Housing for a household appliance

Abstract

A housing for a household appliance, such as a refrigerator, has walls that are covered at least locally by a colored plastic film. Preferably, the film may be a thermoplastic foil that is heated and stretched onto the walls. The film may be applied on the finished housing or it may be placed on individual wall panels prior to the final assembly of the appliance housing.

1 . A housing of a household appliance, comprising walls bounding the housing, and a colored plastic film at least locally covering said walls.  
   
   
       2 . The housing according to  claim 1 , wherein said film consists of a thermoplastic material.  
   
   
       3 . The housing according to  claim 1 , wherein said walls are formed from a plurality of joined wall elements, and each of said wall elements is individually covered with a piece of said plastic film.  
   
   
       4 . The housing according to  claim 1 , wherein said walls are painted underneath said colored plastic film.  
   
   
       5 . The housing according to  claim 1 , wherein said walls are unpainted underneath said colored plastic film.  
   
   
       6 . The housing according to  claim 1 , wherein said film is attached to said walls such that said film can be pulled off from said walls.  
   
   
       7 . The housing according to  claim 1 , wherein said film is a self-adhesive film.  
   
   
       8 . An improved household appliance of the type having a housing with walls with outer wall surfaces, the improvement which comprises colored plastic film at least partially covering said outer wall surfaces.  
   
   
       9 . A method for applying a decoration to a household appliance having walls, which comprises the steps of producing a plastic film bearing the decoration, and applying the plastic film to the walls of the household appliance.  
   
   
       10 . The method according to  claim 9 , which comprises applying the film to the walls of the household appliance following an assembly of the appliance.  
   
   
       11 . The method according to  claim 9 , which comprises applying the film to individual wall elements of the appliance, and subsequently fitting the wall elements provided with film to the appliance.  
   
   
       12 . The method according to  claim 9 , wherein the step of applying the plastic film comprises heating and stretching the film.