1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking appliances and, more particularly, to a cooking appliance incorporating a low profile gas burner assembly.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In general, it is known to utilize gas as a heat source in a cooking appliance. Typically, the gas heat source is in the form of a gas burner assembly located at a bottom portion of an oven cavity, either out in the open or, below a false bottom panel. In some cases, another gas burner assembly is positioned in an upper portion of the oven cavity for broiling operations. In any event, oven designs require sufficient space to accommodate one or more gas burner assemblies.
Conventionally, oven cavities are designed with a considerable amount of space allocated for the gas burner assembly. In a manner known in the art, inlet and outlet portions of the gas burner assembly are maintained in a well defined spaced relationship. More specifically, a conventional gas burner assembly is designed such that a vertical distance of at least 3 inches (7.62 cm) separates the inlet portion from the outlet portion. This distance requirement has been seen as necessary to avoid the negative effects associated with a reverse density driven flow which occurs when the cooking appliance is hot and gas flow to the burner is off. In the event of a reverse density driven flow, combustion of the gas takes place at the inlet portion of the burner assembly and not at gas discharge ports arranged along the outlet portion.
Unfortunately, while effective at eliminating adverse effects of the reverse density driven flow, the space between the inlet and outlet means that more space is needed for the burner assembly which, in turn, disadvantageously results in a reduction in oven cavity size. This is especially true in dual oven ranges wherein the space required to accommodate multiple gas burner assemblies in two oven cavities reduces the overall space available within each oven cavity. In the highly competitive field of cooking appliances, manufacturers often desire to provide more space, in smaller packages, to attract the buying public. Therefore, based on the above, there exists a need in the art for a cooking appliance designed to enable an enhanced oven cavity size. More specifically, there exists a need in the art for a low profile gas burner assembly designed to establish an enlarged oven cavity. Particularly, there exists a need for a low profile gas burner assembly having an inlet portion and an outlet portion separated by a distance less than the conventional 3 inches (7.62 cm) that does not suffer from the effects of a reverse density driven flow.
The present invention is directed to a cooking appliance including a low profile gas burner assembly. In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, the cooking appliance includes a cabinet, first and second oven cavities arranged within the cabinet, and at least one gas burner assembly positioned within each of the first and second oven cavities. More specifically, the gas burner assembly includes a first end, defining an inlet portion, interconnected with a second end, defining an outlet portion having arranged thereon a plurality of gas discharge ports, through an intermediate portion. The gas burner assembly is formed from a tubular member having a defined diameter. In general, the intermediate portion maintains a distance up to several times the diameter of the tubular member between the inlet and outlet portion. More specifically, the intermediate portion maintains a vertically spaced relationship between the inlet portion and outlet portion of at least one tubing diameter and, more preferably, two tubing diameters. For example, with a 0.75 inch (1.91 cm) diameter tube, the inlet and outlet portions are spaced from 0.75 inches (1.91 cm) to about 2.5 inches (6.35 cm), preferably 1 inch (2.54 cm) to about 2.0 inches (5.08 cm) and, most preferably approximately 1.5 inches (3.81 cm).
In any event, additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
With initial reference to
Preferably, upper oven 40 includes a respective first or upper oven cavity 45 and, similarly, lower oven 41 includes a respective second or lower oven cavity 46. In a manner known in the art, upper oven 40 has associated therewith a door 50 which can be pivoted by means of a handle 53. Door 50 preferably includes a window 55 for viewing the contents of upper oven cavity 45. In a similar manner, lower oven 41 has associated therewith a door 60, a handle 63 and a window 65. Furthermore, as best seen in
In a manner known in the art, range 2 is adapted to rest upon a supporting surface, such as a kitchen floor or the like. More specifically, a plurality of leg members, two of which are indicated in
In general, the structure described above with respect to range 2, with the exception of the particular construction of burner arrangement 1, is already known in the art and does not constitute part of the present invention. Therefore, this structure has only been described for the sake of completeness. Instead, the present invention is particularly directed to gas burner arrangement 1 which is adapted to establish a heated cooking environment within a respective one of oven cavities 45 and 46. More specifically, gas burner arrangement 1 is of a low profile type which does not require a significant amount of space that would otherwise detract from the space available for conducting various cooking operations as will be detailed fully below.
Referring to
Reference will now be made to
In accordance with the present invention, intermediate portion 172 maintains a vertically spaced relationship between inlet portion 170 and outlet portion 171 as represented by Δh in
In further accordance with the present invention, as shown best in
Although described with reference to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, it should be readily apparent of one of ordinary skill in the art that various changes and/or modifications can be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. For instance, while the low profile gas burner arrangement of the present invention is shown incorporated into a dual oven range, it should be understood that the present invention could be incorporated into various other gas cooking appliances, including ranges with a single oven cavities, wall ovens and the like. Also while the gas cooktop is shown with exposed gas burners and grates, the burners could be positioned below a glass/ceramic surface and the grate eliminated. In general, the invention is only intended to be limited by the scope of the following claims.
Number | Name | Date | Kind |
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1908668 | Hollman | May 1933 | A |
3386431 | Branson | Jun 1968 | A |
3422809 | Perry | Jan 1969 | A |
4796600 | Hurley et al. | Jan 1989 | A |
5937846 | Martin et al. | Aug 1999 | A |
Number | Date | Country | |
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20040177845 A1 | Sep 2004 | US |