These and other features, aspects, objects, and advantages of the inventions described and claimed herein will become better understood upon consideration of the following detailed description, appended claims, and accompanying drawings where:
It should be understood that the drawings are not necessarily to scale and that the embodiments are sometimes illustrated by graphic symbols, phantom lines, diagrammatic representations and fragmentary views. In certain instances, details which are not necessary for an understanding of the inventions described and claimed herein or which render other details difficult to perceive may have been omitted. It should be understood, of course, that the inventions described herein are not necessarily limited to the particular embodiments illustrated herein.
Like reference numerals will be used to refer to like or similar parts from Figure to Figure in the following description of the drawings.
Several of the figures attached hereto and the description below depict and/or discuss the connections of the present invention with reference to a P-shaped tube 40a. Nevertheless, it is contemplated that the connection (or quick-connect fitting) of the present invention could be used with a straight tube 40b or any other shaped tube (not shown).
Referring first to
Fuel is typically directed to the cooking chamber 12 through a series of tubes 26, valves 24, and regulators (not shown). The fuel is ultimately directed through these components to a gas burner tube 40a, 40b which is housed in the cooking chamber 12, but often extends through an opening 30 in the wall 28 of the lower member 22 to an exterior of the cooking chamber 12. It is at this point that the burner tube 40a, 40b is connected to a fuel supply tube 26.
The burner tubes 40a and 40b, having a plurality of orifices or ports 44, serve to distribute the fuel source in a generally even manner in the cooking chamber. As shown in
There are two general shapes of burner tubes 40a, 40b which are discussed herein with reference to the present invention. However, it is contemplated that the present invention can be utilized with other shapes of burner tubes. The first is a “P” shaped burner tube 40a (“P-tube”) and the second is a straight burner tube 40b (“straight tube”). Both the P-tube 40a and the straight tube 40b have first portions 46 and second portions 48a, 48b. The first portions 46 are adapted to extend through an opening 30 in the wall 28 of the lower member 22, for connecting to the fuel supply lines. The second portions 48a, 48b are provided with orifices 44 from which flames emanate when the fuel source is ignited. The second portion 48a of the P-tube 40a is characterized as a loop while the second portion 48b of the straight tube 40b is straight. The burner tubes 40a, 40b, as depicted, each include a bracket 50 which extends from the second portion 48a, 48b for securing the burner tubes 40a, 40b, to the lower member 22.
With reference to
For both of the tubes 40a, 40b, the corresponding male connector 60 is connected to a tube 26 downstream of the control valve 24 and the female connector 80 is integral with the burner tube 40a, 40b and forms a part of the first portion 46 of the tube 40a. When installed on the grill 10, the male connector 60 is preferably aligned with an opening 30 in a side wall 28 of the lower member 22. It is contemplated that the female connector 80 could be an independent component that is attached to the burner tube 40a, 40b by any appropriate fastening means or could be formed into a distal end of the burner tube 40a, 40b. Also, as discussed above, it is contemplated that the female connector 80 could be connected to the supply tubing 26 and the male connector could be connected to the burner tube 40a.
As better shown in
The male connector 60 is comprised of a generally cylindrical body, wherein an entry portion 62 and a groove 64 are formed into the generally cylindrical body. It is contemplated that under certain conditions, the male connector 60 may not be visible to the assembler during installation of the burner tube 40a. Consequently, the male connector 60 preferably comprises a chamfered leading edge 72 to facilitate the blind alignment of the female connector 80 with the male connector 60. It is believed that the chamfered front edge will further reduce the time required to assemble the grill 10.
The entry portion 62 of the male connector 60 can be characterized as a flat surface 66 which is formed along a chord line. Alternatively, the entry portion 62 can be embodied as a channel. The entry portion 62 is generally axially oriented to allow the female connector 80 to mate with the male connector 60. The entry portion 62 of the male connector 60 is interconnected with and preferably terminates at the groove 64 such that the protrusion 82 of the female connector 80 can be received by the groove 64 when the female connector 80 and the male connector 60 are in mating configuration, as is best shown in
The groove 64 is preferably characterized as a circumferential channel. The groove 64 preferably extends for the entire circumference of the male connector 60, although it is contemplated that the groove 64 can extend for only a portion of the circumference of the male connector 60. Given the nature of the groove 64, the entry portion 62 preferably terminates at a wall 68, such that when the female connector 80 is matingly engaged with the male connector 60 (i.e., pushed axially toward the male connector 60), the wall 68 defines a stop for the protrusion 82 of the female connector 60. When the protrusion 82 contacts the stop, axial movement of the female connector 60 is stopped and the protrusion 82 is appropriately aligned with the groove 64. At this point, the female connector 80 (or the burner tube 40a, 40b) is twisted or rotated such that the protrusion 82 is received into the groove 64, as depicted in
Referring again to
Turning now to
When the burner tube 40a is rotated into the working orientation, the orifices 44 are preferably upwardly directed for proper operation of the grill 10. Furthermore, the quick-connect fitting (i.e. the male and female connectors 60, 80) serve to secure the burner tube 40a to the grill 10 at the first portion 46 of the burner tube 40a. To more securely attach the burner tube 40a to the grill, the burner tube 40a is preferably provided with a bracket 50 for attaching to the lower member 22, as shown in
Although the inventions described and claimed herein have been described in considerable detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments, one skilled in the art will appreciate that the inventions described and claimed herein can be practiced by other than the preferred embodiments, which have been presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation. Therefore, the spirit and scope of the appended claims should not be limited to the description of the preferred embodiments contained herein.