1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a kettle for heating liquid, such as water.
2. Description of Related Art
Tea kettles are widely used for heating liquid, such as water, on a stovetop or other heat source. Some tea kettles have a built-in heat source, such as an electric resistance heating element, and need not be heated by an external heat source. Regardless of the heating mechanism, water or other liquid must be placed in the kettle for heating. In some kettles, water is introduced into the kettle through a spout that is also used to dispense the water from the kettle. Other kettles have an opening separate from the spout that is used for filling the kettle. Such openings are typically positioned in the top of the kettle and are covered by a lid. Often, the opening and corresponding lid are located under a handle for holding the kettle.
In one aspect of the invention, a kettle for heating a liquid includes a container arranged to hold an amount of liquid. The container may have a substantially flat bottom and a spout liner extending from an upper section of the container. A spout jacket may be disposed around at least a portion of the spout liner and connected to the container. A handle may be connected to the container and constructed and arranged to be gripped by a human hand and allow carrying of the container while holding the amount of liquid. The spout liner may have a rolled or flanged portion at a distal or upper end. The rolled or flanged portion may in some embodiments provide a seal between the spout liner and the spout jacket. The rolled or flanged portion may also provide a mechanical connection between the spout liner and the spout jacket. Such a mechanical connection may help keep the spout liner and the spout jacket connected together, e.g., when the spout jacket is integrally formed with a carrying handle for the kettle. In some embodiments, the rolled or flanged portion may provide a lip or other feature to aid in pouring liquid from the container, e.g., to help prevent dripping from the spout when pouring.
In another aspect of the invention, a kettle may include a container that has a lower portion with a substantially flat bottom and a spout liner defining a spout opening and extending from an upper section of the lower portion. The upper section may have an opening separate from the spout opening. A top portion may be connected to the upper section of the lower portion and cover at least a portion of the opening in the upper section. The top portion may also have a fill opening in registration with the opening in the upper section that is arranged to receive a lid to cover the fill opening. A spout jacket may disposed around at least a portion of the spout liner and connected to the container. A handle may be connected to the container and constructed and arranged to be gripped by a human hand and allow carrying of the container.
In one aspect of the invention, the lower portion and the top portion may be made separately from each other and permanently attached together to form the container. In another aspect, the spout jacket and/or the handle and/or the top portion may be integrally formed. For example, the spout jacket and the handle may be molded in a unitary fashion from a plastic material. Alternately, the spout jacket, handle and top portion may be molded in a unitary fashion from a plastic material.
In another aspect of the invention, the container may have a metallic lower portion, including the substantially flat bottom, and a plastic top portion, with the plastic top portion being permanently secured to the metallic lower portion.
Various other aspects of the invention will be apparent and/or obvious from the following detailed description. It should be noted that when incorporated in a particular embodiment, various aspects of the invention may be combined and used together, or may be used separately from other aspects of the invention.
Various aspects of the invention are described below with reference to the following drawings, in which like numerals reference like elements, and wherein:
Aspects of the invention are described below with reference to illustrative embodiments. However, it should be understood that aspects of the invention are not limited to those embodiments described below, but instead may be used in any suitable arrangement. For example, a kettle having an approximately cylindrical shape and rounded top is shown in the drawings, but a kettle in accordance with various aspects of the invention may have any size, shape or other configuration.
In one aspect of the invention, a kettle may have container with a spout liner extending from an upper section of the container. A spout jacket may be at least partially disposed around at least a portion of the spout liner and connected to the container. The spout liner may have a rolled or flanged portion at a distal or upper end which may provide a seal between the spout liner and the spout jacket, e.g., so water being poured from the kettle does not enter a space between the spout jacket and the liner. The rolled or flanged portion may also provide an improved or more robust mechanical connection between the spout liner and the spout jacket, such as when a carrying handle for the kettle is directly attached to the spout jacket. In such an arrangement, a large portion, if not all, of the weight of the kettle may be borne by the spout liner and therefore by the connection between the spout liner and the spout jacket. In other embodiments, the rolled or flanged portion may provide a lip or other feature to aid in pouring liquid from the container, e.g , to help prevent dripping from the spout when pouring
In another aspect of the invention, a kettle may include a container with a lower portion and a top portion that are made separately from each other and later permanently connected together to form the container. For example, the lower portion may have a substantially flat bottom and a spout liner extending from an upper section of the lower portion. The upper section may also have an opening separate from the spout opening, e.g., through which the container may be filled with water. The top portion may be connected to the upper section of the lower portion and cover at least a portion of the opening in the upper section. The top portion may also have a fill opening in registration with the opening and receive a lid to cover the fill opening. A spout jacket may be at least partially disposed around the spout liner, and a handle may be connected to the container to allow carrying of the container.
By enabling the container to be made in two parts, the kettle may include different materials used for the lower and top portions. For example, the lower portion may be made of a high conductivity material, such as a metal or combination of metals, and the top portion may be made of a lower conductivity material, such as a plastic. Such an arrangement may make the kettle lighter, since the top portion may be made of a lighter and/or lower strength material. Alternately, the top portion may be made to be more thermally insulating and/or less thermally conductive than the bottom portion, e.g., to help retain heat in the kettle. The spout liner may be made of the same material as the lower portion, and provide a relatively robust structure on which to mount the handle for the kettle. That is, the handle may be mechanically connected to the spout liner so that the weight of the kettle is transferred from the spout liner to the handle.
In one aspect of the invention, the spout jacket, the handle and/or the top portion may be integrally formed. For example, the spout jacket and the handle may be molded in a unitary fashion from a plastic material. This unitary structure may be secured to the spout liner. Alternately, the spout jacket, handle and top portion may be molded in a unitary fashion from a plastic material.
In accordance with one aspect of the invention, the top portion 3 of the container 2 may be made of a different material or combination of materials than a lower portion 4 of the container 2. For example, the top portion 3 may be made of a suitable plastic or other material having a relatively low thermal conductivity. In contrast, the lower portion 4 of the container 2 may be made of a material having a higher thermal conductivity, such as a metal. The lower portion 4 of the container 2 may have bottom made of a highly conductive material, such as copper or aluminum, and have an upper section above the bottom that is made of a lower conductivity material, such as stainless steel. In such an arrangement, the thermal conductivity of the lower portion 4 of the container 2 is considered to be an average of the conductivities of the various constituent parts. The higher thermal conductivity material in the lower portion 4 of the container may aid in rapidly heating the water or other liquid in the container 2. In contrast, the lower thermal conductivity material at the top portion 3 may help to thermally insulate the liquid and help reduce heat loss through the top portion of the container 2. In addition, the lower thermal conductivity material at the top portion 3 may help reduce the risk that a user's hand is burned through inadvertent or intentional contact with the top portion 3.
The top portion 3, such as one made of a nylon or other suitable plastic, may be permanently secured to the lower portion 4. As used herein, “permanently” secured refers to a condition wherein the top portion 3 and the lower portion 4 are connected together in such a way that the top and lower portions are not intended to be disconnected from each other during normal use, but does not mean that the top and lower portions can never be disconnected. Such connection may be made by screws, glue, rivets or other fasteners. Of course, in other aspects of the invention, it will be understood that the lower portion 4 and the top portion of the container may be made of a single type of material, such as stainless steel, and may be made as a single unitary part.
In one aspect of the invention, the top portion 3 may be secured to the lower portion 4 using fasteners applied from the interior of the container 2.
In another aspect of the invention, the spout liner 43 may be rolled or flanged at a distal end with the spout jacket 9 at least partially disposed around the spout liner 43.
In this illustrative embodiment, the spout jacket 9 is formed as a sleeve that is positioned over the entire length of the spout liner 43. However, the spout jacket 9 need not be positioned around the entire length of the spout liner 43, e.g., the spout liner may extend above the spout jacket 9, or may be exposed near its connection with the upper portion 4. Also, although in this illustrative embodiment, the spout jacket 9 extends completely around the spout liner 43, the spout jacket 9 may only extend around a portion of the surface of the spout liner 43. For example, the spout jacket 9 may only extend around a rear portion of the spout liner 43, leaving the portion of the spout liner 43 opposite the trigger 10 exposed. In addition, although in the illustrative embodiments the spout jacket 9 is made as a single piece, the spout jacket 9 may be made of two or more pieces, e.g., in a clam shell arrangement. Although the spout liner 43 is shown as having a circular cross section, the spout liner 43 may have any suitable cross-section, such as square, rectangular, irregular, oval, etc. The rolled or flanged end of the spout liner 43 likewise need not extend around the entire circumference of the spout liner 43. Instead, only one or more partial sections of the end of the spout liner 43 need be rolled or flanged.
In another aspect of the invention, the spout jacket 9 may be integrally formed with the top portion 3 and/or the handle 5. That is, the spout jacket 9 and the handle 5 or the spout jacket 9 and the top portion 3 may formed as a single unitary piece. Thus, the spout jacket 9 and/or the handle 5 and/or the top portion 3 may be molded from a suitable plastic material to form a single piece, or may otherwise be attached together. In this illustrative embodiment, the spout jacket 9 and the handle 5 are molded as a single unitary piece. This single unitary piece may be fastened to the top portion 3 or the lower portion 4 as discussed above.
It should be appreciated, however, that aspects of the invention discussed above are not required to be used with all other aspects of the invention. Thus, for example, the rolled or flanged end on the spout liner need not be used in every embodiment of the invention. Similarly, the spout jacket 9 may be made separate from the handle 5 or top portion 3 and may be secured to the container 2 or formed in other ways. For example, the spout jacket 9 may extend from a sidewall of the container 2 and be spaced from the top portion 3, if present. Likewise, the handle 5 may be attached to other portions of the container 2 and may be separate from the spout jacket 9. Also, the handle 5 need not be fixed in place, but instead may, for example, be pivotally mounted to the container 2 so that the handle 5 may fold down, e.g., for storage. The handle 5 may be folded up to extend over the top of the container for use in carrying the kettle. The kettle 1 may also include a lid 6 to cover the discharge area of the spout jacket 9 and may optionally include a whistle or other element to indicate that the water or other liquid has been suitably heated. The lid 6 may be associated with a trigger 10 (see
In another aspect of the invention, a lid that covers the fill opening in the top portion of the container may be received into the opening so that the upper end of the lid is flush with the top portion of the container. For example, as can be seen in the cross-sectional view in
Having described particular embodiments of the invention in detail, various modifications and improvements will readily occur to those skilled in the art. Such modifications and improvements are intended to be part of this disclosure and within the spirit and scope of the invention. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of example only and the invention is defined by the following claims and their equivalents.
This application is related to co-pending application Ser. No. ______, filed Jul. 20, 2004, entitled KETTLE HAVING OFFSET OPENING AND RECESSED LID, bearing Attorney Docket No. W0543.70076US00, and application Ser. No. ______, filed Jul. 20, 2004, entitled KETTLE HAVING MOVABLE SPOUT LID AND ACTUATOR, bearing Attorney Docket No. W0543.70081US00. These applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.