Patent Application
20180003389
The present embodiments relate to a cooking grate with integrated venting and cooking surfaces for a cooking appliance, and particularly, but not limited to, a cooking grate for a gas range.
Various cooking grates have been proposed in the art for cooking appliances. Often, an oven vent is vented or exhausted behind the cooking grate through a vent cover or trim piece within the backguard of the oven. Therefore, the trim piece is separate from the cooking grate.
There may be several disadvantages associated with these vent covers or trim pieces that are separate from the cooking grate such as, but not limited to, undesirable additional cost of materials, labor, and time associated with manufacturing, cleaning, and/or installing the separate components.
Thus, there is a need to integrate the cooking surface and venting surface into a cooking grate.
In some embodiments, a cooking appliance includes a housing having a cooktop surface and at least one air channel, at least one gas burner positioned in the cooktop surface, and at least one cooking grate having a cooking surface and a venting surface. The venting surface permits air to exit from at least one air channel of the housing and the cooking surface is adjacent at least one gas burner. The venting surface may have one or more openings therethrough to fluidly communicate with at least one air channel.
In addition, in some embodiments, the venting surface is positioned at a different elevation than the cooking surface. The venting surface may include a plurality of vanes angled upwardly and towards the cooking surface to direct air towards the cooking surface. An upper surface of at least one of the plurality of vanes may be substantially flush with an upper surface of the venting surface. The venting surface may include a depending skirt defining an outer periphery of the venting surface. The at least one cooking grate may include a plurality of feet depending from the at least one cooking grate, wherein the depending skirt of the venting surface extends less than an outermost extent of the plurality of feet. Further, the cooking surface and the venting surface are of a unitary construction, and wherein the at least one cooking grate is cast iron. The cooking surface may have one or more openings therethrough to fluidly communicate with the at least one gas burner.
In some embodiments, the cooking appliance includes a housing having a cooktop surface and at least one air channel. The at least one air channel may include at least one exit opening at the rear of the housing, at least one gas burner extending from the cooktop surface, a cooking grate having a cooking surface and a venting surface. The venting surface may include an upper surface. The venting surface has one or more vanes defining one or more openings of the venting surface. The cooking surface may include an upper surface with one or more openings. The cooking surface is disposed over the at least one gas burner and the venting surface is disposed over the exit opening of the at least one air channel.
In addition, in some embodiments, the one or more vanes are adjacent the upper surface of the venting surface. The one or more vanes are angled upwardly and towards the cooking surface to direct air towards the cooking surface. The cooking surface and the venting surface are of a unitary construction from cast iron. The venting surface includes a depending skirt defining an outer periphery of the venting surface. A free end of the depending skirt is spaced from the cooktop surface by one or more feet of the cooking grate.
In some embodiments, the cooking appliance includes a housing having one or more gas burners and one or more air channels. One or more exit openings of the one or more air channels is positioned behind the one or more gas burners adjacent a back of the housing. At least one cooking grate has an upper surface extending across a cooking surface and a venting surface. The venting surface may include a depending skirt adjacent an outer periphery of the venting surface defining a cavity in fluid communication with the one or more exit openings of the housing and the upper surface of the at least one cooking grate. The at least one cooking grate allows heat to flow upward from the one or more gas burners and air to vent from the one or more exit openings of the one or more air channels.
In addition, in some embodiments, the venting surface includes one or more vanes adjacent the upper surface of the venting surface. An upper surface of at least one of the one or more vanes is substantially flush with the upper surface of the venting surface. The upper surface of the venting surface is spaced upwardly from the upper surface of the cooking surface. The one or more air channels of the housing are for exhausting air from a cooking compartment within the housing or for a cooling air stream. An outer periphery of the at least one cooking grate includes at least a portion of the depending skirt.
These and other advantages and features, which characterize the embodiments, are set forth in the claims annexed hereto and forming a further part hereof. However, for a better understanding of the embodiments, and of the advantages and objectives attained through its use, reference should be made to the Drawings, and to the accompanying descriptive matter, in which there is described example embodiments. This summary is merely provided to introduce a selection of concepts that are further described below in the detailed description, and is not intended to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid in limiting the scope of the claimed subject matter.
In the drawings, like reference characters generally refer to the same parts throughout the different views. Also, the drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generally being placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.
As shown in the Figures, a home cooking appliance 10, such as but not limited to a slide-in cooking range, has a housing 12 and a cooking compartment 14, such as a baking oven, convection oven, steam oven, warming drawer and the like, in the housing 12 and accessible through a door or drawer 16 in the front 12a of the housing 12. In the embodiment shown, the appliance 10 is a gas range. The appliance 10 includes a cooktop surface 18 on a top of the housing 12. The cooktop surface 18 can include one or more cooking grates 20 thereon, with at least one cooking grate 20 having a cooking surface or section 20a and a venting surface or section 20b. The cooking surface 20a of the cooking grate 20 may include one or more openings 21a in fluid communication with one or more gas burners 19. The cooking surface 20a of the cooking grate 20 may support a cooking vessel or cookware (not shown) over one or more gas burners 19. The venting surface 20b of the cooking grate 20 may include one or more openings 21b in fluid communication with, or permitting air to exit, one or more air channels or passageways 15 of the housing 12. The appliance 10 includes a control panel 11 having a plurality of control knobs or controls 11a for controlling the gas burners 19 and/or cooking compartment 14.
As shown in
The cooking appliance 10 may include one or more air channels 15 allowing air to circulate through, into, and/or out of the housing 12 or portions thereof. For example one or more air channels 15 may, for example, provide flow for a cooling air stream from one or more areas of the housing 12 and/or oven compartment air stream from the cooking compartment 14. One embodiment shown in
As shown in
The venting surfaces 20b of the cooking grate 20 may be in fluid communication with one or more air channels 15 of the housing 12. As illustrated in
The outer periphery of the cooking grate 20 includes both the cooking surface 20a and the venting surface 20b such that the front of the cooking grate may include the cooking surface 20a and the back may include the venting surface 20b. Although the embodiment shows the relative positons of the cooking surface 20a and venting surface 20b to each other, there may be other arrangements. As is shown in one embodiment, one or more feet 23 engage one or more surfaces of the appliance 10 or housing 12 to space the cooking grate 20, or portions thereof, from the cooktop surface 18 or other portions of the housing 12. One or more of the feet 23 may depend from the outer periphery of the cooking grate 20 and engage the cooktop surface 18, although the feet 23 may extend from a variety of structures of the cooking grate 20. For instance, the feet may extend from one or both of the venting surface 20b and cooking surface 20a or adjacent therebetween. As is shown, one pair of feet 23 may be adjacent the control panel 11, or front of the housing 12, and another pair of feet 23 may be adjacent the exit openings 15a of the air channels 15, or back 12b of the housing 12. The feet 23 may engage the cooktop surface 18 or other portions of the housing 12. As is shown, the rear feet 23 may be spaced from the outer periphery or back of the cooking grate 20 and may be adjacent or between the cooking surface 20a and venting surface 20b. Spacing one or more feet 23 from the distal end or back of the cooking grate 20 that contains the venting surface 20b may reduce the contact of the venting surface 20b or other portions of the cooking grate 20 with the housing 12 or cooktop surface 18 and reduce possible abrasions.
As is shown in
As shown in the Figures, the venting surface 20b of the cooking grate 20 may include a depending skirt 26 about its outer periphery or portions thereof. The skirt 26 may coincide with one or more portions of the outer periphery of the cooking grate 20 as is shown. For example, portions of one or more of the lateral peripheral walls 26a and rearward peripheral wall 26b depend from adjacent one or more outer peripheral portions of the cooking grate 20, more specifically the back and lateral sides or portions of the cooking grate 20. The forward peripheral wall 26c may be adjacent the cooking surface 20a of the cooking grate 20. The skirt 26 or portions thereof may also engage a length of the depending feet 23 as is shown, or alternatively be disengaged therefrom. The skirt 26 of the venting surface 20b defines a cavity or passageway 27 or portions thereof. The cavity 27 of the venting surface 20b is in fluid communication between the one or more openings 21b and the exit openings 15a of the air channel 15. Within the skirt 26, one or more vanes 24 may be used to direct the flow of air in a variety of directions from the venting surface 20b. Portions of the skirt 26 may depend a variety of distances from upper surface 22b of the venting surface 20b. For example one or more of the front or forward peripheral wall 26c, rearward peripheral wall 26b, and lateral peripheral walls 26a may downwardly extend less than the distal end or outermost extent of the feet 23 or may be spaced from the cooktop surface 18. The spacing of the free end 26d of the skirt 26 away from the cooktop surface 18 or other portions of the housing 12 may produce a gap or distance D. This distance D may reduce abrasion to the cooktop surface 18. It is understood that the skirt 26 may abut the cooktop surface 18. Further shown, one or more of the walls of the skirt 26 may taper inwardly towards the upper surface 22b of the venting surface 20b thereby by narrowing the cavity 27 in the direction from the cooktop surface 18 towards the upper surface 22 of the cooking grate 20 or upper surface 22b of the venting surface 20b. For example, at least the skirt forward peripheral wall 26c and rearward peripheral wall 26b are shown in
The cooking grate 20 may be of a unitary construction combining the cooking surface 20a and venting surface 20b into a single piece. For example, the cooking grate 20 may be formed from cast iron by a sand casting process that is commonly known in the art of manufacturing stove-top cooking grates. A sand core may be used to manufacture the venting surface 20b of the back section of the cooking grate 20. One advantage of the cooking grate 20 embodiment in use may be in manufacturing, installation, and/or cleaning of the cooking grate 20. Because the cooking grate 20 includes both a cooking surface 20a and a venting surface 20b as a single piece, the unitary component may be handled together instead of separate. Therefore, the time, labor, and cost to manufacture and install may be reduced. Further when cleaning the cooking grate 20, the end user may temporarily remove the cooking grate to clean both the cooking surface 20a and the venting surface 20b, as opposed to handling separately components to clean. As such in use, one or more plugs or covers may be used (not shown) to overlay the one or more exit openings 15a at the back 12b of the housing 12 when the cooking grate 20 is removed for cleaning.
Although the integrated cooking grate 20 is shown in detail in the drawings, it is merely representative of one embodiment, and it is to be understood that there are a variety of shapes, sizes, orientations, constructions, and quantities which may be used and still be within the scope of the teachings herein.
While several embodiments have been described and illustrated herein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision a variety of other means and/or structures for performing the function and/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantages described herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications is deemed to be within the scope of the embodiments described herein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations described herein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters, dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon the specific application or applications for which the teachings is/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able to ascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalents to the specific embodiments described herein. It is, therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presented by way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claims and equivalents thereto, embodiments may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individual feature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein. In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems, articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent, is included within the scope of the present disclosure.
All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood to control over dictionary definitions, definitions in documents incorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the defined terms.
The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”
The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in the claims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements so conjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some cases and disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with “and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” of the elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when used in conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer, in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionally including other elements); etc.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should be understood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. For example, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall be interpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, but also including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and, optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated to the contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when used in the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactly one element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or” as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusive alternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded by terms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of” or “exactly one of” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims, shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.
As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “at least one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should be understood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more of the elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including at least one of each and every element specifically listed within the list of elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the list of elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally be present other than the elements specifically identified within the list of elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as a non-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “at least one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) can refer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements other than B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elements other than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionally including more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including more than one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.
It should also be understood that, unless clearly indicated to the contrary, in any methods claimed herein that include more than one step or act, the order of the steps or acts of the method is not necessarily limited to the order in which the steps or acts of the method are recited.
In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitional phrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,” “containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are to be understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limited to. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consisting essentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases, respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual of Patent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.
It is to be understood that the embodiments are not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the description or illustrated in the drawings. The invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Unless limited otherwise, the terms “connected,” “coupled,” “in communication with,” and “mounted,” and variations thereof herein are used broadly and encompass direct and indirect connections, couplings, and mountings. In addition, the terms “connected” and “coupled” and variations thereof are not restricted to physical or mechanical connections or couplings.
The foregoing description of several embodiments of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise steps and/or forms disclosed, and obviously many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching.
