US3546427A - Combination foodwarmer and light - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent 1111 3,546,427

[72] lnventor Claude S. Farrell, Jr. 2,863,979 12/1958 Fitzgerald 219/347X NorthbrookJlL 3,149,223 9/1964 Zimmerman... 219/347 [211 App]. No. 766,930 3,211,077 10/1965 Kramer 2l9/347X [22] Filed Oct. 11, 1968 3,294,955 12/1966 Anoff 219/347 1 :awmed g u FOREIGN PATENTS [731 518,885 4/1953 Bel ium 219/220 755,193 9/1933 Fraice 250/35 982,088 1/1951 France 219/348 Great 4 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs. Primary Examiner--A. Bartis 52 us. c1. 219/220, Wagner, A116", Stellma" & Mccord 219/342, 219/347; 240/2. 240/51. 1 l 250/85 [51] Int. Cl. 1105b 3/02 Field of Search 219/339, ABSTRACT: A combination foodwarmen and m f 1 342343 3177;240/2, 2(V) lation under an elevated cabinet such as a kitchen cabinet. 51.11, 103(3); 128/395, 396; 250/85,88; 34/ The unit includes a housing carrying a bifurcated reflector 2431 202 having one portion adapted to reflect light from an illumination source and a second ortion ada ted to reflect heat from [56] References Cited a heat source. The heat re flector is further arranged to control UNITED STATES PATENTS the delivery of heat from the unit to avoid overheating of a 1,208,143 12/1916 Hadaway 219/220 rearwardly adjacent surface, such as a wall surface. The 1,656,777 1] 1928 Dennis 250/ reflector is still further arranged to preclude cross radiation 2,346,234 4/ 1944 Reynolds... 34/239X between the two reflector portions while yet disposing the por- 2,578,190 12/1951 Kurtzon 240/51.11 tions in contiguous relationship. The unit includes electrical 2,591,661 4/1952 McCandless 240/51.11 control means for concurrently energizing the heat and 2,678,372 5/1954 Salton 219/220 illumination means and selectively solely the illumination 2,700,095 1/1955 Needham 219/220 means.

1 COMBINATION FOODWARMER AND LIGHT BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to cabinet mounted illumination and heating apparatus.

2. Description of the Prior Art A number of devices have been developed for providing heat to subjacent a cabinet, such as a wall or ceiling hung cabinet disposed above a counter. Such devices, for example, have been developed for use in restaurants and the like for maintaining foodstuffs warm prior to pickup thereof by the waitresses. Certain of the devices have been adapted for use on kitchen cabinets as for use in the home. One well-known form of such device is one utilizing an infrared heating lamp in a bullet-type reflector. An improved form of heating unit utilizes elongated tubular quartz element heaters.

Further, a number of different devices have been developed for providing illumination to subjacent such wall or ceiling hung cabinets. Typical fluorescent lamp units are employed for such illumination purposes.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention comprehends an improved combination heat and light unit for providing selectively foodwarming and illumination functioning. The invention comprehends the provision of such a combination foodwarmer and light unit which is extremely simple and economical of construction while yet providing improved efficiency of heating and illumination. The structure of the invention includes a reflector defining means for reflecting both the heat radiation and the illumination radiation in substantially contiguous side-by-side relationship while yet effectively minimizing interaction between the radiation sources.

More specifically, the invention comprehends the provision of such a reflector which. effectively precludes radiation from the heating means from adversely affecting the illumination means.

Further, more specifically, the invention comprehends an improved foodwarmer and light unit having electric control means for selectively energizing the heat and illumination means concurrently or energizing the illumination means alone. p

Still further, the invention more specifically comprehends the provision of such a unit wherein the illumination means comprises a plurality of lamps disposed end-to-end permitting selective connection thereof for use with different power supply voltages.

Further, more specifically, the invention comprehends a combination foodwarrner and light unit for installation under an elevated cabinet, comprising a housing having a top portion adapted to be mounted subjacent an elevated cabinet, reflector means carried by the housing and defining first and second juxtaposed downwardly opening recesses, electric radiant heater means in one of therecesses, electric lamp means in the other of the recesses, and control means for selectively energizing the heater and lamp means for selectively delivering heat and light to a space below the unit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING Other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric view of a combination foodwarmer and light embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical section thereof taken substantially along the line 3-3 of FIG. 2 with the unit mounted on the bottom of a wall mounted cabinet; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section of a modified form of combination foodwarmer and light embodying the invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS In the exemplary embodiment of the invention as disclosed in FIGS. 1-3 of the drawing, a combination foodwarmer and light unit generally designated 10 is adapted for installation under an elevated cabinet, such as wall mounted cabinet 11, to provide downwardly therefrom heat and illumination as desired. The unit 10 includes a housing 12 provided with upstanding brackets 13 adapted to be secured to the bottom wall 14 of the cabinet 11 by suitable means, such as screws 15. As best seen in FIG. I, the housing 12 may comprise a parallelepiped downwardly opening structure which may be formed of a suitable material such as sheet metal. The sidewalls 16, 16 may be provided with'an inturned flange 17 adapted to support a reflector generally designated 18 within the housing 12, as best seen in FIG. 3.

The housing 12 fiirther includes a top wall 19 and suitable insulation 20 subjacent the topwall l9. As shown in FIG. 3, the reflector 18 extends upwardly from the flanges l7 to the bottom surface 21 of the insulation to thereby serve as means for retaining the insulation in place in the upper portion of the housing.

The reflector 18 comprises a bifurcated reflector means having a first portion generally designated 22, defining a first downwardly opening recess 23, and a second portion generally designated 24 defining a second downwardly opening recess 25. Recess 23 is disposed rearwardly adjacent front sidewall 16 and recess 25 is disposed forwardly adjacent rear sidewall 16', as best seen in FIG. 3. Reflector portion 22 includes apposed downwardly angled sidewalls 26 and 27 and top wall 28 defining reflector surfaces for reflecting illumination from lamp means 29 in recess 23 downwardly from the unit. As best seen in FIG. 2, lamp means 29 may include a pair of lamps 29a and 29b disposed end-to-end. Illustratively, lamps 29a and 2% may be connected in series across a 108- volt or 230-volt power supply or may be connected in parallel across a l20-volt power supply. Lamp means 29 may comprise incandescent tubular lamps of conventional construction which may be obtained in suitable standard lengths, such as 12 inch or 17 inch lengths. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lamps may be mounted in suitable holders 30 to dispose the lamps in substantially centered relationship in the recess 23. In the illustrated embodiment, the sidewalls 26 and 27 are disposed at an angle of approximately 20 to the vertical.

Reflector portion 24 includes sidewalls 31 and 32 and top wall 33. As shown in FIG. 3, the forward sidewall 31 is contiguous with the rearward sidewall 27 of reflector portion 22.

and extends at a somewhat greater angle to the vertical, herein approximately 30 thereto. Rearward sidewall 32 extends at a relatively small angle to the vertical, such as approximately 5. The quartz heating element, generally designated 34, is mounted in recess 25 in the upper rearward portion thereof, as shown in FIG. 3, to be adjacent top wall 33 and rear wall 32. Thus, direct radiation from the heater 34 is limited to a forwardly downward direction, as shown in the broken lines in FIG. 3, to minimize the heating effect on a surface, such-as surface 35 of the rearwardly adjacent wall 36, while yet providing high heat effect subjacent the unit 10. Sufficient heat may be directed downwardly from the unit to a distance such as approximately 18 inches below the unit to provide conventional foodwarming, while preventing scorching and the like of wall 36. The invention further comprehends, however, the provision of a symmetrical reflector portion '24 which may be similar to reflector portion 22 where the unit is intended for use in a ceiling mounted cabinet wherein the requirement for forward direction of the heat radiation is not present. As shown, the heating element 34 may comprise a conventional infrared electrically energized quartz heating element.

As best seen in FIG. 3, reflector 18 may include out-turned flanges 37 adapted to rest on the inturned flanges 17 of the housing 12 for supporting the reflector within the housing.

The lamp and heating elements are electrically energized through a suitable power supply cord 38 and energization thereof is controlled by a suitable switch 39 electrically connected thereto to permit selective concurrent energization of each of the heater 34 and lamp means 29, or lamp means 29 alone. Thus, in the upper position of switch 39, as shown in FIG. 1, the heater 34 and lamp means 29 are energized to deliver both heat and illumination downwardly from the unit. To more positively indicate the energization of the heater 34 at this time, an indicating lamp means 40 may be provided adjacent the switch. When the switch is moved to the lowermost position, as seen in FIG. 1, only the lamp means 29 is energized and at this time the indicator 40 will be dark. If desired, a percentage timer control may be provided in series with the connection from the switch 39 to the heater 34 to provide variable cyclical energization of the heater 34 to provide controlled heating effect, as desired, independently of the illumination means.

Referring now to FIG. 4 of the drawing, a modified foodwarmer and light unit generally designated 1110 embodying the invention is shown to comprise a unit substantially similar to unit 10 except having a reflector 118 including rounded portions 122 and 124 in lieu of the straight walled portions 22 and 24 of reflector 18. Thus as shown, the reflector portions may have parabolic cross sections for improved uniformity of reflection while yet providing the highly desirable features of reflector 18 as discussed above. Further, the reflector 118 provides improved simplicity and economy of manufacture.

While I have shown and described certain embodiments of my invention, it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

lclairn:

l. A combination foodwarmer and light unit for installation under an elevated cabinet, comprising: an elongated housing having a rear edge; means for horizontally fixedly mounting said housing subjacent an elevated cabinet; elongated reflector means carried by said housing to extend parallel thereto and defining first and second elongated juxtaposed downwardly opening forward and rearward recesses; elongated electric radiant heater means in the rearward one of said recesses extending substantially the length thereof, the center line of said heater being disposed rearwardly of the center line of the recess in which it is disposed to cause most of the heat therefrom to radiate forwardly of the vertical plane of said rear edge; elongated electric lamp means in the forward one of said recesses extending substantially the length thereof; and control means for selectively energizing said heater and lamp means for selectively delivering heat angularly forwardly from said rearward recess to a space below said unit substantially only forwardly of the vertical plane of said rear edge and delivering light vertically downwardly: from said forward recess to said space including the portion of said space vertically below said rearward recess.

2. The combination foodwarmer and light unit of claim 1 wherein said control includes unitary switch means for selectively (a) soley energizing said lamp means and (b) .concurrently energizing said heater and lamp means.

3. The combination foodwarmer and light unit of claim 1 wherein said reflector means comprises a formed unitary sheet.

4. The combination foodwarmer and light unit of claim 1 wherein said rearward recess is defined by apposed, substantially planar side surfaces diverging downwardly asymmetrically relative to the center line of said rearward recess.

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