Disclosed herein is a refrigerator having an ice bucket with a simple structure. The refrigerator may include a main body and an ice bucket provided to supply ice, wherein the ice bucket includes an ice bank provided with an ice storage space therein and an opening, an auger rotatably disposed in the ice bank to rotate about a rotating shaft to transfer ice, and a guide lever rotatably installed in the ice bank to open or close the opening and configured to open the opening by being pushed by ice being transferred in a direction of the rotating shaft.

An ice collection area is disposed inside the cabinet proximate an ice maker. An ice storage area is disposed inside the cabinet. A first relocatable ice bin is disposed inside the cabinet. The first relocatable ice bin is disposed in one of the ice collection area and the ice storage area. A second relocatable ice bin is disposed inside the cabinet. The second relocatable ice bin is disposed in the other of the ice collection area and the ice storage area.

An ice maker for a household refrigeration apparatus has a housing with an opening, through which ice is transportable from an interior of the housing out of the housing, a flap, which is movably arranged in the housing and adjustable for closing or opening the opening, and a drive unit, which is coupled to the flap by a coupling device of the ice maker, to move the flap. The drive unit is formed as a separate module and the entire module of the drive unit is arranged adjacent to the opening in the housing.

An ice discharger is disclosed comprising an ice storage box provided with an ice outlet and an ice inlet, and an ice stirring unit and an ice pushing unit located within the ice storage box; the ice stirring unit comprises an ice stirring section disposed inside the ice storage box and a stirrer disposed rotatably within the ice stirring section, an ice cube inlet and an ice cube outlet are disposed at the top and on the side wall of the ice stirring section, respectively; and the ice pushing unit comprises a circular ice discharging passage disposed between the ice stirring section and the ice storage box, and an ice pushing assembly disposed rotatably within the circular ice discharging passage and for pushing an ice cube to the ice outlet of ice storage box thereby improving the uniformity of the amount of discharged ice.

A container comprising a first compartment having a bottom portion, a side wall portion extending from the bottom portion up to an upper edge and a dispensing opening in the first compartment near the upper edge, said first compartment having a total volume V1 and said first compartment being suitable for containing ice cubes. The container further comprises a second compartment arranged below the first compartment when the container is in its upright position, said second compartment being separated from the first compartment by the bottom portion of the first compartment, said bottom portion having a drain opening through which water can pass from the first compartment to the second compartment, a volume V2 of the second compartment arranged underneath the drain opening being at least 10% of the volume V1 and said volume V2 and said drain opening being arranged such that ice cubes can be dispensed from the first compartment of the container by tipping the container around a horizontal axis and shaking the ice cubes out of the first compartment without ice melt water leaving the volume V2 when the volume of ice melt water is less than 10% of the volume of V1 and the container is tipped 95 degrees from its upright position. In this ways, a simple and easy way to dispense ice cubes is provided without risking undesired ice melt water from leaving the container.

An article storage and dispensing apparatus and method in which articles made by series production are distributed from an article supplier into a storage compartment of predetermined dimensions for storage of articles in front and rear rows of article storage positions. An article distributor in the storage compartment has a carriage, a carriage drive which is configured to drive the carriage in a reversible horizontal carriage drive direction across at least part of the width of the storage compartment, and an article support mounted on the carriage and configured to receive articles from the article supplier above the support when the carriage is in a start position. An article dispenser is associated with the article support to dispense articles selectively in opposite horizontal dispensing directions transverse to the carriage drive direction off the front and rear ends of the support to drop into front and rear article rows.

The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator including an ice bucket configured to store ice, a transfer member configured to transfer ice stored in the ice bucket, and an ice crushing device provided at an outer side of the ice bucket and configured to discharge cubed ice discharged from the ice bucket without crushing, or to crush and discharge the cubed ice.

A merchandiser for storing a product for purchase by a customer is disclosed. The merchandiser includes a housing that defines a cavity for storing the product and a controller for facilitating a transaction for the product at the merchandiser. The controller is configured to: receive an input to initiate a transaction for the product, the input including a type and an amount of product to be purchased; unlock a door of the merchandiser to enable a removal of the product based on receiving the input; determine a completion of the transaction based on the door being in a close position for more than a preset amount of time; and charge the customer for the type and amount of product based on the completion of the transaction.

The refrigerator includes an ice maker; an ice bucket; a transfer member configured to transfer ice stored in the ice bucket; a drive motor unit configured to generate a driving force for driving the transfer member; a first coupler connected to the transfer member; and a second coupler separably coupled to the first coupler and coupled to the drive motor unit. The first coupler includes an insertion portion insertable into the second coupler, and a first inclined portion to guide the insertion portion to be inserted into the second coupler. The second coupler includes a seating portion to receive the first coupler, and a second inclined portion to guide the first coupler to the seating portion.

An appliance including a cabinet, a mount unit, and an ice tray is provided. The cabinet forms a freezer chamber and the mount unit is positioned in the freezer chamber. The mount unit forms a channel configured to releasably receive the ice tray. The ice tray includes a lip corresponding to the channel at the mount unit. The mount unit includes a rotor configured to rotate along a central axis.