Insulated cabinet for installation in a home exterior wall

Abstract

The present invention provides a convenient means for delivery personnel to deliver refrigerated goods to a building without having to wait until the building owner is home. The invention provides a dual-access insulated cabinet installable into the exterior wall of a home, with outside and inside doors. Both outside and inside doors contain lockable mechanisms for securing the doors. The insulated cabinet includes a main compartment for storing items to be frozen, an interior compartment for inserting into the wall of a building, and a cooling apparatus connected to the main compartment for selectively cooling the insulated cabinet to a selected temperature. An optional indicator light is inside whereby the light turns on when a delivery of refrigerated goods is made through the outside door of the invention. The indicator light then resets to the off state when the resident of the building opens the inside door of the present invention.

1 . An insulated cabinet comprising: 
 a main compartment having a top wall, a bottom wall, two side walls, a front aperture and a rear aperture;    an interior compartment connected to the front aperture of said main compartment, said interior compartment having a top wall, a bottom wall, two side walls, a front aperture and a rear aperture;    a rim having a groove disposed therein around said front aperture of the interior compartment;    an apparatus for selectively cooling the temperature in said main compartment;    a rim disposed around the edge of the rear aperture of said main compartment;    a flange disposed around the front aperture of said interior compartment, said flange having a protruding rim that fits into said groove;    an outside door panel hingedly attached to said flange;    a locking mechanism operably disposed on the outside door panel to selectively secure said outside door panel to the flange for selectively locking the outside door panel to the flange;    an inside door panel hingedly attached to the rim of the rear aperture of said main compartment; and    a locking mechanism operably disposed on the inside door panel for selectively locking the inside door.    
     
     
         2 . The insulated cabinet of  claim 1 , wherein a light indicator is attached to said inside door panel for indicating when said outside door panel is opened;  
     
     
         3 . The insulated cabinet of  claim 2 , wherein a reset apparatus attached to said main compartment resets said light indicator to the off state when said inside door panel is opened.  
     
     
         4 . The insulated cabinet of  claim 1 , wherein said cabinet contains an access panel for maintaining said cooling apparatus, and an electric power plug for connecting said cooling apparatus to electric power;  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said interior connecting compartment is narrow enough such that it is capable of being placed into an opening between studs in the wall of a building.  
     
     
         6 . The insulated cabinet of  claim 1 , wherein said interior connecting compartment thickness being greater than or equal to the thickness of a building wall.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the interior connecting compartment is installed in the wall of a building such that the outside door panel of the present invention is disposed outside of the building so it is only capable of being opened from outside said building, and the inside door panel of this invention is disposed inside of the building so that it is only capable of being opened from inside said building.  
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein the walls of said invention comprise an insulated material capable of retaining selectable refrigeration temperatures inside said main compartment of said invention.  
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 1  wherein said flange is secured to the interior compartment from the exterior of a building.  
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 4  including means for cooling said main compartment.  
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 6  including means for cooling to a temperature at least as low as 32 degrees Fahrenheit.  
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 6  including means for cooling to a temperature at least as low as 0 degrees Fahrenheit.  
     
     
         13 . A method of using an insulated freezer cabinet disposed in a building wall, said cabinet including an inside lockable door on an inside portion of the building and a lockable door outside of said building, said method comprising: 
 unlocking said outside door by a person delivering frozen goods;    opening said outside door;    turning on an indicator light on the inside of the building approximately at the time that the outside door is opened;    placing frozen goods in said freezer cabinet;    closing and relocking said outside door panel;    unlocking said inside door panel by a resident of said building;    opening said inside door;    removing said frozen goods; and    relocking said inside door.    
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 13 , including turning said indicator light off at approximately the time that said inside door is opened.