JP5749467B2 - rice cooker - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a rice cooker.

  The rice cooker is a mechanism that heats the inner pot by putting the inner pot containing the food to be cooked (usually rice and water) in the outer pot provided in the main body, closing the lid attached to the main body. Yes. There are electric heaters, induction coils, etc. as the heat source for heating the inner pot, but whatever the heat source is, if the inner pot is not in place, heat as designed by the designer. I can't. Therefore, various ideas have been made to enable the inner pot to be positioned at a predetermined position. Examples thereof can be seen in Patent Documents 1 and 2.

  The rice cooker described in patent document 1 is an induction heating system, and induction-heats an inner pot with the induction coil provided in the bottom face outer side of the outer pot. In order to eliminate the variation in the distance relationship between the inner pot and the induction coil and realize stable heating characteristics, the inner pot should be stored in the outer pot in a state of being placed on a part of the inner bottom surface of the outer pot. ing. It can be said that the focus was on the vertical positioning of the inner pot.

  In the rice cooker described in Patent Document 2, in the case of an inner pot made of a non-metallic material (such as an earthen pot, a ceramic pot, a charcoal pot, etc.), the inner diameter of the rice cooker is larger than that of a metal inner pot. A plurality of positioning members for positioning the inner pot at the center of the protective frame on the inner peripheral surface of the protective frame (corresponding to the outer pot) that accommodates the pot (having elasticity that does not interfere with the operation of inserting and removing the inner pot (Consisting of members). This can be said to be a device that focuses on the horizontal positioning of the inner pot.

JP 2004-187971 A JP 2007-330316 A

  Regarding the positioning of the inner pot in the rice cooker, there is another matter to consider in addition to the directionality of “vertical direction” and “horizontal direction”. It is the “tilt” of the inner pot. This will be described with reference to FIGS.

  A rice cooker 100 shown in FIG. 5 as a conventional example is roughly divided into two parts, a main body 2 and a lid 3. The lid 3 is connected to the main body 2 by a hinge portion 4 so as to be freely opened and closed. The housing 5 of the main body 2 and the housing 6 of the lid 3 are both made of synthetic resin.

  The main body 2 incorporates an outer pot 7 serving as an inner pot accommodating portion to be described later. The outer pan 7 is formed by press-molding a metal plate, and the inside is exposed through a planar circular opening 8 formed on the top surface of the housing 5. A heat plate 9 serving as a heat source for the inner pot is disposed on the bottom surface of the outer pot 7. The hot plate 9 is made of an aluminum alloy die-cast product, and a heater 10 is cast therein. The heater 10 is a sheathed heater.

  The inner pot 11 is accommodated in the outer pot 7 through the opening 8. When the inner pot 11 is accommodated in the outer pot 7, a gap is formed between them. The inner pot 11 may be made of metal or non-metal. The inner pot 11 has an outer flange 12 at the edge of the upper opening. The outer flange 12 extends to the upper part of the top surface of the main body 2. When the inner pan 11 is housed in the correct position in the correct posture, the outer flange 12 and the top surface of the main body 2 have a gap.

  An inner lid 13 is disposed on the inner surface of the lid 3 (the surface facing the inner pot 11 when closed). The inner lid 13 is a disk-shaped part obtained by pressing a metal plate, and has a diameter that covers the upper opening of the inner pot 11. The peripheral edge of the inner lid 13 is a curled rim. When the lid 3 is closed with the inner pot 11 in the outer pot, the peripheral edge of the inner lid 13 comes into contact with the upper opening of the inner pot 11.

  A snap chuck 14 is attached to the center of the inner lid 13. The snap chuck 14 is molded of heat-resistant silicone rubber, and when pressed against the headed pin 15 formed on the inner surface of the lid 3, the snap chuck 14 expands once by its own elasticity and then squeezes out. It becomes a form to hold the club. Thereby, the inner lid 13 is attached to the lid 3 so as to be swingable. If a finger is pulled around the periphery of the inner lid 13, the snap chuck 14 is detached from the headed pin 15, and the inner lid 13 can be removed.

  A packing 16 having an upward cup shape is integrally formed with the snap chuck 14. When the snap chuck 14 is fitted into the headed pin 15, the packing 16 hits the inner surface of the lid 3 to prevent the inner lid 13 from wobbling.

  The inner lid 13 is provided with a steam escape port 17. Similarly to the snap chuck 14, the steam escape port 17 is a cylindrical part molded of heat-resistant silicone rubber, and is fitted into the inner lid 13 so as to penetrate the inner lid 13 vertically. The steam escape port 17 is disposed at a position on the line connecting the center of the inner lid 13 and the hinge portion 4. The steam escape port 17 protrudes outside the lid 3 through an opening 18 formed in the lid 3. The steam escape port 17 protruding to the outside of the lid 3 is hidden by a cover member (not shown) attached to the outer surface of the lid 3.

  A packing 19 having an upward cup shape is integrally formed with the steam escape port 17. When the inner lid 13 is attached to the lid 3 and the steam escape port 17 is projected from the opening 18 of the lid 3, the packing 19 is arranged between the steam escape port 17 and the lid 3, In close contact with the opening 18.

  When the inner pot 11 containing the cooking object is accommodated in the outer pot 7, the bottom surface of the inner pot 11 comes into contact with the main body 2. Specifically, the bottom surface of the inner pot 11 is seated on the hot plate 9. When the lid 3 is closed in this state, the inner lid 13 comes into contact with the upper opening of the inner pot 11. The contact state is maintained by the elasticity of the packings 16 and 19. The closed state of the lid 3 itself is maintained by a latch mechanism (not shown) provided between the end of the lid 3 opposite to the hinge portion 4 and the main body 2. Thereafter, rice cooking is performed by energizing the heater 10.

  As with any rice cooker, the gap between the outer peripheral surface of the inner pot 11 and the inner peripheral surface of the outer pot 7 is small. This is to reduce the volume of the outer pan 7 to reduce the heat capacity and to reduce the size of the housing 5. This configuration causes the following problems.

  When the inner pot 11 containing the food to be cooked is placed in the outer pot 7, the user is facing the open lid 3. That is, it is located on the right side of the rice cooker 100 in FIG. When the hand holding the inner pot 11 is extended over the outer pot 7, it is usually difficult to hold the inner pot 11 horizontally and put it in the normal position every time, especially the back side (the hinge part 4 side) is low. When the inner pot 11 is lowered while being held, the inner pot 11 may be fitted into the outer pot 7 in a tilted state as shown in FIG. As described above, since the gap between the outer peripheral surface of the inner pot 11 and the inner peripheral surface of the outer pot 7 is small, the outer peripheral surface of the inner pot 11 and the inner peripheral surface of the outer pot 7 are shown in FIG. A situation may occur in which contact is made at the point A and the inner pot 11 stops at that angle.

  At that time, the user notices and the angle of the inner pot 11 may be corrected. However, the user often does not recognize that the inner pot 11 is tilted, and often closes the lid 3 as it is. As a result, as shown in FIG. 6, heating is performed with the front side of the inner pot 11 floating from the hot plate 9.

  If it is the attitude | position of FIG. 6, compared with the back | inner side of the inner pot 11, the amount of heat transmitted to this side will decrease. For this reason, cooking rice is not uniform, and cooking conditions will be different between the back side and the near side. In addition to the rice cooker that uses a hot plate to transfer heat to the inner pot, the rice cooker that transfers the heat of the heater to the inner pot mainly in the form of radiant heat will change the inclination of the inner pot as shown in FIG. affect. This cannot be solved by the positioning member described in Patent Document 2.

  The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and when the inner pot is put in the outer pot with the front side raised, the inclination can be corrected quickly, or even if the inclination occurs. An object of the present invention is to provide a rice cooker that can reduce the inclination angle and suppress unevenness in cooking.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the rice cooker includes an inner pot in which an object is to be cooked, a main body having an outer pot serving as a housing portion for the inner pot, a heater for heating the bottom of the inner pot, and the main body. A lid connected to the lid by a hinge portion, and an inner lid that is swingably attached to the lid and supported so as to contact the upper opening of the inner pan when the lid is closed. A gap is formed between the inner pot and the outer pot, and the inner pot is accommodated in the outer pot by contacting the main body with the bottom surface, and an outer flange is provided at the edge of the upper opening of the inner pot. The outer flange extends to the top of the main body top surface, and extends to the outer flange side on the main body top surface, and has a rib with a gap between the outer flange and the rib. By positioning the narrowest part of the gap on the hinge part side, the inner pot is The outer flange and the contact is the narrowest portion of the rib when it is accommodated inclined Nji portion regulates the inclination to the hinge side of the inner bowl.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the rice cooker configured as described above, the rib is an annular rib surrounding the outer pot, the annular rib has an undulation at an upper edge, and the top of the undulation is the outermost ridge. It becomes a narrow part.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the rice cooker having the above-described configuration, a heat plate for seating the inner pot is disposed at the bottom of the outer pot, and the heat plate heats the heater to the bottom surface of the inner pot. To communicate.

  According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the rice cooker having the above-described configuration, the inner lid includes a steam escape port, and the lid is closed by the elasticity of the packing disposed between the steam escape port and the lid. Sometimes the inner lid exerts pressure on the inner pot.

According to the present invention, even if the front side of the inner pot is placed in a high state in the outer pan, the lid is connected to the top surface of the main body connected by the hinge portion, at the position between the center of the outer pan and the hinge portion. since the narrowest portion of the gap between the outer flange and the body top surface of the re blanking pot is provided, when considering the movement of the pot inner rotating the contact of the outer flange and ribs as a fulcrum, the fulcrum of rotation The reason why the outer pan is moved away from the outer pan is that the outer peripheral surface of the inner pan comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the outer pan, and the degree to which the rotation of the inner pan is hindered is reduced. For this reason, even if the inner pot is put in the outer pot in a state where the front side is raised, the inner pot fits in a normal posture. Or the inclination at the time of accommodation can be reduced and the nonuniformity of cooking condition can be suppressed.

It is sectional drawing of the rice cooker which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is sectional drawing of the rice cooker which concerns on embodiment of this invention, and shows a state different from FIG. It is a top view which shows the state which looked at some shapes of the rice cooker which concerns on embodiment of this invention from the top. It is a fragmentary sectional view which shows the state which looked at the partial shape of FIG. 3 from the front direction of the rice cooker. It is sectional drawing of the conventional rice cooker. It is sectional drawing of the conventional rice cooker, and shows a state different from FIG.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. Constituent elements common to those of the conventional example of FIGS. 5 and 6 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those used in FIGS.

  The rice cooker 1 according to the present invention is different from the conventional rice cooker 100 in that a convex portion 20 higher than the front side is formed on the hinge side of the top surface of the main body 2. The convex portion 20 is disposed at a position between the center of the outer pot 7 and the hinge portion 4. The gap between the convex portion 20 and the outer flange 12 is the narrowest portion in the gap between the outer flange 12 and the top surface of the main body 2.

  In the embodiment, the convex portion 20 is formed as follows. An annular rib 21 is formed on the top surface of the housing 5 of the main body 2 so as to surround the outer pot 7. Although the annular rib itself was also formed in the conventional example of FIGS. 5 and 6, in the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, the annular rib 21 has undulations at the upper edge, and the apex of the undulations is convex. To be part 20.

  As described above, the narrowest part of the gap between the outer flange 12 of the inner pot 11 and the top surface of the main body 2 is provided at a position between the center of the outer pot 7 and the hinge part 4. When the hinge portion 4 is tilted so as to be lowered, the convex portion 20 constituting the narrowest portion of the gap between the outer flange 12 and the outer flange 12 on the top surface of the main body 2 is accommodated in the outer pan 7. It contacts, and the inclination to the hinge part 4 side of the inner pot 11 is controlled. In other words, when considering the movement of the inner pan 11 that rotates around the contact point between the outer flange 12 and the top surface of the main body 2, that is, the contact point between the outer flange 12 and the convex portion 20, the pivot point of rotation is the outer pan. The reason is that the outer peripheral surface of the inner pot 11 comes into contact with the inner peripheral surface of the outer pot 7 and the rotation of the inner pot 11 is inhibited.

  For this reason, even if the inner pot 11 is put in the outer pot 7 with the front side raised as shown in FIG. Easy to return. In the embodiment, the pressure from above is mainly brought about by the elasticity of the packing 19 disposed between the steam escape port 17 of the inner lid 13 and the lid 3. When the lid 3 is closed, the inner lid 13 comes into contact with the upper opening of the inner pan 11 and the packing 19 is compressed in the vertical direction. At that time, the reaction force that the packing 19 exerts on the inner lid 13 becomes pressure on the inner pot 11.

  When the inner pot 11 is in the normal posture, the bottom surface of the inner pot 11 comes into close contact with the heat plate 9 as shown in FIG. For this reason, heat transfer as designed is performed for each part of the inner pot 11, and cooking unevenness does not occur.

  Since the convex part 20 is provided as the peak of the ups and downs of the annular rib 21 surrounding the outer pot 7, its presence is not conspicuous and the design is not uncomfortable. What is necessary is just to set the level difference of undulation to an appropriate value through experiment.

  Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the scope of the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the invention.

  The present invention is widely applicable to rice cookers.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Rice cooker 2 Main body 3 Lid 4 Hinge part 7 Outer pan 9 Hot plate 11 Inner pan 12 Outer flange 17 Steam escape port 19 Packing 20 Convex part 21 Annular rib

Claims (4)

An inner pot for cooking
A main body having an outer pot serving as a housing for the inner pot;
A heater for heating the bottom of the inner pot;
A lid connected to the main body by a hinge portion;
An inner lid that is swingably attached to the lid and is supported so as to contact the upper opening of the inner pan when the lid is closed;
In the rice cooker with
A gap is formed between the inner pot and the outer pot,
The inner pot is housed in the outer pot by contacting the main body with the bottom,
An outer flange is formed on the edge of the upper opening of the inner pan, the outer flange extends to the upper part of the main body top surface , extends to the outer flange side on the main body top surface, and a rib provided with a gap from the outer flange Have
The narrowest part of the gap between the outer flange and the rib is located on the hinge part side, so that the narrowest part of the outer flange and the rib is accommodated when the inner pot is accommodated inclined to the hinge part side. Which contacts and regulates the inclination of the inner pot toward the hinge part.   2. The rice cooker according to claim 1, wherein the rib is an annular rib surrounding the outer pot, the annular rib has an undulation at an upper edge, and a top of the undulation is the narrowest portion. .   The cooked rice according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a hot plate for seating the inner pot is disposed at the bottom of the outer pot, and the hot plate transfers heat of the heater to the bottom surface of the inner pot. vessel.   The inner lid includes a steam escape port, and the inner lid exerts pressure on the inner pan when the lid is closed by the elasticity of the packing disposed between the steam escape port and the lid. The rice cooker according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

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