The present subject matter relates generally to oven appliances, and more particularly to locating pint for attaching and aligning an oven door handle, trim, and handle bracket to an oven door.
Conventional residential and commercial oven appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a cooking chamber for receipt of food items for cooking. A door is attached to the cabinet, rotating between an open and closed position. When the door is in the closed position, an unsightly gap exists between the top of oven door and the bottom of the cooktop or control panel, depending on the arrangement of the oven.
Some conventional oven appliance include a decorative door trim to obscure the gaps along the front and sides of the oven. However, it is often difficult to align and control the critical appearance elements of the oven appliance, including the parallelism of the trim, door handle, and oven cooktop/control panel and the centering of the trim and door handle on the front of the oven. Where the door handle extends substantially the full width of the oven door, it is also difficult to ensure that the door handle is flush with the side of the oven door. Even where parallelism, centering, and flushness are achieved, conventional ovens require significant effort in assembly to achieve these attributes.
Accordingly, oven appliances having a mechanism to quickly and accurately set the relative position of the door handle, door trim, and oven door would be desirable.
Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the following description, or may be obvious from the description, or may be learned through practice of the invention.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, an oven appliance is provided. The oven appliance includes a cabinet to receive items to be cooked, a door pivotably attached to the cabinet, a first handle bracket attached to the door, a second handle bracket attached to the door, a door trim, and a door handle. The door may pivot between an open position and a closed position for selectively accessing the cooking chamber. The first handle bracket may include an outer opening and an inner opening. The second handle bracket may include an outer opening and an inner opening. The door trim may include a first end and a second end, the first end of the door trim including an outer opening and an inner opening and the second end of the door trim including an outer opening and an inner opening. The door handle may include a first end and a second end, the first end of the door handle having a first outer locating pin and a first inner locating pin and the second end of the door handle having a second outer locating pin and a second inner locating pin. The first outer locating pin extends through the outer opening of the first end of the door trim and the outer opening of the first handle bracket. The first inner locating pin extends through the inner opening of the first end of the door trim and the inner opening of the first handle bracket. The second inner locating pin extends through the inner opening of the second end of the door trim and the inner opening of the second handle bracket. The second outer locating pin extends through the outer opening of the second end of the door trim and the outer opening of the second handle bracket.
In another aspect of the present disclosure, an oven appliance is provided. The oven appliance includes cabinet defining a cooking chamber to receive items to be cooked, a door pivotably attached to the cabinet, a first handle bracket attached to the door, a second handle bracket attached to the door, a door trim, a door handle, a first outer locating pin, a first inner locating pin, a second inner locating pin, and a second outer locating pin. The door may pivot between an open position and a closed position for selectively accessing the cooking chamber. The door trim may include a first end and a second end, the first end of the door trim comprising an outer opening and an inner opening and the second end of the door trim comprising an outer opening and an inner opening. The door handle may include a first end and a second end. The first outer locating pin extends through the outer opening of the first end of the door trim and connects to the first end of the door handle, the first end of the door trim, and the first handle bracket. The first inner locating pin extends through the inner opening of the first end of the door trim and connects to the first end of the door handle, the first end of the door trim, the first handle bracket. The second inner locating extends through the inner opening of the second end of the door trim and connects to the second end of the door handle, the second end of the door trim, and the second handle bracket. The second outer locating pin extends through the outer opening of the second end of the door trim and connects to the second end of the door handle, the second end of the door trim, and the second handle bracket.
These and other features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become better understood with reference to the following description and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the invention.
A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including the best mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is set forth in the specification, which makes reference to the appended figures.
Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention, one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Each example is provided by way of explanation of the invention, not limitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit of the invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present invention covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.
As used herein, terms of approximation, such as “generally,” or “about” include values within ten percent greater or less than the stated value. When used in the context of an angle or direction, such terms include within ten degrees greater or less than the stated angle or direction. For example, “generally vertical” includes directions within ten degrees of vertical in any direction, e.g., clockwise or counter-clockwise. The terms “upstream” and “downstream” refer to the relative direction with respect to fluid flow in a fluid pathway. For example, “upstream” refers to the direction from which the fluid flows, and “downstream” refers to the direction to which the fluid flows.
Turning now to the figures,
Oven appliance 10 includes an insulated cabinet 12 with an interior cooking chamber 14 defined by an interior surface 15 of cabinet 12. Cooking chamber 14 is configured for the receipt of one or more food items to be cooked. Oven appliance 10 includes a door 16 rotatably mounted to cabinet 12, e.g., with a hinge (not shown). A door handle 18 is mounted to door 16 and assists a user with opening and closing door 16 in order to access opening 20 to cooking chamber 14. For example, a user can pull on handle 18 to open or close door 16 and access cooking chamber 14 through front opening 20.
Multiple parallel glass panes 22 provide for viewing the contents of cooking chamber 14 when door 16 is closed and assist with insulating cooking chamber 14. A baking rack 24 is positioned in cooking chamber 14 for the receipt of food items or utensils containing food items. Baking rack 24 is slidably received onto embossed ribs 26 or sliding rails such that rack 24 may be conveniently moved into and out of cooking chamber 14 when door 16 is open.
As shown, various walls define the cooking chamber 14. For example, cooking chamber 14 includes a top wall 30 and a bottom wall 32 which are spaced apart along the vertical direction V. Left sidewall 34 and right sidewall 36 (as defined according to a perspective front view as shown in
Optionally, a lower heating assembly 42 may be included in oven appliance 10, e.g., for baking operations within cooking chamber 14. Lower heating assembly 42 may include a discrete heating element (not pictured) which is disposed within the cooking chamber 14, such as adjacent to the bottom wall 32. In some embodiments, the lower heating assembly 42 includes a gas burner. Additional components, such as an igniter and a fuel line may be provided in some such embodiments. Alternatively, the lower heating assembly 42 may include an electric heating element or may be any other suitable bake assembly having any other suitable heating element.
An upper heating assembly, such as a broiler assembly 44, may be included in oven appliance 10. Broiler assembly 44 includes a convection heating element 50 and a radiant heating element 52. The radiant heating element 52 may be an electric heating element, such as a resistive heating rod as illustrated in
Advantageously, the heating elements 50 and 52 may employ different heat sources, e.g., the convection heating element 50 may be a gas burner and the radiant heating element 52 may be an electric heating element, such that the combined system, e.g., broiler assembly 44, provides advantages over broilers using a single energy source, such as only electric or only combustion. In such embodiments, the radiant heating element 52 may be a low-power heating element. Thus, the combined broiler assembly 44 may provide improved heat intensity as compared to a purely radiant or purely convective broil system. By bathing the electric element 52 in the hot air or exhaust from the convective heating element 50, the relatively low powered (e.g., about 1500 W) electric element 52 can achieve temperatures that will allow it to radiate substantial energy to food items in the cooking chamber, and together with the convective heat element 52 gives superior broil results.
Oven appliance 10 may further include a controller 40, e.g., configured to control one or more operations of the oven appliance 10. For example, controller 40 may control at least one operation of oven appliance 10 that includes broiler assembly 44. Controller 40 may be in communication (via for example a suitable wired or wireless connection) with the heating elements 50 and 52 as well as other suitable components of the oven appliance 10, as discussed herein. In general, controller 40 may be operable to configure the oven appliance 10 (and various components thereof) for cooking. Such configuration may be based, for instance, on a plurality of cooking factors of a selected operating cycle or mode.
By way of example, controller 40 may include one or more memory devices and one or more microprocessors, such as general or special purpose microprocessors operable to execute programming instructions or micro-control code associated with an operating cycle. The memory may represent random access memory such as DRAM, or read only memory such as ROM or FLASH. In one embodiment, the processor executes programming instructions stored in memory. The memory may be a separate component from the processor or may be included onboard within the processor.
Controller 40 may be positioned in a variety of locations throughout oven appliance 10. As illustrated, controller 40 may be located within a user interface panel 62 of oven appliance 10 as shown in
Although the described embodiment of
Referring now to
Second plate 206 further includes an embossed connecting element 208, such as a bolt hole, screw hole, rivet hole, or the like. Using the embossed connecting element 208, first handle bracket 200 and second handle bracket 210 are attached to the door 16. Specifically, bolts, screws, rivets, or other appropriate connection means are inserted into a rear surface of door 18 and through the embossed connecting element 208 of first handle bracket 200 and the embossed connections element 208 of second handle bracket 210, thus securing the door 16 to first handle bracket 200 and second handle bracket 210, respectively (
In the embodiment of
The combination of the first plate 205, the second plate 206, and the connector plate 207 of first handle bracket 200 and second handle bracket 210 establish a consistent, fixed depth in the transverse direction. As a result, connection of a door trim 220 and door handle 18 to the first handle bracket 200 and the second handle bracket 210, as further discussed herein, provides a consistent, accurate, and repeatable spacing of the door trim 220 and the door handle 18 in the transverse direction with respect to the oven door 16.
Referring now to
Door trim 200 may include a first end 222 and a second end 224. Door trim 200 comprises a vertical rectangular surface extending primarily in the lateral direction, a panel on the first end of door trim 200 extending primarily in the direction of the cabinet 12, and a panel on the second end of door trim 200 extending primarily in the direction of cabinet 12 (see
Referring now to
In addition, the first inner locating pin 254 extends from the door handle 18 and through the inner opening 228 of the first end 222 of the door trim 220. The first inner locating pin 254 also extends through the inner opening 204 of the first handle bracket 200. In this embodiment, the inner opening 204 of the first handle bracket 200 may be a slot, having a substantially oval-shaped opening to ease install of first inner locating pin 254.
Furthermore, in this embodiment, the second inner locating pin 256 extends from the door handle 18 and through the inner opening 234 of the second end 224 of the door trim 220. The second inner locating pin 256 also extends through the inner opening 214 of the second handle bracket 210. In this embodiment, the inner opening 214 of the second handle bracket 210 may be a slot, having a substantially oval-shaped opening to ease installation of second inner locating pin 256.
Finally, the second outer locating pin 258 extends from the door handle 18 and through the outer opening 232 of the second end 224 of the door trim 220. The second outer locating pin 258 also extends through the outer opening 212 of the second handle bracket 210. In this embodiment, the outer opening 232 of the second end 224 of the door trim 220 may be a slot, having a substantially oval-shaped opening to ease installation of second outer locator 258.
In the embodiment of
Referring still to the embodiment of
Although the preferred embodiment is set forth above and illustrated in
However, in each of these embodiments: (1) the first outer locating pin 252 extends through the outer opening 226 of the first end 222 of the door trim 220 and connects to the first end 242 of the door handle 18, the first end 222 of the door trim 220, and the first handle bracket 200; (2) the first inner locating pin 254 extends through the inner opening 228 of the first end 222 of the door trim 220 and connects to the first end 242 of the door handle 18, the first end 222 of the door trim 220, and the first handle bracket 200; (3) the second inner locating pin 256 extends through the inner opening 234 of the second end 224 of the door trim 220 and connects to the second end 244 of the door handle 18, the second end 224 of the door trim 220, and the second handle bracket 210; and (4) the second outer locating pin 258 extends through the outer opening 232 on the second end 224 of the door trim 220 and connects to the second end 244 of the door handle 18, the second end 224 of the door trim, and the second handle bracket 210. Additionally, in each of these embodiments, the extension of the first outer locating pin 252 through the outer opening 226 of the first end 222 of the door trim 220 fixes the horizontal and vertical position of the door trim 220, as previously mentioned. Further, the extension of the second outer locating pin 258 through the outer opening 232 of the second end 224 of the door trim 220 fixes the angular position of the door trim 220.
One such alternative embodiment is shown in
In the embodiment of
Furthermore, the extension of the second outer locating pin 258 through the outer opening 268 of the second end 244 of the door handle 18 fixes the horizontal and vertical position of the second handle bracket 210, ensuring consistent location of second handle bracket 210 for alignment with the connecting means through oven door 16. Similarly, the extension of the second inner locating pin 256 through the inner opening 214 of the second handle bracket 210 fixes the angular position of the second handle bracket 210, providing the ability to ensure that installation of the second handle bracket 210 consistently aligns embossed connection element 208 with the corresponding opening for the connection means through oven door 16.
In the embodiment of
Furthermore, the extension of the second outer locating pin 258 through the outer opening 212 of the second handle bracket 210 fixes the horizontal and vertical position of the second handle bracket 210, ensuring consistent location of second handle bracket 210 for alignment with the connecting means through oven door 16. Similarly, the extension of the second inner locating pin 256 through the inner opening 266 of the second end 244 of the door handle 18 fixes the angular position of the second handle bracket 210, providing the ability to ensure that installation of the second handle bracket 210 consistently aligns embossed connection element 208 with the corresponding opening for the connection means through oven door 16.
In the embodiment of
Furthermore, the extension of the second outer locating pin 258 through the outer opening 268 of the second end 244 of the door handle 18 fixes the horizontal and vertical position of the second handle bracket 210, ensuring consistent location of second handle bracket 210 for alignment with the connecting means through oven door 16. Similarly, the extension of the second inner locating pin 256 through the inner opening 266 of the second end 244 of the door handle 18 fixes the angular position of the second handle bracket 210, providing the ability to ensure that installation of the second handle bracket 210 consistently aligns embossed connection element 208 with the corresponding opening for the connection means through oven door 16.
The skilled artisan will recognize that the present disclosure is not limited to the arrangement of locating pins in the embodiments of
This written description uses examples to disclose the invention, including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in the art to practice the invention, including making and using any devices or systems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope of the invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examples that occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intended to be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elements that do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if they include equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differences from the literal languages of the claims.