AU4240599A - Appliance centre - Google Patents

Description

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AUSTRALIA

Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT r r r r Name of Applicant: JOHN D. SMITH Actual Inventor: JOHN D. SMITH Address for Service: Chrysiliou Moore Martin CMC Centre 143 Sydney Road Fairlight Sydney NSW 2094 Invention Title: Appliance Centre The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to me/us: nAar\Iegal\filing-8717.doc ar o:Xpatents\comp\8066.doc This invention relates to domestic appliances and more particularly to domestic kitchen ovens and cook tops.

There are two main styles of domestic kitchen cooking appliances "built-in" ovens installed in cupboards and cook tops installed in bench tops as one group and freestanding stoves as the other group.

A freestanding stove is a self contained unit which usually includes an oven and a number of gas burners or electric hot plates. The stove is separate and independent from any cupboards, benches or other kitchen furniture and is usually positioned at the end of a cupboard or between two cupboards. Built-in style ovens and cook tops are not freestanding but are inserted into a cupboard and bench top respectively. Without a suitable support structure they are unusable.

Due to market forces most freestanding stoves are made to sell at the lower end of the market, opposed to built-in type appliances, which are built to sell at the upper end. As a consequence, freestanding units tend to have a lower quality than built-in style appliances and have less features.

A consumer may have a kitchen with a freestanding stove but wishes to have a newer, better quality and/or more fully featured cooking appliances. At the present time the only way this may be achieved is by replacing or substantially 20 modifying the existing kitchen cupboards unless the consumer stays with a lower quality freestanding stove.

Further, for personal preference, a consumer may wish to have a freestanding stove but wish to have better quality/featured cooking appliances.

In an attempt to overcome at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art, the invention, in one broad form, provides a stand for supporting the built-in style oven or a built-in style cook top or both, the stand including: 1. a generally horizontal top surface; 2. a generally vertical front surface extending downwardly from adjacent a front edge of the top surface; and a) a top aperture in the top surface sized to receive a built-in style cook top with edges of the built-in style cook top being supported by the top surface; and/or o:\patents\comp\8066.doc b) a front aperture in the front surface for receiving a built-in style oven and supporting means for supporting the built-in style oven in the front aperture.

Preferably, the stand is a generally rectangular box having solid front, side and top walls. The rear wall may be solid or it may have one or more apertures for improved air flow.

The stand may include an internal horizontal surface extending rearwardly from or adjacent the lower edge of the front aperture.

Preferably, the top and front apertures are industry standard size apertures.

The aperture may be partially defined by the side walls. The spacing of the side walls may be adjustable to accommodate minor variations in width of the appliance inserted into the front aperture. The top surface and/or the vertical front surface are preferably adjustable fore and aft relative to the side walls to accommodate differences in the fore-aft thickness of the appliance inserted into 15 the front aperture.

The stand may include a drawer located at the base of the front surface.

The top surface may include an upwardly extending "splash back" panel extending upwardly from the rear edge of the top surface.

If an internal shelf is provided for supporting the oven, the front aperture may be made oversize with the shelf vertically adjustable.

Brief Description of the Drawings Figure 1 shows a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention with appliances installed.

Figure 2 shows a top view of the figure 1 embodiment but with the appliances absent.

Figure 3 shows a side view of the hob portion of the figure 1 embodiment, again with appliances absent.

Figure 4 shows a perspective view of the figure 1 embodiment with the appliances absent.

o:\patents\comp\8066.doc Figure 5 is an exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention.

Detailed Description of Embodiments of the Invention Referring to Figures 1 to 4 there is shown an appliance centre 10. The centre has side walls 12, 14, a front surface 16 and a top surface 18. The top surface 18 has a top aperture 20, sized to receive a standard cook top or hob 22. Standard cook tops have a peripheral edge 24 which is designed to overlap and rest upon the supporting surface 18. The aperture 20 is sized so that edge 24 overlaps surface 18 with the body of the cook top 22 extending through the aperture. The rear portion of the top surface 18 curves upwardly at 25 so as to form an integral splash-back 27, for catching fat, etc. If desired this may be omitted and the top surface 18 extend horizontally to the rear. The front portion of the top surface is curved downwards at 29, so forming an integral vertical surface 31. This surface 31 is intended to be in vertical alignment with the front surface of the oven 28.

15 The front surface 16 is provided with an aperture 26 which is sized to receive an industry standard size wall oven 28. Preferably, the appliance centre 10 includes a shelf 30 which extends rearwardly from the lower edge 32 of aperture 26. The shelf is intended to support the oven and is preferably secured along its sides to the side walls 12, 14. The shelf extends fully to the rear of the device but may only extend partway to the rear of the centre, so as to provide a more open airspace behind the oven. If the shelf extends fully to the rear of the device then if S-desired, the shelf 30 may be provided with ventilation apertures, not shown.

The aperture 26 is raised from the ground and so, if desired, a cupboard 34 is provided below the aperture 26 for storage of oven trays, racks, etc.

The aperture 26 is positioned so that the top edge 36 of a standard appliance 28 extends upwards so as to lie just below the front vertical surface 31 of the "range" portion of the centre.

Wall ovens are designed to extend on all four sides of the aperture into which they are inserted. Whilst the aperture required and width of oven have generally become standardised, there may be variations in the relative position of the top and bottom edges of a particular oven relative to the aperture.

The centre may be provided with an oversize aperture 26, with its lower edge 32 lower than always necessary. This is shown in dotted outline at 32 in figure 5. By providing a height adjustable shelf 30 and by adjusting the position of the shelf o:\patents\comp\8066doc the top of the oven 28 may be adjusted to fit just beneath the lower edge 33 and the vertical surface 31.

The width of the centre is preferably the same as industry standard wall ovens, so the oven edges 38, 40 are flush with sides 12, 14 of the centre. Current widths are 60, 90 and 75cm, but obviously other sizes may be produced. To accommodate minor variations from these standard sizes, the side walls may be adjustable so that the side walls line up with the sides of the oven.

Figure 5 shows an exploded perspective view of a second embodiment of the invention 50. The appliance centre includes side walls 52, hob 54 and drawer unit 56. A support shelf 58 is provided to support the oven.

The hob 54 is attached to the side walls via nuts and bolts passing through apertures 60 in the hob and 62 in the side walls. These apertures are preferably oversized so as to allow minor variation in the separation of the side walls 52 relative to the hob 54 and for minor variation of the position of the hob 54 relative to the front edges 66 of the side walls, to allow the front surface 68 of the hob to be flush with the front surface of the oven.

•The front edges 66 of the side walls are provided with a series of apertures 70 to which the support shelf 58 is mounted. These apertures 70 allow for adjustment of the shelf to accommodate variations in height differences of ovens, to allow the °°o20 oven to be positioned as close as practical to the front surface 68 of the hob.

It will be appreciated that many variations and modifications to the embodiment described herein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Claims (8)

1. A stand for supporting the built-in style oven or a built-in style cook top or both, the stand including: a) a generally horizontal top surface; b) a generally vertical front surface extending downwardly from adjacent a front edge of the top surface; and i) a top aperture in the top surface sized to receive a built-in style cook top with edges of the built-in style cook top being supported by the top surface; and/or ii) a front aperture in the front surface for receiving a built-in style oven and supporting means for supporting the built-in style oven in the front aperture. S.:i

2. The stand of claim I including a horizontal support surface extending rearwardly from or adjacent the lower edge of the front aperture.

3. The stand of claim 2 including means to position the horizontal support surface at one of a multiple of different vertical locations.

4. The stand of any one of claims 1 to 3 having generally vertical side walls, the horizontal spacing of the side walls being adjustable.

The stand of any one of claims 1 to 4 wherein the horizontal position of the vertical front surface is adjustable relative to the side walls.

6. The stand of any one of claims 1 to 5 including a drawer located below or defining the lower edge of the front aperture.

7. The stand of claim 6 wherein the vertical position of the drawer relative to the top surface is adjustable. o:\patents\comp\8066.doc

8. A stand for supporting a built-in style oven or a built-in style cook top, or both, substantially as herein described with reference to Figures 1 to 4 or 5 of the drawings. Dated this 3 0 th day of July, 1998 John D Smith By his Patent Attorneys Chrysiliou Moore Martin *6 a. 6