GB696915A - Improvements in portable electric baking apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

696,915. Baking apparatus. HOFER, H. Feb. 12, 1951 [July 6, 1950], No. 3392/51. Class 28 (i). A portable baking apparatus comprises spaced top and bottom members, provided with heating elements to establish a baking field between them, and held one above the other by a coupling post that is movable by actuating means within the bottom member, to move the top member towards and away from the bottom member. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, an upper member comprising a heating element 54 located between a housing 53 and a pan portion 58, is supported by a tubular column 28 and a rod 31 both of which are connected at their lower ends to opposite ends of an offset channelled bar 23 in a casing 10 provided with a heating element 14 and a lower pan portion 15, which may also be used as a grill. The bar 23 is supported by pins 34, 35 thereon engaging forked levers 38, 39 carried by pivots 40, 41 on the internal frame member 19 and also pivotally connected to oppositely disposed pins 48, 49 on a stud 47 that is in threaded engagement with a rotatable shaft 44. When the shaft 44 is rotated by means of a knob 42, the bar 23 is moved vertically in guide slots in brackets 16, 17 and the consequential movements of column 28 and rod 31 alter the vertical position of the upper baking member. The upper member is pivotally connected to column 28 and freely supported, through an adjustable screw 61, by rod 31 so that it can be maintained in parallel relationship with the lower member and can be swung back for insertion of food. In a modification, Fig. 5, an upper member 103 has its vertical movement controlled by a single plunger 96 that is movable vertically in a housing 93 under the influence of a pin 89 carried by a channel shaped lever 85 which is pivotally inserted in the inverted U-shaped frame 77 and has a pivotal connection with oppositely disposed pins 83 of a threaded stud or block 82 on a rotatable shaft 79. The plunger 96 is formed from two channelled strips 97, 98 which are yieldingly spaced and connected at their upper ends by a screw 101 and sleeve 100 encircled by a spring 102, the side flanges of member 98 being cut away at the upper end to provide for relative movement of the strips. The upper member 103 is pivotally connected to the strip 97 of the plunger by means of strips 112 which reinforce the top casing including a finger piece 117, and is maintained in parallel relationship with a bottom member 65 and its baking pan or grill 108 by the engagement of a stop arm 115 with an offset seat 114 in strip 98. The spacing of the upper and lower members is altered by rotating a knob 80 that is secured to the shaft 79.