US 12,440,024 B2
Refrigerator
Yannick Maaskant, Kruisland (NL); Kevin Wolterink, Breda (NL); Wilhelmus Hendrikus Nicolaas Maria Van Mensvoort, Prinsenbeek (NL); Joost Marinius Van Rooijen, Kapelle (NL); Dennis Dekkers, Breda (NL); Yahui Xian, Breda (NL); Victorius Godefridus Maria Haans, Rotterdam (NL); Leendert Jan Antoon Jansen, Rotterdam (NL); Godefridus Wilhelmus Van Dorst, Breda (NL); Emma Recter, Utrecht (NL); and Thomas Cornelis Johannes Kieboom, Dordrecht (NL)
Assigned to Thetford BV, Etten-Leur (NL)
Appl. No. 18/026,791
Filed by Thetford BV, Etten-Leur (NL)
PCT Filed Sep. 17, 2021, PCT No. PCT/US2021/050868
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Mar. 16, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2022/061110, PCT Pub. Date Mar. 24, 2022.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/236,801, filed on Aug. 25, 2021.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/080,056, filed on Sep. 18, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2023/0324107 A1, Oct. 12, 2023
Int. Cl. A47B 88/403 (2017.01)
CPC A47B 88/403 (2017.01) 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A refrigerator comprising:
a drawer movable to a first open position and a second open position, the first open position being directly opposed to the second open position;
a tub; and
a latching arrangement for connecting the tub to the drawer such that the drawer is selectively openable to one of the first and second open positions while preventing the drawer from opening to the other of the first and second open positions;
wherein the latching arrangement includes a first set of components associated with a first side of the drawer and a second set of the components associated with a second side of the drawer, the first and second sets of components including:
a handle pivotable about an axis;
a rotation bracket mounted on a panel of the drawer, the handle carried by the rotation bracket;
a connecting pin having a first end coupled to the handle such that rotation of the handle by an end user upwardly displaces the connecting pin;
a locking pin connected to a second end of the connecting pin, the connecting pin being upwardly displaceable in response to upward displacement of the connecting pin;
a tub locking mechanism carried on the tub;
a spring-loaded tub pivot plate activated by the tub locking mechanism;
a locking bracket is mounted on the front panel of the drawer and holding the spring-loaded tub pivot plate and the locking pin in place; and
a spring-loaded base pivot plate activated by a base locking mechanism on the base.