GB2307546A - Caravan cooker - Google Patents

Abstract

A caravan cooker (1) comprises a hob (3), an upper heating chamber (4) and a lower heating chamber (5) which are assembled together to enable installation of the cooker, as a single unit, in/or adjacent a caravan worktop. A cover (10) for the hob can be opened to enable cooking on the hob, and closed to define a worktop surface. The vertical height of the cooker unit is preselected, as a fixed dimension, with respect to either a touring caravan, or a static caravan. The arrangement is such that when the cooker is installed on a cooker support located above floor level in the caravan, the worktop surface of the cover, when closed, is flush with the surface of the caravan worktop. Preferably, all gas fired burners in the cooker are connected to a common connector for single piece connection to a gas supply. Preferably, the upper and lower heating chambers are each fitted with a double skinned door which together define a vertical shaft for promoting natural convection for cooling the surfaces of the doors.

Description

CARAVAN COOKER This invention relates to a cooker adapted to be installed in, or adjacent to a caravan worktop.

Caravans are normally fitted with worktops in a "kitchen" area for use in the preparation of food. These worktops are fitted over timber frames on which cupboard doors and drawers are mounted e.g. for storing cooking and eating utensils and food products. Any cooking equipment intended for use in this kitchen area needs to be designed so as to fit into the limited available space, without causing problems in completing the manufacture of the caravan. It has been common practice, in the past, to cut out an opening in the worktop to receive an independent hob, and to fit an independent oven in the space beneath the hob (and behind the front cupboard fascia). As the oven is usually fitted close to floor level, the space remaining between the top of the oven and the hob was fitted with a door, resembling the door of the oven, to create the impression of a fitted cooker.In some cases, the latter space was utilised for cooking, e.g. by lining the floor and sides of this space with metal sheet and by installing a heating element for grilling food. With such an arrangement, the independent hob, the metal components of the grill and the front door, and the independent oven could all be produced by a "hardware" manufacturer and supplied to the manufacturer of the caravan to be fitted to the worktop in the caravan. This mode of manufacture and installation suited the different requirements of different caravan manufacturers. For example, the distance between the floor and the worktop surface varies with differences in caravan design, and space is at a premium in a caravan, sometimes necessitating the accommodation of a structural member (such as a wheel-arch) below a cupboard or a cooker.For example, a cooker sited over a wheel-arch of a touring caravan must accommodate the intrusion of the wheel-arch, without spoiling the overall design, or causing any problem during manufacture or installation. The practice of cutting out a hole in the worktop to receive the hob, and of installing an independent oven in the space beneath the hob, provided the necessary latitude to accommodate differences in design, but certain problems remained to be solved in order to improve the manufacture, and especially the installation, of cookers in caravans.

One problem relates to creating a continuous worktop surface. There is only a limited working space on the worktop of a caravan in which an independent hobs "sits" on top of the worktop surface. The hob then takes up a large amount of space which could otherwise be used for food preparation. One of the aims of the invention is to solve this problem in an efficient way.

A further problem is that where the hob, grill components and oven must be independently fitted, this is time consuming and hence it adds to the cost of manufacture.

The invention provides a caravan cooker which is adapted to be installed in/or adjacent a caravan worktop, the cooker comprising at least a hob, an upper heating chamber and a lower heating chamber; the hob, upper and lower heating chambers being assembled together to enable installation of the cooker, as a single unit, in/or adjacent the caravan worktop; the cooker further including a cover for the hob, which can be opened to enable cooking on the hob, and closed to define a worktop surface ; the vertical height of said single unit being preselected as a fixed dimension with respect to either a touring caravan, or a static caravan, so that when the cooker is installed on a cooker support located above floor level in the caravan, the worktop surface of the cover, when closed, is substantially flush with the surface of the caravan worktop.

The above invention facilities manufacture of both the caravan cooker as well as the caravan, besides appreciably reducing the time required for installation of the cooker in the caravan. As'the vertical height of the cooker is fixed with regard to either the touring, or the static caravan, it enables the hardware manufacturer to produce caravan cookers having a respective standardised height. It also enables the caravan manufacturer to finish the kitchen area of the caravan prior to taking delivery of the cooker.

The caravan manufacturer needs only to provide a cooker support, which is above the floor level of the caravan and a fixed distance below the caravan worktop surface, because the caravan manufacturer knows that this is going to accommodate the cooker (although it will be independently manufactured), with the worktop surface of the hob cover ending up flush with worktop surface built into the caravan.

This means that the space below the cooker support can be independently utilised by the caravan manufacturer either to accommodate a wheel arch or not, for example, either behind a plinth or behind the door of a cupboard, depending on what space is available. Moreover, when the caravan manufacturer is ready to fit the cooker, it can be simply installed, as a single unit, simply by lifting it into a recess above the cooker support. This recess may lie between two separated portions of a caravan worktop surface, or it may be next to kitchen fascia in which (e.g.) cupboards or drawers are installed and which is topped by a single-piece worktop.

The caravan manufacturer is therefore free to complete the cooking area, when constructing the caravan, and can easily fit the cooker to complete the worktop surface and thereby provide a neat finish.

The invention also provides more working space, because the hob cover is flush with the caravan worktop and no space is wasted in accommodating an independent hob unit which would otherwise stand up above the worktop surface. Whilst a cover could be fitted to such an independent hob unit, the cover surface would then be significantly higher than the worktop surface of the caravan, thereby making it less useful as a working space, besides making it unattractive.

The invention may be embodied by adapting and assembling existing designs of hob and oven units together. This has the advantage of enabling most, if not all of the components of existing hobs and ovens to be used in constructing the cooker. The upper heating chamber may be a grill, or an oven/grill which is built, or fitted into the space between the hob unit and the main oven (lower heating chamber). The cooker manufacturer may change the height of the upper, or lower heating chambers, or both, whilst maintaining the same fixed reference height of the cooker. In any event, the upper chamber can be readily adapted for use as either a grill, or a an oven, depending on the space available in the caravan.For example, the lower oven may have a fixed height (where the design of the lower oven is relatively constant), but the height of the upper chamber may be varied to suit the space between the lower oven and the hob for a variety of caravans. An advantage of maintaining a constant height for the lower oven is that the same general design of lower oven can be manufactured for use with a variety of caravans. When the upper chamber is a grill compartment, which has an open top to cooperate with a grill burner attached to (or located adjacent) the underside of the hob, the upper chamber height can be readily selected to accommodate for different designs of caravan, because it is much easier for the cooker manufacturer to modify the design of the grill compartment than of the lower oven.The grill compartment is largely the space between the lower oven and the hob, whereas the lower oven is generally a finished product. Once a suitable grill height has been established, this is built into the cooker design which will have a fixed reference height. (The height of the cooker is always less than the distance between the caravan worktop surface and the floor of the caravan, so as to enable the height of the space beneath the lowermost heating chamber to be varied.) The design of each door, i.e. fitted to the grill compartment (or upper oven), the main oven and optionally the space below the lower oven that of a matching set, i.e.

the doors may have different dimensions and vary in other ways to suit their purpose, but a similar design theme is carried through the front of the cooker to give the impression of a fitted unit. The size of any door can also be varied to give the impression of a cooker with a different overall height. For example, the main oven door may be taller in one case than in another, whilst the size of the main oven carcass remains the same. This taller door may project downwardly ,e.g. towards and so as to overlap the plinth, or upwardly.

A further problem of the prior art is that the independent hob and the independent cooker need to be separately connected to a gas supply. When one or more of these connections are at the rear, this makes installation more difficult.

In accordance with a preferred feature of the invention, in which the hob and one or other of the upper or lower heating chambers, or both, are gas-fired, the respective burners are connected to a common connector.

This enables a single pipe connection to a gas supply or gas supply pipe, which greatly facilitates installation of the integral cooker assembly, especially where this single connection can be made close to the front of the cooker.

The assembly can thus be installed as a unit and connected quickly to the gas supply.

In a preferred arrangement, all of the burners are connected to a common gas manifold pipe which preferably extends horizontally, inside the cooker, between a front control panel and front burners of the hob. For example, a thermostat device can be mounted on this manifold pipe, the device having a gas connection to supply the oven and a sensor for sensing oven temperature.

Another feature of the invention is directed to solving a problem of high surface temperature on oven doors.

When an oven is used, the front surface of the door can become extremely hot and this is clearly undesirable, especially in a confined space like a caravan. An airway can be provided in the door to assist cooling but this does not always produce sufficient cooling and the door can still run too hot when the oven is operating.

A preferred feature of the invention can be used to significantly lower the temperature of a door. Both the upper and lower heating chambers are fitted with a door of double-skinned construction which defines a vertically extending airway. The airway in the lower door is coextensive with the airway in the upper door so that the airways together define a coextensive vertical shaft or shafts for promoting natural convection. This improved "chimney effect" entrains more cold air into the lower part of the lower door, thereby further cooling the front surface of the upper door.

The latter feature of the invention could be used independently for cooling oven doors in cookers of other designs.

An example of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a view of an interior part of a caravan, showing a cooker installed in a caravan worktop; Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the cooker with a hob cover in an open position; Fig. 3 is a part section through a burner mounted in a hob of the cooker; Fig. 4 is a view of a gas manifold pipe of the cooker; Figs. 5-7 are respectively a sectional elevatiqn, a top plan view, and a section on line B-B of an upper door; Figs. 8-10 are similar views of a lower door; Fig. 11 represents the upper and lower doors, in closed positions, the front view intending to show the vertical air shaft(s) which create the "chimney effect"; and Figs. 12 and 13 represent how the cooker can be adapted for use with caravans of different designs, where the floor-worktop height can vary.

Description of preferred embodiments Referring to Fig. 1, a cooker 1 in accordance with the invention is shown fitted into a recess in a caravan worktop. The caravan worktop surface is at a height "h" above the floor surface "s" of the caravan and is separated into right- and left-hand portions "pl,p2" by recess "r".

The cooker 1 is fitted into this recess so that the upper surface of the cooker top 2 is flush with both portions pl,p2 of the caravan worktop surface.

As shown in more detail in Fig. 2, the cooker 1 comprises a hob 3, an upper chamber (grill or grill/oven) 4 and a lower heating chamber 5. The hob and the upper and lower heating chambers may be independent units which are assembled together to form a single unit. The hob 3 is fitted with four conventional gas burners bl-b4 and a wire trivet 6. As shown in Fig. 3, each of these burners is located in a respective hole 7 in a glass panel or substrate 8, which is backed by a metal panel 9. Besides providing a more elegant design finish, the glass panel 8 assists in insulating the hob from the upper heating chamber so that less heat is allowed to reach the upper chamber from hob.

A glass panel 10 is hinged to the rear of the cooker assembly, to form a cover which can be opened to allow the burners to be used for cooking, and closed when the burners are turned off to provide an extended working surface, which is flush with the caravan worktop surface.

As shown in Fig. 4, a common gas manifold pipe 12 has ports 13a-13b for connection to the burners bl-b4 of the hob 3, a port 13e for connection to a burner (not shown) in the upper heating chamber (grill or grill/oven), and a port 13f which is connected to a thermostat device 14, which can be mounted on the manifold pipe 1 and which supplies gas to the lower chamber (or main oven). The burners are controlled by respective knobs kl-k6 in a fascia 'f', which extends between the front of the hob 3 and the upper front portion of a grill or grill/oven.Gas manifold pipe 12 normally extends across the front of a hob unit, i.e. between the front burners and the control knob fascia, but it does not normally have a port for connection to a thermostatic device 14 for controlling the gas supplied to the main oven. (With an independent oven, an independent gas connection is made.) According to the preferred feature of the invention, this common gas manifold pipe is exploited by connecting the thermostatic device to, or mounting the thermostatic device on the pipe 12, over the respective port 13f. This enables only one connection to be made to the cooker assembly, i.e.

to a threaded fitting or union 15 on the gas inlet end of the manifold pipe. As this is situated at the front and at the side of the cooker, it is very easy to connect the gas supply of the caravan to the cooker assembly on installation.

Referring to Figs. 5-7, an upper door 16 which closes the upper heating chamber is of double skinned construction and it consists of an inner glass panel 17, an outer glass panel 18, and side channels 19a, 19b made of pressed steel.

The side channels are of substantially U-shaped crosssection and they may be integral with a strip 20, having air slots 21, which extends between the side channels at the top of the door 16. The glass panels 17,18 and the side channels can be drilled and fitted with nuts and bolts which hold the glass panels together and also secure a door handle 22.

The lower door 23 is of similar construction, except that it is open fully at the top and bottom, i.e. there is no apertured strip 20, and the glass panel 24 at the front extends further laterally beyond the side channels 19c,19d, so as to define respective air channels 25a,25b at each side of the door 23. An inner glass panel 26 and a handle 27 complete the lower door.

Referring to Fig. 11, which shows the upper door 16 above the lower door 23 (with a gap 28 therebetween to allow for door opening, i.e. due to the hinges), the air passageways 29 in the doors provide a coextensive vertical shaft or shafts 30, which gives an improved "chimney effect" so that more natural convection occurs, when the oven is used, whereby cold air is drawn in at the bottom, passes through the vertical shaft, and escapes at the top through the outlet slots. A horizontally extending gap 31 beneath the lower edge of the lower door and a plinth, and a similar gap between the lower edge of the upper door and the upper edge of the lower door, each allow for hinge opening as well as for the entry of cold air (due to natural convection).

Fig. 12 schematically represents a cooker adapted for use in a touring caravan, where the cooker unit rests on a cooker support in the form of a shelf 32, and the space below the shelf accommodates a wheel arch 33. A dummy door 34 covers this space and matches the oven door 35 in styling. The door 34 may be openable, e.g. if there is enough space to utilise as a storage cupboard. The space below the shelf has a variable height, but the height of the cooker unit is fixed (for touring caravans of different manufacture or design). In Fig. 13, the cooker is shown installed in a static caravan, where there is no wheel arch problem. In this case, the upper grill compartment 36 and lower oven 38 are larger, their heights being greater than the equivalent heights of a grill compartment 37 and an oven 38 in the cooker of Fig.12. In Fig. 13, the cooker rests on a cooker support in the form of a shelf 32, and the space below the lower oven 37 is shown as a plinth 38. These arrangements are, of course, examples only of how the space below the lower heating chamber may be utilised. Also, other forms of cooker support may be employed instead of shelves.

With further regard to Figs. 12 and 13, the front of hob 40 is supported and attached to the front upper part of the grill compartment 36 (or grill/oven 36), e.g. by brackets, bolts and or screws. The rear of hob 40 is attached and supported on an extension of the rear wall of the grill or grill/oven 36. The upper and lower chambers may be attached together. Any suitable means may be used for these attachments.

Claims (10)

1. A caravan cooker which is adapted to be installed in/or adjacent a caravan worktop, the cooker comprising at least a hob, an upper heating chamber and a lower heating chamber; the hob, upper and lower heating chambers being assembled together to enable installation of the cooker, as a single unit, in/or adjacent the caravan worktop; the cooker further including a cover for the hob, which can be opened to enable cooking on the hob, and closed to define a worktop surface ; the vertical height of said single unit being preselected as a fixed dimension with respect to either a touring caravan, or a static caravan, so that when the cooker is installed on a cooker support located above floor level in the caravan, the worktop surface of the of the cover, when closed, is substantially flush with the surface of the caravan worktop.

2. A cooker according to claim 1 wherein the hob and either the upper, or the lower, heating chamber, or both, are gas-fired and respective burners therein are connected to a common connector for single-piece connection to a gas supply, or gas supply pipe.

3. A cooker according to claim 2 wherein all of the burners are connected to a common manifold pipe.

4. A cooker according to claim 3 wherein the manifold pipe extends horizontally inside the cooker between the front panel thereof and front burners of the hob.

5. A cooker according to any of the preceding claims wherein the upper and lower heating chambers are each fitted with a respective door, each door having a double-skinned construction so as to define an airway therein, the airway in the lower door being coextensive with the airway in the upper door, when the doors are closed, so as to define a vertical shaft or shafts for promoting natural convection for cooling the surface or surfaces of the door or doors.

6. A cooker according to claim 6 wherein gaps extend horizontally beneath the lower edges of both the upper and lower doors in order to assist air entry.

7. A cooker according to claim 6 or 7 wherein the lower door has a front panel extending laterally at the sides in order to define, together with respective structural members of the cooker, vertical passageways which assist in supplying naturally convected air to the passageway (S) in the upper door.

8. A cooker according to any of the preceding claims wherein the hob includes burners located on a glass panel.

9. A caravan fitted with the cooker according to any preceding claim.

10. A caravan cooker substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.