GB2312150A - Liquid heating vessels - Google Patents

Abstract

A liquid heating vessel 1 has a cover 4 for covering a pouring opening 10. The cover 4 is pivotally mounted so as to be rotatable into the vessel, to uncover the pouring opening 10. Two methods of achieving this are disclosed, namely a weight means 12 which is rotatably mounted and hangs down within the vessel to act on the cover 4 by means of gears 16,18; and a manually operated button 30 acting on the cover 4 via linkwork.

Description

LIOUID HEATING VESSELS This invention relates to liquid heating vessels and more particularly to water heating vessels having means for covering a pouring opening of the vessel.

When heating water in a water heating vessel it is desirable to limit the escape of steam through the pouring opening of the vessel for safety reasons and also in certain circumstances to provide sufficient steam pressure to operate a steam-sensitive boiling control for the vessel which may be arranged at some distance from a steam opening in the vessel wall, for example. It has been proposed therefore, to provide such a vessel with a cover for the pouring opening to limit the escape of steam, but which may be opened in order to fill, and to pour liquid from, the vessel.

One proposal is to pivotally mount a lid, which substantially covers the top of the vessel, to the back of the vessel, the user manually rotating it upwardly to open it for filling and pouring. This has the drawback, however, that steam condenses on the inside of the lid and then runs down the lid when it is raised. There is then the likelihood that extremely hot water can run down onto the hand of the user gripping a handle of the vessel while he or she is holding the vessel, possibly scalding them. Furthermore, any steam present in the vessel when the lid is opened may rise up as a cloud into a user's face, again, possibly scalding them.

Another proposal is to provide a cover which only covers the pouring spout of the vessel and which is pivotable upwardly away from the spout by the user for filling or pouring. Although this arrangement eliminates the possibility of hot liquid running down the vessel lid onto a user's hand, it does have the problem that when trying to fill the vessel e.g. from a tap, the cover can obstruct easy access to the vessel sprout.

According to the present invention there is provided a liquid heating vessel comprising a cover for closing a pouring opening of the vessel, said cover being pivotally mounted so as to be rotatable into the vessel, to uncover the pouring opening.

Thus in accordance with the invention a cover, which is preferably mounted on or to a lid of the vessel, pivots into the vessel for opening a pouring opening such as a spout. This arrangement has the advantages that the cover will not obstruct the pouring opening during filling, while at the same time avoiding the possibility of hot liquid coming into contact with a user when the cover is opened.

The pouring opening may be defined between a wall and a lid of the vessel and may comprise a pouring spout formed in the wall of the vessel.

In one embodiment, the cover may be movable to uncover the pouring opening in response to the vessel being tipped for pouring.

In a preferred embodiment, the cover may be coupled to weight means, most preferably a hanging weight, which holds the cover in a closed position when the liquid heating vessel is in an upright position, but which rotates the cover inside the vessel when the vessel is tipped for pouring. The coupling between the cover and the weight should be such as to ensure movement of the cover into the vessel upon a tipping pouring movement.

This may comprise, for example, suitable gearing or levers. Preferably, however, the coupling comprises a gear system for rotating the cover in the opposite sense to the rotation of the weight. To fill such a vessel, the user can either tip the vessel to open the cover and then fill through the uncovered opening, or push the cover upwardly against a tap so that the cover rotates, against the action of the weight means, into the vessel.

In another preferred embodiment, the cover is manually operable. For example the cover may be rotated by a mechanism such as a lever mechanism connected to an actuator arranged, for example, in the handle of the vessel.

In either of the above embodiments, the cover may be resiliently biassed into its closed position, for example by a compression spring acting on the abovementioned mechanism.

In a further preferred embodiment, the cover may be movable when the vessel is tipped and it may also be operated manually. For example a vessel may have weight means as discussed above to move the cover in response to the vessel being tipped and also means to move the weight manually against gravity while the vessel is still upright, causing the cover to open. This may be useful since it would enable the cover to be opened for filling without having to tip the vessel or push it up against a tap, whilst retaining the convenience of a cover which opens automatically for pouring.

The cover may be latchable into its closed or open positions. It may be desirable to be able to latch the cover in its closed position during the heating of liquid in the vessel since this would minimise the danger of serious injury in the event that the vessel is accidentally knocked over, by a child for example. It may also be desirable to be able latch the cover in its open position so that the user does not need to maintain pressure, on a button for example, during prolonged pouring.

Certain embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig 1. shows the top part of a liquid heating vessel according to a first embodiment of the invention with a pouring spout cover in its closed position; Fig 2. shows the vessel of Fig. 1 being tipped to move the cover into its open position; Fig 3. is a cut-away view of the vessel of Fig. 1 showing the weight means used to operate the cover; Fig 4. is a schematic view of the cover operating means of the first embodiment, in the closed cover position.

Fig 5. is a schematic view as in Fig. 4 in an open cover position; Fig 6. shows the top part of a liquid heating vessel according to a second embodiment of the invention with a pouring spout cover in its closed position; Fig 7. shows the vessel of Fig. 6 with the cover in the open position; Fig. 8 shows the cover operating means according to the second embodiment of the invention; Fig. 9 is a schematic view of the cover operating means of the second embodiment, in its closed cover position; Fig. 10 is a schematic view as in Fig. 9 in an open cover position; A liquid heating vessel shown generally by the reference numeral 1 and having electric heating means (not shown), according to a first embodiment of the invention, is shown in Fig.1. The vessel 1 has a pouring spout 2 formed in its wall for pouring liquid from the vessel 1 once it has been heated. The spout 2 is covered by a cover 4 to prevent the excess escape of vapour and steam during heating. The cover is pivotally mounted to the lid 6 of the vessel 1. The vessel 1 may be lifted and tilted by gripping handle 8. When the vessel is lifted and tilted as shown in Fig. 2, the cover 4 rotates into the vessel 1 to uncover an opening shown generally at 10, by means now described in more detail with reference to Figs. 3 to 5.

As can be seen in Fig. 3 a weight 12 is suspended by shaft 14 which is attached to a toothed gear wheel 16 which engages with a corresponding toothed portion 18 of cover 4. The gear 16 and cover 4 are pivotally mounted on shafts 20,21 respectively to a bracket 22 which is mounted to the lid 6. As can be seen from Fig. 4, when the vessel 1 is in an upright position, the cover 4 is held in its closed position against gravity by the downwardly hanging weight 12. However, when the vessel is tipped as in Fig. 5, the weight 12 continues to hang downwardly, but its position relative to the walls of the vessel 1 changes, causing gear 16 to rotate about its axis in a clockwise direction as seen from Figs. 4 and 5. This motion is transmitted to the toothed portion 18 of the cover 4, causing it, and hence the whole cover 4, to rotate about its axis in an anticlockwise direction into the vessel 1 to allow liquid to be poured through the spout 2. When it is desired to fill the vessel 1, water may be flowed into the opening created by the tipping of the vessel, or a tap may be pushed downwardly against the cover 4 to open the spout 2.

A second embodiment is shown in Fig. 6 with corresponding features being identically labelled. This embodiment differs from the first in that a button 30 is provided on the inside surface of the handle 8. By depressing the button 30 from the position shown in Fig.

6, the user can rotate the cover 4 into the vessel to uncover opening 10 as shown in Fig. 7. The mechanism by which this is achieved is described in greater detail below with reference to Figs. 8 to 10.

As can be seen most clearly from Fig. 8, button 30 is pivotally coupled to a lever arm 32, the distal end 36 of which is pivotally mounted in an end 34 of a downwardly projecting lug 38 of cover 4. The button 30 is urged outwardly by a compression spring 36 mounted within the handle 8. Referring more particularly to Figs. 9 and 10, it will be seen that initially the spring 36 holds the button 30 out from the back wall 40 of the handle 8, urging the lever arm 32 to a position in which it holds the cover 4 in a generally horizontal, closed position. When the user depresses the button 30, as seen in Fig. 10, it moves rightwardly against spring 36, the lever arm 32 then pivots the cover 4 anticlockwise about pivot 20, into the vessel to uncover the opening 10. The opening 10 is re-covered in the embodiment shown, by simply releasing the pressure on the button and allowing the spring 36 to act on the button 30. In other embodiments, however, the button and hence the whole mechanism may be latchable into one or both of its open or closed positions.

Although certain preferred embodiments have been described above, the invention is not limited to the particular arrangements shown but only by the appendant claims. For example the cover could be operated by means that are not set into the handle, but elsewhere on the vessel. Alternatively, the cover could be made to rotate by transmitting some form of rotary motion from the user's hand to the cover e.g. the upper of two pouring handles as disclosed in our co-pending application GB 9605295.6.

Claims (11)

Claims

1. A liquid heating vessel comprising a cover for closing a pouring opening of the vessel, said cover being pivotally mounted so as to be rotatable into the vessel, to uncover the pouring opening.

2. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in claim 1 wherein said pouring opening comprises a pouring spout.

3. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the cover is movable to uncover the opening in response to the vessel being tipped.

4. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in claim 3, wherein the cover is coupled to weight means for rotating the cover when the vessel is tipped.

5. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in claim 4, wherein said weight means is rotatably mounted and hangs down within the vessel.

6. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the cover is manually operable.

7. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in claim 6, wherein the cover is made to rotate by a manually operable lever mechanism.

8. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in claim 6 or 7, comprising an actuating button arranged on a handle of the vessel.

9. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said cover is latchable in either or both of its open and closed positions.

10. A liquid heating vessel as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said cover is mounted on or to a lid of the vessel.

11. A liquid heating vessel substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying drawings.