WO2016188753A1

WO2016188753A1 - A kettle with a removable lid

Info

Publication number: WO2016188753A1
Application number: PCT/EP2016/060556
Authority: WO
Inventors: Nelson LUI; Chun Pong Yuan
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
Priority date: 2015-05-26
Filing date: 2016-05-11
Publication date: 2016-12-01

Abstract

A kettle comprising: a vessel comprising a body for accommodating water and an opening at the top of the body; a spout arranged at the periphery of the opening and a lid adapted to be removably attached to the body, comprising a cover adapted to cover the opening and a baffle arranged at the periphery of the cover and adapted to extend into the spout when the lid is attached to the body; wherein, the lid further comprises a rotation plate having a first locking element, the body comprises a second locking element, and the rotation plate is rotatable relative to the cover, and, by the rotation of the rotation plate, the first and second locking elements are adapted to lock the cover to the body.

Description

A KETTLE WITH A REMOVABLE LID

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to a kettle for boiling water.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Kettles, especially electric kettles for home use, have been known for a long time. Usually, this kind of kettles comprises a kettle body and a body base. The kettle body has a side wall extending upwards from its bottom to define a volume which can be filled with water. At the top of the side wall, an opening and a spout are arranged to enable water to be filled in or poured out. A heating element is arranged inside the kettle, usually at its lower portion to heat and boil the water contained therein. To prevent the water from splashing out during boiling, there are a kettle lid and, sometimes, a baffle constructed to cover the opening and the spout.

Such kind of kettles (as shown in Fig. 1) have a common drawback. In the kettle 500, when a baffle 501 is constructed, it will extend into the area of spout 502 and its special "tongue" shape will prevent any rotation movement. Therefore, when the lid 503 is connected to the baffle 501, the lid 503 cannot be turned to lock or release it by means of a rotation lock mechanism. As a result, in prior arts, the kettle lid 503 connected to the baffle 501 is usually connected to the side wall by a hinge, so as to enable a pivotal movement along a horizontal axis to open and close the opening 504 and spout 502 easily. This kind of kettle has the disadvantage that the hinge mechanism together with the lid and the baffle takes up a certain portion of the space and reduces the effective space at the top of the kettle. Thus, it is hard for users to reach the inside of the kettle for cleaning.

GB2218323 A discloses a kettle which does not have such a problem. In an embodiment, the baffle and the lid of rotation type are two separate elements. However, this obviously does not meet the requirements of consumers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for a solution enabling releasing the lid of kettles by means of a simple rotation lock mechanism. This object is achieved by providing a kettle comprising:

a vessel comprising a body for accommodating water and an opening at the top of the body;

a spout arranged at the periphery of the opening, and

a lid adapted to be removably attached to the body, comprising a cover adapted to cover the opening and a baffle arranged at the periphery of the cover and adapted to extend into the spout when the lid is placed to the body;

wherein, the lid further comprises a rotation plate having a first locking element, the body comprises a second locking element, and the rotation plate is rotatable relative to the cover, and after the placement of the lid to the body, by the rotation of the rotation plate, the first and second locking elements are adapted to lock the cover to the body.

According to this embodiment, the baffle and the cover will not follow the rotation movement of the rotation plate, so this will not prevent the application of a rotation lock mechanism. In the absence of a hinge, the lid and the baffle can be totally removed and the user can access the inside of the kettle body conveniently.

In a specific embodiment, the rotation plate is situated above the cover. By virtue of this arrangement, the rotation plate and the top surface of the body can clamp the cover in the middle.

In one example, the first locking element comprises a hook of L shape and the second locking element comprises a slanting surface.

In one preferable embodiment, the cover comprises a passing hole at the position corresponding to the hook and the slanting surface. Therefore, the hook can pass through the passing hole and cooperate with the slanting surface.

According to another possibility, the cover and the rotation plate comprise a pair of connection elements to connect the cover to the rotation plate. Therefore, during a locking operation, the cover and the rotation plate can be assembled together first. Then, the assembled lid is easier to attach to the body.

The cover and the rotation plate may further comprise a pair of bearing elements. In a preferable embodiment, each of them comprises in the central area a socket and an elastic insert adapted to rotate within the socket. The rotation of the rotation plate can be located and supported. Other features and advantages of embodiments of the present invention will also be understood from the following description of exemplary embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, spirit and principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig 1 shows an example of kettles according to prior arts;

Fig 2 shows an embodiment of the kettles according to this invention;

Fig 3 shows an exploded top view of the upper portion of the kettle in Fig. 2 ; Fig 4 shows an exploded bottom view of the upper portion of the kettle in Fig.

2;

Fig 5 shows a second embodiment of the kettles according to this invention; and

Fig 6 shows a third embodiment of the kettles according to this invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

The present invention will now be discussed with reference to several example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are discussed only for the purpose of enabling those skilled in the art to better understand and thus implement the subject matter described herein, rather than suggesting any limitation of the scope of the subject matter.

Figs. 2-4 show a first embodiment of the kettles according to this invention. In this embodiment, the kettle 10 comprises a vessel 20, a lid 30 and a body base 40.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the vessel 20 comprises a body 21, which defines a volume for accommodating water. At the top of the body 21, an opening 22 is arranged and a spout 23 is formed at the periphery of the opening 22. Through this opening 22, water to be boiled could be easily filled in the body 21. The spout 23 could be used to guide the boiling water out of the body by means of its periphery when a user wants to pour out water.

As shown in Fig. 3, the lid 30 comprises a cover 31 , a baffle 32 and a rotation plate 33, wherein the cover 31 and the baffle 32 could be two separate elements adapted to be connected together or integrated into one piece. The shape and dimension of the cover 31 is adapted to cover the opening 22. The baffle 32 is arranged to extend into the spout 23 after the cover 31 is attached to the opening 22. Meanwhile, a space is formed along the periphery of the baffle 32, between the spout 23 and the baffle 32. By virtue of this, when water is being boiled, the boiling water will not splash out through the spout 23, and when the user wants to pour out water, the water flow can be limited.

As shown in Figs. 3 and 4, in the central area of the cover 31, a round socket 36 is arranged. In the corresponding area of the bottom surface of the rotation plate 33, an elastic insert 35 is arranged, too. The elastic insert 35 is adapted to be inserted into the round socket 36 and clamp it by a projection rim 42. In this embodiment, the elastic insert 35 and the round socket 36 act as a pair of a rotation shaft and a sleeve, while the round socket 36 and the projection rim 42 act together to connect the cover 31 to the rotation plate 33. By virtue of this, the cover 31 and the rotation plate 33 can be assembled together.

At two opposite positions along the periphery of the opening 22, two second locking elements 24 are arranged. In the corresponding areas of the cover 31 and the rotation plate 33, after the lid 30 is attached to the body 21, a pair of passing holes 39 and a pair of first locking elements 34 are arranged. The second locking elements 24 are in the form of projections in the inner surface of the body 21, and each of the second locking elements 24 has a slanted surface at its bottom. The first locking elements 34 are in the form of

L-shaped hooks. They are further adapted to pass through the passing holes 39 and cooperate with the slanted surface of the second locking elements 24. When it is desired to lock the lid 30 to the vessel 20, the rotation plate 33 is rotated and the horizontal part of the L-shaped hook slides into the passing holes 39 and along the slanted surface, so as to apply a downward force to the rotation plate 33 for locking.

When the user attaches the lid 30 to the vessel 20, the cover 31 and the rotation plate 33 can be first assembled together by means of the elastic insert 35, the round socket 36 and the projection rim 42. Meanwhile, a rotation movement of these elements relative to each other is enabled. When the assembled lid 30 is attached to the vessel 20 in the downward direction, the baffle 32 extends into the spout 23 and the L-shaped hooks of the first locking elements 34 are inserted through the passing holes 39 of the cover 31. Finally, the horizontal part of the L-shaped hook reaches the bottom surface of the projection of the second locking elements 24. When the user exerts a rotation movement on the rotation plate 33, the baffle 32 is still stopped by the spout 23, so the cover 31 is kept immovable.

However, since the rotation plate 33 is rotatable relative to the cover 31, the rotation plate 33 can be rotated. With this rotation, the horizontal part of the L-shaped hook slides in the passing holes 39 and along the slanted surface of the second locking elements 24, so as to apply a downward force to the lid 30 for locking. Now the advantage of this embodiment can be seen clearly. The spout 23 and the baffle 32 no longer prevent the rotation of the rotation plate 33. As a result, a simple rotation- type locking mechanism could be used. In addition, since the whole lid 30 can be removed from the vessel 20, the space around the opening 22 will not be occupied. The inside of the body 21 can be cleaned more easily.

Figs. 5 and 6 show two other embodiments according to this invention. Fig. 5 shows a pair of inclined slots formed on the inner surface of the body 121, replacing the projection of the second locking elements 24. Fig. 6 shows another embodiment of lid 230. Unlike lid 30, the cover 231 and the rotation plate 233 of lid 230 do not have an assembly mechanism to assemble them first. During attaching the lid 230 to the body 221, the cover 231 is first put on the body 221 and then the rotation plate 233 is assembled and rotated to lock them to the body 221.

Various modifications, adaptations to the foregoing exemplary embodiments of this invention may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. Any and all modifications will still fall within the scope of the non-limiting and exemplary

embodiments of this invention. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A kettle (10), comprising :

a vessel (20), comprising a body (21) for accommodating water and an opening (22) at the top of the body (21);

a spout (23) arranged at the periphery of the opening (22), and a lid (30) adapted to be removably attached to the body (21), comprising a cover (31) adapted to cover the opening (22) and a baffle (32) arranged at the periphery of the cover (31) and adapted to extend into the spout (23) when the lid (30) is placed to the body (21);

wherein the lid (30) further comprises a rotation plate (33) having a first locking element (34), the body (21) comprises a second locking element (24), and the rotation plate (33) is rotatable relative to the cover (31), and after the placement of the lid (30) to the body (21), by the rotation of the rotation plate (33), the first and second locking elements (34, 24) are adapted to lock the cover (31) to the body (21).

2. The kettle (10) according to claim 1, wherein the rotation plate (33) is situated above the cover (31).

3. The kettle (10) according to claim 2, wherein the first locking element (34) comprises a L-shaped hook and the second locking element (24) comprises a slanted surface.

4. The kettle (10) according to claim 3, wherein the cover (31) comprises a passing hole (39) at the position corresponding to the hook and the slanted surface.

5. The kettle (10) according to claim 1, wherein the cover (31) and the rotation plate (33) comprise a pair of connection elements to connect the cover (31) to the rotation plate (33).

6. The kettle (10) according to claim 1, wherein the cover (31) and the rotation plate (33) comprise a pair of bearing elements.

7. The kettle (10) according to claim 6, wherein one of the cover (31) and the rotation plate (33) comprises a socket (36) in the central area, and the other one comprises an elastic insert (35) adapted to rotate within the socket (36).

8. The kettle (10) according to claim 1, wherein the rotation plate (33) comprises a handle (37).