US3903867A

US3903867A - Cooking apparatus

Info

Publication number: US3903867A
Application number: US433830A
Authority: US
Inventors: Andres Vestergaard
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1974-01-15
Filing date: 1974-01-15
Publication date: 1975-09-09
Anticipated expiration: 1992-09-09

Abstract

Disclosed is a cooking apparatus having a pair of burners positioned near the periphery of the unit and a grill assembly extendable beyond the periphery for substantial centering over the burners, thereby combining the advantages of a compact stove for easy portability with the convenience of a large stove for cooking.

Description

United States Patent 1 1 3,903,867

Vestergaard Sept. 9, 1975 [54] COOKNG APPARATUS FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1 lnvenmrl Andres Vestergaard F0rIHi1|Dr- 1 |52.51x 8/1963 (icrmuny .v 126/38 Kingston. NY. 12401 [22] Filed: Jan. 1974 Primary limirlinerwillium F. O'Dcn Assllslum EJZIHIiHt'r-H2lf0id Joyce i PP N05 433x30 Almrm'i'. Agent, or Firm lhcodorc E, Gulunthay 52 us. Cl A. l26/38; 126/216 [571 ABSTRACT [5]] Int. Cl. F241: 5/20 Disclowd is a cooking apparatus having :1 pair of [58] Field of Sear h [26/38, 51 46 2|6 R burners positioned near the periphery of the unit and 126/44 331 37 5; 99/446 11 grill assembly extend-able beyond the periphery for substantial centering over the burners. thcrchy cum- [561 Reierenceg Cit d hining the advantages of u compact stove for easy por UNITED STATES PATENTS tzibilily with the convenience of a large stove for cook- 2907316 10/195 Windust 126/) R 1130,71) 4/l964 Mayer ct ui. l26/37 B 10 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTED SE? 9 W5 SIIEI 1 OF 2 IFIG.3

COOKING APPARATUS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to a cooking apparatus and more particularly to a portable stove which is collapsible to a small size for easy portability and expandable to a large size for cooking.

2. Description of the Prior Art Portable stoves are well known in the art, and have gained great popularity particularly with campers, hun ters, fishermen, and other outdoorsmen. Generally. these stoves have one, two, or three burners, the overall size of the unit being determined by the number of burners. The burners and associated cooking surfaces must be spaced at intervals sufficiently large to accom modate the various pots, frying pans. etc. intended to be placed thereupon. Thus. the convenience of larger cooking surfaces and more burners is inevitably coupled with the disadvantage of decreased portability because of increased size. One prior art attempt at providing a solution to this problem is a foldable two burner stove. This unit is hingedly connected along a line between the two burners, which are adjacent during cooking. For transporting, the unit is folded bringing the two cooking surfaces face to face, forming a closed container. Although this technique improves portability in the sense of reducing the largest dimension (length), the overall volume of the two burner unit is not reduced for transportation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide an improved stove combining the advantages of a large stove for cooking with highly compact portability.

It is another object to provide an improved stove with easy cleanability, easy disassembly, and interchangeability of certain parts for ease of reassembly.

It is still another object of this invention to provide an improved stove with extendable cooking surfaces without sacrificing safety considerations.

In accordance with the invention, a pair of cooking surfaces, also referred to as grill assemblies, are slidably attached to the supporting base of the stove. A pair of burners, fixedly attached to the supporting base, each have a burner stem portion passing through an elongated slot in the grill assembly. The elongated slot defines the freedom of motion of the grill assembly with respect to the burners. By unscrewing the burners, the grill assembly can be completely removed.

It is important here to note that the burners are fixedly positioned for safety. The burners are adapted to utilize a gaseous fuel such as propane gas or other volatile fuels converted to the gaseous state prior to igniting. In order to prevent leaks, a gas tight tubing usually ofa rigid material such as copper is used to connect the source of fuel, such as compressed propane, to the burners. If the burners were attached to the slidable grill, some type of less desirable flexible coupling arrangement would have to be utilized. In order to provide suitable spacing between cooking utensils such as pots, frying pans, etc, the burners must be spaced apart by a distance at least equal to the sum of the radii of the largest cooking utensils to be accommodated. It is conventional that the cooking surface should be large enough to support these pots substantially centered over the burners. These requirements have determined the minimum dimensions of multiple burner stoves until the present invention of extending the cooking surfaces over the burners.

Further advantages of the present invention include a cover having one extra long depending sidewall that is hingedly mounted near the bottom of the support base, This permits the cover to pivot away from the support base during cooking and provides increased portability by reduction ofthe width dimension. A wind screen is mounted in the cover and has depending tabs for insertion into slits in the grill assembly. Each grill assembly has several slits for interchangeability. Each grill assembly includes a grill and a drip pan, the grill being hingedly attached for easy cleaning.

The above mentioned objects, features and advantages of my invention, together with others inherent in the same, are attained by the apparatus illustrated in the drawings, the same being merely preferred exemplary forms. and are described more particularly as follows.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a top view of the cooking stove of this invention with the cover open and the grill assembly in its compact position.

FIG. 2 is a top view with the grill assembly extended and the wind screen illustrated by phantom lines.

FIG. 3 is a front view with the grill assembly extended and one of the grills hinged open. FIG. 3A is a front view of an alternate hinging arrangement for the grill.

FIG. 4 is atop view showing the internal connections.

FIG. 4A is a front view section taken along section line 4A.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Referring to the drawings in general and first in particular to FIG. I, there is illustrated a preferred embodiment of the present invention. FIG. I is a top view with the cover open but the grill assembly remaining in its closed position. Support base 10 has a bottom portion and upwardly extending sidewall portions forming the bottom half of the container for the cooking apparatus during transportation. Support base 10 also provides a support for the entire assembly both during transportation and during actual use in cooking. Burners l2 and 14 are positioned near the periphery of sup port base 10. The spacing between the burners is sufficiently large to permit the use of relatively large pots and pans. However, in the illustrated closed position, there would be insufficient support for such pots and pans near the edges of the support base.

In order to assure proper support for such pots, pans, and other desired cooking utensils, slidable grill assemblies l6 and 18 are provided. Grill assembly 16 includes drip pan 16A and grill 16B. Grill assembly 18 includes drip pan 18A and grill 18B.

Grills

16B and 18B are usually made from chromeplated material while the remainder of the unit is conveniently a painted metal. In the two-burner configuration shown, each of the

grill assemblies

16 and 18 have a first compactly collapsed position within the area defined by support base 10 as illustrated in FIG. 1. In this first position, cover 20 is conveniently closable providing compact transportability of the unit. After cover 20 has been opened, the

grill assemblies

16 and 18 are extendable to a second position beyond the area defined by support base 10 and substantially centered over the corresponding burners l2 and 14. This provides support for large cooking utensils placeable in a substantially centered position over the burners. In order to as sure that the size of such cooking utensils is not limited by the position of cover 20, cover 20 which includes a top surface and sidewall portions 20A includes one elongated sidewall portion 208. This elongated sidewall portion 208 is hingedly attached to the bottom of support base 10 providing a long pivot arm and permitting cover 20 to be pivoted away from the support base and grill assemblies providing room for large cooking utensils in the width dimension. Note that without the extra long sidewall portion 208, the cover would be hinged near the top of the support base 10 limiting the available space for cooking utensils. The particular hinging arrangement near the bottom of support base I is illustrated at reference numeral 20C.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the cooking apparatus is shown with the grill assemblies in their extended position. For ease of description, the same reference numerals previously utilized have been maintained in FIG. 2 insofar as practical. The arrows in FIG. 2 indicate the direction in which the grills have freedom of motion. As illustrated in the preferred embodiment. support base has folded lip portions 11 defining a guide way within which the grill assemblies are slidable. Each of the grill assemblies also has a depending sidewall portion 13 illustrated in dashed lines. In the open position of the grill assemblies, this prevents sharp edges and also provides a small surface against which a hand can push with safety if it is desired to close the grill assembly. In the closed position, this depending sidewall portion is adjacent the upwardly extending sidewall portion of the support base.

As a salient feature of the present invention, each of the grill assemblies is extendable even though the support base and burners are fixedly positioned with respect to each other. In the preferred embodiment the freedom of motion of the grill assembly with respect to the fixedly positioned burners is provided by an elongated slot such as 16D provided in the drip pan portion 16A of the grill assembly 16. Elongated slot 18D illustrates the same structure for grill assembly 18. As will be described in greater detail, each of the burners is unscrewable from its support in the support base 10 permitting the grill assemblies to be completely removed by being slid out from support base 10. Upon reinsertion of the grill assemblies into support base 10, they are interchangable. This flexibility is permitted by the provision of four wind screen slits as illustrated by

reference numerals

16C and 18C. These wind screen slits accept depending tap portions such as illustrated by reference numeral 223 from wind screen 22. Wind screen 22 is mounted in the cover 22 being hingedly supported at points such as 22A. In the closed position, the wind screen fits inside cover 20.

With reference to FIG. 3, there is illustrated that support base I0 includes a bottom portion 10A with upwardly extending sidewall portions 108 forming a container together with the cover for cooking apparatus. Note also that grill 188 shown in the open position is hingedly connected to drip pan 18A permitting easy cleaning of the drip pan and burners. Grill 168 is similarly hingedly mounted, although shown in the closed position. It is readily recognized that the hinge mounting may alternatively be placed near the center of the unit hinging the burners open towards the center, rather than the periphery of the unit, as illustrated in FIG. 3A.

With continued reference to the just described drawings, refer particularly to FIG. 4 showing further details of the cooking apparatus of this invention. Corresponding items have again been similarly numbered insofar as practical. In order to connect the source of fuel to the present cooking apparatus, means such as threaded screw connector 30 is provided. A continuous rigid tubing 32 connects the fuel to the burners 12 and I4. In order to regulate the flow of fuel to burner 12, valve 34 being controlled by knob 34A is provided. Similarly, in order to separately control the flow of fuel to burner 14, valve 36 operated by knob 36A is provided. Each of the said valve means are connected between the means for connecting the source of fuel 30 and each of the burners l2 and 14. Note also handle 38 provided for easy portability.

The burners l2 and 14 are rigidly mounted within the support base 10 as more particularly illustrated with reference to FIG. 4A. FIG. 4A is a cross-sectional view along line 4A in FIG. 4. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, burner 12 consists of burner head 12A and stem 12B.

The lower portion of stem 128 has a threaded portion 12C which is screwed into support 12D. Support 12D may either be a metal portion welded onto the bottom 10A of support base 10, or in the alternative, support 12B may actually be punched from the bottom portion 10A. At any rate, support 12D provides a gas tight fitting with tubing 32, further permitting a gas tight connection with burner I2 when it is screwed in at the threaded connection 12C. Burner 14 similarly consists of burner head 14A and stem 14B forming a similar gas tight connection at support 14D.

What has then been described is a cooking apparatus having a pair of burners positioned near the periphery of the unit and a grill assembly extendable beyond the periphery for substantial centering over the burners, thereby combining the advantages of a compact stove for easy portability with the convenience of a large stove for cooking. Although a two burner configuration has been described, it is readily apparent that a third fixedly positioned burner could be positioned between burners l2 and 14. Although such a unit would be larger than the disclosed two burner unit, the same advantages of relative compactness would be obtained by utilizing the concepts of this invention. It is therefore apparent that those skilled in the art will recognize that various other changes in structure and mode of operation may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

I claim:

I. A cooking apparatus comprising:

a support base;

at least one of a plurality of burners positioned near an edge of said support base; and

an extendable grill assembly having at least two posi tions, in a first position being compactly collapsed within an area defined by said support base, in a second position being extended beyond the area defined by said support base and substantially over said at least one of a plurality of burners; wherein said at least one burner includes burner head and burner stern portions attached to said support base, passing through an opening in said grill as- SCITlhl). said extendable grill assembly being slid abl attached to said support base.

2. Apparatus as in claim I wherein the opening in said extendable grill assembly includes an elongated siot oriented substantially parallel with the slid-able attachment to said support base. said burner stem passing through said elongated slot which thereby defines the first and second positions of said extendable grill assembly.

3. Apparatus as in claim 2 wherein said burners are removably attached to said support base such that when said burners are unscrewed then said grill assembly is completely removable from said support base.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 having at least two extendable grill assemblies. said assemblies being interchangeable.

5. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said support base includes a bottom portion and upwardly extending sidewall portions, further comprising:

a cover for substantially covering said cooking apparatus when said grill assembly is in its first position. said cover having a top portion, depending sidewalls. one of said depending sidewalls extending to the bottom portion of said support base and hingedly attached thereto, thereby pivoting said cover away from said support base.

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising:

a pair of wind screens hingedly mounted in said cover and having a depending tab for insertion in a corresponding slit in said grill assembly.

7. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said burners are adapted to burn gaseous fuel, further comprising:

rigid gas tight tubing connected to said burners; means for connecting a source of fuel to said tubing;

and

valve means for regulating the flow of fuel in said tubing. connected between said means for connecting a source of fuel and each said burners.

8. A cooking apparatus comprising a support base;

at least one of a plurality of burners positioned near an edge of said support base: and

an cxtendable grill assembly having at least two positions, in a first position being compactly collapsed within an area defined by said support base. in a second position being extended beyond the area defined by said support base and substantially over said at least one of a plurality of burners;

said at least one burner including burner head and burner stem portions attached to said support base, said extendable grill assembly being slidably attached to said support base;

wherein said cxtendable grill assembly includes a grill and a drip pan.

9. Apparatus as in claim 8 wherein said grill is hingeably attached to said drip pan.

10. A cooking apparatus comprising:

a support base;

a pair of burners each fixedly positioned with respect to said support base near an edge of the support base; and

a pair of extendable grill assemblies each associated with one of said pair of burners, each said pair of extendable grill assemblies being movable with re' spect to said fixedly positioned pair of burners and having at least two positions. in a first position being compactly collapsed in an area substantially defined by said support base, in a second position being extended beyond the area defined by said support base, substantially over its associated burner.

Claims

1. A cooking apparatus comprising: a support base; at least one of a plurality of burners positioned near an edge of said support base; and an extendable grill assembly having at least two positions, in a first position being compactly collapsed within an area defined by said support base, in a second position being extended beyond the area defined by said support base and substantially over said at least one of a plurality of burners; wherein said at least one burner includes burner head and burner stem portions attached to said support base, passing through an opening in said grill assembly, said extendable grill assembly being slidably attached to said support base.

2. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein the opening in said extendable grill assembly includes an elongated slot oriented substantially parallel with the slidable attachment to said support base, said burner stem passing through said elongated slot which thereby defines the first and second positions of said extendable grill assembly.

4. Apparatus as in claim 3 having at least two extendable grill assemblies, said assemblies being interchangeable.

5. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said support base includes a bottom portion and upwardly extending sidewall portions, further comprising: a cover for substantially covering said cooking apparatus when said grill assembly is in its first position, said cover having a top portion, depending sidewalls, one of said depending sidewalls extending to the bottom portion of said support base and hingedly attached thereto, thereby pivoting said cover away from said support base.

6. Apparatus as in claim 5 further comprising: a pair of wind screens hingedly mounted in said cover and having a depending tab for insertion in a corresponding slit in said grill assembly.

7. Apparatus as in claim 1 wherein said burners are adapted to burn gaseous fuel, further comprising: rigid gas tight tubing connected to said burners; means for connecting a source of fuel to said tubing; anD valve means for regulating the flow of fuel in said tubing, connected between said means for connecting a source of fuel and each said burners.

8. A cooking apparatus comprising: a support base; at least one of a plurality of burners positioned near an edge of said support base; and an extendable grill assembly having at least two positions, in a first position being compactly collapsed within an area defined by said support base, in a second position being extended beyond the area defined by said support base and substantially over said at least one of a plurality of burners; said at least one burner including burner head and burner stem portions attached to said support base, said extendable grill assembly being slidably attached to said support base; wherein said extendable grill assembly includes a grill and a drip pan.

10. A cooking apparatus comprising: a support base; a pair of burners each fixedly positioned with respect to said support base near an edge of the support base; and a pair of extendable grill assemblies each associated with one of said pair of burners, each said pair of extendable grill assemblies being movable with respect to said fixedly positioned pair of burners and having at least two positions, in a first position being compactly collapsed in an area substantially defined by said support base, in a second position being extended beyond the area defined by said support base, substantially over its associated burner.