 6) have a constant cross-section, the preferred production technology is without doubt extrusion which allows the production of a large amount of product at low process costs. However, the possibility that one or more elements may be produced by means of moulding, machining, or some other production method, is not excluded.
The elements (base 4 and cover 5) forming the outer casing may be made from a very wide range of polymer materials, in particular thermoplastic and elastomeric materials.
The inner reinforcing element 6 is made of material with suitable mechanical properties. The materials used may be aluminium, iron and associated alloys and other suitable materials.
The base 4 of the outer casing of the grip 3 has a longitudinal cavity which acts as a seat for housing the reinforcing element 6. Said longitudinal cavity is partially open on one side of the base 4 along the entire length of said base. The widening of the lateral opening of the base 4 of the casing allows insertion of the reinforcing element 6 by means of snap-engagement. The shaped parts of the base (detail 7 in Figure 3 defines one of these shaped parts) partially obstructing the aperture of the cavity (detail 9 in Figure 3) have a dual function: they form the engaging seats for the cover 5 of the casing and serve to block the movements, in a direction other than the longitudinal direction, of the inner reinforcement 6 housed inside the seat indicated by the broken line in Figure 3 (detail 8).
The degree of freedom (relative sliding along the longitudinal axis) of the base 4 of the outer casing assembled together with only the reinforcing element 6 is shown in Figure 4).
The inner reinforcing element 6 and the outer casing interfere mechanically inside the seat 8 housing the inner reinforcing element 6 when the cover 5 is engaged. The positioning of the cover 5 deforms elastically, or elastically and plastically, the base 4 of the outer casing, such that it makes close contact with the reinforcing element 6. The resultant static friction prevents the relative movement of the base 4 of the outer casing and inner reinforcing element 6 along the axis of the profile. The absence of mechanical play in the assembly formed by the three elements (base of the casing 4, cover of the casing 5 and inner reinforcement 6) is such that the invention behaves mechanically in the manner of a single body.
In other words, in the particular structure of the grip 3 for a handle according to the invention, the cover 5 fitted by means of snap-engagement onto the base 4 grips the latter around the reinforcing element 6 and thus ensures firm and uniform contact of the inner reinforcing element 6 together with the base 4 of the outer casing inside the respective seat 8. Thus, contact of the reinforcing element 6 with the base 4 of the outer casing inside the respective seat, and in particular contact of its edges with the shaped parts 7 (see Figure 2), is maintained in all conditions of use. As the person skilled in the art may easily understand, this contact ensures that the inner reinforcing element 6 and the outer casing cooperate from a structural point of view, behaving substantially as a single-piece structure.
Below the moment is considered where a user applies a pulling force on the handle, for example in order to open a door 1. This action generates a somewhat complex stress condition inside the entire handle. In general this complex stress condition may be understood more easily by reducing it in each case to simpler stress conditions, such as those due to bending alone, torsion alone, and so on.
Let us consider now the case where, differently from that which occurs in the grip 3 according to the invention, the inner reinforcement 6 is not fully in contact with the respective seat 8 formed in the outer casing and some play is present there, for example, between the edges of the inner reinforcement 6 and the shaped parts 7. Considering for example only torsion, the stresses introduced by the action of the user would cause first of all a deformation of only the outer casing, at least until this deformation causes the shaped parts 7 to come into contact with the inner reinforcement 6. Only from that point on a further increase in the intensity of the stress would be opposed simultaneously both by the outer casing and by the inner reinforcement 6.
Typically the outer casing alone has a rigidity which is markedly less than that of the inner reinforcement 6 or, even more so, than that of the entire grip 3. For this reason, during the first stage of application of the torsion, i.e. that stage during which only the outer casing is stressed, there would be a deformation which may be easily noticed by the user. This effect is avoided by the grip 3 according to the invention. In said grip, in fact, the contact between the shaped parts 7 and the inner reinforcement 6 is constant and guaranteed and the grip 3 reacts to the stresses substantially as a single-piece structure, from the moment they are applied. This allows a sensation of significant rigidity and solidity of the entire handle to be transmitted to the user.
As may be noted from Figure 2, the particular structure of the grip 3 according to the invention results in the further advantage that an internally hollow, annularly closed cross-section is formed. As the person skilled in the art will understand, this particular feature allows the structure to ensure a particularly high degree of torsional rigidity, much greater than that which could be obtained with a similar structure, but, for example, where there is no cover 5 or where the cover 5 is simply inserted longitudinally along the base, without being snap-engaged onto it. Moreover, the fact that the resistant cross-section is internally hollow increases its efficiency, allowing at the same time the quantity of material used to be limited and the mechanical characteristics of the latter to be fully exploited.
As regards the grip alone 3, the assembly, by means of snap-engagement, of the elements forming the grip avoids the use of any further closing element (screws, pins, etc.) or glue, facilitating assembly by means of an automated or robotized process. Should the assembly of the elements 2 for connecting the handle to a door or drawer 1 require the use of mechanical closing elements, such as screws, the relative sliding of base 4 of the outer casing and inner reinforcing element 6 constitutes an undoubted advantage during assembly for centring the through-holes for the mechanical closing elements.
The outer finishing of surfaces using hot-foil decoration technology or coextrusion with decorative film or (immediate or subsequent) application of film allows the invention to be suitably decorated where necessary. For example, the possibility of applying film with a metallic appearance and proposing the resultant invention as a low-cost substitute for metallic grips is mentioned. There also exists the possibility of providing grips 3 which are slightly curved. These curved grips require a slightly curved inner reinforcing element 6. The curvature of the inner element 6 allows the outer casing to be shaped should the materials of the casing have suitable elastic properties, allowing the manufacture of the elements of the outer casing by means of simple extrusion. The radius of curvature depends on the materials used and the geometry.
It is envisaged closing the ends parts of the grips 3 using plugs or the actual connecting elements 2.
The main features of the present invention will become clear from the description of a preferred embodiment, provided by way of a non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 shows a schematic axonometric view of a door (1) provided with a grip (3) connected to the door via two fixing elements, one of these elements being indicated as detail (2);
Figure 2 shows a cross-section of the grip, comprising base (4) of the outer casing, cover (5) of the outer casing and inner reinforcing element (6), the inner reinforcing element being highlighted by the hatched area;
Figure 3 shows a cross-section of only the base of the outer casing (7) in which the seat (detail 8, broken line) housing the inner reinforcing element and the lateral opening (9) are highlighted;
Figure 4 shows a perspective view of relative sliding of the base of the outer casing (4) and the inner reinforcing element (6) without assembly of the cover of the outer casing (5).

Claims

Door (or drawer) handle (1) which comprises at least one substantially straight and long grip (3) suitable for being gripped and held by a user so as to be able to open and/or close a door (or drawer) (1), and at least one connecting part (2) which connects the grip (3) to the door (or drawer) (1), wherein:
(i) said grip (3) comprises an inner reinforcing element (6) and an outer casing, said outer casing comprising a base (4) and a cover (5);

(ii) the base (4) of the outer casing of the grip (3) has a longitudinal cavity which is partially open on one side longitudinally in relation to the base (4), this cavity being designed to house the inner reinforcing element (6);

(iii) the base (4) of the outer casing of the grip (3) has shaped parts (7) which define longitudinal engaging seats for engaging the cover (5) of the outer casing, these shaped parts (7) partially obstructing the lateral opening (9) of the longitudinal cavity;

(iv) the inner reinforcing element (6) and the outer casing of the grip (3) interfere mechanically; and

(v) the inner reinforcing element (6), the base of the outer casing (4) and the cover of the outer casing (5) of the grip (3) are profiles with a constant cross-section.
Door (or drawer) handle according to Claim 1, characterized in that the inner reinforcing element (6) of the grip (3) may have different cross-sections, for example in the form of a "U", "D", "V", triangular, or other suitable shapes.
Door (or drawer) handle according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the inner reinforcing element (6) of the grip (3) may be slightly curved longitudinally so as to allow shaping of the outer casing.
Door (or drawer) handle according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the base (4) and the cover (5) of the outer casing of the grip (3) are preferably made of thermoplastic or elastomeric material.
Door (or drawer) handle according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the base (4) and the cover (5) of the outer casing of the grip (3) are preferably, but not exclusively, produced by means of the extrusion process.
Door (or drawer) handle according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the base (4) and the cover (5) of the outer casing of the grip (3) may be finished using hot foil stamping decorative technology or lined with film co-extruded or applied during extrusion or lined with film applied subsequently.
Door (or drawer) handle according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the inner reinforcing element (6) of the grip (3) is made of aluminium, aluminium alloy, iron alloy or other suitable material having the appropriate mechanical properties.
Door (or drawer) handle according to any one of the preceding claims, where the grip (3) of the handle may be assembled using robotic or automated means.
Door (or drawer) handle according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the outer casing and the inner reinforcement (6) define for the grip (3) an internally hollow, annularly closed cross-section.