IP Library › Granted Patent US 7,802,697
Granted Patent B2
US 7,802,697 · App. 11/730,313 · Granted Sep 28, 2010

Bottle storage for refrigerator

Assignee: Compagnie Gervais Danone
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 7,802,697
App. No.
11/730,313
Granted
Sep 28, 2010
Kind
B2
Abstract

A storage device for bottles with a neck, comprising at least one coupling member suitable for suspending the device beneath a shelf of a domestic refrigerator, and a hollow dispensing guide extending longitudinally from a rear end to a front end having a dispensing opening. The dispensing guide has a top face provided with the coupling member, a bottom face and a C-shaped cross section with an opening into the bottom face. The opening has a width suitable for allowing the narrowed portion of the neck of a bottle to slide freely and so that the longitudinal rims of the opening oriented toward the inside form bearing rails of a length more than twice the diameter of the widened portion of the neck of the bottle, on which this widened portion rests when the bottle is suspended.

Claims (20)

1. A storage device for bottles with a neck, comprising:

a hollow dispensing guide, extending longitudinally from a rear end to a front end and having a dispensing opening,

said dispensing guide having a top radial face provided with a coupling member, a bottom radial face, and a generally C-shaped cross section with an opening into said bottom face, and

said opening having a width configured to allow the narrowed portion of the neck of a bottle to slide freely, and having longitudinal rims oriented toward the inside of said dispensing guide, the longitudinal rims forming bearing rails configured such that a top widened portion of the neck of the bottle rests on said bearing rails when the bottle is suspended in the storage device, said bearing rails having a length more than twice the diameter of the widened portion of the neck; and

at least one adapter element, having i) a connection member insertable into said coupling member of the dispensing guide and ii) an engagement member configured to engage with the shelf of said refrigerator,

wherein said coupling member is formed as a groove having an opening oriented upwardly and configured to be snap-fitted onto the connection member of the adapter element,

wherein said top face of the dispensing guide is a continuous and convex surface, and wherein the opening of the groove is situated in the surface of the top face.

2. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said coupling member is a single groove extending longitudinally in said top face of the dispensing guide and arranged in vertical correspondence with the center of said opening of the bottom face.

3. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said connection member of the adapter element is a rib configured to slide with friction in said groove of the coupling member.

4. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 ,

wherein said coupling member of the adapter element is a U-shaped hook having an opening oriented in a longitudinal direction of said dispensing guide, and

wherein said coupling member is configured to engage with an edge of said shelf of a refrigerator.

5. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said bearing rails of the dispensing guide have, from the rear end to the front end, an inclination oriented downward when said storage device is mounted in a refrigerator.

6. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein at least one of said bearing rails has a stop proximate to said front end, the stop configured to limit the bottles from sliding beyond said front end.

7. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said dispensing guide has an indentation adjacent to said rear end, the indentation extending from said opening of the bottom face to said top face.

8. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:

a hollow loading guide extending from said rear end and having a section extending to a free end having a loading opening,

said section being similar to said dispensing guide, and

said loading guide having a curvature configured such that the loading opening is approximately oriented in a same direction as the dispensing opening.

9. The storage device as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said groove extends along an entire longitudinal length of said top radial face of said dispensing guide from the rear end to the front end.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Mar 30, 2007
From: MARTIN, CHRISTOPHE
To: COMPAGNIE GERVAIS DANONE
Reel/Frame 019186/0796 →
Continuity (2)
Provisional Application 6078811100 · Apr 3, 2006
Related Publication 20070228242A1 · Oct 4, 2007