WO2004041037A1

WO2004041037A1 - Oven locking apparatus for electric cooker

Info

Publication number: WO2004041037A1
Application number: PCT/KR2003/002344
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jong-Bong Kim; Sung-Man Hwang; Yong-Ho Lee
Original assignee: Lg Electronics Inc.
Priority date: 2002-11-06
Filing date: 2003-11-04
Publication date: 2004-05-21
Also published as: AU2003276734A1

Abstract

An oven locking apparatus of an electric cooker comprises: an oven cover (60) for covering the opened upper part of the oven (50) to be sealed; a controlling handle (70) rotated by a user to lock the oven cover (60) on the oven (50) or to release the lock; a plurality of lockers (83, 87, 90, 91, 92, 93; 110, 112) located on circumferential surface of the oven cover (60) and linearly moved in a radial direction; and a motion converting portion (68) for converting the rotating movement of the controlling handle (70) into a linear movement and transmitting it to the lockers. And some parts of the oven cover (60) and the oven (50) are locked not to make an interruption between the oven cover (60) and the oven (50) and to perform locking and releasing operations between the oven cover (60) and the oven (50) easily.

Description

OVEN LOCKING APPARATUS FOR ELECTRIC COOKER

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to an electric cooker, and particularly, to

an oven locking apparatus for an electric cooker which is able to perform

locking and releasing operations between an oven cover and an oven without

friction between them.

BACKGROUND ART

Generally, an electric cooker performs cooking operation using

electricity as a heating source, and makes the cooking operation rapidly by

maintaining inside of the oven to be high pressure to make heating

temperature higher than that under normal pressure. And as shown in Figure

1 , the cooker comprises: an oven 10; a main body case 12 on which the oven

10 is mounted; a cover 14 for opening/closing the main body case 12; an

electric heating device 16 for heating the oven 10; and a vapor exhausting

device for controlling the pressure in the oven 10.

The above electric cooker performs the cooking process by heating

the oven 10 using the electric heating device 16, and the oven 10 is sealed

and the vapor exhausting device is closed in the cooking process, and

therefore, the pressure in the oven 10 becomes higher than the normal

pressure due to the steam generation when the water is boiled. In addition, as the pressure becomes higher, the temperature of the

water is increased higher than the boiling point (100°C) under the normal

pressure, and therefore, rice can be cooked rapidly. When the cooking

process is ended, steaming process for maintaining the pressure in the oven

10 is proceeded for a predetermined time in a state that the heating by the

electric heating device 16 is stopped. In addition, after the steaming process

is ended, the vapor in the oven 10 is exhausted out of the oven 10 by the

operation of the vapor exhausting device, and then, warm keeping process

heats the oven 10 weakly in the state that the pressure is lowered due to the

exhaust of the vapor in the oven 10.

On the other hand, an oven locking apparatus for maintaining the

sealed status of the oven 10 is disposed on the electric cooker, and the oven

locking apparatus comprises a controlling handle 20 mounted on the cover

14 to be rotatable, a connecting rod 22 connected with the controlling handle

20, and a locking ring 32 connected to the connecting rod 22 on a

circumference of the oven cover 30 in order to lock or release the oven cover

30 to the oven 10.

Herein, as shown in Figure 2, a plurality of suspending slices 32a are

formed on the locking ring 32, and releasing portion 10a and suspending

portion 10b to which the suspending slice 32a is inserted or suspended are

formed on a flange portion of the oven 10.

In the conventional oven locking apparatus of the electric cooker

described above, the connecting rod 22 combined with the controlling handle 20 is rotated in case that the controlling handle 20 is rotated toward a

direction, and the locking ring 32 is also rotated as much as the rotating

angle of the connecting rod 22 on the circumference of the oven cover 30 by

the connecting rod 22. At that time, the oven cover 30 is locked in the oven

10 by the locking ring 32 to seal the oven 10 or is released from the oven 10

to open the oven according to the rotating position of the locking ring 32.

That is, when the suspending slice 32a of the locking ring 32 is

coincided with the releasing portion 10a of the oven 10, the oven cover 30

can be opened freely. And when the suspending slice 32a is suspended on

the suspending portion 10b, the oven cover 30 is adhered to the oven 10 by

the locking ring 32 and the sealed status of the oven 10 can be maintained.

However, according to the oven locking apparatus of the conventional

art, the suspending slice 32a formed on the locking ring 32 is operated to

lock as rubbing the suspending portion 10b of the oven by the rotation of the

locking ring 32, and the locking is released when the suspending slice 32a is

located on the releasing portion 10a of the oven. Therefore, in case that a

distortion is generated on the oven cover 30 and the oven 10 by the heat or

outer shock, an interruption happens between the suspending slice 32a and

the suspending portion 10b when the locking ring 32 is rotated, and the

locking and releasing operations of the oven 10 can not be made smoothly.

Also, according to the oven locking apparatus of the conventional art

as above, the controlling handle 20, the connecting rod 22 and the locking

ring 23 are connected with each other and operated at the same time to perform the locking and the releasing operations of the oven cover 30, and

therefore, there is required a large amount of force when a user controls the

controlling handle 20 to lock or to release the oven cover 30. Therefore,

usage convenience is reduced.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an oven locking

apparatus of an electric cooker which is able to make locking and releasing

operations between an oven cover and an oven smooth and not to make an

interruption between the oven cover and the oven by locking a part of the

oven cover and the oven as linearly reciprocating a locker.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an oven locking

apparatus of an electric cooker which is able to improve convenience of

usage by minimizing movement of a locker by a controlling handle to make

the locking and releasing operations easy with a small force.

To achieve these objects, there is provided an oven locking apparatus

of an electric cooker according to the present invention comprising: an oven

with opened upper part; an oven cover for covering the opened upper part of

the oven to be sealed; a controlling handle for rotating the oven cover so as

to be locked on the oven or to be released; a plurality of lockers located a

circumferential surface of the oven cover and linearly moved toward radial

directions according to the operation of the controlling handle to lock or to

release the oven and the oven cover; and a motion converting portion for converting rotating movement of the controlling handle to a linear movement and transmitting it to the lockers.

The motion converting portion of the oven locking apparatus

comprises: sliding pins protruded from a lower end portion of the controlling

handle; and an operating rod having a sliding recess on which the sliding pin

is inserted and connected to the locker to convert the rotating movement of

the controlling handle into the linear movement and to transmit it to the locker.

The operating rod of the oven locking apparatus comprises a first and

a second operating rods disposed in parallel centering around the controlling

handle, and end portions of the first and second operating rods are

connected to the locker respectively. In addition, lengths of the first and

second operating rods are formed to be different according to the location of

the controlling handle.

Stoppers for restricting the rotation of the sliding pin when the

controlling handle is rotated are formed on both sides of the controlling

handle as protruded long in the length direction of the first and second

operating rods.

A guide for guiding the first and second operating rods to be linearly

moved is formed on an upper part of the oven cover, and comprises a first

guide for guiding the first and second operating rods near the controlling

handle, and a second and third guides formed on both sides of the first guide

with predetermined distances therebetween for guiding the first and second

operating rods. The lockers of the oven locking apparatus comprise a first locker

connected to the end portion of the first operating rod and disposed on a

flange portion of the oven cover to be covered as much as a predetermined

width, and a second locker connected to the end portion of the second operating rod and located to face the first locker.

The lockers of the oven locking comprise two lockers connected to

both end portions of the first connecting rod which is branched toward both

directions from the end portion of the first operating rod, and two lockers

connected to both end portions of a second connecting rod which is

branched toward both directions from the end portion of the second operating

rod.

The oven locking apparatus of the electric cooker comprises: an oven

having an opened upper part; an oven cover for covering the opened upper

part of the oven to be sealed; a controlling lever for controlling the oven cover

to be locked on the oven or to be released from the oven; a plurality of

lockers located on a circumferential surface of the oven cover to be linearly

moved in a radial direction according to the operation of the controlling lever

to lock or to release between the oven and the oven cover; a motion

converting portion for converting the rotating movement of the controlling

lever into linear movement and transmitting it to the lockers; a rotating rod

connected between the controlling lever and the motion converting portion to

be rotated when the controlling lever is operated to transmit the operating

force of the controlling lever to the motion converting portion. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view showing an electric

cooker having an oven locking apparatus according to the conventional art;

Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view showing the oven locking

apparatus according to the conventional art;

Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view showing an oven locking

apparatus of an electric cooker according to an embodiment of the present

invention;

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view showing a controlling handle

according to the embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 5 is a plane view showing the oven locking apparatus of the

electric cooker according to the embodiment of the present invention;

Figures 6a, 6b and 6c are views showing operational states of the

oven locking apparatus according to the embodiment of the present

invention;

Figure 7 is an exploded perspective view showing an oven locking

apparatus of an electric cooker according to a second embodiment of the

present invention;

Figure 8 is an exploded perspective view showing an oven locking

apparatus of an electric cooker according to a third embodiment of the

present invention;

Figure 9 is an upper view showing the oven locking apparatus of the electric cooker according to the third embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 10 is an extended view showing part A in Figure 9; and

Figures 11a, 11b and 11c are views showing operational states of the

oven locking apparatus of the electric cooker according to the third

embodiment of the present invention.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, embodiments of an oven locking apparatus for an electric

cooker according to the present invention will be described as follows with

reference to accompanying Figures.

There may be a plurality of embodiments of the oven locking

apparatus of the electric cooker according to the present invention, and the

most preferred embodiments will be described.

Figures 3 through 5 are views showing an oven locking apparatus of

an electric cooker according to an embodiment of the present invention,

Figure 3 is an exploded perspective view, Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view

and Figure 5 is a plane view showing an oven cover.

Referring to Figure 3, the electric cooker according to the embodiment

of the present invention comprises: an oven 50 heated by an electric heating

device and having an opened upper part; an oven cover 60 for covering the

opened upper part of the oven 50 to be sealed; and an oven locking

apparatus installed between the oven 50 and the oven cover 60 for locking

and releasing between the oven 50 and the oven cover 60 as linearly reciprocated when a user rotates a controlling handle 70.

The oven 50 comprises a body portion 51 of cylindrical shape with an

opened upper part, and a flange portion 53 formed as a ring protruded on an

upper end portion of the body portion 51 in a circumferential direction.

The oven cover 60 is formed as a disc so as to cover the opened

portion of the body portion 51 , and a flange portion 61 is formed on a

circumferential portion corresponding to the flange portion 53 of the oven 50.

In addition, the flange portion 61 is formed to be thicker than the other part.

Herein, the flange portion 53 of the oven 50 is not formed as an

uneven structure as in the conventional art, and formed as a ring having a

constant thickness.

The oven locking apparatus is formed to be rotatable on a cover which

opens/closes the cooker, and comprises: a controlling handle 70 rotated to

lock and to release the oven 50 by a user; a motion converting portion 68 for

converting the rotating movement of the controlling handle 70 into a linear

reciprocating movement; and lockers 83 and 87 connected to the motion

converting portion 68 and linearly moved in the radial direction to lock and to

release between the flange portion 53 of the oven 50 and the flange portion

61 of the oven cover 60.

As shown in Figure 4, the controlling handle 70 is formed as a cylinder

having a penetrating hole 71 on a center part thereof, and assembled so that

a lower part thereof can be inserted into a hinge shaft 63 formed on the oven

cover 60 and rotated. In addition, a pair of sliding pins 73 and 74 protruded downward are formed on the lower end portion of the controlling handle 70.

The penetrating hole 71 formed on the controlling handle 70 can be

used as a vapor exhausting hole according to designing conditions of the cooker.

As shown in Figure 5, the motion converting portion 68 comprises: a

hinge shaft 63 protruded on an upper surface of the oven cover 60 so as to

support a lower part of the controlling handle 70 to be rotatable; a first

operating rod 82 having a sliding recess 54 into which the sliding pin 73 of

the controlling handle 70 is inserted and linearly reciprocated according to

the rotating movement of the controlling rod 70; and a second operating rod

86 having a sliding recess 56, in which the sliding pin 74 of the controlling

handle 70 is inserted, disposed to be parallel with the first operating rod 82

and linearly reciprocated according to the rotating movement of the

controlling handle 70.

Herein, a hole 57 which is used as a vapor exhausting hole by

communicating with the penetrating hole 71 formed on the controlling handle

70 is formed on the hinge shaft 63, and stoppers 58 protruded long in length

direction of the first and second operating rods 82 and 86 on both sides of

the hinge shaft 63. The stoppers 58 restrict the rotations of the sliding pins 73

and 74 when the controlling handle 70 is rotated to decide rotating operation

range of the controlling handle 70.

The lengths of the first and second operating rods 82 and 86 can be

formed so that one of the two can be formed to be longer or shorter than the other according to the location of the controlling handle 70.

In addition, guides 64, 65 and 66 for guiding the operating rods 82 and

86 to be linearly moved are formed on the upper surface of the oven cover 60.

The guides 64, 65 and 66 are convex protruded on the upper surface of the

oven cover 60 and have guiding portions 75 of recess shape in which the

operating rods 82 and 86 are inserted on upper part thereof.

The guides 64, 65 and 66 are the first guide 64 formed near the

controlling handle 70 and having two guiding portions 75 so as to guide the

first and second operating rods 82 and 86, and the second and third guides

65 and 66 formed on both sides of the first guide 64 with predetermined

distance therebetween for guiding the first and second operating rods 82 and

86.

The lockers 83 and 87 are constructed to lock or to release the oven

cover 60 with the oven 50 as linearly moved toward the radial direction on an

outer part of the flange portions 53 and 61 of the oven 60 and the oven cover

60 according to the rotation of the controlling handle.

That is, the first locker 83 is connected to the end portion of the first

operating rod 82 and disposed on a circumferential surface of the flange

portion 61 of the oven cover 60 to be covered as much as a predetermined

width and the second locker 87 is connected to the end portion of the second

operating rod 86 and located on opposite portion of the first locker 83.

Herein, the first locker 83 and the second locker 87 have cross

sections of τ shape, and formed as circular arcs to have same curvature as that of the flange portion 61 of the oven cover 60 and to cover some part of the circumferential surface of the flange portion 61.

The first and second lockers 83 and 87 are moved inward according to

the linear movements of the first and second operating rods 82 and 86 in the

state that the oven cover 60 is closed on the oven 50, and then, these cover

some parts of the flange portion 53 of the oven 50 and the flange portion 61

of the oven cover 60 to lock the oven cover 60 on the oven 50. In addition,

when the first and second lockers 83 and 87 are moved outward according to

the linear movements of the first and second operating rods 82 and 86, then

these are escaped from the flange portion 53 of the oven 50 and the flange

portion 61 of the oven cover 60 to release the locking between the oven 50

and the oven cover 60.

Operations of the oven locking apparatus for the electric cooker

according to the embodiment of the present invention constructed as above

will be described with reference to Figures 6a, 6b and 6c.

Figure 6a is an upper view showing the oven cover in the locked

status between the oven and the oven cover.

When the controlling handle 70 is rotated completely to the clockwise

direction, the lockers 83 and 87 are inserted into upper and lower parts of the

flange portions 53 and 61 of the oven 50 and oven cover 61 in the state that

the lockers 83 and 87 are adhered to the oven 50 and the oven cover 60 to

lock the flange portions 53 and 61. Therefore, the closed status of the oven

cover 60 is maintained. In above status, when the controlling handle 70 is rotated to the

counter-clockwise direction as shown in Figure 6b, the sliding pins 73 and 74

of the controlling handle 70 move the first and second operating rods 82 and

86 toward the opposite directions through the sliding recesses 54 and 56. At

that time, the lockers 83 and 87 are moved linearly from the circumference of

the oven 50 and of the oven cover 60 in the radial direction to be apart from

each other. Since the lockers 83 and 87 are not totally escaped from the

flange portions 53 and 61 of the oven 50 and the oven cover 60 at that time,

it is impossible to open the oven cover 60 from the oven 50.

In above status, when the controlling handle 70 is completely rotated

in the counter clockwise direction as shown in Figure 6c, the lockers 83 and

87 are escaped from the flange portions 53 and 61 of the oven 50 and the

oven cover 60 in radial direction according to the operation of the controlling

handle 70 to freely open/close the oven cover 60 from the oven 50. Therefore,

when the user opens the cover of the cooker, the oven cover 60 is opened

from the oven 50 and the cooker can be opened.

The process of opening the oven cover 60 from the locked status is

described above, and the process for locking the cooker from the opened

status is proceeded in reverse order as above process.

According to the oven locking apparatus of the present invention, the

two of the guides 64, 65 and 66 guiding the movement of the operating rods

82 and 86 make a pair to guide the linear movement of the respective

operating rod 82 and 86 in the state that these are apart from each other, and therefore, interruption during the locking and releasing operations of the oven cover 60 can be minimized even some tolerance is generated on the lockers

83 and 87 or the guides 64, 65 and 66. Therefore, the degree of freedom in

the designing can be improved and production can be made easily, and

operational inferiority can be minimized even the apparatus is distorted after

being used for a long time.

Also, referring to the detailed view in Figure 5, since a radius (Rh) of

the controlling handle 70 being compressed by the rotating force is much

larger than that (Rp) being compressed by the locking and releasing force,

the user is able to control the controlling handle 70 with a small force to

perform the locking and releasing operations easily.

Figure 7 is an exploded perspective view showing an oven locking

apparatus of an electric cooker according to a second embodiment of the

present invention.

The oven locking apparatus according to the second embodiment has

the controlling handle 70 and the motion converting portion 68 for converting

the rotating movement of the controlling handle 70 into the linear movement

having same structures as those of the first embodiment. In the above

embodiment, the two lockers are constructed to lock and release on the both

sides of the oven 50, however, the second embodiment of the present

invention comprises four lockers.

That is, the lockers 90, 91 , 92 and 93 according to the second

embodiment can be divided into two lockers 90 and 91 connected to both end portions of a first connecting rod 96 which is branched to two directions

on an end portion of a first operating rod 82, and two lockers 92 and 93

connected to both end portions of a second connecting rod 98 which is

branched to two directions on an end portion of a second operating rod 86.

As described above, the two lockers 90 and 91 connected to the first

connecting rod 96 are linearly moved with the first operating rod 82, and the

two lockers 92 and 93 connected to the second connecting rod 98 are

linearly moved as the second operating rod 86 is linearly moved to lock and

to release the lock between the oven 50 and the oven cover 60.

Herein, it is desirable that the lengths of the respective lockers are

formed to be shorter than those of the lockers in the first embodiment.

The oven locking apparatus comprising the four lockers according to

the second embodiment is able to reduce the material cost for constructing

the lockers, and the sealing function of the oven 50 is improved since four

portions are locked evenly in the circumferential direction of the oven cover

60. And the distortion amount of the oven cover 60 can be minimized.

On the other hand, the embodiments of the present invention

illustrates the two or four lockers, however, the lockers can be constructed to

be six or more as required.

Figure 8 is an exploded perspective view showing an oven locking

apparatus of an electric cooker according to a third embodiment of the

present invention, Figure 9 is an upper view showing the oven locking

apparatus of the electric cooker according to the third embodiment of the present invention, and Figure 10 is an extended view showing part A in

Figure 9.

The electric cooker according to the third embodiment comprises: an

oven 50 with an opened upper part; an oven cover 60 for covering the

opened upper part of the oven 50 to be sealed; and an oven locking

apparatus installed between the oven 50 and the oven cover 60 and linearly

reciprocated when the user moves an operating lever 102 to left or right side,

in order to lock and to release the lock between the oven 50 and the oven

cover 60.

The oven 50 and the oven cover 60 are formed as same as those of

the first embodiment, and therefore, descriptions for those will be omitted.

In addition, the oven locking apparatus comprises: a controlling portion

106 exposed on upper part of a cover opening/closing the cooker, connected

to the oven cover 60 by a hinge, and controlled by the user in order to lock or

to release the lock of the oven 50; a motion converting portion 108 for

converting the rotating movement of the controlling portion 106 into a linear

reciprocating movement; and lockers 110 and 112 connected to the motion

converting portion 108 and linearly moved in a radial direction for locking and

releasing between the flange portion 53 of the oven 50 and the flange portion 61 of the oven cover 61.

In the oven locking apparatus as above according to the third

embodiment of the present invention, the motion converting portion 108 and

the lockers 110 and 112 have same structure and operation as those of the motion converting portion 68 and the lockers 83 and 87 in the first embodiment, but the structure of the controlling portion 106 controlled by the

user for locking and releasing the oven cover 60 is different from that of the

first embodiment. Therefore, the descriptions for the motion converting

portion 108 and the lockers 110 and 112 are omitted and the controlling

portion will be described as follows.

The controlling portion 106 comprises a controlling lever 102 exposed

on the upper part of the cover (not shown) opening/closing the cooker and

controlled directly by the user; and a rotating rod 104 connected to the oven

cover 60 by the hinge to be rotatable for controlling the operating force of the

controlling lever 102 to the motion converting portion 108.

Herein, the controlling lever 102 is a cylindrical shape having a

predetermined diameter which can be comfortably gripped by the user, and is

supported by a hinge pin 116 which is protruded on one end portion of the

rotating rod 104 to be rotatable. In addition, a guide hole (not shown) of an

arc shape in which the controlling lever 104 is inserted and moved to left and

right directions is formed on the cover opening/closing the cooker.

The rotating rod 104 is a plate type having a predetermined length,

and is supported to be rotatable by being inserted into a hinge shaft 118

protruded on the upper surface of the oven cover 60. And the hinge pin 116,

to which the controlling lever 102 is connected to be rotatable, is protruded

on one end portion of the rotating rod 104, and a first sliding pin 120 which is

inserted into a sliding recess 54 of the first operating rod 82 and a second sliding pin 122 inserted into a sliding recess 56 of the second operating rod

86 are protruded on the other end portion of the rotating rod 104.

Herein, the first sliding pin 120 and the second sliding pin 122 are

formed on both sides of the hinge shaft 118 with same distances from the

shaft 118.

In addition, stoppers 126 are installed on both sides of the portion

where the hinge shaft 118 of the rotating rod 104 is connected. The stopper

126 is protruded from the upper surface of the oven cover 60 for restricting

the rotating range of the rotating rod 104 in order to decided the rotating

operation range.

In addition, the sides of the two stoppers 126 facing each other have

two slanted surfaces 128 having a predetermined slanted angles so that the

surfaces are contacted to both side surfaces of the rotating rod 104 by

surfaces when the rotating rod 104 is rotated to maximum.

The operations of the oven locking apparatus of the electric cooker

according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described

with reference to Figures 11a, 11b and 11c.

Figure 11a is a detailed view showing locked status of the oven 50 and

the oven cover 60.

When the controlling lever 70 is rotated toward P direction in Figure,

the rotating rod 104 is rotated centering around the hinge shaft 118, and

accordingly, the first sliding pin 120 is moved upward in the Figure to move

the first operating rod 82 toward Q direction and the second sliding pin 122 is moved downward in Figure to move the second operating rod 86 to R

direction.

Then, the lockers 83 and 87 lock the upper and lower surfaces of the

flange portion 53 and 61 in the oven 50 and the oven cover 60 in the status

that the lockers 83 and 87 are adhered to the oven 50 and the oven cover 60,

and therefore, the closed status of the oven cover 60 from the oven 50 can

be maintained.

In above status, when the controlling lever 70 is moved toward S

direction as shown in Figure 11b, the sliding pins 120 and 122 of the rotating

rod 104 make the operating rods 82 and 86 move to opposite directions of

each other through the sliding recesses 54 and 56. At that time, the lockers

83 and 87 are linearly moved far away from the circumferences of the oven

50 and the oven cover in the radial direction. And the lockers 83 and 87 are

not completely escaped from the flange portions 53 and 61 of the oven 40

and the oven cover 60 at that time, and therefore, it is impossible to open the

oven cover 60 from the oven.

As shown in Figure 6c, when the controlling level 70 is moved to V

direction in above status, the rotating rod 104 is rotated more and the lockers

83 and 87 are escaped from the flange portions 53 and 61 of the oven 50

and the oven cover 60 in the radial direction, and the opening/closing

operations of the oven cover 60 from the oven can be made freely. Therefore,

if the cover of the cooker is opened at that time, the oven cover 60 is opened

from the oven 50 and the cooker can be opened. INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

According to the oven locking apparatus of the electric cooker of the

present invention, only some parts of the flange portions of oven and oven

cover are locked by the lockers, the locking and releasing operations

between the oven cover and the oven are made as the lockers are linearly

moved. Therefore, generation of inferiority can be minimized even in case

that the oven cover or the oven is distorted to some degree.

Also, since the movement of the locker by the controlling handle can

be minimized, the locking and releasing can be made with a small force, and

therefore, convenience in usage can be improved.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without

departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be

understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of

the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather

should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the

appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within

the metes and bounds of the claims, or equivalence of such metes and

bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.

Claims

1. An oven locking apparatus of an electric cooker comprising:

an oven with an opened upper part;

an oven cover for covering the opened upper part of the oven to be

sealed;

a controlling handle rotated by a user to lock the oven cover on the

oven or to release the lock;

a plurality of lockers located on circumferential surface of the oven

cover and linearly moved in a radial direction according to the operation of

the controlling handle to lock the oven and the oven cover or to release the

lock; and

a motion converting portion for converting the rotating movement of

the controlling handle into a linear movement and transmitting it to the

lockers.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein a flange portion protruded

as a ring is formed on the opened upper part of the oven in a circumferential

direction, and a flange portion corresponding to the flange portion of the oven

is formed on an outer circumferential surface of the oven cover.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the flange portion of the

oven cover is formed to be thicker than the other portions of the oven cover.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the controlling handle is

protruded upward on a cover of the cooker, and is supported by the oven

cover to be rotatable.

5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the controlling handle

includes a penetrating hole which penetrates center portion so as to function

as a vapor exhausting hole.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein a hinge shaft for

supporting the controlling handle to be rotatable is formed on the oven cover.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein a hole communicating to

the penetrating hole of the controlling hole is formed on the hinge shaft.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the motion converting

portion comprises:

sliding pins protruded from a lower end portion of the controlling

handle; and

operating rods having sliding recesses in which the sliding pins are

inserted and connected to the lockers for converting the rotating movement

of the operating handle into the linear movement and transmitting it to the

lockers.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein two sliding pins are formed on the lower end portion of the controlling handle.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the operating rod can be

divided into a first operating rod and a second operating rod disposed in

parallel centering around the controlling handle, end portions of the first and

second operating rods are connected to the lockers respectively, and lengths

of the first and second operating rods are differently formed according to the

location of the controlling handle.

11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein stoppers protruded long

in the length direction of the first and second operating rods for restricting the

rotation of the sliding pins when the controlling handle is rotated are formed

on both sides of the controlling handle.

12. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein guides for guiding the

first and second operating rods to be linearly moved are formed on an upper

surface of the oven cover.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the guides comprise a

first guide for guiding the first and second operating rods near the controlling

handle, and a second guide and a third guide formed on both sides of the first guide as apart predetermined distances from the first guide for guiding

the first and second operating rods.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the guide is protruded on

the upper surface of the oven cover and comprises a guiding portion of

recess shape in which the first and second operating rods are inserted on

upper portion thereof.

15. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the lockers can be

divided into a first locker connected to an end portion of the first operating rod

and disposed on a circumferential surface of the flange portion of the oven

cover so as to cover the flange portion as much as a predetermined width,

and a second locker connected to an end portion of the second operating rod

and located to face the first locker.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first and second

lockers have cross sections of τ= shape, and are formed as arc shape

having same curvature as that of the flange portion of the oven cover and

covering a part of the circumferential surface of the flange portion.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the first locker and the

second locker are located on both portions facing each other on the outer

circumferential surface of the oven cover.

18. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the lockers are four

lockers disposed on the circumferential surface of the flange portions on the

oven cover and the oven with predetermined intervals therebetween.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the lockers can be

divided into two lockers connected to both end portions of a first connecting

rod which is branched into two directions on the end portion of the first

operating rod, and two lockers connected to both end portions of a second

connecting rod which is branched into two directions on the end portion of the

second operating rod.

20. An oven locking apparatus of an electric cooker comprising:

an oven having an opened upper part on which a flange portion is

formed;

an oven cover covering the upper part of the oven to be sealed and

having a flange portion on an outer circumferential surface thereof;

a controlling handle supported by the oven cover to be rotatable, and

having a plurality of sliding pins on a lower part thereof for locking or

releasing the oven cover on the oven;

operating rods having sliding recesses respectively so that the sliding

pins of the controlling handle can be inserted and converting the rotating

movement of the controlling handle into the linear reciprocating movement; and

a plurality of lockers connected to end portions of the operating rods

and located on the flange portions of the oven and the oven cover for locking

or releasing between the flange portions of the oven cover and the oven as

linearly moved in a radial direction according to the straight movement of the

operating rods.

21. An oven locking apparatus of an electric cooker comprising:

an oven having an opened upper part;

an oven cover covering the opened upper part of the oven to be

sealed;

a controlling lever for controlling the oven cover to be locked on the

oven or to be released from the oven;

a plurality of lockers located on a circumferential surface of the oven

cover and linearly moved in a radial direction according to the operation of

the controlling lever for locking the oven and the oven cover or for releasing

the lock of the oven and the oven cover;

a motion converting portion for converting the rotating movement of

the controlling lever into the linear movement and transmitting it to the

lockers; and

a rotating rod connected between the controlling lever and the motion

converting portion and rotated when the controlling lever is operated to

transmit the operating force of the controlling lever to the motion converting portion.

22. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein a flange portion

protruded as a ring is formed on the opened upper part of the oven in a

circumferential direction, and a flange portion corresponding to the flange

portion of the oven is formed on an outer circumferential surface of the oven

cover.

23. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the controlling lever is

protruded upward on a cover of the cooker, and a slot of arc shape for

guiding the movement of the controlling lever is formed on the cover of the

cooker.

24. The apparatus of claim 21 , wherein the controlling lever is

connected to one end portion of the rotating rode to be rotatable, and the

other end portion of the rotating rod is supported by a hinge shaft formed on

the oven cover to be rotatable and having a first and a second sliding pin on

both sides centering around the hinge shaft.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the motion converting

portion comprises operating rods respectively including sliding recesses, in

which the first and second sliding pins formed on the rotating rod are inserted

to be slid, and connected to the lockers for converting the rotating movement of the controlling lever into the linear movement and transmitting it to the lockers.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein the operating rods can

be divided into a first operating rod and a second operating rod disposed in

parallel centering around the controlling lever, end portions of the operating

rods are connected to the lockers respectively, and lengths of the first and

second operating rods are formed differently according to the location of the

controlling lever.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein stoppers for restricting

maximum rotation amount of the rotating rod when the controlling lever is

rotated are formed on both sides of the rotating rod where the hinge shaft is

connected.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the parts of stoppers facing each other have slanted surfaces having a certain angle so as to be

contacted to both side surfaces of the rotating rod by surfaces.

29. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein guides for guiding the

first and second operating rods to be linearly moved are formed on the upper

surface of the oven cover.

30. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein the lockers can be

divided into a first locker connected to the end portion of the first operating

rod and disposed on a circumferential surface of the flange portion of the

oven cover for covering the surface as much as a predetermined width, and a

second locker connected to the end portion of the second operating rod and

disposed to face the first locker.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, wherein the first and second

lockers have cross sections of τz shape, and are formed as arc shape

having same curvature as that of the flange portion of the oven cover and

covering a part of the circumferential surface of the flange portion.