GB2080097A - Appliance for cooking various foods - Google Patents

Abstract

An appliance for cooking various foods, constitutes a base (1) and a hot plate (2) spaced thereabove by bearers (3), (4) preferably provided with handles (5), (6). The hot plate (2) has, on its underside, an open inner cavity (7) wherein there are disposed electric heating resistors (8), the walls (9) of this cavity allowing the emitted heat to be reflected towards the base (1). The vertical bearers (3), (4) connecting the base (1) to the hot plate (2) are disposed face to face and partly enclose the space comprised between the base (1) and the hot plate (2) thereabove so as to form an open channel, having an inner reflecting surface (10), (11) whereby food may be grilled within the cavity and/or on the plate (2). <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Appliance for cooking various foods The present invention relates to an appliance for cooking various foods and more particularly, a portable cooking appliance intended to be used directly on the table where the cooked foods are to be eaten.

In the specification below, the invention will be described for such a portable appliance but it is obvious that the invention also applies to similar appliances made to be used at a fixed point.

At present, many types of cooking appliances can be moved so as to be used directly at the place where the cooked foods are to be eaten.

Generally, such appliances are designed to fulfil a clearly determined function with a view to a particular application. Thus, there have already been known for a long time hot plates constituted essentially by a base enclosing a heat source (such as a candle, or an electric resistor) and a hot plate whereon the previously cooked food is disposed for serving up.

Such appliances allow the temperature to be maintained during serving, but in no case may they be used for actually carrying out the cooking operation.

Portable cookers are also known, for instance fondue and raclette cookers, which do themselves allow the food to be cooked directly.

There also exist portable grills used for meat or fish. Such grills are generally formed by two adjacent heating surfaces articulated to one another in order to bring them into a closed position where the product to be grilled is held between them.

Although these appliances give satisfaction if they are used for the specific application for which they are intended, they nevertheless have one main drawback in that they lack versatility. Moreover, in the case of portable grills, the main drawback lies in the release of fumes which are produced when the fat contained in the food falls onto the cooker plate.

There certainly do exist convertible appliances which make it possible to use them either as hot plates (i.e. serving plates or trays) or as grills, but to date it has never yet been proposed to make a simple, efficient, portable cooking appliance offering the facility of simultaneously grilling, and preparing cooked and/or grilled dishes by means of various utensils (such as frying pans, hand grills).

It is the object of the present invention to provide a simple, versatile appliance which makes it possible to meet all these objectives.

Accordingly the invention provides an appliance for the cooking of various foods, the appliance comprising a base and a hot plate kept spaced above the base by means of generally vertical bearers: wherein the hot plate has, on its underside, an open inner cavity wherein heating means are arranged, the walls of the cavity allowing the emitted heat to be reflected towards the base; and wherein the vertical bearers connecting the base to the hot plate are disposed face to face and partly enclose the space between the base and the hot plate so as to form an open channel, and have an inner reflecting surface.

Generally speaking, the appliance of this invention can be used for the cooking of various foods which may, in particular, be used directly at the table where the foods are to be eaten.

Advantageously, the base, the hot plate and the generally vertical bearers connecting them are formed by separable elements which are all assembled by any appropriate means such as, for instance, bolts.

Moreover, the assembly preferably has a generally oval shape, the two bearers being disposed at the end of the major axis of this oval and having their inwardly facing surfaces preferably planar and perpendicular to this major longitudinal axis. In this way, the open channel formed by the hot plate, the base and its two bearers has a rectangular parallelipiped-shaped cross-section.

The base will preferably be hollow, and a grill, for instance from cast aluminium, is attached to the said base. This grill preferably comprises two solid vertical end walls intended to cover the vertical bearers so as to form the inner reflecting surface thereof.

As material for an appliance in accordance with the invention, there will preferably be used: steel covered with an epoxy coating (to form the base), and aluminium (to form the hot plate and the vertical bearers), the surface of the hot plate being covered by a non-stick coating based on polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE).

All these elements will preferably be made by casting, the inner cavity of the hot plate enclosing the resistors being shaped during the casting operation. The heating resistors will be mounted in a conventional manner and, of course, provision is made for a connector to the electric circuit for their energisation.

Finally, handles will be provided on the vertical bearers, preferably integrally therewith.

The invention, and the advantages which it affords, will however be more readily understood by means of the embodiment, given below by way of indication but without restriction, which is illustrated by the attached schematic drawings in which: Figure 1 is a partly sectional perspective view of a cooking appliance made in conformity with the invention; Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the main elements forming such an appliance; Figure 3 is a vertical cross-section along the major axis AA of Figs. 1 and 3; and Figure 4 is a horizontal cross-section along line BB of Fig. 3, showing in greater detail the bottom of a hot plate of an appliance in conformity with the invention.

Reference to the drawings will show a portable appliance, in accordance with the invention, for cooking various foods. The appliance is essentially formed by a base 1, a hot plate 2 and generally vertical bearers 3, 4 connecting the said base 1 to plate 2. These vertical bearers 3, 4 are formed with handles 5, 6 facilitating handling of the apparatus. The assembly of these various elements is effected in a conventional manner, for example by using bolts which have been schematically outlined in a simple way in Fig. 2.

The hot plate 2 has an open inner cavity 7 within which are arranged the electric heating resistors 8 whose connection to a supply circuit is obtained by means of a connector which is not shown. These electric resistors 8 are arranged near the bottom of the upper plate 2. Moreover, the walls 9 of the cavity 7 are of such a height that the heat emitted by resistors 8 is reflected towards base 1.

The vertical bearers 3, 4 are disposed face to face and partly enclose the space comprised between base 1 and the upper plate 2 so as to form a channel which is open on two sides. These two vertical bearers have respective inwardly facing surfaces 10 and 11 which are optionally reflecting surfaces.

In the embodiment illustrated in the accompanying schematic drawings, the appliance has a generally oval-shaped configuration and the vertical bearers 3, 4 are arranged at the end of the major axis of this oval. The cavity 7 provided under the hot plate 2 has a configuration which is rectangular in shape.

Base 1, in this embodiment, is hollow and supports on its two lateral edges a grill plate 1 2 made of cast aluminium and has upwardly extending end walls 13, 14 which cover the reflecting surfaces 10, 11 of the bearers 5, 6 so as to form a removable reflecting surface lining. However, such a grill plate 12, which may have a multiplicity of openings or hollows 15 therein, delimits with the base 1 an inner cavity 1 6. With the grill plate 1 2 removed, the appliance can be used with the now open cavity 16 serving as a grill pan.

Alternatively one or more separate pans may be used on the grill plate 1 2 as grill pans or on the hot plate 2 as frying pans.

The upper hot plate 2 preferably has a cast aluminium body covered with a PTFE layer obtained by moulding. It has, in a known way, parts 1 7 (in this case upstanding ribs) which are in relief and has a rim slightly higher than the relief parts 1 7.

Base 1 has on its bottom side supports, such as feet 1 8 (Fig. 3), allowing the unit to be thermaily insulated from the working surface, of a table for instance.

In relation to the prior appliances, the appliance according to the present invention makes it possible to have several cooking facilities with a single appliance, without the necessity for any adaptation or conversion.

In fact it is possible to use the upper hot plate 2 to grill meat or fish directly. In the case where such meat or fish have a tendency to give off fumes, the food may initially be heid on the hot plate 2 and then, after this, the food may be arranged in a conventional hand grill pan and the cooking terminated in the space between the base 1 and the underside of the upper hot plate 2. The appliance may also be used directly for cooking food simultaneously on the upper hot plate 2 and in the space between the base 1 and the underside of the hot plate 2. This is particularly worthwhile when it is intended to cook several dishes simultaneously or to cook one dish while keeping a second dish hot for serving.

Apart from its practical benefit, such an apparatus also has the advantage of being simple in design, and very efficient. The heat supplied by the electric resistors 8, which in the embodiment described above have a power of 1400 watts, allows not only the heating of hot plate 2 but also the maintenance within the cavity between the underside of the hot plate 2 and the base 1 of a high temperature suitable for the cooking of practically all foods.

Claims (10)

1. An appliance for the cooking of various foods, the appliance comprising a base and a hot plate kept spaced above the base by means of generally vertical bearers: wherein the hot plate has, on its underside, an open inner cavity wherein heating means are arranged, the walls of the cavity allowing the emitted heat to be reflected towards the base; and wherein the vertical bearers connecting the base to the hot plate are disposed face to face and partly enclose the space between the base and the hot plate so as to form an open channel, and have an inner reflecting surface.

2. An appliance according to claim 1, wherein the generally vertical bearers are pro- < vided with handles.

3. An appliance according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the heating means are electric resis- t tance heaters.

4. An appliance according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the base, the hot plate and the bearers connecting them are constituted by separable elements assembled to each other by any conventional releasable securing means.

5. An appliance according to claim 4, wherein the releasable securing means are bolts.

6. An appliance according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein it has a generally oval shape with the two vertical bearers disposed at the ends of the major axis of this oval, the inwardly facing side surface of each of these bearers being planar and perpendicular to the said major longitudinal axis.

7. An appliance according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the base is hollow, and a removable grill plate is attached to said base.

8. An appliance according to claim 7, wherein said grill plate is formed of cast aluminium.

9. An appliance according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the grill comprises two vertically extending end walls which, when the grill plate is in position on the base, cover the generally vertical bearers so as to form a removable said inner reflecting surface thereto.

10. An appliance for the cooking of various foods, such appliance being constructed and adapted to operate substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to, and as illustrated in, the accompanying drawings.