The present invention pertains to cooking appliances and, more particularly, to user interfaces for cooking appliances.
Typically, a cooking appliance includes a user interface that allows a user to interact with the appliance. For example, the user might be able to adjust the temperature of a burner using a knob or select an oven temperature using one or more buttons. One issue that arises in connection with the use of knobs is the potential misalignment of a knob during manufacture of a gas cooking appliance. This misalignment can be relative to a bezel of the knob, a console of the appliance or another knob. To address this issue, one option is to use tight tolerances for certain appliance structure during manufacture. Another option is to manually reposition the valve stems to which the knobs are coupled. As a further option, flexible tubing can be used in connection with the valves of the appliance. Also, expensive machined guides and alignments aids have been employed. However, these options have various downsides, such as requiring additional assembly steps, increasing costs or increasing the risk of damage to the valve stems. In addition, there are limits to the results that are achievable using some of these options. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a simple, effective and economical system and method for aligning the knobs of a gas cooking appliance during manufacture.
The present invention is directed to a system and method for aligning the knobs of a gas cooking appliance. In particular, a gas cooking appliance includes a valve and a first pipe configured to transport gas to the valve. The appliance also includes a burner and a second pipe configured to transport gas from the valve to the burner. The appliance further includes a console and a knob. The console includes a cutout having an edge defining a shape of the cutout, and the knob includes a handle and a bezel. The knob is configured to control a state of the valve. The bezel has a rear face and a protrusion extending rearward from the rear face through the cutout, the protrusion contacting the edge of the cutout. The appliance additionally includes a bracket coupling the knob to the valve. The bracket includes a leg mating with the protrusion.
The console defines an interior space inaccessible to a user of the gas cooking appliance. The console also defines an exterior space accessible to the user. The rear face of the bezel is located in the exterior space, and the protrusion extends from the exterior space to the interior space. In one embodiment, the protrusion includes a hole, and the leg fits inside the hole. In another embodiment, the leg includes an opening, and the protrusion fits inside the opening. The protrusion and leg have complementary shapes. Also, a fastener extends through a first hole in the protrusion and is threaded into a second hole in the leg. The protrusion has a side that contacts the edge of the cutout. In one embodiment, the edge of the cutout defines some of but less than all of a circle.
In a further embodiment, the protrusion is one of a plurality of protrusions extending rearward from the rear face of the bezel through the cutout. The plurality of protrusions contacts the edge of the cutout. Also, the bracket is a spider bracket. The bracket further includes a body directly coupled to the valve. In addition, the leg is one of a plurality of legs of the bracket. Each of the plurality of legs is configured to mate with a respective one of the plurality of protrusions. In yet another embodiment, the valve includes a valve stem, and the rotational position of the valve stem determines the state of the valve. The handle is directly coupled to the valve stem, and the knob is configured to control the state of the valve via rotation of the valve stem with the handle.
Mounting the user interface of the gas cooking appliance includes forming the cutout in the console and coupling the knob to the valve using the bracket. In one embodiment, coupling the knob to the valve includes inserting the leg into the hole of the protrusion. In another embodiment, coupling the knob to the valve includes inserting the protrusion into the opening of the leg.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to common parts in the several views.
Detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. However, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention that may be embodied in various and alternative forms. The figures are not necessarily to scale, and some features may be exaggerated or minimized to show details of particular components. Therefore, specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention.
With initial reference to
With reference now to
Turning to
More specifically, knob 125 is coupled to valve 180 using a bracket 215. Preferably, bracket 215 is a spider bracket, as illustrated in
The desired alignment of knob 125 is particularly provided by the interaction between protrusions 230-232 and a cutout 275. Cutout 275 is essentially a hole in console 120 through which portions of knob 125 and valve 180 extend. In the embodiment shown, cutout 275 is in the shape of a partial circle, i.e., an edge 280 of cutout 275 defines some of, but less than all of, a circle. In a preferred form, cutout 275 has an area greater than that of a semicircle but less than than of a full circle. However, as should become clear, cutout 275 can take a variety of shapes. In any case, protrusions 230-232 are located and shaped such that protrusions 230-232 contact edge 280 of cutout 275. Since protrusions 230-232 extend rearward from rear face 235, it is the sides of protrusions 230-232 that contact edge 280. Specifically, in the embodiment shown, sides 285-287 of protrusions 230-232 contact an arcuate portion 290 of cutout 275, while sides 288 and 289 of protrusions 231 and 232 contact a straight portion 291 of cutout 275. To match the corresponding portions of edge 280, sides 285-287 are arcuate, and sides 288 and 289 are straight. The result of this arrangement is that contact between protrusions 230-232 and edge 280 forces bezel 205 into a specific, predetermined position when bezel 205 is coupled to bracket 215, thereby ensuring that knob 125 will be properly and accurately aligned.
As can be best seen in
An alternative mounting arrangement for use with the present invention is shown in
Although two particular leg/protrusion/cutout arrangements have been described, it should be understood that a wide variety of arrangements can be used in connection with the present invention. For example, as has been demonstrated, different numbers of legs and protrusions can be used. Also, the shapes of the legs, protrusions and cutout can vary. With respect to the cutout, it should also be noted that, instead of a circle or partial circle, the cutout can be an oval or polygon, for instance. In addition, the cutout can comprise a plurality of holes through which the protrusions, valve stem and fasteners pass rather than a single hole. Similarly, instead of a plurality of protrusions having corresponding holes, a single protrusion can be used having one or more holes.
Based on the above, it should be readily apparent that the present invention provides a simple, effective and economical system and method for aligning the knobs of a gas cooking appliance during manufacture. Although described with reference to preferred embodiments, it should be readily understood that various changes or modifications could be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof. Furthermore, even though certain objects have been described as defining a portion of a circle, for purposes of the present invention, this does not require that such objects define a portion of a perfect circle. For instance, the term “circular” is intended to encompass ellipses, or portions thereof. In general, the invention is only intended to be limited by the scope of the following claims.
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