Patent Application
20170336075
The disclosure relates to fire starting devices and more particularly pertains to a new fire starting device that receives and ignites charcoal and releases the charcoal when the charcoal has reached a temperature suitable for cooking.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing that has a perimeter wall with an upper edge that defines an upper opening and a lower edge that defines a lower opening extending into the housing. The perimeter wall has front wall, rear wall, a first lateral wall and a second lateral wall. The perimeter wall has an inner surface and an outer surface. A grate is pivotally joined to the perimeter wall and is positioned nearer to the lower edge than the upper edge. An upper portion of the housing is defined between grate and the upper edge and a lower portion of the housing is defined between the grate and the lower edge. The grate is in a closed position intersecting a lumen extending through the housing and through the openings defined by the upper and lower edges to hold charcoal and is in an open position to release the charcoal. A catch is releasably engaged with the grate to retain the grate in the closed position. The catch is releasable from the grate such that the grate pivots downwardly toward the lower edge and through the lower opening to define an open position.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
A grate 36 is pivotally joined to the perimeter wall 14. The grate 36 is positioned nearer to the lower edge 20 than the upper edge 16. An upper portion 38 of the housing 12 is defined between grate 36 and the upper edge 16 and a lower portion 40 of the housing 12 is defined between the grate 36 and the lower edge 20. The grate 36 is positioned in a closed position intersecting a lumen extending through the housing 12 and through the upper 18 and lower 22 openings defined by the upper 16 and lower 20 edges to hold charcoal. The grate 36 is positioned in an open position to release the charcoal. The grate 36 is in a horizontal orientation and the perimeter wall 14 is vertically oriented when the grate 36 is in the close position. The grate 36 is pivotally coupled to the first lateral wall 28 and extends to the second lateral wall 30 when the grate 36 is in the closed position.
A catch 42 is releasably engaged with the grate 36 to retain the grate 36 in the closed position. The catch 42 is releasable from the grate 36 such that the grate 36 pivots downwardly toward the lower edge 20 and through the lower opening 22 to define an open position. The catch 42 comprises a pin 44 that is positioned in an engaged position extending through the perimeter wall 14 and engages the grate 36 to retain the grate 36 in the closed position. In a disengaged position, the pin 44 is removed from the perimeter wall 14 and disengaged from the grate 36. The pin 44 is extendable through the second lateral wall 30 and is positioned under and abutted against the grate 36 when the pin 44 is in the engaged position.
A handle assembly 46 is attached to the outer surface 34 of the perimeter wall 14. The handle assembly 46 includes an upper arm component 48, a lower arm component 50 and a grip 52. The grip 52 is attached to and extends between the upper 48 and lower 50 arm components. The handle assembly 46 is attached to the second lateral wall 30 between the pin 44 and the upper edge 16. A tether 54 has a first end 56 attached to the handle assembly 46 and has a second end 58 attached to the pin 44. A heat shield 60 is attached to the handle assembly 46 and is positioned between the grip 52 and the perimeter wall 14. The heat shield 60 is configured to minimize heat transfer from the housing 12 to the grip 52. The grip 52 may be made of a heat insulating material such as wood or ceramic.
The perimeter wall 14 has a plurality of apertures 64. Each of the apertures 64 is configured to receive crumpled paper, wood or other combustible material to ignite the charcoal positioned on the grate 36. The apertures 64 are positioned between the lower edge 20 and the grate 36. The perimeter wall 14 also has a plurality of air holes 62 and each of the air holes 62 is configured to allow airflow through the housing 12. The air holes 62 are positioned between the grate 36 and the upper edge 16.
In use, crumpled paper or a similar substance is placed at the bottom of the fire starting assembly 10. The grate 36 is in its closed position and charcoal, otherwise known also as charcoal briquettes, is placed on top of the grate 36. The crumpled paper or other fuel is lit on fire causing the charcoal to ignite and burn. When the charcoal has achieved a temperature for cooking with, the pin 44 is disengaged allowing the grate 36 to move to its open position and the fire starter assembly 10 is lifted. The charcoal that is on the grate 36 falls directly to a cooking apparatus such as a grill or a barbeque pit.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded.
A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
