GB2300800A

GB2300800A - Fluid heating vessel with lockable, pivotable lid

Info

Publication number: GB2300800A
Application number: GB9609926A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Christian Wolski
Original assignee: STREICHER EMIDE METALL
Current assignee: STREICHER EMIDE METALL
Priority date: 1995-05-13
Filing date: 1996-05-13
Publication date: 1996-11-20
Anticipated expiration: 2016-05-13
Also published as: FR2733892B1; DE19517623C2; FR2733892A1; GB2300800B; DE19517623A1; GB9609926D0

Description

2300800 FLUID HEATER The inventions concerns a fluid heater with a handle

for transporting the fluid heater container holding the fluid, which can be closed by a pivotably attached lid, with a device engaging the lid for pivoting of the lid and with means for locking the lid in its closed position.

GM 94 11 831.0 discloses a fluid heater with a lid securing mechanism with which a lid pivotably mounted on the container is lockable by means of a locking pin which can be activated by means of an activation key. In order to open the lid, the locking pin must initially be unlocked by pressing the activating key before a handling element mounted in an angled fashion on the lid can be pressed downwardly. The downward pressing of the handling element effects pivoting of the lid and opening of the container.

Although the activating key and the handling element are arranged in such a fashion that they can be hand operated, this hand operation nevertheless requires some skill.

Other fluid heaters are known in the art whose lid can be opened through a single hand operation and which are consequently easily operated by hand, however, these fluid heaters do not have any locking mechanism. This leads to a certain degree of risk since in the event that the fluid heater is inadvertently tipped over while containing boiling water a substantial risk of injury is present since the water can freely flow out of the container.

It is thereby the underlying purpose of the invention to create a fluid heater which is safe and simultaneously 2 easily hand operated.

This purpose is achieved in accordance with the invention in that the fluid heater of the above mentioned kind is further improved in such a fashion that the device for pivoting the lid has an activating mechanism which can be activated via an activating key, wherein the activating mechanism includes means for locking the lid.

A fluid heater configured in accordance with this technical teaching has the advantage that both the activation as well as the locking mechanism can be activated with a single activating key. This leads to substantially easier handling of the fluid heater while maintaining the locking function.

In an improved embodiment, the activating mechanism is configured in such a fashion that the activating key has a guide pin at a free end arranged transverse to the motion of direction and guided within a guide slot arranged on the container to engage a guide means arranged on the lid. In this fashion the guide pin is guided in the substantially horizontal guide slot and engages the guide means when the activating key is pulled back. In this fashion the guide means induces a torque on the lid which pivots same.

Since the guide means is curved in such a manner that the key path travelled through by the activating key decreases relative to the opening angle of the lid, the key path required for opening decreases with increasing opening angle.

This has the advantage that the key path can, in general, be 3 kept relatively small leading to a more compact fluid heater structure and the key path is relatively large when opening the lid by a few angular degrees to facilitate a gentle opening of the lid.

It is often not necessary to completely open the fluid heater lid. For example, for pouring the heated liquid, an opening angle of 30 to 450 is completely sufficient. In this case it is advantageous to have a relatively large key path in order to closely control the lid opening.

In a particularly preferred embodiment the means for locking the lid have a locking section adjacent to the guide means which preferentially accepts the guide pin with close tolerance. Towards this end the locking section abuts with the guide means and the guide pin seats in the locking section when the lid is closed. The locking section is thereby preferentially configured as a short, slot-shaped horizontally arranged section.

In the event that one attempts to open the lid without activation of the activating element, the guide pin is lifted-up by the lower side of the locking section and pressed against the upper side of the guide slot to chock in such a fashion that the guide pin remains in the locking section to prevent opening of the lid. In this fashion a locking of the lid is effected which guarantees that the lid is reliably locked to thereby prevent a sudden escape of boiling water in the event that a fluid heater filled, for example, with boiling water is unintentionally tipped over.

Only in the event that substantially large forces are 4 present at the lid, will the guide pin be pressed from the locking section into the guide means to open the lid. This has the advantage that the fluid heater is not damaged in the event that someone attempts to open the lid without knowledge of the fact that the lid is locked.

In order to strengthen the locking effect and increase the security associated with the locking, the guide pin, in one embodiment, has an abutment surface at its lower side which precisely seats on a corresponding abutment surface of the locking section. In-this fashion the forces necessary for an abrupt opening of the lid increase and therewith the locking safety aspect.

In a further preferred embodiment the lid remains in its opened state even in the event that the activating key is not operated. This has the advantage that soups or the like can also be warmed in the fluid heater since with the warming of soup it is advantageous to monitor the warming process and this is easier to do when the lid is open.

A keeping of the lid in an opened state is, for example, achieved when the lid exhibits an opening angle of more than 900 in the opened state.

In a further particular embodiment the activating key is configured to be substantially rectangular and has a substantially vertically arranged handling section and a substantially horizontally arranged guiding section. Towards this end the activating key is advantageously rotatably mounted in the lower region of the fluid heater.

This configuration of the activating key allows the designer of a fluid heater of this type to have a plurality of design possibilities and the rotatable mounting of the activating key in the lower region of the fluid heater has the advantage that the guiding section must be rotated by only a few angular degrees so that same exercises a nearly linear motion.

In a preferred embodiment the activating key is biased by a spring engaging same. This spring is preferentially formed on the activating key from an elastic plastic or is a leaf spring made from metal.

This has the advantage that the activating key is pushed into its neutral position immediately after its release and the guide pin engages the locking section. In this fashion one guarantees that the fluid heater normally has a locked lid.

In another preferred embodiment the container is made from stainless steel and the handle from plastic.

Further features and advantages of the invention can be derived from the following description of an embodiment of the invention and in connection with the drawings showing details important to the invention, as well as from the claims. Towards this end, the features can be combined individually or collectively in arbitrary combination without departing from the framework of the invention.

Fig. 1 shows a cut representation of a side view of a fluid heater in accordance with the invention with which the lid is shown in a closed position; 6 Fig. 2 shows the fluid heater in accordance with Fig. 1 with the lid assuming half-opened position; Fig. 3 shows the fluid heater in accordance with Fig. 1 with the lid in a completely opened position.

Figures 1 through 3 show an embodiment of fluid heater in accordance with the invention. This fluid heater includes a container 2 made from stainless steel or from plastic with a heating device integrated therein which is not shown in the drawing. A handle 4, preferentially of plastic, is mounted on the container 2. The container can be closed with a lid 6 which is mounted in a pivotable fashion via a pivot axis 8 to container 2.

The fluid heater has an activating mechanism 10 which can both pivot as well as lock the lid 6. This activating mechanism 10 includes an activating key 12 integrated into the handle 4 which has a horizontal guiding section 14 and a vertical handling section 16. The lower end of the handling section 16 is mounted in a rotatable fashion in a rotation bearing 18 in the lower section of the handle 4 so that the activating key 12 can be rotated about this rotation bearing 18.

A guide pin 20 is located on the free end of the guiding section 14 transverse to the direction of motion. This guide pin 20 is guided within a guide slot 22 integrated in the handle 4 and engages a guide means 24 integrated in the lid 6. A locking section 26 is adjacent to the front end of the guide means 24 and can receive the guide pin 20 with close tolerance.

7 A leaf spring 28 engages the handling section 16 of the activating key 12 and biases the activating key 12 in such a fashion that same normally remains in its neutral position.

The activating key 12, the leaf spring 28, and the guide pin 20 are made from a single plastic component and the activating key 12 exhibits a comfortable handling region 30 in its transitional region between the guiding section 14 and the handling section 16.

In the normal state the fluid heater lid 6 is closed'and the leaf spring 28 presses against the activating key 12 sufficiently far in the direction towards the container that the guide pin 20 seats in the locking section 26 to secure the lid against unintentional opening. The user of a fluid heater of this type can then grasp the handle 4 and reach the handling region 30 of the activating key 12 with one or more fingers to pull back the activating key 12. Towards this end the guide pin 20 introduced in the guiding section 14 is pulled out of the locking section 26 to engage the guide means 24. A further pulling of the activating key 12 causes a force to be introduced to the lid 6 via the guide pin 20 and the guide means 24 rotate same about the rotation axis 8 to thereby open the container 2. The guide means 24 precisely shown in the figures with the approximate shape of a weakly curved 'IS" having a straight middle section, is curved in such a fashion that the lid 6 is initially opened slowly through operation of the activating key 12, with the opening of the lid 6 accelerating relative to the key path for increasing key path. When the lid reaches an opening angle of more than 900, same remains in its open position even in the event that the activating key 12 is released.

8 The guide pin 20 has a flat abutment surface 32 on its lower side with which it seats on a corresponding opposing surface of locking section 26 in the event that the activating mechanism 10 is located in the locked state. In other embodiments not shown the guide pin can also have a cylindrical or oval cross section.

9 Reference Character List 2 4 6 8 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 container handle lid rotation axis activating mechanism activating key guiding section handling section rotation bearing guide pin guide slot guide means locking section leaf spring handling region abutment surface

Claims

1. Fluid heater having a fluid heater container for holding a liquid, a pivotably mounted lid for the container, and means for locking the lid in a closed position, wherein the fluid heater further comprises means for pivoting the lid, said means comprising an activating mechanism actuable by an activating key, and wherein the activating mechanism includes said means for locking the 10 lid.

2. A fluid heater as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the activating key has a guide pin arranged at a free end and transverse to the direction of motion which is guided within a guide slot arranged on the container and which engages in a guide means arranged on the lid.

3. A fluid heater as claimed in Claim 2, wherein the guide means is curved such that the key path travelled by the activating key decreases relative to the opening angle of the lid.

4. A fluid heater as claimed in Claim 2 or Claim 3, wherein said means for locking the lid has a locking section adjacent to the guide means which accepts the guide pin.

5. A fluid heater as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 4, wherein the guide pin has an abutment surface.

6. A fluid heater as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 5, wherein the lid remains in an opened state even when the activating key is not pressed.

7. A fluid heater as claimed in any of Claims 2 to 6, wherein the lid has an opening angle of more than 900 in the opened state.

8. A fluid heater as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the activating key is substantially rectangular and has a substantially vertical handling section as well as a substantially horizontal guiding section.

9. A fluid heater as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the activating key is mounted in a rotatable manner 10 in the lower region of the fluid heater.

10. A fluid heater as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the activating key is biased by a spring.

11. A fluid heater as claimed in Claim 10, wherein the spring is a leaf spring made from an elastic, plastic or metal.

12. A fluid heater as claimed in Claim 10 or Claim 11, wherein the spring is arranged and preferentially formed on the activating key.

13. A fluid heater as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the container is made from stainless steel.

14. A fluid heater as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the container has a handle, and the lid, the handle, and the activating key are made from plastics material.

15. A fluid heater substantially as described herein with reference to the accompanying drawings.