The present invention refers to a household apparatus, such as an oven, a microwave oven, a dish-washing machine, a refrigerator and similar, with a compartment to receive goods to be treated, and with a door covering said compartment to receive goods to be treated, wherein a gasket is arranged in said door for sealing between said compartment to receive goods to be treated and said door that closes said compartment to receive goods to be treated.

A door gasket of the aforementioned kind has been disclosed, for example, in a patent document EP 1 763 286 Bl. Said gasket is hollow and made of an elastic material and comprises a fin-like lip which is integrally formed at the outer surface of the gasket extending in the longitudinal direction thereof. Said gasket, however, have several disadvantages which may completely annihilate the function of the gasket. If the gasket is not placed correctly on the support edge, the sealing feature of the sealing lip is substantially lowered and, respectively, the gasket may be excessively folded in one direction leading to leaking of microwaves from the microwave oven. The form of the gasket hinder the cleaning, and the sealing edge tends to be damaged during cleaning resulting in steam and hot air, respectively, to leak from the apparatus.

It is the object of the present invention to create a door gasket of a household apparatus which remedy drawbacks of the know solutions.

According to the present invention, the object as set above is solved by characteristics of the characterising clause of claim 1.

The invention is further described in detail on the basis of the non-limiting preferred embodiment, and with a reference to the accompanying drawing, where

Fig. l shows a cross-sectional view of a mounted gasket of a microwave oven according to the invention,

Fig. 2 shows a cross-sectional view of a gasket of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 shows a cross-sectional view of a deformed gasket of Fig. 1.

The present invention is further described with the reference to the embodiment of sealing the door of the microwave oven, however, the invention may be used with other household apparatuses, such as ovens, dish-washing machines, refrigerators and similar, without implementation of any essential change.

A door gasket 1 of a household apparatus, such as an oven, a microwave oven and similar extends over the entire circumference of a door 2 covering a heating compartment 4 enclosed by a surrounding wall 3. Said gasket 1 is fixed in the door 2 whereas the free end of the gasket 1 cooperates with a portion 5 of the surrounding wall 3 facing the door 2. The invention is further described with the reference to the embodiment of the gasket 1 with the microwave oven. The gasket 1 according to the invention in a cross-section essentially resembles a U shape and comprises a web 6 and a first flange 7 and a second flange 8 arranged approximately perpendicularly to said web. The second flange 8 which is somewhat longer than the first flange 7 is formed at its free end with a sealing head 9. Said sealing head 9 which is intended to cooperate with the above mentioned portion 5 of the surrounding wall 3 of the microwave oven is preferably hollow and may resemble, in a cross-section, an arbitrary form such as for instance at least one regular or irregular geometric shape and, preferably, two regular or irregular geometric shapes such as for instance circles, ellipses, squares, triangles and similar and an arbitrary combination of said geometric shapes. In the present embodiment, said sealing head 9 resembles an approximate form of the combination of the triangle and the square, wherein a larger section 9.1 originating from the second flange 8 resembles an approximate form of the triangle the apex thereof being associated with said second flange 8, and wherein a smaller section 9.2 originating from the base of said triangle resembles an approximate form of a square one of the corners thereof being associated with said triangle. In this manner said hollow sealing head 9 is formed with two mutually interconnected chambers i.e. with a larger chamber 9.3 and with a smaller chamber 9.4. When the gasket and, respectively, the sealing head 9 is deformed each corner of said triangle 9.1 and/or said square 9.2 acts in a manner of bellows, thus, achieving rather advantageous deformation and sealing characteristics of the gasket 1 according to the invention. Preferably, said sealing head 9 is formed approximately symmetrically relative to the deformation direction, thus, tilting of any section of the sealing head 9 is prevented and, simultaneously, it is enabled for the larger section 9.1 and the smaller section 9.2 to collapse virtually perpendicularly to said portion 5 of the surrounding wall 3.

Further, said second flange 8 is formed at its outer side, i.e. at the side averted from the first flange 7, with at least one sealing lip, preferably with two sealing lips 10, 11 arranged approximately perpendicularly to said second flange 8. Said lips 10, 11 are provided to cooperate with one of the wall of the door of the oven, in the present embodiment with the wall 12 of the microwave catcher 13 of the microwave oven.

Due to its form, i.e. the U form, the gasket 1 according to the invention is suitable to be mounted onto a fold 14 of the door 2 cover, wherein said door 2 cover is arranged on the side of the door 2 facing the heating compartment 4. Said door 2 cover embraces in essence the entire circumference of the door with the exception of the glass. Said fold 14 extends approximately perpendicular to the extension of the door 2, the free end thereof is averted from the heating compartment 4. Therefore, the gasket 1 according to the invention is placed on the free end of said fold 14 so that the web 6 of the gasket 1, when the latter installed, essentially rests against the free edge of said fold 14. Said flanges 7, 8 extend in parallel with the fold 14, wherein said lips 10, 11 rest against said wall 12 of the microwave catcher 13.

The gasket 1 according to the invention is placed onto the door of the microwave oven in a manner that at first the gasket 1 is mounted onto said fold 14 of the door 2 cover and, afterwards, said door 2 cover is installed onto said microwave catcher 13. During installation of the gasket 1 said lips 10, 11 deform for a small amount towards the heating compartment 4, thus, enabling sealing of the gap between the gasket 1 and the microwave catcher 13 and preventing in a reliable way leaking of steam and/or water from the apparatus. When the door 2 of the household apparatus are closed said sealing head 9 is pressed against the portion 5 of the surrounding wall 3 facing the door 2. As a result, when the door 2 is closed the sealing head 9 is deformed providing a relatively large sealing surface. Simultaneously is achieved a relatively good adjustment to irregularities of said surrounding wall 3 which contributes additionally to the prevention of leaking of steam or water or microwaves from the heating compartment 4.