GB2373851A - Oven door - Google Patents

Abstract

A double-skinned oven door has vertical strips 5, 6 running down the side edges of outer glass panel 1. These strips are extruded metal preferably profiled aluminium which provide design flexibility at economical cost.

Description

COOKING APPLIANCES This invention relates to cooking appliances.

The invention especially relates to oven doors of such appliances.

Typically, oven doors include a pair of layers spaced apart with a cooling channel between them, in order to prevent the outer layer from becoming too hot. In one design, the outer layer consists of a glass panel and a metal frame surrounds it at the edges. This metal frame can be used to hold the inner layer of the door at the desired spacing from the outer layer.

Such a design presents an appearance pleasing to a customer, but necessitates expensive equipment for the manufacture of the door.

Thus, to produce a suitable frame to hold the outer glass panel, a metal blank has to be punched out over the region of the glass panel to be left uncovered, and the edges have to be turned over around the panel. The tooling costs are high, with the result that it is only possible to produce such a design if the appliance is to be made in high volumes.

The invention provides a cooking appliance comprising an oven door, the front of which is formed by a glass panel, and extruded metal strips adhered to the outer margins of opposed edges of the glass panel.

This produces the pleasing appearance referred to but without the need for such expensive tooling. The extruded metal can be aluminium, which can be relatively inexpensive to produce, and further machining can be carried out on the extrusions to provide a profile to the strips to provide further possibilities for variations in appearance.

A cooking appliance constructed in accordance with the invention will now be described in detail, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a front view of an oven door of the appliance; and Figure 2 is a top plan view of the oven door shown in Figure 1.

The cooking appliance may have one or two cavities. The door of the main (or only) oven is illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The door consists of an outer glass panel 1, an inner glass panel 2, and a frame 3 for holding the two panels at the separation shown.

Air can ventilate between the panels so that the outer surface of the door does not become too hot. A handle 4 is both bolted through apertures in the glass panel 1 to secure it in position.

Two aluminium extrusions 5,6 are secured to the margins of the vertically extending surfaces of the side of the oven door.

These are provided to give flexibility in the appearance of the door (in particular, to simulate the pleasing appearance of a metal frame surrounding the glass panel 1).

The metal strips 5,6 are extrusions of aluminium, which are profiled i. e. non flat on the outer surface and flat on the surface facing the door. They are secured to the door by means of double-sided adhesive tape together epoxy glue to cope with any slight distortions of either the glass panel or the rear face of the strips.

The strips can be machined if desired to create further form at their ends and along their length.

Because the strips 5,6 are extrusions, they can be produced with relatively inexpensive tooling, yet can provide the appearance which would normally only be provided by expensive tooling needed to punch holes in metal blanks, and it follows that the design is flexible in that it is relatively easy to change the profile of the strips.

If desired, further strips could be provided along the top and bottom of the doors, or such strips could be the only strips running along the edges of the glass panel, the vertical strips being omitted.

In the case of a double oven, the same design can be applied to the second oven door.

Claims (5)

1. CLAIMS 1. A cooking appliance comprising an oven door, the front of which is formed by a glass panel, and extruded metal strips adhered to the outer margins of opposed edges of the glass panel.
2. 2. A cooking appliance as claimed in claim 1, in which the extruded metal strips are extruded aluminium.
3. 3. A cooking appliance as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2, in which the extruded metal strips are profiled.
4. 4. A cooking appliance as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, in which the opposed edges are the side edges of the glass panel.
5. 5. A cooking appliance substantially as herein described with reference to the accompanying drawings.