Patent Application
20230069993
The present invention is related to outdoor cooking and to accessories therefore. More specifically, this invention is related to a cleaning accessory for use on a barbeque grill or griddle surface.
Grill and griddle cleaning brushes, pads, and scrapers are well known and typically include a heat-resistant scrubbing interface to scrape residue from the cooking surface. Such residue is easiest to remove when the cooking surface is very hot, such as immediately before or after cooking, but it can become baked on and is still very difficult to remove, so some cleaning brushes of the prior art have incorporated water reservoirs and means to spray water ahead of the scraping with the goal of moistening and softening the baked-on residue to ease its removal. Such devices have proven ineffective, mostly because the hot cooking surface vaporizes the water instantly . . . before it can have any effect on the residue. Additionally, such water-spraying brushes are ineffective at fully cleaning the cooking surface because only thin lines in the residue are contacted by the brush's bristles. And the water must be applied over and over ahead of each scraping stroke. And while brushes might eventually and laboriously remove the baked-on residue, they leave behind a black film of unknown ingredients to be added to the surface of the next food cooked.
There is a need, and such is an object of the invention, to provide a grill or griddle cleaning tool which effectively softens reside on hot cooking surfaces by moistening and softening the residue exactly at and during the point of scraping.
There is a need, and such is an object of the invention, to provide a grill or griddle cleaning tool which moistens and softens the residue continuously with requiring reapplication of moisture between each stroke.
There is a need, and such is another object of the invention, to provide such a grill or griddle cleaning tool which includes means to wipe the cooking surface clean as it is scrubbing it.
There is a need, and such is another object of the invention, to provide such means which are easily and inexpensively replaceable without replacing the major portion of the tool.
Further needs and objects exist which are addressed by the present invention, as may become apparent upon review of the included disclosure of exemplary embodiments thereof.
The invention may be embodied in or practiced using a utensil for cleaning a cooking surface having cleaning head affixed to a distal end of an elongate handle, wherein the head has a base and a porous cover, wherein the base has a chamber, wherein the chamber has a perforation through or adjacent a bottom thereof under which is disposed a layer of the porous cover, so that the chamber is in fluid communication with the layer, wherein submerging the head in a liquid enables the liquid to flow through the layer and the perforation and into the chamber; and wherein applying the head having the liquid-filled chamber against the cooking surface enables the liquid to flow from the chamber and through the perforation and continuously dampen the layer.
The base may be made of a heat-resistant rubbery material. The porous cover may be made of Kevlar. The elongate handle may be made of a rigid and heat-resistant material.
The head may be removable from the handle for replacement or cleaning. The head may be machine washable. The handle may have an elongate grasp at its proximal end and a knob midway between its proximal and distal ends.
The head may have a lid having means to temporarily affix the head to the distal end of the handle. The means to temporarily affix the head to the distal end of the handle may allow removal and replacement of the head without the use of tools. The utensil may have a metal scraping blade protruding from the distal end.
The base may include one from the group including integrally-formed rubber ribs and integrally formed rubber fingers, disposed against the layer of the porous cover and adapted to enable conformity of the layer with the cooking surface.
The base may have a plurality of chambers.
Further features and aspects of the invention are disclosed with more specificity in the Detailed Description and accompanying drawings of an exemplary embodiment provided herein.
Many aspects of the invention can be better understood with reference to the included Drawings showing an exemplary embodiment for practicing the invention which corresponds to the accompanying Detailed Description. The components in the Drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon clearly illustrating the principles of the invention. Moreover, like reference numerals in the Drawings designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.
An exemplary embodiment of a grill or griddle cleaning tool 100 is shown in
The cleaning head cartridge includes a base 116/116R, a pouch 118 and a lid 122. The lid includes flexible latches which snap into the cartridge receiver to hold it in place and are flexed inwardly to release the cartridge from the handle portion for replacement or cleaning without the need for tools. Any other known and effecting fastening means may be alternatively employed, or the cartridge may be permanently affixed to the handle portion and not independently replaceable.
The handle portion and lid are made of a heat resistant polymer, the base is made of a heat resistant polymer interior portion 116 and heat-resistant hard rubber outer portion 116R. The rubber out portion may be co-formed around the interior portion or may be a distinct component which fits over and around it. The pouch is made of a soft but abrasive and heat-resistant Kevlar fabric which is highly heat resistant. While the pouch is depicted as having a bag shape in
The scraping blade is insert-molded with the handle portion, but it may be fastened to it, by screws or such, and could then be removable and replaceable. It is also anticipated and considered within the invention that the brush could be packaged with several such replaceable blades each having a differently contoured scraping surface to enable mating with a variety of grill spacings.
Referring to
The base's interior portion includes reservoir portions 126, each having a small through-hole 128 in its bottom. The Kevlar fabric of the pouch is porous.
Referring to
Referring to
The arrangement of the grasp and knob relative to the head portion enhance the ability of the user to force the head portion against the cooking surface. The rubber base thus presses the damp and abrasive pouch forcefully against the cooking surface during a scrubbing motion and because the moisture seeping from the cartridge is applied directly to the residue on the cooking surface at exactly the points in time and location that the scrubbing is taking place, the moisture is allowed to evaporate until the head portion has passed. This arrangement is found to be far more effective and easier to use than any prior art grill or griddle cleaning tool.
Various changes in form and detail may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention, so the invention should therefore only be considered according to the following claims, including all equivalent interpretation to which they are entitled.
