Kitchen appliance having floating glass panel
First Claim
Patent Images
1. A kitchen appliance comprising:
- a support body;
a compartment supported by the support body, said compartment having a frontal opening;
a door supported by the support body and shiftable relative to the compartment so as to selectively close the frontal opening, said door including a main body panel having a top edge section, a bottom edge section and opposing side edge sections that define an inner panel portion and an outer panel portion;
a plurality of mounting members spaced about the outer panel portion of the door inward from the top, bottom and opposing side edge sections; and
a glass panel assembly including a glass panel and a plurality of mounting elements, said plurality of mounting elements being adhesively secured to the glass panel and inter-engaging with the plurality of mounting members such that the glass panel is mounted to the door with the glass panel being spaced from, yet substantially, completely covering, the outer panel portion wherein, when the kitchen appliance is normally viewed, neither the plurality of mounting elements nor the plurality of mounting members is exposed such that the glass panel appears to float relative to the door.
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Abstract
A kitchen appliance includes a door having an outer panel portion and an inner panel portion, with a plurality of mounting members being spaced about the outer panel portion of the door. A glass panel assembly, including a glass panel and a plurality of mounting elements, is detachably mounted to the door through the interengagement of the plurality of mounting elements with the plurality of mounting members. The mounting elements are adhesively secured to the glass panel. Neither the plurality of mounting members nor the plurality of mounting elements are readily visible normally when viewing the kitchen appliance such that the glass panel appears to float relative to the door.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A kitchen appliance comprising:
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a support body; a compartment supported by the support body, said compartment having a frontal opening; a door supported by the support body and shiftable relative to the compartment so as to selectively close the frontal opening, said door including a main body panel having a top edge section, a bottom edge section and opposing side edge sections that define an inner panel portion and an outer panel portion; a plurality of mounting members spaced about the outer panel portion of the door inward from the top, bottom and opposing side edge sections; and a glass panel assembly including a glass panel and a plurality of mounting elements, said plurality of mounting elements being adhesively secured to the glass panel and inter-engaging with the plurality of mounting members such that the glass panel is mounted to the door with the glass panel being spaced from, yet substantially, completely covering, the outer panel portion wherein, when the kitchen appliance is normally viewed, neither the plurality of mounting elements nor the plurality of mounting members is exposed such that the glass panel appears to float relative to the door. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A method of mounting a glass panel to a door of a kitchen appliance, the door including a main body panel having a top edge section, a bottom edge section and opposing side edge sections that define an inner panel portion and an outer panel portion, the method comprising:
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providing a plurality of mounting members on the outer panel portion of the door, with said plurality of mounting members being spaced inward from the edge sections of the main body panel; attaching a plurality of mounting elements to an inner panel portion of a glass panel, with said plurality of mounting elements being spaced inward from an outer edge portion of the glass panel; and slidingly inter-engaging the mounting elements with the mounting members to secure the glass panel to the door, said glass panel being spaced from, yet substantially completely covering, the outer panel portion of the door with neither the mounting members nor the mounting elements being readily visible when the kitchen appliance is viewed from front or angled side views thereby providing an illusion that the glass panel appears to float relative to the door. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18)
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Specification