Patent Application
20120225178
The present invention involves a pan uniquely designed to be employed for cooking food products on a barbecue grill. The present pan overcomes a number of limitations inherent in barbecuing food products which are not suited for cooking directly upon the grilling surface.
Individuals that use barbecue grills for outdoor cooking oftentimes are faced with the dilemma of how to use the grill to cook diced or finely separated food items which would drop through grill openings and onto the heat source unless special precautions were taken. U.S. Pat. No. 4,510,855 describes a sheet that can be clipped onto a standard barbecue grill having small openings to prevent food products from passing therethrough. U.S. Pat. No. 2,846,941 discloses a barbecue basket which is designed to contain food items mounted on a spit. Charcoal Champion sells its Barbecue Grilling Grid in the form of a flat sheet with diamond-shaped openings and an upturned edge for this purpose.
There are, however, limitations in all barbecuing implements designed to expand the barbecuing experience to include the cooking of small food items which would otherwise slip through the barbecue grill. Mesh baskets such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,286 are designed for this purpose. However, this rectangularly-based basket will reach very high temperatures as it is employed atop a grilling surface. One must be quite cautious in handling this basket to prevent injury. This situation is particularly challenging in recognizing that a user would handle the basket not only to remove it from the grilling surface but also would often times shake, rotate or reposition the basket to ensure that food items contained therein are evenly cooked preventing those items situated at the bottom of the basket from cooking more rapidly than those residing above them.
If one was to employ a mesh pan or basket having a handle, at least two additional concerns are introduced which, to date, are without solution. Specifically, if a handle was to be appended to a grilling pan or device, during the cooking process, the handle would not only become dangerously hot but if charcoal was used as the heat source, the handle could become permanently discolored. Further, many barbecue grilling devices are provided with removable tops or lids. These tops or lids are extremely useful in controlling cooking temperatures while enabling one to bake as well as grill food products. However, if a barbecue pan or basket was to be employed with a handle, the composite pan/basket and handle would generally extend outwardly from the grilling surface to prevent closure of the lid.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide a suitable mesh pan which is capable of providing a convenient means for cooking small food items and yet overcomes the limitations of the prior art.
These and other advantages will be more readily apparent when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.
A barbecue pan having a body portion. The body portion is characterized as having side walls and a substantially planar mesh base extending therefrom. A receiving element extends from the body portion and a handle is provided which is removably appended to the receiving element.
Novel features which are characteristic of the invention, as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof will be better understood from the following description considered in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated by way of example. It is to be expressly understood, however, that the drawings are for illustration description only and are not intended as definitions of the limits of the invention. The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are recited with particularity in the claims.
There has been broadly outlined more important features of the invention in the summary above and in order that the detailed description which follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be appreciated. There are, of course, additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form additional subject matter of the claims appended hereto. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception upon which this disclosure is based readily may be utilized as a basis for the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carrying out the several purposes of the present invention. It is important therefore, that claims be regarded as including such equivalent constructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope of the present invention.
Certain terminology and the derivations thereof may be used in the following description for convenience and reference only, and will not be limiting. For example, words such as “upward,” “downward,” “left,” and “right” refer to directions in the drawings to which reference is made unless otherwise stated. Similar words such as “inward” and “outward” refer to directions toward and away from, respectively, the geometric center of a device or area and designated parts thereof. Reference in the singular tense include the plural and vice versa, unless otherwise noted.
Turning to
At a minimum, substantially planar base 19 is composed of a mesh material. As a preferred embodiment, side walls 20 can also be composed of a mesh material and, in this instance, a smooth transition is created between planar base 19 and side walls 20. As a preferred embodiment, handle 12 can also be employed in the event that one wishes to lift pan 10 from the grilling surface using both handle 12 and handle 13 although, in most instances, handle 12 can be eliminated.
As a further preferred embodiment, top 9 can be employed which, itself, can be composed of mesh material as shown. Handle 8 can be centered within top 9 to enable a user to conveniently lift top 9 from pan 10 as desired.
In turning to
Insight as to the potential of the present invention can be appreciated by reference to
Once handle 13 has been removed as illustrated in
A further embodiment of the present invention is depicted in
Turning back to
To further illustrate this second alternative removable handle configuration, reference is made to
As a result of the above, small food items which would be difficult to cook employing barbecue 30 can now be enjoyed by even the most amateur barbecue griller. The present inventive mesh pan can be easily loaded with food items, applied to a grilling surface and manipulated as needed without concern to its gripping element (handle) becoming uncomfortably or dangerously hot to grasp or in having the pan interfere with placement of the lid upon the base of the barbecue grill.
The above disclosure is sufficient to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to practice the invention, and provides the best mode of practicing the invention presently contemplated by the inventor. While there is provided herein a full and complete disclosure of the preferred embodiments of the invention, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction, dimensions, relationships, or operations as described. Various modifications, alternative constructions, changes and equivalents will readily occur to those skilled in the art and may be employed as suitable without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention. Such changes might involve alternative materials, components, structural arrangements, sizes, shapes, forms, functions, operational features or the like. Therefore, the above description and illustration should not be considered as limiting the scope of the invention, which is defined by the appended claims.
