Patent Grant
7030348
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a microwave oven, and more particularly, to a lifting device for a microwave oven capable of easily lifting upwardly a combination hood and microwave oven installed on a wall surface adjacent to a lower portion of kitchen furniture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, a combination hood and microwave oven (hereinafter, referred simply to as “a microwave oven”) is a microwave oven that is installed at an upper portion of a gas cooking stove to allow heat, fumes and the like generated from the gas cooking stove to be discharged to the outside. Such a microwave oven is generally installed on a wall surface located at position corresponding to a lower portion of kitchen furniture, and its installation process is also illustrated in
As shown in the figure, a microwave oven 1 is generally installed on a wall surface 5 located at a position adjacent to a bottom plate of the kitchen furniture 3. The microwave oven 1 is fixed and supported on the bottom plate of the kitchen furniture using long screws in a state where its rear surface is engaged with and supported by a mounting plate (not shown) previously fixed on the wall surface 5. That is, the microwave oven 1 can be firmly supported on the bottom plate of the kitchen furniture by fastening a top plate of the microwave oven 1 to the bottom plate of the kitchen furniture 3 using additional screws in a state where it is hanging on the mounting plate.
However, there are the following problems in the related art.
As described above, in order to fasten the microwave oven 1 to the mounting plate installed on the wall surface 5 located at a position right below the kitchen furniture 3, the microwave oven 1 should be lifted to a predetermined position. Further, the microwave oven 1 is relatively heavy. In order to accurately lift the microwave oven 1 to the predetermined position, therefore, two persons generally lift the microwave oven 1 as shown in
Accordingly, there is a problem in the related art that the working efficiency is lowered since two or more persons are needed to fasten the microwave oven 1 to the wall surface.
In addition, there is another problem in the related art that if the microwave oven is dropped due to carelessness or fatigue of the working persons upon its installation, the microwave oven 1 and the gas cooking stove installed below the microwave oven may be damaged.
Accordingly, the present invention is conceived to solve the aforementioned problems in the related art. An object of the present invention is to provide a lifting device for a microwave oven capable of easily lifting a microwave oven to a predetermined position.
According to the present invention for achieving the objectives, there is provided a device for lifting a microwave oven installed at a position right below kitchen furniture. The lifting device comprises a cord which has an end fixed in a microwave oven and extends outwardly from the microwave oven through a hole formed in any one of external plates of the microwave oven, and a stopper which is installed in a through-hole formed in a bottom plate of the kitchen furniture to limit a one-way motion of the cord passing through the stopper when the cord has passed through the through-hole.
The cord may be uneven on an outer periphery thereof to increase a contact area with the stopper.
Preferably, the cord is a rope.
The cord may be inserted in a hole formed in a top plate of the microwave oven and an lower end of the cord may be attached to a holder having an area relatively larger than the hole such that the microwave oven can be lifted up by causing the holder to be supported on a bottom surface of the top plate.
Preferably, the stopper includes a stopper body which is inserted in the through-hole and formed with a center hole through which the cord can pass, and a catching piece which extends upwardly from the stopper body to narrow toward a central axis of the center hole such that the catching piece is caught in the outer periphery of the cord to limit the downward motion of the cord.
The stopper may further include support portions which are provided on the stopper body to bring the stopper body into close contact with the bottom plate of the kitchen furniture. Preferably, the stopper include a stopper body which is inserted in the through-hole and is formed with a center hole through which the cord can pass and an internal space which is defined at and expanded at a predetermined position in a radial direction; a plurality of balls which are disposed around the cord within the internal space; and an inclined surface which is defined in a lower portion of the internal space to be inclined downwardly toward the center of the center hole. In such a case, a friction force is generated between the cord and the balls when the cord is moved downwardly, and downward motions of the balls is limited by means of the cord and the inclined surface such that the downward motion of the cord is limited with respect to the stopper.
The stopper may further include support portions which are provided on the stopper body to bring the stopper body into close contact with the bottom plate of the kitchen furniture.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a lifting device for a microwave oven installed at a position right below kitchen furniture. The lifting device comprises a rope which has an end fixed in a microwave oven and extends outwardly from the microwave oven through a hole formed in an external top plate of the microwave oven, and a stopper which is installed in a through-hole formed in a bottom plate of the kitchen furniture and formed with a center hole, through which the rope passes, to allow the rope to be lifted upwardly but to limit a downward motion of the rope when the rope has passed through the center hole.
According to the present invention so configured, there is an advantage in that the microwave oven can be very conveniently installed since the microwave oven can be easily lifted to a position right below the kitchen furniture by using the cord and stopper structure of the present invention.
The above and other object, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of preferred embodiments given in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
a is a sectional view showing a lifted state of a rope according to an embodiment of the present invention;
b is a sectional view showing a lowered state of the rope according to an embodiment of the present invention;
a is a sectional view showing a lifted state of a rope according to another embodiment of the present invention;
b is a sectional view showing a lowered state of the rope according to another embodiment of the present invention; and
Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail in connection with a first embodiment thereof shown in the accompanying drawings.
Referring first to
The cords 30 are fixed in the microwave oven 20. In such a case, a method in which the cords 30 are fixed is not limited to a specific one, but the cords 30 should not be fixed to the interior parts installed within the microwave oven 20. A suitable method of fixing the cords 30 to the microwave oven 20 is illustrated in
In addition, the cord 30 should have a friction force enough not to slip out of a stopper 40, which will be explained later, such that the cord can be caught in the stopper 40 to be kept at a fixed state. To this end, it is preferred that the cord 30 be made of a material with a large friction coefficient against the stopper 40 or be uneven on an outer periphery thereof to relatively increase a contact area with the stopper 40. Furthermore, the cord 30 is used to lift up the microwave oven 20 and preferably made of a material capable of withstanding the weight of the microwave oven 20. In this preferred embodiment, such a cord 30 is illustrated as a rope.
A detailed description on a material of a rope illustrated in this embodiment will be omitted herein. The reason is that the cord 30 is not only a general rope well known to those skilled in the art but also can be made of any material so long as it can have a given friction coefficient and strength.
As shown in
The bottom plate 12 of the kitchen furniture 10 on which the microwave oven 20 is installed is formed with through-holes 14 through which the cords 30 can pass. The stopper 40 is installed in the through-hole 14.
The stopper 40 serves to allow the aforementioned cord 30 to be lifted upwardly but not to be inadvertently lowered so as to maintain a stopped state of the cord.
The stopper according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to
As shown in
Further, the catching piece 44 upwardly inclined to narrow toward a central axis of the center hole is formed on a position corresponding to an upper end of the center hole 42a. The diameter of the center hole 42a defined at the catching piece 44 is designed to be relatively smaller than that of the cord 30 such that the catching piece 44 is elastically deformed and thus brought into close contact with the cord 30 when the cord 30 has passed through the catching piece 44 via the center hole 42a.
Since the catching piece 44 is upwardly inclined to narrow toward the central axis of the center hole, it can be elastically deformed in an upward direction to limit a one-way motion of the cord 30 that has passed through the center hole 42a at the center portion of the catching piece 44.
That is, as shown in
Further, the support portions 46, which bring the stopper body 42 into close contact with top and bottom surfaces of the bottom plate 12 of the kitchen furniture 10, respectively, are provided on the stopper body 42. Although it has been illustrated in this embodiment that the stopper body 42 is integrally formed with the support portions 46, but the present invention is not limited thereto. That is, the support portions 46 can support the stopper body 42 in such a manner that male and female threads are formed on the upper and lower outer peripheries of the stopper body 42 and the inner peripheries of the support portions 46, respectively, such that the male and female threads are engaged with each other.
If the support portions 46 are integrally formed on the stopper body 42, it is preferred that the support portions can be elastically deformed to a certain extent. The reason is that some of the support portions 46 can pass through the through-hole 14 when the stopper is mounted to the bottom plate 12 of the kitchen furniture 10.
The stopper 40 configured as above is used in the following manner. That is, the microwave oven 20 can be lift to a desired position by pulling up the cord 30 fastened to the top plate 22 of the microwave oven 20 as shown in
In addition, the stopper 40 is kept at a state where it is fixed to the bottom plate 12 while withstanding the pulling force of an operator and the weight of the microwave oven 20, by means of the support portions 46 of the stopper body 42, when the cord 30 is pulled up in a vertical direction.
At a position where the microwave oven 20 is lifted upwardly to a desired height in such a manner, the microwave oven 20 is coupled with the mounting plate (not shown) by fastening and fixing a rear plate (not shown) of the microwave oven to the mounting plate installed on a wall surface opposite to the rear plate of the microwave oven. The microwave oven 20 can be substantially installed below the kitchen furniture 10 by fastening the top plate 22 of the microwave oven 20 to the bottom plate 12 of the kitchen furniture 10 using long screws (not shown) at the coupled position.
That is, it is understood from the present invention that the microwave oven 20 can be easily lifted to a desired position. It is also understood that the microwave oven 20 can be conveniently fastened to the mounting plate at a state where it is lifted to the desired position and then be fastened to the bottom plate 12 of the kitchen furniture 10 using the screws.
Next, a stopper according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The stopper 50 of the second embodiment shown in
The stopper 50 includes a stopper body 52, balls 54, an inclined surface 56 and support portions 58. Here, the stopper body 52 is inserted into the through-hole 14. Further, a center hole 52a through which the cord 30 can freely pass is formed in a vertical direction along a central portion of the stopper body 52. Furthermore, an internal space 52b, which is expanded in a radial direction, is also formed at a predetermined position (preferably, at an upper side) of the center hole 52a.
The inwardly narrowing inclined surface 56 is provided around a lower part of the internal space 52b. That is, the inclined surface 56 in the internal space 52b is formed to narrow downwardly along the internal space. Further, a plurality of balls 54 are inserted into the internal space 52b such that they can move within a space defined between the internal space 52b and the cord 30 passing through the internal space.
In addition, the support portions 58, which bring the stopper body 52 into close contact with the top and bottom surfaces of the bottom plate 12 of the kitchen furniture 10, respectively, are provided on the stopper body 52. Since the support portions 58 have the same function as the support portions 46 of the first embodiment, the detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted from the second embodiment.
Hereinafter, the operation of the stopper according to this embodiment will be explained.
a shows a state where the cord 30 is pulled up in a vertical direction. As shown in the figure, when the cord 30 is pulled up, the balls 54 can be sufficiently moved outwardly into the internal space 52b, and thus, the cord 30 can be easily moved upwardly.
As shown in
At this time, the stopper 50 is kept at a state where it is fixed to the bottom plate 12 while withstanding the pulling force of an operator and the weight of the microwave oven 20, by means of the support portions 58 of the stopper body 52, when the cord 30 is pulled up in a vertical direction.
It is understood that the cord 30 can be freely pulled up but cannot be lowered due to the stoppers 40 and 50 of the first and second embodiments. This means that the microwave oven 20 can be moved upwardly and then kept at a predetermined position due to the above operation.
In addition,
The method of fixing the cord 30 may be applied to the first and second embodiments of the present invention without any changes. In other words, as shown in
If the cord 30 is released in such a state, the downward force is exerted due to the weight of the microwave oven 20. However, the cord 30 can be lowered no longer since the outer periphery of the cord 30 is caught in the catching piece 44 as shown in
Furthermore, since the stopper bodies 42 and 52 are provided with the support portions 46 and 58, respectively, the stoppers 40 and 50 can maintain its own state where they are fixed to the bottom plate 12 even though the weight of the microwave oven 20 is exerted on the stoppers 40 and 50.
At a position where the microwave oven 20 is lifted upwardly to a desired height in such a manner, the microwave oven 20 is coupled with the mounting plate (not shown) by fastening and fixing the rear plate (not shown) of the microwave oven to the mounting plate installed on the wall surface opposite to the rear plate of the microwave oven. The microwave oven 20 can be substantially installed below the kitchen furniture 10 by fastening the top plate 22 of the microwave oven 20 to the bottom plate 12 of the kitchen furniture 10 using the long screws (not shown) at the coupled position.
According to the present invention described above, the microwave oven can be easily lifted to the bottom surface of the kitchen furniture. Further, even a single operator can easily lift the microwave oven to a desired position by using the lifting device of the present invention.
According to the present invention described above, the following advantageous effects will be expected.
Heretofore, two persons should perform the operation of lifting the microwave oven to a desired position so as to install the microwave oven to the desired position below the kitchen furniture. However, the microwave oven can be easily lifted to a position right below the kitchen furniture by using the cords and stoppers according to the present invention. Therefore, the advantage in that the microwave oven can be very conveniently installed is expected.
It will be apparent that those skilled in the art can make various modifications and changes within the scope of the fundamental technical spirit of the present invention. Accordingly, the scope of the present invention should be construed on the basis of the appended claims.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4540146 | Basile | Sep 1985 | A |
| 6737622 | Jeong et al. | May 2004 | B1 |
| 20010045430 | Mawoud | Nov 2001 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 05-040709 | Jun 1993 | JP |
