GB2344879A

GB2344879A - Oven door

Info

Publication number: GB2344879A
Application number: GB9821569A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Anthony Adair; Paul L Murray
Original assignee: Stoves PLC; Stoves Group PLC
Current assignee: Stoves PLC; Stoves Group PLC
Priority date: 1998-10-05
Filing date: 1998-10-05
Publication date: 2000-06-21
Anticipated expiration: 2018-10-05
Also published as: GB2344879A8; GB9821569D0; GB2344879B

Abstract

An oven, primarily for use in leisure-based environments, has an oven door (106) with secondary hinging means (301). In this way, a partial opening of an upper portion (302) is facilitated, thereby providing access to a grilling area without the necessity of the whole of the door to be opened.

Description

2344879 Oven Door The present invention relates to an oven door openable

about a first hinging means to provide full access to an oven.

Installations for cooking or preparing foodstuffs having an oven and grill configuration as mounted assemblies within kitchen units and the like are well known. Furthermore, with increased time and money being available generally in the leisure environment, there has been a trend towards installing similar units in leisure-based environments, such as boats etc In the selling of leisure-based constructions, such as caravans, it has become desirable to present an environment which is more similar to that presented in the domestic environment. Consequently cooking appliances and the like have become more sophisticated and a greater emphasis has been placed on their quality of construction and general aesthetic appeal.

However, severe additional limitations apply when working in such environments, particularly in terms of limited space.

It is desirable to provide facilities for both oven cooking and grilling.

The provision of a grill, usually fuelled by a local gas supply, is important in many leisure based environments given limitations in terms of the availability of electrical power, thereby making it difficult to use electrically powered toasters etc The provision of separate cavities for the oven and the grill is known but an installation of this type is expensive and in many environments limitations in terms of space may make the provision of such an assembly difficult. Furthermore, particularly in mobile caravans etc, the provision of two cavities of this type may also add significant weight.

It is known to combine a grilling facility within the same cavity of an oven facility but a problem with an arrangement of this type is that the oven door must be placed in an ajar position when performing grilling operations.

2 According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided, in an oven for the cooking of foodstuffs, an oven door openable about a primary hinging means to provide full access to said oven, and including secondary hinging means to allow partial opening of said door to provide access to a grill.

In a preferred embodiment, the primary hinging means is provided at the bottom edge of the door and the secondary hinging means may be substantially parallel to the primary hinging means. Alternatively, the primary hinging means may be provided at the side edge of said door, with said secondary hinging means substantially orthogonal to said primary hinging means, such that said primary hinging means has hinging mechanisms and said hinging mechanisms are below said secondary hinging means.

The invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure I shows an internal view of a caravan including an oven; Figure 2 shows a similar view to that shown in Figure 1, in which said oven is being used for grilling purposes; Figure 3 shows a similar view to that shown in Figures 1 and 2 in which the oven is being used for grilling purposes; Figure 4 shows the opening of the oven door shown in Figure 3 for the purposes of grilling; Figures 5 and 6 detail the mechanism for the door opening operation shown in Figure 4.

An internal view of a caravan is shown in Figure 1. The caravan includes soft furnishing 101, a small dining table 102, washing facilities 103 and cooking facilities 104.

Cooking facilities 104 include a built-in installation for the cooking and preparation of foodstuffs. The installation includes an oven 105, that also includes facilities for the grilling of food:

3 The oven 105 includes an oven door 106 and said door is openable about a first hinge 107 to provide full access to the oven, thereby allowing pots to be placed into the oven and subsequently removed therefrom.

During these operations, door 106 is open for relatively short periods of time given that in order for the cooking operation to take place, it is necessary for relatively high temperatures to build-up inside the oven cavity, thereby requiring the door 106 to be closed.

In addition to being used as an oven, the oven cavity also facilitates grilling operations, as illustrated in Figure 2. Heating burners for grilling are located towards the top 201 of the oven cavity 105. A shelf 202 is adjusted to allow a grill pan 203 to be brought into cooking proximity with the grilling bumers at the top 201 of the oven cavity. In this way foodstuffs may be placed in the grill pan 203 and observed while grilling takes place.

A problem associated with using an oven installation for the purposes of grilling, as illustrated in Figure 2, is that the door 106 tends to remain open during the grilling process and in many situations, as illustrated in Figure 2, a considerable obstacle is presented. Thus, in addition to being inconvenient, the outswung door 106 could also be dangerous, if it becomes necessary to evacuate the environment in an emergency.

As an alternative to the arrangement shown in Figure 2, the door 206 could be closed as far as possible during the grilling operation, although it must remain open to some extent, possibly causing the door 106 to impact against the handle of the grill pan 203. This in turn could result in damage to the door 106, constructed from glass in the preferred embodiment.

Furthermore, the grilling operation is made difficult, if it is necessary to observe foodstuffs during the grilling process.

In order to overcome these problems, it is known to provide separate cavities for each of the oven and grill. However, a disadvantage of this approach is that the cooking facilities 104 become more expensive and larger. Furthermore in some situations, such as with mobile caravans, the 4 additional weight may be undesirable and in extreme situations the additional space requirement may not be available.

The oven door shown in Figure 2 has been modified to embody the present invention. The door 106 is openable about a first hinging means 105 to provide full access to the oven. In addition, the door 106 is provided with secondary hinging means to allow partial opening of the door so as to provide access to the grill. Thus, operation of the secondary hinging means such as to provide an access opening of sufficient size to facilitate a grilling operation, without creating an obstacle of any significance when left permanently open.

Thus, the oven door has a first mode of operation, as shown in Figure 1, allowing access to oven cavity 105 for oven cooking purposes. In addition, door 106 has a second mode of operation, as shown in Figure 3, providing reduced access for grilling purposes.

Door 106 has a first hinging mechanism employed during the door's first mode of operation as shown in Figure 1, such that the whole of the door swings outwards to provide full access to the oven cavity. In addition, door 106 is provided with a secondary hinging mechanism 301 allowing an upper portion 302 of door 106 to hinge about the lower portion of said door. The lower portion of door 106 remains held firmly in place while access is provided to the grilling area via the open upper portion 302.

Upper portion 302 may remain permanently open during the grilling process, thereby ensuring that the handle of pan 203 is not resting upon the glass of upper door portion 302. However, upper portion 302 is approximately one third of the size of the whole door 106 thereby the extent to which said upper portion extends into the centre of the caravan while the upper portion remains open is significantly less than the extent to which the whole door extends into the centre of the caravan when in its open position as shown in Figure 1. Consequently, the opening of upper door portion 302 does not present a dangerous hazard while at the same time the grilling operation may be observed in the normal way.

Door 106 is held in its closed position by means of springs, such that a force is applied to the door, causing the door to close, unless the door is in its fully closed position already or unless the door is placed in its fully open position as shown in Figure 1. Consequently, minimal further modifications are required to primary hinges 107 and to the mechanisms for retaining the door 106 in its closed orientation.

Operation of the secondary hinging mechanism is illustrated in Figure 4. Upper door portion 302 is provided with a handle 401. If the handle is pulled outwards away from the door, the whole door 106 opens in the normal way, thereby providing access to the full oven cavity as illustrated in Figure 1.

When in its closed position the whole of door 106 lies flush with a front control panel 402. In order to activate the secondary hinging mechanism, door 106 is pulled slightly ajar, thereby providing clearance between the top of the door and the bottom of the control panel 402.

Having cleared the control panel, the door is pulled lineally in a direction against the primary hinging mechanisms 107, resulting in upper door portion 302 becoming displaced form the remaining lower portion of the door 106. The door extends for a distance of between ten to twenty millimetres (10 to 20mm), whereafter the upper door portion 302 is rotated downwards against the secondary hinge 301.

The secondary hinge 301 includes a pair of co-operating hinging mechanisms, towards the edges of the door. A right hinging mechanism is detailed in Figure 5. The upper door portion 302 has a substantially similar construction to the remainder of the door 106. The door is fabricated from a pair of substantially parallel aluminium extrusions 501, arranged to support a front glass panel 502 and a rear glass panel 503, with an air gap 504 between said glass panels. The air gap between glass panels 502 and 503 allows cooling air to be directed through gap 504, thereby ensuring that the temperature of front panel 502 is maintained below acceptable limits. Thus, in 6 this way, it is possible to provide a window into the oven cavity, thereby allowing foodstuffs to be viewed while at the same time ensuring that the temperature of the door does not reach dangerously high levels.

Aluminium extrusion 502 includes a substantially rectangular cavity 506 and a locking hinge, the locking hinge consists of a first hinge portion 507 and a second hinge portion 508 located in respective lower and upper sides of rectangular cavity 506.

Lower hinge portion 507 includes a substantially cylindrical hinge pin 511, while upper hinge portion 508 includes a channel 512 such that pin 511 is locatable within channel 512. Thus, channel 512 allows upper door portion 302 to be pulled away from the lower portion of door 106 and then rotated downwards as shown in Figure 4.

The operation of the upper door portion 302 is detailed in Figure 6. At 601, the upper door portion is shown in its fully closed orientation. Thus, in the 601 orientation, both door portions may be fully closed or the whole of the door 106 may be open as shown in Figure 1. Upper door portion 302 is moveable with respect to the remainder of the door by use of the secondary hinging mechanism.

Cylindrical hinge pin 511 is attached to the lower door portion and thereby remains substantially stationary. Movement of the upper door portion 302 is provided by means of cavity 512. Operation of the secondary hinge firstly involves a co-planar displacement of the upper portion with respect to the lower portion as shown at 602. Thus, in 602, cyiindheal pin 511 has moved relatively with respect to cavity in a substantially co-planar direction.

Having reached the orientation shown at 602, upper portion 302 rotates in to its substantially horizontal position as detailed at 603. Thus, channel 512 effectively rotates about cylindrical pin 511 so as to present the required hohzontal orientation as shown at 603. Furthermore, channel 512 is substantially 'L' shaped, such that pin 511 is held securely within a channel extension region 605 when placed in its substantially horizontal orientation as 7 shown at 603. Furthermore, upper hinge portion 508 also includes a side cut a-way 606 thereby allowing the upper portion 302 to adopt a substantially horizontal orientation without being obstructed by the front glass panel 502 of the remaining door portion.

The provision of a secondary hinging mechanism allows a partial opening of the oven door to facilitate access to a grill, without obstructing access or risking damage to the oven door. Furthermore, the secondary hinging mechanism of the preferred embodiment requires minimal modification to the door construction and allows the door as a whole to operate in a substantially conventional way when full access to the oven cavity is required.

8

Claims

1. In an oven for the cooking of foodstuffs, an oven door openable about a primary hinging means to provide full access to said oven, and including secondary hinging means to allow partial opening of said door to provide access to a grill.

2. An oven door according to claim 1, wherein said primary hinging means is provided at the bottom edge of said door.

3. An oven door according to claim 2, wherein said secondary hinging means is substantially parallel to said primary hinging means.

4. An oven door according to claim 1, wherein said primary hinging means is provided at a side edge of said door.

5. An oven door according to claim 4, wherein said secondary hinging means is substantially orthogonal to said primary hinging means, said primary hinging means has hinging mechanisms and said hinging mechanisms are below said secondary hinging means.

6. An oven door according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein said door is constructed from end support members configured to support glass panels.

7. An oven door according to claim 6, wherein said end support members secure secondary hinging mechanisms for said secondary hinging means.

9

8. An oven door according to claim 7, wherein said secondary hinging mechanisms are configured to extend, thereby separating a upper door portion from a lower door portion.

9. An oven door according to claim 8, wherein said secondary hinging mechanisms allow said upper door portion to open in a downwards direction such that said upper door portion extends outwards with respect to said lower door portion.

10. An oven door according to claim 9, wherein said end support members are extrusions each having a cavity configured to receive portions of a secondary hinging mechanism.