GB2111191A - Low pressure cooking appliance - Google Patents

Abstract

To permit air to circulate beneath the lowermost components of the appliance, e.g. side panels 11,12 and thereby prevent overheating of supporting surface 38, legs 35, e.g. in the form of L-shaped brackets, or protuberances are provided. These legs 35 hold the appliance housing 10 (enclosing an oven 37) at least 5 mm above the surface 38. The cooking appliance is suitable for use in a caravan or the like when coupled to a low pressure gas cylinder. The appliance is also designed so that cooling air can circulate within the housing spaces 28,29 behind and above the oven 37. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Low pressure cooking appliance This invention concerns low pressure cooking appliances, such as are used in caravans, for camping and like purposes, of the kind comprising a housing intended to be stood upon a supporting surface such as a table top and embodying an oven.

For simplicity, lightness, and economy of construction, such appliances are usuaily designed with the minimum of insulation, for instance with oniy a heat shield, at the bottom thereof to protect the supporting surface, such a heat shield simply being in the form of a metal plate. In the appliances so far proposed, components of the housing and/or the heat shield lie substantially in contact with the supporting surface, and consequently there is a risk of overheating such surface. An object of the present invention is to provide a construction whereby this risk is effectively obviated.

With this object in view, the present invention provides a low pressure cooking appliance of the kind comprising a housing intended to be stood upon a supporting surface and embodying an oven with a bottom of the housing being in the form of a downwardly-facing heat shield, characterised in that the housing includes downwardly-directed feet, protruberances or the like upon which the appliance stands and which serve to support the lowermost components of the housing at a spacing of at least 5mm above its supporting surface.

The housing of the appliance is preferably such as to provide upright side panels spaced apart by a rear panel and closed at the front by an openable door, the lower edge of the door being substantially level with the housing's heat shield to permit at least some circulation of air therebeneath, the side panels extending downwards below the heat shield and serving to support the housing, the feet, protuberances or the like being provided on said side panels to locate the latter with a gap therebelow for air to circulate beneath the side panels.

Each side panel is conveniently formed along its lower edge with a respective inwardly-directed flange, these flanges providing mountings for the feet, protuberances or the like.

In one embodiment, feet in the form angle brackets are provided at or towards the front and rear of the lower edge of each said side panel.

These may simply be riveted or welded in place.

Aiternatively protuberances in the form of impressed dimples, or attached pegs or domes, are provided on the said flanges.

The invention will be described further, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 is a front view, partially in cross-section, of a preferred embodiment of the low pressure cooking appliance of the present invention: Fig. 2 is a side elevation, partially in crosssection, of the same embodiment of cooking appliance; Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side elevation illustrating a first modification of a leg of the cooking appliance of the invention; Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation illustrating a second modification of a leg: and Fig. 5 is a similar view illustrating a third modification of a leg of the cooking appliance of the invention.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, a preferred embodiment of the cooking appliance of the invention is in the form of a portable cooking oven suitable for use in a caravan, holiday chalet or the like and adapted to be coupled by an appropraite flexible tubing (not shown) to a low-pressure gas cylinder. The appliance is made principally of sheet metal and comprises a housing 10 composed of a pair of rectangular side panels, 11, 12, spaced apart by an upright rear panel 13 and a flat top panel 14.

The two side panels 11, 12 are each flanged along each of their four edges, so each said side panel has a front flange 1 5, a bottom flange 1 6, a rear flange 17 and a top flange 18. The rear panel 1 3 extends between and is secured (e.g. by spot welding or the like) to the rear flanges 17 of the side panels 11, 12, which flanges 17 face one another. Similarly the top panel 14 extends between and is spot welded to the top flanges 18 of the side panels 12, 13 and also to a rear flange 1 9 provided along the upper edge of the rear panel 13.

Respective inner panelling sheets 20, 21 secured to the side panels 11, 12 at a spacing therefrom extend from the bottom flanges 1 6 to the top flanges 18, and each such panelling sheet 20, 21 supports, at a spacing of about 3cm from its lower edge, brackets 22 to which are connected the opposite side edges of a bottom plate 23 forming a heat shield plate of an oven 37 within the housing 10. This bottom plate 23 has disposed immediately thereabove a bottom oven panel 24.

The bottom oven panel 24 and the heat shield plate 23 extend horizontally rearwards of the housing 10 to stop short of the rear panel 13 of the housing where they meet with the louver edge of a rear partition plate 25 extending vertically adjacent to and parallel to the rear panel 13 of the housing 10 (see Fig. 2). This partition plate 25 extends upwards to meet with the rear edge of an oven top panel 26 which is disposed below the top panel 14 of the housing 10 by a spacing of about 8 or 9cm.

Since the bottom heat shield plate 23 is spaced upwards relative to the bottom flanges 1 6 of the side panels 11, 12 (on which the entire appliance stands) it defines below the appliance of passage 27 which connects with an upwardly directed air space 28 between the rear panel 13 of the housing 1 0 and the partition plate 25. This air space 28 in turn connects with the space 29 between the housing top 14 and the oven top 26.

As a result, cooling air can circulate through the passage 27 and air spaces 28, 29 to ensure that the side, rear and top panels 11 to 14 of the housing 10 will remain relatively cool when the interior of the oven 37 is being heated.

The front of the space 29 between the housing top 14 and the oven top 26 is masked by a masking plate 30 having air vent slots 31 therein and providing a mounting for a control knobs 32 for controlling the supply of gas to burners (not shown) in the oven 37.

Brackets and hinges 33 are provided on the front edge of the bottom heat shield panel 23, and these serve to mount in place a downwardlyswingable oven door 34 which is spring loaded to its closed position closing the front of the oven 37.

The construction, in general, is such as to minimise the possibility of heat transfer to external surfaces. However, the inner panelling sheets 20, 21 of the side panels 11, 12 extend down to the bottom flanges 1 6 of the side panels 11, 12 of the appliance and accordingly, these represent components which may reach high temperatures and can transmit heat to the surface 38 (e.g. table top) supporting the appliance. To minimise such heat transfer, four feet 35 are provided, one at each corner of the appliance.

Each such foot 35 comprises an L-shaped bracket fixed by its upright respectively to the front flange 1 5 or rear flange 1 7 of the respective side panel 11, 12 and providing a sole piece of small area for contacting the supporting surface 38 to hold the respective side panel 11, 12 of the housing 10 above such supporting surface 38 by about 6 or 7mm. These feet 35, therefore, effectively ensure that air can circulate beneath the side panels 11, 12 and the risk of heat being transmitted to the supporting surface 38 is substantially eliminated.

The invention is not confined to the precise details of the foregoing example and variations may be made thereto. For instance, as indicated in Fig. 3, the feet 35 may be in the form of Lshaped brackets each of which is secured by one limb to the underside of the lower flange 1 6 of the respective side panel 11 or 1 2 with its other limb downwardly directed, for the same purpose. Similar effect can be achieved by providing, instead of the L-shaped brackets, dome-like or peg-like protuberances or feet 35, as shown in Fig. 5, appropriately bolted to the said flanges 16, or by means of dome-like dimples as shown in Fig. 4, incorporated in the said bottom flanges 1 6.

Of course, the general construction of the housing may differ from that described, and the appliance may incorporate, if desired, boiling rings in the top panel and/or a grill between the top panel and the oven. Other variations are possible.

Claims (6)

Claims

1. A low pressure cooking appliance of the kind comprising a housing intended to be stood upon a supporting surface and embodying an oven with a bottom of the housing being in the form of a downardly-facing heat shield, characterised in that the housing includes downwardly-directed feet, protuberances or the like upon which the appliance stands and which serve to support the lower most components of the housing at a spacing of at least 5mm above its supporting surface.

2. An appliance as claimed in claim 1 wherein the housing is such as to provide upright side panels spaced apart by a rear panel and closed at the front by an openable door, the lower edge of the door being substantially level with the housing's heat shield to permit at least some circulation of air therebeneath, the side panels extending downwards below the heat shield and serving to support the housing, the feet, protuberances or the like being provided on said side panels to locate the latter with a gap therebelow for air to circulate beneath the side panels.

3. An appliance as claimed in claim 2 wherein each side panel is formed along its lower edge with a respective inwardly-directed flange, these flanges providing mountings for the feet, protuberances or the like.

4. An appliance as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein feet in the form of angle brackets are provided at or towards the front or rear of the lower edge of each side panel.

5. An appliance as claimed in claim 3 wherein protuberances in the form of impressed dimples or attached pegs or domes are provided on the flanges.

6. A low pressure cooking appliance substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings.