EP2240724A2

EP2240724A2 - Cooking device

Info

Publication number: EP2240724A2
Application number: EP08867099A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Merih Tarimtoru; Metin Gozacar; Onder Fesligil
Original assignee: Arcelik AS
Current assignee: Arcelik AS
Priority date: 2007-12-28
Filing date: 2008-11-28
Publication date: 2010-10-20
Also published as: WO2009083364A3; WO2009083364A2

Abstract

The present invention relates to a cooking device (1) that is disposed on the control panel (2) and comprises knobs (3) used for adjusting the cooking time and temperature. In the cooking device (1) of the present invention, by preventing direct contact of the knob (3) with the control panel (2), the heat in the control panel (2) is provided not to affect the knobs (3), rotation of the knobs (3) is simplified and dirt and oil particles are prevented from entering between the knobs (3) and the control panel (2).

Description

COOKING DEVICE

[0001] The present invention relates to a cooking device comprising knobs mounted on the control panel.

[0002] In cooking devices, knobs providing the cooking temperature and time to be adjusted are used and knobs are mounted on the control panel placed at the front side of the cooking device. In cooking devices, especially during the grilling process operated by turning on the heater disposed at the upper side of the cooking chamber, the control panel gets heated and this heat affects the knobs on the control panel. The temperature of the knobs should be below the temperature values determined by standards for the user not to be harmed.

[0003] In the state of the art, solutions are implemented that provide the knobs not to directly contact the control panel so that they do not heat. When the knob is disposed away from the control panel, a wobbling in the rotating movement occurs since the knob is not supported by the control panel surface. Furthermore, disposing the knob detached from the control panel causes an undesirable appearance, dirt and oil particles are collected between the knob and the front surface of the control panel in the course of time, thereby causing dirtiness and rotation of the knob gets harder.

[0004] In the Japanese Patent Application No JP2004212011 , the setting knob disposed in a cooking device is held detached from the control panel by means of a pedestal extending from the control panel to the rear of the knob.

[0005] In the Japanese Patent Document No JP7119985, in a cooking device, a gap is left between the timer knob and the control panel, and spherical projections extending to the control panel are situated at the rear surface of the knob.

[0006] The aim of the present invention is the realization of a cooking device comprising knobs that are mounted on the control panel, are not affected from heat, are easily rotated by the user and can be removed and cleaned.

[0007] The cooking device realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention is explicated in the claims. [0008] In the cooking device realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention, the knobs, disposed on the control panel and providing the parameters such as cooking temperature and cooking time to be adjusted by the user, are prevented from being affected by high heat in the control panel. Protrusions extending to the control panel are disposed on the rear surface of the flange encircling the knob body and these protrusions enable the knob not to be heated by preventing the flange from contacting the control panel. The periphery of the gap, formed between the knob and the control panel by the protrusions, is covered with an elastic ring-shaped barrier attached to the rear surface of the flange.

[0009] In the outer periphery of the flange encircling the knob, a curvilinear conical formed skirt and a cylindrical wall surrounding the skirt from the inside are disposed. Between the skirt and the wall, a housing opening to the rear surface of the flange and extending narrowingly from the rear surface of the flange to the inside is provided.

[0010] The barrier is attached to the rear surface of the flange by being tightened into the housing by means of its elastic structure and the part of the barrier overflowing from the housing extends between the rear surface of the flange and the control panel providing the gap to be covered all around, and dirt and oil particles are prevented from entering into the gap. The barrier is easily removed from its housing in the knob flange and cleaned when required.

[0011] The barrier is produced of a material, which is heat insulating to prevent the heat in the control panel from being transmitted and slippery for the user to easily rotate the knob. Furthermore, the outer diameter of the barrier is smaller than the outer diameter of the flange rear surface providing the barrier invisible when viewed from front.

[0012] In an embodiment of the present invention, the barrier has a bellows-like structure. In this embodiment, although the sizes of the gap formed by the protrusions vary along the periphery of the knob flange, the barrier enables the gap to be covered all around by stretching.

[0013] The cooking device realized in order to attain the aim of the present invention is illustrated in the attached figures, where: [0014] Figure 1 - is the perspective view of a cooking device.

[0015] Figure 2 - is the exploded view of a knob.

[0016] Figure 3 - is the cross-sectional view of a control panel and a knob.

[0017] The elements illustrated in the figures are numbered as follows:

1. Cooking device

2. Control panel

3. Knob

4. Body

5. Flange

6. Shaft

7. Rear surface

8. Protrusion

9. Barrier

10. Skirt

11. Wall

12. Housing

[0018] The cooking device (1) comprises a control panel (2) and one or more knobs (3) disposed on the control panel (2) enabling the user to adjust the cooking temperature and time.

[0019] The knob (3) comprises a body (4) moving by being rotated and/or pushed by the user, a flange (5) encircling the body (4) and moving together with the body (4) when rotated and having symbols that show cooking functions marked thereon, and a shaft (6) providing the rotating and/or pushing movement of the body (4) to be transmitted and the flange (5) to rotate together with the body (4).

[0020] On the control panel (2), a sign showing the adjusted position of the knob (3) is provided and the cooking functions are defined such that when the body (4) is rotated by the user, the symbols on the flange (5) rotating together with the body (4) and the sign on the control panel (2) are aligned opposing each other.

[0021] The knob (3) further comprises a circular rear surface (7) situated at flange's (5) rear side that faces the control panel (2) and more than one protrusion (8) arranged circularly on the rear surface (7), contacting the control panel (2) by extending from the rear surface (7) to the control panel (2) and reducing the heat transmitted from the control panel (2) to the flange (5) by reducing the contact area of the rear surface (7) with the control panel (2).

[0022] The protrusions (8) prevent the flange (5) from overheating in order to provide the body (4) encircled by the flange (5) to stay at a temperature whereby the user can hold it. The protrusions (8) furthermore enable the knob (3) to be easily rotated by reducing the friction between the rear surface (7) and the control panel (2).

[0023] The cooking device (1) further comprises a gap (G) between the control panel (2) and rear surface (7) of the knob (3), thus the knob (3) not to be affected by heat of the control panel (2).

[0024] The cooking device (1) of the present invention comprises a barrier (9) disposed on the knob (3), is attached to the rear surface (7), has an elastic structure and is ring-shaped, contacts the control panel (2) by extending from the rear surface (7) to the control panel (2), moves slidingly on the control panel (2) surface by rotating together with the flange (5) while the knob (3) is rotated, covers the periphery of the gap (G) between the rear surface (7) and the control panel (2) all around and thus prevents dust and oil particles from accumulating in the gap (G) by insulating the gap (G) from the outside environment.

[0025] In the cooking device (1), the knob (3) is mounted on the control panel (2) and the flange (5) bears against the control panel (2) by means of the protrusions (8) on flange rear surface (7). At the same time, the barrier (9) surrounding the peripheries of the protrusions (8) and extending to the control panel (2) in the same direction with the protrusions (8) contacts the control panel (2) as well and both the gap (G) and the peripheries of the protrusions (8) forming the gap (G) are covered to provide the barrier (9) to be invisible from the outside. Furthermore, since the barrier (9) has an elastic structure, in cases when parallelism between the flange (5) rear surface (7) and the control panel (2) cannot be provided, size differences of the gap (G) are covered by stretching of the barrier (9) and contact with the control panel (2) all along the periphery of the gap (G) between the rear surface (7) and the control panel (2) is provided as well.

[0026] The knob (3) comprises a curvilinear conical formed skirt (10) encircling the flange (5), a cylindrical wall (11) surrounding the skirt (10) from the inside and a housing (12), wherein the barrier (9) is mounted, which is disposed between the skirt (10) and the wall (11) and extends narrowingly from the rear surface (7) to the inside.

[0027] The barrier (9) with elastic structure is attached to the rear surface (7) of the flange (5) by being constricted into the narrowing housing (12) and while the part of the barrier (9) constricted into the housing (12) enables the barrier (9) to be attached to the flange (5), the part of the barrier (9) overflowing from the housing (12) provides the gap (G) to be covered all around by extending between the rear surface (7) and the control panel

(2). [0028] In an embodiment of the present invention, the barrier (9) is produced of a heat insulating material, and transmission of the heat in the control panel

(2) is prevented from being transmitted to the flange (5) also preventing the knob (3) from being heated. [0029] In another embodiment of the present invention, the barrier (9) is produced of a low coefficient of friction (slippery) material reducing the friction of the flange (5) on the control panel (2) facilitating the rotation of the knob (3). [0030] In another embodiment of the present invention, the barrier (9) has a bellows-like structure and surrounding the periphery of the gap (G) having variable sizes, the covering capability is increased. [0031] In yet another embodiment of the present invention, the outer diameter of the barrier (9) is smaller than the outer diameter of the rear surface (7).

Thus, when the flange (5) is mounted on the control panel (2), covers the barrier (9) and the barrier (9) is not visible when the knobs (3) are viewed from front. [0032] The flange (5) does not seem detached from the control panel (2) when the knobs (3) are viewed from the side, since the periphery of the gap (G) is entirely covered with the barrier (9), and furthermore, esthetic appearance is provided by producing the barrier (9) in the same color with the flange (5). In the cooking device (1) of the present invention, by preventing direct contact of the knob (3) with the control panel (2), the heat in the control panel (2) is provided not to affect the knobs (3), rotation of the knobs (3) is facilitated and dirt and oil particles are prevented from accumulating between the knobs (3) and the control panel (2). When the knob (3) is removed from the control panel (2), the barrier (9) can easily be removed from the housing (12) and cleaned.

Claims

1. A cooking device (1) comprising a control panel (2) and one or more knobs (3), which are disposed on the control panel (2), having a body (4) moved by being rotated and/or pushed by the user, a flange (5) that encircles the body (4) and moves together with the body (4) when the body (4) is rotated and a circular rear surface (7) situated at flange's (5) rear side, which faces the control panel (2), and a gap (G) between the knob (3) and the control panel (2), characterized by a barrier (9) that is disposed on the knob (3), is attached to the periphery of the rear surface (7), has an elastic structure, contacts the control panel (2) by extending from the rear surface (7) to the control panel (2), moves slidingly on the control panel (2) surface by rotating together with the flange (5) while the knob (3) is rotated and covers the periphery of the gap (G) between the rear surface (7) and the control panel (2) all around.

2. A cooking device (1) as in Claim 1 , characterized by the knob (3) comprising a skirt (10) encircling the flange (5), a cylindrical wall (11) surrounding the skirt (10) from the inside and a housing (12), wherein the barrier (9) is mounted, which is disposed between the skirt (10) and the wall (11) and extends narrowingly from the rear surface (7) to the inside.

3. A cooking device (1) as in Claim 1 or 2, characterized by the barrier (9), which is attached to the rear surface (7) of the flange (5) by being constricted into the housing (12), and part of which overflowing from the housing (12) provides the gap (G) to be covered all around by extending between the rear surface (7) and the control panel (2).

4. A cooking device (1) as in any one of the above claims, characterized by the barrier (9) that is made of a heat insulating material.

5. A cooking device (1) as in any one of the above claims, characterized by the barrier (9) that is made of a low coefficient of friction material.

6. A cooking device (1 ) as in any one of the above claims, characterized by the barrier (9) that has a bellows-like structure.

7. A cooking device (1 ) as in any one of the above claims, characterized by the barrier (9), the outer diameter of which is smaller than the outer diameter of the rear surface (7).

8. A cooking device (1) as in Claim 1 , characterized by the knob (3) comprising more than one protrusion (8) arranged circularly on the rear surface (7), contacting the control panel (2) by extending from the rear surface (7) to the control panel (2) and reducing the heat transmitted from the control panel (2) to the flange (5) by reducing the contact area of the rear surface (7) with the control panel (2).