US20080092871A1

US20080092871A1 - Built-In Cooker

Info

Publication number: US20080092871A1
Application number: US11/660,507
Authority: US
Inventors: Tamotsu Izutani
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Panasonic Corp
Priority date: 2005-05-13
Filing date: 2006-03-15
Publication date: 2008-04-24
Also published as: CN101010544B; EP1804000A4; JP4259487B2; EP1804000A1; HK1106018A1; WO2006120799A1; JP2006317090A; CN101010544A

Abstract

The built-in cooker has a body forming an outer hull, a heater, and a top unit. The heater is contained in the body. The top unit covers a top face of the body and is fixed to the body. The top unit includes a top plate, a holding member, and a hook. The holding member places the top plate thereon, and holds an outer peripheral part of the top plate. The hook is fixed to the holding member and is removably fixed to a side of the body. The hook includes a fixing plate extending to a vicinity of a corner portion of the holding member and being fixed to an bottom face of the holding member.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention is related to a built-in cooker for use in a home kitchen, especially to a constitution of a top unit of the cooker.

BACKGROUND ART

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional built-in cooker. Outer hull body 1 contains a heating coil, a cooling fan motor, and a controller circuit board (not illustrated). Top unit 2 covers outer hull body 1 from above. Top unit 2 is composed of holding member 3, top plate 4, and frame 5. Top plate 4 is placed on holding member 3 with its entire peripheral part adhered to holding member 3. Frame 5 covers an outer peripheral part of top plate 4 from above.
Hooks 6 are fixed to a front part of holding member 3 fixed by screws 7 from underside. Top unit 2 is set on outer hull body 1 and then fixed to body 1 at hooks 6 by screws 8 from front side. Top unit 2 is fixed also to outer hull body 1 by screws 9 through holes provided on holding member 3 and frame 5. The built-in cooker has inlet/exhaust panel 11 covering inlet holes 10 for drawing-in cooling air. This type of built-in cooker is disclosed by Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication Number 2005-42984, for an example.
With this conventional constitution, corner portions of top plate 4 are weak in strength. So, when a stress is applied to one of the corner portions of top plate 4 during an installation work, top plate 4 can be broken in a worst case.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a safe and easy-to-install built-in cooker, in which a top plate is prevented from being damaged even if a stress is applied to a corner portion of the top plate during an installation work. The built-in cooker of the present invention has a body forming an outer hull, a heater, and a top unit. The heater is contained in the body. The top unit covers a top face of the body, and is fixed to the body. The top unit includes a top plate, a holding member, and a hook. The top plate is placed on the holding member with its outer peripheral part held by the holding member. The hook is fixed to the holding member as well as removably fixed to a side of the body. The hook includes a fixing plate extending toward a vicinity of the corner portion of the holding member to be fixed to a bottom face of the holding member. With this structure, even when a stress is applied to the corner portion of the top plate during an installation work for instance, the holding member sustains the top plate securely with the extended portion of the fixing plate. This strong structure significantly reduces a possibility of the plates being damaged.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a built-in cooker according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of an essential part of the built-in cooker shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 3 is a perspective view of another essential part of the built-in cooker according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a still other essential part of the built-in cooker according to the exemplary embodiment of the invention.
FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional built-in cooker.

REFERENCE MARKS IN THE DRAWINGS

1 outer hull body
2 top unit
3 holding member
4 top plate
5 frame
6 hook
7, 8, 9 screw
10 inlet hole
11 inlet/exhaust panel
21, 31, 41 hook
22, 32 fixing plate
23, 41 holding member
24 corner portion
25 sealing material
33 drawn rib
42 bent portion
44 end portion
45 fixing plate
51 body
52 top unit
54 top plate
55 frame
56 heater
57, 58, 59, 62 screw
60 inlet hole
61 inlet/exhaust panel

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a built-in cooker according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Body 51 forms an outer hull, and contains heaters 56 each composed of an inductive heating coil, a cooling fan motor and a controller circuit board (none of the two illustrated). Top unit 52 covers a top face of body 51 and is fixed to body 51. The top unit 52 has holding member 23, top plate 54, frame 55 and hooks 21. Top plate 54 is placed on holding member 23 with its outer peripheral part adhered to holding member 23. Frame 55 covers top plate 54 at an outer peripheral part thereof.
Sealing material 25, a sponge-like rubber, is applied to a bottom face of peripheral part of holding member 23. Sealing material 25 prevents water to come into a cabinet through an opening after body 51 is placed in the opening of the cabinet.
Each hook 21 is fixed to a front portion of holding member 23 by screws 57 and 62 from underside, or may be fixed by rivets. Top unit 52 is placed on body 51 and fixed to body 51 at the front side with hooks 21 by screws 58. Top unit 52 is also fixed to body 51 by screws 59 through holes provided on holding member 23 and frame 55. That is to say, hooks 21 are fixed to holding member 23 as well as removably fixed to a side of body 51 (to a front side, for instance). Hook 21 has fixing plate 22 extending toward a vicinity of corner portion 24 of holding member 23, therewith fixed to a bottom face of holding member 23. The built-in cooker further has inlet/exhaust panel 61 covering inlet holes 60 and the like. Inlet holes 60 are provided to draw cooling air in. Inlet/exhaust panel 61 has a number of holes in an entire part of it, although they are only partially shown in FIG. 1.
Following, details of constitution of hook 21 and its effective role are explained with reference to FIG. 2. Hook 21 includes fixing plate 22. Fixing plate 22 is extendedly formed toward corner portion 24 of holding member 23 for holding top plate 54, and is screw-fixed to holding member 23 by screws 57 and 62. Fixing plate 22 being formed in a widening shape toward corner portion 24 securely sustains top plate 54. When installing the built-in cooker, a worker can lift the cooker by holding two sides of top unit 52, with top unit 52 being fixed to body 51. Even when a stress is applied to a corner portion of top plate 54 at this time, since top plate 54 is securely sustained from beneath by the extended portion of fixing plate 22 with holding member 23. This strengthened structure significantly reduces a possibility of the top plate being cracked or damaged, providing a safe and easy-to-install built-in cooker.
Top plate 54 is commonly 600 mm in length, but a built-in cooker having a 750 mm-long plate is increasing in number. As body 51 is fixed in size, a momentum of stress applied to the corner portion of top plate 54 becomes larger. Thus, an effect of the constitution is remarkable when top plate 54 is large.
Next, a constitution of another hook is explained. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the other hook of the built-in cooker according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Drawn rib 33 formed in a drawn shape is provided on fixing plate 32 of hook 31. Provided drawn rib 33, hook 31 is stronger than hook 21, thus further workability and safety in installation is improved. Drawn rib 33 is preferably formed in a radially expanding pattern toward corner portion 24, enhanced in the strength.
If an adhesive is applied to fixing plate 32 when attaching the plane to holding member 23, screws 57 and 62 can be eliminated for connecting holding member 23 to hook 31, further improving workability. The adhesive can be applied to hook 21 in FIG. 2 as well.
Next, a constitution of a still other holding member is explained. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a constitution of the still other hooking part of the built-in cooker of the invention. Bent portion 42 is formed underside of outer peripheral part of holding member 41. Bent portion 42 engages end portion 44 of fixing plate 45 of hook 43. With this constitution, when holding member 41 and hook 43 are joined, a setting position is easily determined between the two, improving workability. In this constitution, hook 43 can be in a shape which is similar to hook 21 or hook 31.
In the present exemplary embodiment, heater 56 is explained to be an induction cooker composed of a heating coil, but the invention is not limited to this case. The invention can be applied to a gas cooker in which a gas stove is used as heater 56 and top plate 60 is provided with a hole suitable for the gas stove. Thus, the invention is not restrictively applied only to the preferred embodiment.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

A top plate of a built-in cooker of the present invention is held from underneath by an extended portion of a fixing plate of a hook and a holding member even when a stress is applied to a corner portion of the top plate during an installation work for instance. The enforced structure significantly reduces a possibility of the top plate to be broken or damaged, providing a safe and easy-to-install built-in cooker.

Claims

1. A built-in cooker comprising:

a body forming an outer hull;

a heater contained in the body; and

a top unit covering a top face of the body and fixed to the body, the top unit including:

a top plate;

a holding member placing the top plate thereon and sustaining an outer peripheral part of the top plate; and

a hook fixed to the holding member and removably fixed to a side of the body, the hook including a fixing plate, the fixing plate extending toward a vicinity of a corner portion of a bottom face of the holding member and being attached to the holding member.

2. The built-in cooker according to claim 1, wherein a drawn rib is provided on the fixing plate.

3. The built-in cooker according to claim 1, wherein the fixing plate of the hook has a shape of widening toward the corner portion of the holding member.

4. The built-in cooker according to claim 3, wherein the drawn rib is provided in a radial pattern toward the corner portion of the holding member.

5. The built-in cooker according to claim 1, wherein the fixing plate is fixed by adhering to the holding member.

6. The built-in cooker according to claim 1, wherein the holding member has a bent portion formed at an undersurface of an outer peripheral part the holding member, and an end portion of the fixing plate and the bent portion are engaged.