AU2004100439A4 - Basting Dish - Google Patents

Description

AUSTRALIA

Pate nts Act 1990 COMPLETE

SPECIFICATION

INNOVATION PAT ENT Invention Title: BASTING DISH The following s tatement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me:- (See. w 11, I..I 'I I 1, 1 11. I I 1 BASTING DISH FIELD OF THE INVENTION THIS INVENTION relates to a baking dish, sometimes known as a basting dish, and is more specifically concerned with increasing the stiffness of a baking dish when it is made from a flexible metal foil such as an aluminium foil in order to make it easier to handle.

Such dishes are cheap, and designed to be used once and then discarded.

STATE OF THE ART A foil dish for cooking larger and heavier articles such as a whole turkey are available.

However they suffer from the disadvantage that they lack a desired stiffness and are therefore not easy to handle. Theoretically the stiffness can be overcome by using a stiffer metal foil but this increases the cost and the manufacturing difficulties. During baking it is desirable that air circulates around the whole of the article being baked so that it browns evenly. This is achieved by providing the pressed base of the dish with ribs on which the underside of the article stands. Typically a baking dish for an article such as a small turkey will have a wall height of 70mm and a base length of about 320mm, the wall being formed from pleated foil which meets the edge of the base at sharp corner.

The wall is normally upwardly divergent and its upper edge may be stiffened by a surrounding horizontal bead of scrolled foil that reinforces it.

A disadvantage of a baking dish made as described above is that the weight of a heavy article such as a turkey tends to partially collapse some of the ribs supporting it and this naturally distorts the shape of the base by lengthening it perpendicularly to the lengths of the ribs. Also the sharp corner joining the base to the sidewall is depleted of metal by the action of bending the foil into the shape of the corner, so that it is physically weakened.

The distortion of the dimensions of the base and the weakened comers reduces the stiffness of the dish and makes it harder to handle. Also the partial collapse of the ribs under the weight of the article in the dish reduces the ability of the hot air to circulate beneath the article so that uneven cooking and browning of the article may result.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION An object of the invention is to provide an improved baking dish.

THE INVENTION In accordance with the present invention a metal foil basting dish has its base surrounded by an upstanding pleated wall joined to the base by a corner portion formed with two, parallel, horizontally and vertically spaced corners separated by a loop of strip which slopes downwardly and inwardly between the two corners.

PREFERRED FEATURES OF THE INVENTION The base is preferably stiffened by an array of upwardly-extending ribs suitably of a chevron-shaped cross-section. The apex of the chevron has the advantage that the contact line between the ribs and a relatively heavy article of food placed in the dish is relatively small.

Preferably the ribs are arcuate in shape and suitably are arranged to extend parallel to one another and to the adjacent sidewall at each side of the dish. The two sets of ribs thus formed may be arranged to flank a straight central channel extending between opposite sides of the dish and the ribs of each set are conveniently equi-spaced from one another and from the adjacent sidewall of the dish.

Although it has been proposed to use flat-topped ribs on the base which join with one another at their ends to define enclosed zones of the base, and thus possibly stiffen the base also, such a proposal has the disadvantage that the zones enclosed by the ribs represent areas through which hot air cannot circulate during cooking and thus even browning of an article of food being baked in the dish is not achieved.

In the preferred arrangement of dish the loop-shaped strip slopes gently upwards from the horizontal by a few degrees. The advantage of such a configuration is that the angle between the plane of the wall and the plane of the base is now divided between the two corners so that each has a smaller included angle than is the case in the prior art when a single corner is used. The amount of displaced metal in the foil at each of the corners is thus less than would be the case with a single corner, as the included angle of each of the two corners is larger. The corner portion of the dish is thus stiffer because the residual metal thickness at each corner is greater than is the case when a single corner is used.

INTRODUCTION TO THE DRAWINGS.

The invention will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- IN THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a plan view of a basting dish; FIGURE 2 is a vertical section through the dish taken on the line and in the direction indicated by the arrows II-II in figure 1; and, FIGURE 3 is a vertical section through figure 1 taken on the line and in the direction indicated by the arrows III-III in figure 1.

OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The figures show a basting dish I pressed out of a sheet of aluminium alloy foil of thickness 0.14 mm. As illustrated in figure 1 the dish is elliptical when viewed in plan and has a base 2 surrounded by an upwardly divergent pleated wall 3. The base 2 and wall 3 are separated by a corner portion 4 formed by a smooth, narrow and slightly upwardly-inclined loop of strip 5 joined to the base 2 by a first comer 6 and to the bottom of the wall 3 by a second corner 7 which is parallel to the first corner. The included angle in each of the corners 6 and 7 is about 125 degrees. The metal depletion at each of these corners caused by the pressure deformation of the metal foil into the shape of the corner is relatively small so that the stiffness of the dish at the corner portion 4 is superior to the stiffness of a corner junction made with a single corner as the metal depletion with the latter substantially greater.

As shown in figure 1 the base is stiffened by two sets of opposed arcuate ribs 8 which extend parallel to the adjacent portions of the sidewall 3, respectively. The ribs 8 are equi-spaced from one another and from the sidewall 3 and they are of chevron-shaped cross-section as shown in figure 2. The portions of the base 2 between the two sets of ribs 8 provide a straight land 10 extending along the major axis of the ellipse and which provides a pouring channel to assist removal of cooking liquid that would otherwise collect between the ribs 8. A single, short, flat-topped straight rib 11 is positioned in the centre of the land 10 to provide central support for an article placed in the basting dish.

The configuration of the ribs 8 acts to support a heavy article such as a turkey above the plane of the base 2 so as to allow hot air to circulate beneath it with a consequential more even browning. Because the curved ribs 8 have sections of their lengths extending in different directions, they resist expansion of the area of the base in its own plane in all directions, despite the downward pressure of the article on the ribs 8. Such downward pressure is often large enough to produce a flattening effect on straight and parallel ribs of a conventional basting dish with a consequential distortion of the base and a loss of its stiffness in at least one direction. Also the chevron-shaped cross-section of the ribs 8 ensures that the contact area between the ribs and a heavy article of food placed on them is reduced to almost line contact so that overall browning of the food article is not impaired.

As shown in figures 2 and 3 the upper edge of the wall 3 terminates in a sharp corner 13 extending along the inner edge of a surrounding narrow shelf 14. The outer and under edge of the shelf 14 terminates in a bead 15 formed by a scrolled portion of the metal sheet and this aids stiffening of the upper edge of the wall 3. The bead 15 is preferably located beneath the level of the shelf 14 so that two identical basting dishes of the shape shown in the figures can be placed one above the other with the upper dish inverted. Such an arrangement provides a closed oven that may be required to enhance cooking.

At opposite ends of the dish 1 the shelf 14 is provided with a pair of spaced lozengeshaped deformations 17 and 18. The deformations 17 extend downwards and the deformations 18 extend upwards and are sized to fit into the deformations 17 of an identical second dish when mounted in an inverted position on top of the first dish. The deformations 17 and 18 thus serve to hold two dishes together with the upper dish inverted, and do not interfere with stacking of identical dishes one above the other during transportation and storage. The deformations also assist handling of the dish by providing thumb-holds at opposite ends of the shelf 14.

The range of thicknesses of aluminium foil for use in the manufacture of the basting dish lies between O.08mm. and 0.16mm. Samples have been made using a foil thickness of 0.14mm. and the foil thickness likely to be used when production commences, is 0.13mm.

Claims (4)

1. A metal foil basting dish having its base surrounded by an upstanding pleated wall joined to the base by a corner portion formed with two, parallel, horizontally and vertically spaced corners separated by a loop of strip which slopes downwardly and inwardly between the two corners.

2. A dish as claimed in Claim 1, in which the ribs extend in a spaced parallel relationship to one another and to the adjacent sidewall of the dish, and have an upwardly-pointing chevron-shaped cross-section.

3. A dish as claimed in Claim 1 or Claim 2, in which the upper end of the wall is stiffened by a surrounding shelf of foil terminating in a scroll of foil providing a bead disposed in a plane lying beneath the upper surface of the shelf.

4. A dish as claimed in Claim 3, in which the shelf is formed with similarly-shaped formations extending in opposite directions and so arranged that when one dish is inverted and placed over an identical dish, the formations of one dish fit into the deformations of the other dish allowing the two shelves to abut one another. A dish substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings. Dated this 6th.day of June 2004 RAPFORD PTY. LIMITED By: 1. (Applicant's Patent Attorney)