AU2009201010B2

AU2009201010B2 - Height adjustable grill

Info

Publication number: AU2009201010B2
Application number: AU2009201010A
Authority: AU
Inventors: Andrew GRIGOR
Original assignee: Newell Australia Pty Ltd
Current assignee: Newell Australia Pty Ltd
Priority date: 2008-03-13
Filing date: 2009-03-12
Publication date: 2015-10-29
Anticipated expiration: 2029-03-12
Also published as: AU2009201010A1; CN101530296A

Abstract

A contact grill including a lower cooking assembly carrying a lower cooking plate, a frame pivotally mounted to the lower cooking assembly, an upper cooking assembly carrying an upper cooking plate and being pivotally mounted to the frame, and a height 5 adjusting arrangement. The height adjusting arrangement includes a rotary adjuster acting between the lower cooking assembly and the frame for selectively varying the height of the upper cooking plate relative to the lower cooking plate.

Description

P0'011 Regulalion 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION STANDARD PATENT Invention Title: Height adjustable grill The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 2 Height adjustable grill Field of the invention The present invention relates to a contact grill, and in particular to a contact grill that allows the distance between an upper and lower cooking plate to be adjusted. 5 Background of the invention Contact grills are typically operated by placing foodstuffs between upper and lower cooking plates and heating those cooking plates. It is desirable for contact grills to be able to heat and/or cook a variety of different foodstuffs which may range, for example, from toasting a sandwich to grilling a steak. 10 To assist in this various means have been proposed to adjust and set the distance between the upper and lower cooking plates. This allows the upper cooking plate to be distanced from the lower cooking plate such that a gap exists between the foodstuff being heated/cooked and the upper cooking plate, which in turn allows for cooking of the foodstuff via ambient rather than direct heat. 15 Summary of the invention According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a contact grill including a lower cooking assembly carrying a lower cooking plate, a frame pivotally mounted to the lower cooking assembly, an upper cooking assembly carrying an upper cooking plate and being pivotally mounted to the frame, a height adjusting arrangement including a 20 rotary adjuster acting between the lower cooking assembly and the frame such that rotation of the rotary adjustor selectively varies the height of the upper cooking plate relative to the lower cooking plate. In a second aspect the present invention provides a height adjusting arrangement for a contact grill, the contact grill including a lower cooking assembly carrying a lower 25 cooking plate, a frame pivotally mounted to the lower cooking assembly, an upper cooking assembly carrying an upper cooking plate and being pivotally mounted to the frame, the height adjusting arrangement including a rotary adjuster acting between the 3 lower cooking assembly and the frame such that rotation of the rotary adjustor selectively varies the height of the upper cooking plate relative to the lower cooking plate. The rotary adjuster may be rotatably mounted on the frame and be operative to vary the 5 angle between the frame and the lower cooking plate. The rotary adjuster may include a rotary cam, and a handle for rotating the cam. An indexing arrangement may be provided for allowing the cam to be rotated between at least two positions corresponding to different heights of the upper plate relative to the lower cooking plate. 10 The cam may be a snail cam. The indexing arrangement may in one embodiment include a series of spaced apart recesses defined in an outer perimeter of the cam and a corresponding recess retaining pin extending from the lower cooking assembly. The indexing arrangement may further include a click stop arrangement which is 15 operative when a recess in the outer perimeter of the cam is aligned with the recess retaining pin. A side arm of the frame may include a handle housing, and the handle may be rotatably mounted in the handle housing, and the click stop arrangement may include a spring loaded pin carried by the handle and a corresponding array of pin-locating detents 20 defined within the handle housing, each detent angularly aligned with one of the recesses defined in the outer perimeter of the cam. The side arm of the frame may further include a cam housing, and the handle may operate directly on the cam via a pin shaft extending through the side arm. A locking arrangement may be provided for locking the contact grill in a closed position, 25 the locking arrangement conveniently being integral with the height adjusting arrangement.

4 Typically, the locking arrangement includes a locking hook defined in the cam, the locking hook engageable with the recess retaining pin to lock the contact grill in a closed position. The frame may include first and second side arms joined by a handle, with the height 5 adjusting arrangement being fitted to at least one of the first and second side arms. The invention extends to a method of retrofitting a contact grill with a height adjusting arrangement as described in the preceding statements. Brief description of the drawings An embodiment of the invention will now be described with reference to the 10 accompanying figures in which: Figure 1 provides a perspective view of a contact grill in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; Figure 2A provides a perspective exploded view of an arm and the height adjusting arrangement of the grill of figure 1; 15 Figure 2B provides a perspective exploded view from an alternative angle of the arm and the height adjusting arrangement as depicted in figure 3A; Figure 3A provides a side cross sectional view of the contact grill of figure 1 with the height adjusting arrangement in a locked position; Figure 3B provides a rear sectional view of the contact grill of figure 1 with the height 20 adjusting arrangement in a locked position; Figure 3C provides a side cross sectional view of the contact grill of figure 1 with the height adjusting arrangement in an alternative position; and 5 Figure 4 provides a cross sectional view of the grill of figure 1 with the various index positions illustrated. Detailed description of the embodiments Referring to figure 1, an embodiment of the contact grill 100 of the present invention will 5 now be described. As can be seen, the contact grill 100 broadly includes a lower cooking assembly 102, an upper cooking assembly 104, a frame 106 and a height adjusting arrangement 108. The lower cooking assembly 102 includes a stand 110 which in turn includes feet 112 on which the contact grill 100 rests. The lower cooking assembly 102 also includes a 10 lower body 114 which houses a lower cooking element (not shown) and supports a lower cooking plate 116. The upper cooking assembly 104 includes an upper body 118 which houses an upper cooking element (not shown) and supports an upper cooking plate 120. The lower and upper cooking elements are arranged so as to transfer heat to the lower 15 and upper cooking plates 116 and 120 respectively. The lower and upper cooking assemblies 102 and 104 are assembled together via the frame 106. The frame 106 includes a right frame arm 122 (as viewed from the front of the grill 100) and a left frame arm 123 joined by a handle 124. The frame 106 is pivotally mounted to the lower cooking assembly 102 at a lower pivot attachment in the form of a 20 pair of trunnions 126 extending from the rear of the lower cooking assembly 102. The upper cooking assembly 104 is journalled to the frame 106 at central pivot attachments 128 defining a central pivot axis midway along the upper cooking assembly 104. This pivot arrangement allows for the upper cooking plate 120 to provide optimum contact with whatever foodstuff is being cooked or heated. 25 Turning to figures 2A and 2B, The right frame arm 122 and height adjusting arrangement 108 will be now be described in greater detail. Figure 2A provides an exploded perspective view of the right arm 122 and height adjusting arrangement 108 6 from the inside face of the right arm 122, and figure 2B provides an exploded perspective view of the right arm 122 and height adjusting arrangement 108 from the outside face of the right arm 122. As can be seen, the height adjusting arrangement 108 includes a dial 202, a guide 204, 5 a rotary adjuster in the form of a snail cam 206, a central fastener 208, an offset fastener 210, a retaining pin 212 (located on the side of the lower cooking assembly 102), and a spring 248 and pin 250 for use in an indexing arrangement. The dial 202 is connected to the cam 206 to rotate in concert relative to the right arm 122. The cam 206 in turn rests upon the retaining pin 212, and the angular orientation of the cam 10 determines the set distance between the lower cooking assembly 102 and the upper cooking assembly 104. More specifically, the outer face of the dial 202 is provided with a protruding handle 216 which may be easily grasped and rotated by a user. The inner face of the dial 202 is provided with three bores: a central bore 218, a middle bore 220 and an outer bore 222 15 which, in this instance, are recessed into the cavity 224 inside the protruding handle 214. Bores 218, 220 and 222 are located in a line with bore 218 being centrally located in the dial, bore 220 is located adjacent bore 218, and bore 222 adjacent bore 220. The central bore 218 is shaped to receive the central fastener 208, the middle bore 220 is shaped to receive the spring 248 and pin 250 of the indexing arrangement, and the 20 outer bore 222 is shaped to receive the offset fastener 210. The guide 204 is formed as part of the right arm 122. The right arm 122 (including the guide 204) may be moulded from a plastics material which is resistant to the heat produced by the lower and upper cooking elements. The guide 204 is disc-shaped and an arcuate slot 226 is cut out of the guide 204, the arcuate slot 226 describing an arc of 25 approximately 2250. The width of the slot 226 is sufficient to accommodate the offset fastener 210, with the ends of the slot defining upper and lower stops. The guide 204 also includes a central aperture 228 which passes through the guide 204 and is sized to accommodate the central fastener 208.

7 The inner face of the right arm 122 (i.e. the face closest to the cooking assemblies 102 and 104) also includes a cam housing 230 formed by a flange 232, the cam housing 230 shaped to house the cam 206. The outer face of the right arm 122 (best seen from figure 2B) is formed with an arcuate recess 234 (located between the central aperture 5 228 and the track 226) in which a series of shallow detents 236 are formed. The detents 236 are radially spaced about the central aperture 228 and are shaped to receive the end of the pin 250 from the indexing arrangement so as to form a click-stop arrangement with stops at approximately every 450. The outer face of the right arm 122 also includes a dial housing 237 for accommodating the dial 202. 10 The cam 206 is provided with a countersunk central aperture 238 shaped to accommodate the central fastener 208 and a countersunk offset aperture 240 shaped to accommodate the offset fastener 210. The outer perimeter of the cam 206 is provided with a series of spaced apart adjustment recesses 242 which are shaped to accommodate the retaining pin 212. In this instance the cam 206 is provided with four 15 adjustment recesses 242. The cam 206 is also provided with a locking recess 244 defining a hook, the dimensions of the locking recess 244 also shaped to accommodate the retaining pin 212. When face of the right arm 122 and the cam 206 is located in the cam housing 230 on the inner face of the right arm 122. The central fastener 208 passes through the central 20 aperture 238 in the cam 206, the central aperture of the guide 204, and is secured in the central bore 218 of the dial 202. The offset fastener 210 passes through the offset aperture 240 in the cam 206, the track 226 in the guide 204, and is secured in the outer bore 222 of the dial 202. The spring 248 and pin 250 of the indexing arrangement are housed in the middle bore 220 of the dial 202 with the spring 248 acting to bias the pin 25 into the trench 234. If the dial 202 is positioned such that head of the pin 250 is aligned with one of the detents 236 the spring 248 will cause the pin 250 to seat in the aligned detent 236. The outer perimeter of the cam 206 rests on the retaining pin 212. If the retaining pin 212 is aligned with one of the adjustment recesses 242 the retaining pin 212 will locate in the aligned recess 242. If the retaining pin 212 is aligned with the 30 locking recess 244 the retaining pin 212 will locate in the locking recess 244.

8 As will be appreciated, when the handle 214 of the dial 202 is turned by a user the offset fastener 210 travels within the track 226, the pin 250 of the indexing arrangement travels within the recess 234, and the cam 206 is rotated (due to the force applied via the central and offset fasteners 208 and 210). The upper and lower stops of the slot 226 5 prevent the dial 202 from being turned too far in either direction (insofar as they provide stops beyond which the offset fastener 210 cannot travel). As the dial 202 is turned the pin 250 of the pops in and out of the detents 236 to provide tactile feedback to the user. The detents 236 are spaced to correspond with the adjustment recesses 242 and locking recess 244 of the cam 206. In this way when the user feels the pin 250 seat in a 10 detent 236 they can be sure that one of the cam recesses 242 or 244 is aligned with the retaining pin 212. The various positions offered by the indexing arrangement are discussed further below and illustrated in figure 4. The shape of the cam 206 is such that the further clockwise the dial 202 is rotated the greater the distance between the lower and upper cooking assemblies 102 and 104. 15 This is most easily seen from figures 3A, 3B, and 3C which provide cross sectional views of the right hand side of the grill 100 with the cam 206 rotated (via the dial 202) into two different positions. In figure 3A the cam 206 is rotated such that the retaining pin 212 is located in the locking recess 244. As can be seen, the locking recess 244 is shaped that that if a user applies an upward force to the handle 124 of the frame 106 in 20 an attempt to open the grill 100 the retaining pin 212 will be caught by the hook 302 of the locking recess 244 to prevent the grill 100 from being opened. Figure 3B provides a rear cross-sectional view of the grill 100 in the locked position. In order to open the grill 100 the user must first rotate the dial 202 in a clockwise direction until the pin 250 aligns with the "first" detent 236. At this point the cam 206 will also have rotated such that the 25 catch 302 has been moved away from the retaining pin 212 and the grill 100 may be opened. It will of course be appreciated that while the cam 206 has been described as including detents 236 for engaging with the retaining pin 212, the cam could equally be provided with protrusions. In this case the retaining pin 212 would be replaced with a retaining 30 member appropriately shaped (e.g. a cradle shape) to receive the protrusions.

9 Turning now to figure 3C, the grill 100 is shown with the height adjusting arrangement 108 set such that the upper cooking assembly 104 is suspended a certain distance 304 above the lower cooking assembly 102. In order to do this a user has lifted the upper cooking assembly 104 by applying an upward force to the handle 124 and turned the 5 dial 202 through 90* (corresponding to two detents recognisable to the user via the "clicks" provided by the pin 250 seating in the adjacent detents 236 as the dial 202 is turned). By turning the dial 202 this distance the first recess 304 is bypassed (again recognisable by the indexing arrangement) and the second recess 306 of the cam 206 is aligned with the retaining pin 212. When the user lowers the upper cooking assembly 10 104 the retaining pin 212 locates in recess 306 thus providing a gap between the lower and upper cooking assemblies 102 and 104. As the user continues to rotate the dial 202 in a clockwise direction cam 206 will rotate into orientations providing a greater distance between the lower and upper cooking assemblies 102 and 104. Conversely, if the user rotates the dial 202 in an anticlockwise 15 direction the cam 206 will rotate into orientations providing a lesser distance between the upper and lower cooking assembly 102 and 104. Figure 4 shows a cross sectional view of the grill 100 from the right hand side with the dial 202 removed. Figure 5 depicts a series of six dial positions indexed by the click stop indexing arrangement, the dial positions labelled "lock" (in which the locking recess 20 244 is aligned with the retaining pin 212) and 0 to 4 in which successive recesses 242 of the cam 206 are aligned with the retaining pin 212 to provide an increasingly larger distance between the lower and upper cooking assemblies 102 and 104. In an alternative embodiment (not illustrated) the cam 206 may be provided with a smooth outer perimeter (i.e. without recesses). In this case rather than relying on the 25 retaining pin 212 seating in a recess of the cam 206 to set the height of the upper cooking assembly 104, the height is "set" by virtue of the friction between the surface of the outer perimeter of the cam 206 and the retaining pin 212. If greater stability than that provided by the friction between the cam 206 and the retaining pin 212 is desired, the spring 248 and pin 250 indexing arrangement may also 10 be arranged to assist in setting (and maintaining) the height of the upper cooking assembly 104. This may be done, for example, by providing a bearing or similar in the indexing arrangement, or providing deeper detents 236 and a stronger spring 248 to hold the pin 250 more firmly in place. 5 While the height adjusting arrangement 108 has been described as being in conjunction with the right arm 122 of the frame 106 it would, of course, be possible to incorporate the height adjusting arrangement 108 with the left arm 123 of the frame 106. As will be appreciated from the above description, with the exception of the retaining pin 212 all components of the height adjusting arrangement 108 are carried on the frame 10 106, and in particular on a single arm of the frame. This is particularly useful in that the height adjusting arrangement 108 can be easily retrofitted to existing contact grills. If a contact grill on which the height adjusting arrangement were to be retrofitted includes similar pivot mountings in the lower and upper cooking assemblies and a retaining pin or similar (included in many contact grills as a means to lock the grill closed) the frame 15 of the contact grill merely needs to be replaced with a new frame which includes the height adjusting arrangement 108 as described above. If a contact grill does not include similar pivot mountings in the upper and lower cooking assemblies and/or does not include a retaining pin, minor modifications to the frame 106 and height adjusting arrangement 108 described above may be made. For example, if 20 the contact grill does not have a retaining pin or similar the frame 106 as described above may be modified to include an armature or such like which is mounted at the pivot mounting 126 and carries a retaining pin. The armature would be L-shaped in order to locate the retaining pin in the correct position (under the cam 206). Alternatively, if an existing grill design does not include a height adjusting arrangement, 25 the design of the grill may be modified to include the height adjusting arrangement of the embodiment of the invention described above, the design modifications being relatively minimal in substance and not leading to significant expenses in re-tooling and manufacture.

I1 It will also be understood that the invention disclosed and defined in this specification extends to all alternative combinations of two or more of the individual features mentioned or evident from the text or drawings. All of these different combinations constitute various alternative aspects of the invention.

Claims

1. A contact grill including: a lower cooking assembly carrying a lower cooking plate; a frame pivotally mounted to the lower cooking assembly; 5 an upper cooking assembly carrying an upper cooking plate and being pivotally mounted to the frame; and a height adjusting arrangement including a rotary adjuster acting between the lower cooking assembly and the frame such that rotation of the rotary adjustor selectively varies the height of the upper cooking plate relative to the lower cooking 10 plate.

2. A contact grill according to claim 1, wherein the rotary adjuster is rotatably mounted on the frame and rotation of the rotary adjustor selectively varies the angle between the frame and the lower cooking plate.

3. A contact grill according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the rotary adjuster 15 includes a rotary cam for varying the height, and a handle for rotating the cam.

4. A contact grill according to claim 3, wherein the cam is a snail cam.

5. A contact grill according to claim 3 or claim 4, further including an indexing arrangement for allowing the cam to be rotated between at least two positions, each position corresponding to a different height of the upper plate relative to the lower 20 cooking plate.

6. A contact grill according to claim 5, wherein the indexing arrangement includes a series of spaced apart recesses defined in an outer perimeter of the cam and a corresponding recess retaining pin extending from the lower cooking assembly. 13

7. A contact grill according to claim 5 or claim 6, wherein the indexing arrangement further includes a click stop arrangement which is operative when a recess in the outer perimeter of the cam is aligned with the recess retaining pin.

8. A contact grill according to claim 7, wherein a side arm of the frame includes a 5 handle housing, and wherein the handle is rotatably mounted in the handle housing, and wherein the click stop arrangement includes a spring loaded pin carried by the handle and a corresponding array of pin-locating detents defined within the handle housing, each detent angularly aligned with one of the recesses defined in the outer perimeter of the cam. 10

9. A contact grill according to claim 8, wherein the side arm of the frame further includes a cam housing, and wherein the handle operates directly on the cam via a pin shaft extending through the side arm.

10. A contact grill according to any one of claims 6 to 9, further including a locking arrangement for locking the contact grill in a closed position. 15

11. A contact grill according to claim 10, wherein the locking arrangement is integral with the height adjusting arrangement.

12. A contact grill according to claim 10 or claim 11, wherein the locking arrangement includes a locking hook defined in the cam, the locking hook engageable with the recess retaining pin to lock the contact grill in a closed position. 20

13. A contact grill according to any one of claims 1 to 12, wherein the frame includes first and second side arms joined by a handle, and wherein the height adjusting arrangement is fitted to at least one of the first and second side arms.

14. A height adjusting arrangement for a contact grill, the contact grill including a lower cooking assembly carrying a lower cooking plate, a frame pivotally mounted to the 25 lower cooking assembly, an upper cooking assembly carrying an upper cooking plate and being pivotally mounted to the frame, the height adjusting arrangement including a rotary adjuster acting between the lower cooking assembly and the frame such that 14 rotation of the rotary adjustor selectively varies the height of the upper cooking plate relative to the lower cooking plate.

15. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 14, wherein the rotary adjuster is rotatably mounted on the frame and rotation of the rotary adjustor selectively varies 5 the angle between the frame and the lower cooking plate.

16. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 14 or claim 15, wherein the rotary adjuster includes a rotary cam for varying the height, and a handle for rotating the cam.

17. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 16, wherein the cam is a snail 10 cam.

18. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 15 or claim 16, further including an indexing arrangement for allowing the cam to be rotated between at least two positions, each position corresponding to a different height of the upper plate relative to the lower cooking plate. 15

19. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 18, wherein the indexing arrangement includes a series of spaced apart recesses defined in an outer perimeter of the cam and a corresponding recess retaining pin extending from the lower cooking assembly.

20. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 18, wherein the indexing 20 arrangement further includes a click stop arrangement which is operative when a recess in the outer perimeter of the cam is aligned with the recess retaining pin.

21. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 20, wherein a side arm of the frame includes a handle housing, and wherein the handle is rotatably mounted in the handle housing, and wherein the click stop arrangement includes a spring loaded pin 25 carried by the handle and a corresponding array of pin-locating detents defined within the handle housing, each detent angularly aligned with one of the recesses defined in the outer perimeter of the cam. 15

22. A contact grill according to claim 21, wherein the side arm of the frame further includes a cam housing, and wherein the handle operates directly on the cam via a pin shaft extending through the side arm.

23. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 19, further including a locking 5 arrangement for locking the contact grill in a closed position.

24. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 23, wherein the locking arrangement is integral with the height adjusting arrangement.

25. A height adjusting arrangement according to claim 23 or claim 24, wherein the locking arrangement includes a locking hook defined in the cam, the locking hook 10 engageable with the recess retaining pin to lock the contact grill in a closed position.

26. A height adjusting arrangement according to any one of claims 14 to 25, wherein the frame includes first and second side arms joined by a handle, and wherein the height adjusting arrangement is fitted to at least one of the first and second side arms.

27. A contact grill substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the 15 accompanying drawings.

28. A height adjusting arrangement substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.