The present subject matter is directed to a method for using an extendable and retractable tool designed to support a microwave oven during its installation.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,778,013 to Selenke is for an adjustable support for suspending partition walls, brackets for shelving as well as other material, including steps upon which individuals can stand to use the support as a stilt or pogo stick type of device. U.S. Pat. No. 6,612,533 to Biles et al. is for an adjustable support useful to carpenters for installing cabinets and handrails in buildings. U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,742 to Wang is for an adjustable support tool used for vertical or horizontal mounting. U.S. Pat. No. 7,685,689 to Del Castello is directed to an installation tool for a garbage disposal. U.S. Design 740,543 to Winters is directed to an adjustable walking aid. US published application 2020/0337459 to Riegger is for a length-adjustable support mechanism.
While videos available on the internet present an easy-to-install one-person microwave oven wall-mount installation procedure, those professionals who install current microwave ovens know that a wall-mount installation generally requires at least two people. Furthermore, most professional microwave oven installers know, in order to be successful in bidding on jobs to install microwave ovens, that it is essential to have a bid that is low enough not only to secure a contract for the job but also to be profitable. Therefore, to reduce cost it would be desirable for most professional microwave installers that there be a special tool available to enable microwave oven installation to be a one-person procedure. Since known support tools, including support tools described in the paragraph immediately above are unsatisfactory, the present subject matter includes embodiments of an extendable and retractable tool I designed to support a microwave oven during its installation.
First, I shall briefly describe my method for mounting a microwave oven to a wall, using an extendable and retractable tool I designed to support a microwave oven during its installation. Then, I shall briefly describe the tool which I designed.
My method includes a number of steps. One step is to secure a mounting bracket to a wall. The microwave oven includes an underside surface having a first edge portion to be located adjacent the wall and a second edge portion spaced outwardly from the wall (and, of course, the first edge portion). The mounting bracket, which is typical for wall-mount applications, includes a lip portion for supporting the first edge portion of the underside surface of the microwave oven above a supporting surface such as a countertop or on top of a flat-surfaced kitchen oven. Another step includes then using the lip portion of the mounting bracket to temporarily support the first edge portion while the second edge portion of the microwave oven is slanted down toward the supporting surface. An additional step next is to pivot the microwave oven temporarily supported by the lip portion of the mounting bracket about an axis defined by the lip portion of the mounting bracket until the underside surface of the microwave oven is oriented approximately parallel to the supporting surface. A further step includes adjusting my extendable and retractable support tool to a length that is substantially equal to a measured distance between the underside surface of the microwave oven and the supporting surface when the underside surface of the microwave oven is oriented approximately parallel to the supporting surface. Still another step includes using my support tool to keep the underside surface of the microwave oven oriented approximately parallel to the supporting surface until an upper surface of the microwave oven is “fixed” to support structure located above the microwave oven.
For most applications, the wall is frequently a planar surface that is oriented approximately 90 degrees relative to the supporting surface. Also, the supporting surface, often an upper surface of a kitchen countertop or a common kitchen oven, can be a surface of a floor, if a microwave oven is mounted, e.g., above a bookcase.
My special tool for enabling a person to easily mount a microwave oven to a wall, and securely attach the microwave oven to kitchen cabinets, has at least one end portion which is extendable and retractable relative to an opposite end portion of the tool. My tool comprises a main body portion which, in certain embodiments, takes the form of an elongated outer cylindrical member defining a hollow interior region bounded by an internal cylindrical surface. The outer member also defines a longitudinal axis. My tool thus includes at least one extendable-and-retractable member which, in certain embodiments, can take the form of an inner cylindrical member axially disposed within the hollow interior region of the outer cylindrical member. The inner cylindrical member provides the tool with a first end portion. The inner cylindrical member includes an external cylindrical surface that is slidably engageable along the longitudinal axis within the internal cylindrical surface of the outer cylindrical member. The outer cylindrical member provides the tool with a second end portion opposite the first end portion. One of the first and second end portions is extendable and retractable along the longitudinal axis relative to the other, for enabling a user such as a microwave oven installer, to adjust the tool length so that it is approximately equal to a measured distance between a bottom surface of the microwave oven and a supporting surface when the bottom surface of the microwave oven is oriented substantially parallel to the supporting surface.
Throughout the drawing figures and detailed description below, I shall use similar letters and figures to refer to similar microwave ovens, structure associated with microwave ovens, and similar components of the illustrated embodiments of length-adjustable installation tools, all of which involve the present subject matter.
Many, perhaps most, of the microwave ovens currently commercially available are built-in varieties, countertop varieties, or wall-mount varieties. The present subject matter is directed to the wall-mount variety of microwave ovens.
The microwave oven 100A (see
The mounting bracket 140B (see
Another step involves the single person pivoting the microwave oven 100C (see
A further step involves the single person adjusting an embodiment of the extendable and retractable microwave oven support tool 200A (see
Another step involves the single person using the length-adjusted tool 200A to support the underside surface 150A of the microwave oven 100A when the microwave oven 110A is oriented approximately parallel to the supporting surface 110A until an upper surface 170C (see
The above steps enabling a single person to attach a microwave oven to a wall above a conventional kitchen oven assume that the wall 130A is essentially a planar surface oriented about 90 degrees relative to the cooking surface 110A or to a kitchen countertop 180A (see
Referring now to
The tool 200A further includes (see
The outer member 220A defines a second end portion 270A opposite the first end portion 250A. One of the first and second end portions 250A, 270A is extendable and retractable along the axis X-X, relative to the other of the first and second end portions 250A, 270A, when the inner member 240A is axially disposed in the hollow interior region of the outer member 220A. This feature enables a user (such as an installer of a typical wall-mounted microwave oven) to adjust a length dimension of the tool 200A to be approximately equal to a measured distance, H (see,
The inner cylindrical member 240A of the tool 200A defines a hollow interior that contains a known locking mechanism for spacing one of the first and second end portions 250A, 270A, from the other—by a distance that is first selected and then “locked-in-place” by a user—which is approximately equal to the measured distance, H (see
The outer cylindrical member 220A (please see
For instance, for wall-mount microwave oven installations, an operative height, H, that ranges from about 18 inches to about 21 inches, or ranges from about 19 inches to about 20 inches, or that is about 19.5 inches, which are typical values for many wall-mount applications, could be achieved. For that purpose, a distance D between adjacent apertures 282A ranging from about 2 mm to about 8 mm, or from about 2 mm to about 6 mm, or that is about 3 mm would be suitable.
The first end portion 250A of the above-described embodiment of tool 200A (see
One variety of a typical microwave oven 100F (see
At least one of the end portions 250B, 270B is extendable and retractable along the axis Y-Y relative to the other; and the present subject matter includes each (please see
What has been illustrated and described is a special tool that I designed to enable a single person to install wall-mounted microwave ovens. While the present subject matter has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, the present subject matter is not to be limited to them. On the contrary, because many alternatives, changes and modifications will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the field of the present subject matter upon reading this disclosure, all such alternatives, changes and/or modifications are to be treated as being part of the present subject matter insofar as they fall within the scope of the appended claims.