Ice maker for a refrigerator

Abstract

An automatic ice maker for a refrigerator includes an ice mold body, an ice stripper and an ice rake. The ice mold body has front, back, and end sides, a top peripheral rim and a plurality of ice chambers. Each ice chamber has a top opening having a frontal portion adjacent the front side and a back portion adjacent the back side. The ice stripper is sealingly disposed on the top peripheral rim, has a unitary one-piece construction and forms extensions of the front, back and end sides. The ice stripper extends over the frontal portion of the top openings and extends over the back portion of the top openings to prevent spillage. The ice rake is disposed between the front and back sides and includes a rotatable shaft, and rake fingers extending outward from the shaft for moving ice cubes out of the respective ice chambers and onto the ice stripper.

1 . An automatic ice maker for a refrigerator, comprising:
 an ice mold body having a front side, a back side, end sides, a top peripheral rim and a plurality of ice chambers for containing water therein for freezing into ice cubes, each ice chamber having a top opening having a frontal portion adjacent the front side and a back portion adjacent the back side;   an ice stripper sealingly disposed on the top peripheral rim, the ice stripper being of unitary one-piece construction and forming extensions of the front side, back side and end sides, the ice stripper being configured to extend over the frontal portion of the top opening of each ice chamber and extend over the back portion of the top opening of each ice chamber; and   an ice rake disposed between the front side and the back side, the ice rake comprising a rotatable shaft, and a plurality of rake fingers extending outward from the shaft for moving ice cubes out of the respective ice chambers and onto the ice stripper.   
     
     
         2 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 1 , wherein the ice stripper comprises a plurality of stripper fingers and a cover extending between adjacent fingers, the stripper fingers extending inward further than the cover. 
     
     
         3 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 2 , wherein each ice chamber includes a curved inner surface, each rake finger being disposed between two respective adjacent stripper fingers and having a length so that a tip of the rake finger is disposed adjacent the curved inner surface for contacting an end of a respective ice cube for moving the respective ice cube onto the stripper, the stripper fingers and cover being raised so as to not interfere with a rotation of the rake fingers. 
     
     
         4 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 1 , wherein the ice mold body includes a curved bottom wall and end side walls, the ice stripper including side walls and a back wall, the side walls being disposed above the end side walls to form an extension thereof and the back wall being disposed along the back side of the ice mold body to form an extension of the curved bottom wall, the back wall extending over the back portions of the plurality of ice chambers. 
     
     
         5 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 1 , wherein the ice stripper further includes a water inlet element having a unitary one-piece construction with the ice stripper, the water inlet element having an aperture that opens into an interior of the ice mold body where the water inlet element substantially forms a funnel for directing water into the ice chambers. 
     
     
         6 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 1 , wherein the ice stripper includes a plurality of stripper fingers depending from a front of the ice stripper, each stripper finger includes first and second guide portions that form a substantially V-shaped finger with an apex disposed between the front side and the rotatable shaft. 
     
     
         7 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 6 , wherein each stripper finger includes a central portion, running a length of the stripper finger, and edges disposed on either side of the central portion, the central portion being raised relative to the edges so that a crown is formed on each of the stripper fingers. 
     
     
         8 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 7 , wherein a tip of each stripper finger is disposed adjacent the rotatable shaft and being configured to prevent ice from passing between the stripper finger and the rotatable shaft. 
     
     
         9 . The automatic ice maker of  claim 1 , wherein the ice stripper includes an integral water inlet element configured to direct water into the ice chambers. 
     
     
         10 . A refrigerator comprising:
 a main body defining therein a food storage compartment with a frontal opening;   a door rotatably attached to the main body for selectively closing the frontal opening of the food storage compartment;   an ice compartment on the door, the ice compartment comprising a front wall which faces the interior of the food storage compartment when the door is closed; and   an automatic ice maker disposed in the ice compartment, the ice maker comprising:
 an ice mold body having a front side, a back side, end sides, a top peripheral rim and a plurality of ice chambers for containing water therein for freezing into ice cubes, each ice chamber having a top opening having a frontal portion adjacent the front side and a back portion adjacent the back side; 
 an ice stripper sealingly disposed on the top peripheral rim, the ice stripper being of unitary one-piece construction and forming extensions of the front side, back side and end sides, the ice stripper being configured to extend over the frontal portion of the top opening of each ice chamber and extend over the back portion of the top opening of each ice chamber; and 
 an ice rake disposed between the front side and the back side, the ice rake comprising a rotatable shaft, and a plurality of rake fingers extending outward from the shaft for moving ice cubes out of the respective ice chambers and onto the ice stripper. 
   
     
     
         11 . The refrigerator of  claim 10 , wherein the ice stripper comprises a plurality of stripper fingers and a cover extending between adjacent fingers, the stripper fingers extending inward further than the cover, wherein the frontal portion of the top opening of each ice chamber is covered by the cover. 
     
     
         12 . The refrigerator of  claim 11 , wherein each ice chamber includes a curved inner surface, each rake finger being disposed between two respective adjacent stripper fingers and having a length so that a tip of the rake finger is disposed adjacent the curved inner surface for contacting an end of a respective ice cube for moving the respective ice cube onto the stripper, the stripper fingers and covers being raised so as to not interfere with a rotation of the rake fingers. 
     
     
         13 . The refrigerator of  claim 10 , wherein the ice mold body includes a curved bottom wall and end side walls, the ice stripper including side walls and a back wall, the side walls being disposed above the end side walls to form an extension thereof and the back wall being disposed along the back side of the ice mold body to form an extension of the curved bottom wall, the back wall extending over the back portions of the plurality of ice chambers. 
     
     
         14 . The refrigerator of  claim 10 , wherein the ice stripper further includes a water inlet element having a unitary one-piece construction with the ice stripper, the water inlet element having an aperture that opens into an interior of the ice mold body where the water inlet element substantially forms a funnel for directing water into the ice chambers. 
     
     
         15 . The refrigerator of  claim 10 , wherein the ice stripper includes a plurality of stripper fingers depending from a front of the ice stripper, each stripper finger includes a crowned first and second guide portions that form a substantially V-shaped finger with an apex disposed between the front side and the rotatable shaft. 
     
     
         16 . An ice stripper for an automatic ice maker of a refrigerator, the automatic ice maker including an ice mold body having a front side, a back side and end sides forming a peripheral top rim, a plurality of ice chambers and partial partition walls disposed between adjacent ice chambers, the ice stripper comprising:
 a front wall;   a back wall extending over a back portion of the ice chambers for substantially preventing water spillage from the back portion;   end side walls connecting the front and back walls, the end side walls being configured to substantially prevent water spillage from the end sides of the ice mold body, where the front, back and end side walls form a peripheral interface rim configured to engage the peripheral top rim for sealingly connecting the ice stripper to the ice mold body;   a plurality of raised stripper fingers depending from the front wall and extending over respective ones of the partition walls; and   a cover extending between adjacent stripper fingers, the cover being configured to extend over a frontal portion of the ice chambers for substantially preventing water spillage from the frontal portions;   wherein the ice stripper is formed in a unitary one-piece construction.   
     
     
         17 . The ice stripper of  claim 16 , wherein the stripper fingers extend inward further than the cover. 
     
     
         18 . The ice stripper of  claim 16 , wherein the ice stripper further comprises a water inlet element formed with a unitary one-piece construction on the back wall, the water inlet element having an aperture that opens into an interior of the ice mold body where the water inlet element substantially forms a funnel for directing water into the ice chambers. 
     
     
         19 . The ice stripper of  claim 16 , wherein each stripper finger includes a first and second guide portions that form a substantially V-shaped finger with an apex disposed inward of the front wall.