GB2188414A - Hob guard - Google Patents

Abstract

A hob guard for preventing a young child from reaching the cooking zone of a hob which is built into a kitchen work surface 1 comprises a rectangular sheet metal e.g. stainless steel plate 5 having means e.g. two screw clamps 18, for detachably securing the plate to the front edge 3 of the work surface in a generally upright position, with its smaller dimension extending upwardly. The rear surface of the plate 5 which faces the hob, is polished and highly heat-reflective, and its upper edge 19 is curved rearwardly in order to concentrate the reflected heat downwards towards the cooking zone. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Hob guard In the design of modern domestic kitchens or the refurbishing of old kitchens, the conventional free standing gas or electric cooking stove is being replaced by a separate oven which is built into or constitutes a kitchen unit and a separate hob which is built into a work surface of one or more kitchen units.

The object of the present invention is to provide a hob guard which will inhibit the access of young children's hands to the cooking zone of a hob or range and so avoid the very real dangers of scalding and burns, to reduce the risk of adults as well as children being scalded in the event of a cooking utensil on the hob being upset or its contents being split, to reduce heat loss from the cooking zone by radiation, and to achieve these advantages by a device which can be easily fitted to existing, as well as new, cooking installations, which is cheap to produce, can be readily detached for storage or to facilitate removal of heavy utensils, is compact for storage, and which can be decorated to suit a desired colour scheme and is easy to keep clean.

The present invention consists of a hob guard comprising an elongate generally rectangular plate of heat-resistant sheet material provided with means for detachably securing the plate in a generally upright position, with its smaller dimension extending upwardly, along or adjacent the edge of the worktop in front of the hob, the rear surface of the plate which faces the hob being published and highly heatreflective.

The guard may be equipped with one or more sockets, tongues or pegs which cooperate with tongues, pegs or sockets formed on or secured to the worktop for mounting the hob guard in position at the front of the worktop. For example one, or more elongate sockets may be formed along the lower edge of the guard plate to receive an upwardly extending tongue formed by one arm of an angle bracket of which the other arm is screwed, stuck or otherwise secured to the underside of the overhang of the worktop. Of the lower part of the guard plate may be formed or provided with one or more tongues adapted to engage in one or moresockets along the front edge of or the underside of the front of the worktop.

The guard plate should extend along the worktop for a distance which is greater than the length of the hob, preferably by about 20 to 30 cms, and should project above the working surface by about 10 to 1 5 cms which, together with the normal height of a worktop surface of 90 cms, is sufficient to prevent young children's hands reaching the hob, the maximum reach of a chiid of 3 to 4 years of age being about 110 cms.

By reason of the gap, if any, between the plate and the front of the worktop being quite narrow, and the guard plate preferably forming a skirt overlapping the front edge of the worktop, the risk of hot liquid which is spilt on the hob cascading over the front of the worktop and on the clothes or legs of any person standing immediately in front of the hob is substantially eliminated.

The highly heat-reflective rear surface of the guard plate reflects heat radiated from the hob and cooking utensils back to the cooking zone. The plate may be planar but, preferably, its heat-reflecting surface is concave over at least a part of its higher or bent inwardly along its top zone in order to concentrate the reflected heat downwards towards a lower region of the cooking zone. by reflecting back the heat-radiated by the hob, not only is the heat efficiency of the hob improved but the guard plate is also prevented from becoming heated to an undesirably high temperature.

In order that the invention may be more clearly understood, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view of a fragment of the top of a kitchen unit having a cooking hob in the worktop, and of the hob guard and mounting means, Figure 2 is a section taken along the line A A of Fig. 1, Figure 3 is a modification of Fig. 1, Figure 4 is an exploded perspective view, similar to Fig. 1, of a second embodiment, and Figures 5 and 6 respectively illustrate a reaF elevation and an end view of a third embodiment.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, Fig. 1 shows a fragment of the top of a kitchen unit comprising a worktop 1 having a built-in electric or gas cooking hob 2, the front edge 3 of the worktop overhanging the front of the doors or drawers of the lower part 4 of the kitchen unit. The hob guard of this invention comprises a generally rectangular plate 5 of sheet metal which is adapted to be detachably mounted along the front edge 3 of the worktop by an elongate bracket comprising a length 6 of metal of right angle cross section, the horizontal limit of which is dulled to enable it to be fixed by screws 7 to the underside of the overhang of the front of the worktop (see Fig. 2) while its vertical limb is shaped to form three tongues 8 at selected positions along the bracket 6, the tongues 8 being spaced by a narrow gap from the front edge 3 of the worktop (see Fig. 2) when the bracket is secured by the screws 7. Along the rear surface of the plate 1 and adjacent its lower edge is secured, by rivets, spot welding or in any other convenient manner, a metal strip 9 which is shaped as shown at 10 to form three vertically extending sockets located at positions and dimensioned to receive the tongues 8 of the mounting bracket 6.

The plate 5, metal strip 9 and the bracket 6 may all be made of stainless steel sheet of 16 SWG. The rear surface of the plate 5 which faces the hob 2 is highly polished and its upper edge 11 curved rearwardly. The front surface of the plate 5 may be painted or otherwise coloured or decorated to match the decor of the kitchen.

Fig. 3 shows a modification of Figs. 1 and 2 in which the elongate bracket 6 is replaced by individual angle brackets which constitute the tongues 12 of which the horizontal limbs are secured by screws to the underside of the front overhang of the worktop 1. Instead of forming part of a strengthening metal strip along the bottom of the plate 5, the sockets 3 for receiving the tongues 12 are formed from shorter lengths of strip metal.

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment of the invention in which the plate 5 has tongues 16 projecting rearwardly from and at right angles to the rear surface of the plate. These tongues are adapted to slide horizontally into sockets 15 formed at the appropriate intervals between the underside of the worktop overhang and a metal strip 14, secured thereto by an adhesive or screws (not shown), the strip being deformed at said intervals to define the sockets 15.

The embodiment illustrated in Figs. 5 and 6 comprises a generally rectangular plate 5 of sheet metal which is adapted to be detachably mounted along the front edge 3 of a worktop 1 by two screw clamps 18. The rear surface of the plate 5 which faces the hob is highly polished. Its upper edge 19 is curved rearwardly whilst its lower edge 20 is bent rearwardly at right angles to form a fixed or opposing jaw or ledge for the screw clamps 18.

Each clamp 18 comprises an L-section bracket 21 suitably attached to the rear surface of the plate, for example, by spot welding, with its projecting arm 22 uppermost.

Mounted in a hole in the projecting arm 22 is a threaded insert 23 which receives a clamping screw 24. The latter has a knurled head 25 and a clamping disc 26 which is swivelmounted on the lower end of the screw so that, when the clamp is tightened, the disc 26 does not damage the upper surface of the worktop or hob. The upper surface of the inwardly-bent lower edge 20 of the plate 5 may be provided, at least opposite each clamping screw, with some form of anti-slip surface, such as, a self-adhesive foam plastics strip adhered to the upper surface.

Whilst particular embodiments have been described it will be understood that various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. For example a layer of heat-insulating material may be positioned between the front plate 5 and its highly polished rear metal surface which may be constituted by a metal foil. Furthermore, the plate may be concave over its full height or at least over the major portion of its height above the working surface of the worktop. In another embodiment, the pegs and sockets of Figs. 1 to 4 may be circular and aligned axially along the front of the worktop to form a hinge about which the plate can be swung into its raised and lowered positions, means being provided for securing it in its raised position.

Tongues can also be formed by cut outs along the bottom edge of the plate.

In the embodiment of Figs. 5 and 6, any suitable form of screw may be used in place of the knurled head screws 24 illustrated, such as, slotted cheese head or pan head screws.

Claims (8)

1. A guard for a cooking hob or range, comprising an elongated generally rectanguiar plate of heat-resistant sheet material provided with means for detachably securing the plate in a generally upright position, with its smailer dimension extending upwardly, along the front edge of the hob or range or a worktop mounting the hob or range, the rear surface of the plate which faces the hob or range being polished and heat-reflective.

2. A guard as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the means for detachably securing the plate comprises one or more sockets, tongues or pegs which cooperate with sockets, tongues or pegs formed on or secured to the hob, range or worktop for mounting the guard in position at or adjacent the front of the hob or range.

3. A guard as claimed in claim 2, wherein one or more sockets are formed along the lower edge of the plate for respectively receiving an upwardly extending tongue formed by one arm of an angle bracket of which the other arm is screwed, adhered or otherwise secured to the underside of an overhang of the hob, range or worktop, or the lower part of the plate is formed with one or more tongues adapted to engage in one or more sockets along the front edge of or the underside of the front of the hob, range or worktop.

4. A guard as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for detachably securing the plate comprises one or more screw clamps which are adapted to clamp the plate to the front edge of the hob, range or worktop.

5. A guard as claimed in claim 4, wherein the or each screw clamp comprises a clamping screw mounted on the rear surface of the plate and a fixed jaw or ledge projecting rearwardly from the plate.

6. A guard as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the plate is of greater length than the width of the hob or range and projects above the upper surface of the hob or range by a distance sufficient to prevent a young child's hands reaching over the plate to the hob or range.

7. A guard as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the heat reflecting surface is concave over at least a part of the height of the plate, or the plate is curved inwardly over at least its upper zone in order to concentrate reflected heat downwards towards the cooking zone.

8. A guard for a hob or range constructed and arranged substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Figs. 1 and 2, Fig.

3, Fig. 4 or Figs. 5 and 6 of the accompanying drawings.