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Title: Door construction
Claims: The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privelege is claimed are defined as follows: 1. In a door construction for an electrically operable appliance, having a peripheral frame defining an opening, and electrical control means carried by said frame including wiring extending at the rear of said opening, the improvement comprising: a console enclosure carried at the top of said frame for enclosing the control means and defining a downwardly opening recess extending substantially fully across said opening; a fire wall panel extending fully across said opening to close said opening forwardly of said control means and wiring; a plurality of decorative panels removably installed as an assembly in said frame across said opening spaced forwardly of said fire wall panel, said decorative panel assembly defining an upper edge portion received in said recess and a lower edge portion; cooperating male and female securing means on said frame and decorative panel assembly for securing said lower edge portion of the decorative panel assembly removably to said frame against movement forwardly from said space in an engaged disposition thereof; and biasing means for yieldably retaining said decorative panels in facial abutment in said assembly while permitting limited movement of said decorative panel assembly vertically from said engaged disposition to permit said lower edge portion to be moved forwardly from said space and thereby permit said upper edge portion to be moved downwardly from said recess to remove said decorative panel assembly from said door construction, and permit installation of said decorative panel assembly by a reverse procedure, said biasing means being spaced substantially from said lower edge to maintain facial abutment while being disposed to urge said decorative panel assembly from said frame upon movement of said lower edge portion from said engaged disposition. 2. The door construction of claim 1 wherein said securing means comprises a U-shaped element embracing said lower edge portion of the decorative panel assembly and said cooperating male and female connector means is provided on said U-shaped element and frame. 3. The door construction of claim 1 wherein said securing means includes means for securing said plurality of panels together at said lower edge portion. 4. The door construction of claim 1 wherein said securing means includes U-shaped channel means for securing said plurality of panels together at said lower edge portion. 5. The door construction of claim 1 wherein said decorative panel assembly defines side edge portions and flange means are removably secured to said frame for forwardly overlying the side edge portion of said decorative panel means. 6. The door construction of claim 1 wherein said fire wall panel and frame are formed of metal. 7. The door construction of claim 1 wherein said fire wall panel is formed of metal and electrically conducting fastening means are provided for securing and grounding the fire wall panel to the frame of the appliance. 8. In a door construction for an electrically operable appliance, having a peripheral frame defining an opening, and electrical control means carried by said frame including wiring extending at the rear of said opening, the improvement comprising: a console enclosure carried at the top of said frame for enclosing the control means and defining a downwardly opening recess extending substantially fully across said opening; a fire wall panel extending fully across said opening to close said opening forwardly of said control means and wiring; a plurality of decorative panels removably installed as an assembly in said frame across said opening spaced forwardly of said fire wall panel, said decorative panel assembly defining an upper edge portion received in said recess, side edge portions, and a lower edge portion; cooperating male and female securing means on said frame and decorative panel assembly for securing said lower edge portion of the decorative panel assembly removably to said frame against movement forwardly from said space in an engaged disposition thereof while permitting limited movement of said decorative panel assembly vertically from said engaged disposition to permit said lower edge portion to be moved forwardly from said space and thereby permit said upper edge portion to be moved downwardly from said recess to remove said decorative panel assembly from said door construction, and permit installation of said decorative panel assembly by a reverse procedure; flange means removably mounted on said frame defining formed, inturned flanges forwardly overlying said side edge portions of the decorative panel assembly; and biasing means for biasing said decorative panel assembly against said inturned flanges to retain said decorative panels in facial abutment in said assembly while permitting limited movement of said decorative panel assembly vertically from said engaged disposition to permit said lower edge portion to be moved forwardly from said space and thereby permit said upper edge portion to be moved downwardly from said recess to remove said decorative panel assembly from said door construction, and permit installation of said decorative panel assembly by a reverse procedure, said biasing means being spaced substantially from said lower edge to maintain facial abutment while being disposed to urge said decorative panel assembly from said frame upon movement of said lower edge portion from said engaged disposition. 9. The door construction of claim 8 wherein said decorative panel assembly is spaced forwardly of said fire wall panel by said biasing means. 10. The door construction of claim 8 wherein said biasing means comprises resilient means engaging an upper portion of the decorative panel assembly. 11. The door construction of claim 8 wherein said biasing means comprises a pair of spring clips carried by said frame one each at opposite sides of said decorative panel assembly and engaging an upper portion of the decorative panel assembly to space said decorative panel assembly forwardly of said fire wall panel. 12. The door construction of claim 8 wherein said decorative panel assembly includes a protective panel at the rear of said plurality of decorative panels. 13. The door construction of claim 12 wherein said biasing means engages said protective panel. 14. The door construction of claim 12 wherein said biasing means comprises spring clips on said frame engaging said protective panel and urging said upper edge portion of the decorative panel assembly forwardly. 15. The door construction of claim 8 wherein said decorative panel assembly has a thickness of approximately 1/4 inch. 16. The door construction of claim 8 wherein each of said decorative panels comprises a painted panel. 17. In a door construction for an electrically operable appliance, having a peripheral frame defining an opening, and electrical control means carried by said frame including wiring extending at the rear of said opening, the improvement comprising: a console enclosure carried at the top of said frame for enclosing the control means and defining a downwardly opening recess extending substantially fully across said opening; a fire wall panel extending across said opening and forwardly of said control means and wiring; decorative panel means removably installed in said frame across said opening forwardly of said fire wall panel, said decorative panel means defining an upper edge portion received in said recess, side edge portions, and a lower edge portion; securing means for securing said lower edge portion against movement forwardly from said space in an engaged disposition thereof while permitting limited movement of said decorative panel means vertically from said engaged disposition to permit said lower edge portion to be moved forwardly from said space and thereby permit said upper edge portion to be moved downwardly from said recess to remove said decorative panel means from said door construction, and permit installation of said decorative panel means by a reverse procedure, said biasing means comprising spring clip means, said spring clip means further defining means for securing said fire wall panel to said frame. 18. In a door construction for an electrically operable appliance, having a peripheral frame defining an opening, and electrical control means carried by said frame including wiring extending at the rear of said opening, the improvement comprising: a console enclosure carried at the top of said frame for enclosing the control means and defining a downwardly opening recess extending substantially fully across said opening; decorative panel means removably installed in said frame across said opening, said decorative panel means defining an upper edge portion received in said recess and a lower edge portion, said decorative panel means including a plurality of facially juxtaposed decorative panels having differently appearing faces interchangeably disposed with a selected face of a selected panel forwardmost to be viewed from the front of the door construction to provide any one of a plurality of different panel appearances therein; and securing means for securing said lower edge portion against movement forwardly from said space in an engaged disposition thereof while permitting limited movement of said decorative panel means vertically from said engaged disposition to permit said lower edge portion to be moved forwardly from said space and thereby permit said upper edge portion to be moved downwardly from said recess to remove said decorative panel means from said door construction, and permit installation of said decorative panel means by a reverse procedure, said decorative panel means further including a protective panel at the rear of said plurality of decorative panels formed of wax impregnated corrugated fiber panels. Other info: Inventors: Gourdeau, William F. (St. Joseph, MI, US) Hahn, Ronald E. (St. Joseph, MI, US) Application Number: 506183 Filing Date: 1974-09-16 Publication_date: 1976-02-03 Assignee: Whirlpool Corporation (Benton Harbor, MI) Primary Class(es): 312/329 52/800.13, 126/200, 312/204 Other Classes: US Patent Ref:
Other Refs:
Primary Examiner: Schultz, William H. Assistant Examiner: Holko, Thomas J. Attorney: Wegner, Stellman, McCord, Wiles & Wood |
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