Patent Application
20250067443
It is important to maintain the cleanliness in the food preparation area. It is a common thing that food pieces and liquids to spill through the gap between the stove and the kitchen cabinets while using the stove or kitchen cabinets near the stove. Further, when cleaning kitchen floors and countertops it is unavoidable that edible waste, debris get thrown and accumulate beneath, the sides of the kitchen stoves and the adjacent kitchen cabinet's sidewalls. The pests will sense the scent of the said edible debris better than the humans. Therefore, said debris requires regular cleaning, and disinfecting to prevent pest infestations and damage to kitchen fixtures, cooking appliances. This cleaning requires the movement of the entire stove. This can be a laborious task for those with disabilities and the elderly and many things can go wrong. Even for the working families it will be time-consuming to pull out and clean the floor, the sides of the stove, and the kitchen cabinets.
Pulling out the stove from the Kitchen cabinet slot will pull the electrical plug slightly out causing a loose connection. Once the loose connection exceeds the permissible limit of contact area, between pins and the wall socket contact jaws, will increase the impedance in the electrical circuits. The plug is often out of reach and out of view of the user unless the user climbs over the cabinets to enter the space between the stove and the wall. Hence the said loose connection goes unnoticed by the user. Lengthening the power cable would lead to more complications and will increase the manufacturing cost of the appliances. When the user pushes the stove back into the slot, the long power cable that lay on the floor under the stove could get entangled with the stove legs and tug the power cable. In turn that will cause damage to the power cable insulation or the wire connectors resulting in electrical issues. Since the stove consumes high power the length of the power cable is directly proportionate to the voltage drop. Hence lengthening the cable will drastically increase the risk of voltage drop unless the thickness of the conductors is increased. Installing a long power cable with a higher thickness will increase the manufacturing cost which in turn will increase the market price of the stove.
The increased impedance in the appliance circuit will increase the temperature of the conductors in the circuits which may cause material fatigue of the plug housing or socket pin holding base and other components resulting in frequent maintenance. This has the potential to lead to issues within the appliance itself and increases the chances of an increased utility bill and the shortening of the stove's expected lifespan. The stoves with gas burners encounter similar issues. The gas supplying flexible tube from wall to stove will stretch, when the user moves the stove for cleaning, resulting in flexible tube joints or the connectors seals leaking. These tiny leaks will continuously emit gas even when burner controls are in a closed position. The gas smell caused by these leaks often goes unnoticed or is misidentified as the trash bin smell or the gas-heated house furnace pilot lamp burning smell. The occupants will close all the windows and doors when they are away or sleeping at night and the small quantities of gas emitted by said leaks will accumulate inside the house and could cause a serious situation. One can clean the kitchen floor and countertops daily, but it is not practical to clean the floor beneath and sides of the stove daily.
This invention is meant to help resolve above mentioned issues by preventing dirt and grime from falling onto the floor through gaps around the stove and will keep the floor and the area surrounding the stove dirt-free. Therefore, this invention will eliminate the requirement of moving the stove for cleaning. The invention will not hinder the versatility of the stove. The usual functions such as opening the lid of the stovetop for easier access to the fallout area and performing all the other functions usually stove is usually meant to do. This will save time, money, and help keep a healthy environment in the kitchen. Therefore, the invention will help the user by saving time, money, and possibly utility bills. The property owners will save money on kitchen fitting and appliance maintenance costs. Further will reduce the cost of pest control in properties.
Patent primary class to be determined by USPTO.
The invention named Stove Dirt Preventer is composed of two T-shaped strips named Top-Seal-Strips 01 to seal the gaps between the Stove 23 top cover and the Kitchen-Cabinet 24 while a half-rectangular-shaped piece named Bottom-Cover 12 is installed to close the front-bottom gap of the Stove 23. The Stove Dirt Preventer phrase is abbreviated as SDP and will be referred to as SDP throughout this application hereafter.
The drawings are not to scale.
The Stove Dirt Preventer is composed of two Top-Seal-Strips 01 along with two Blocking-Strips 11 and a Bottom-Cover 12. All components are designed in a manner that allows the user to remove and reinstall the same said removed components many times. The said Blocking-Strip 11 is positioned on the Kitchen-Cabinet 24 countertop edge near the gap that is the gap between the Kitchen-Cabinet 24 edge and the Stove 23 edge. The Top-Seal-Strip 01 bottom part is sunk into the said gap between Stove 23 and the Kitchen-Cabinet 24 while Seating 09 of the Top-Seal-Strip 01 will rest on Blocking-Strip 11 whereas the Bottom-Cover 12 is positioned in the gap between the floor and the front-bottom-edge of the Stove 23 and secured to the Stove 23 leg-posts by Hooks 22 of the locking mechanism.
The said Top-Seal-Strip 01 is composed of Outer-Strip 02 that is attached to one width-end of the Cushion 08 whereas the Inner-Strip 05 is attached to the opposite side width-end of the said Cushion 08 and all said components are molded as a one-piece to form a T-shaped flexible long-strip and said all components comprises waterproof and flexible material that can withstand heat from cooking Stove 23 flame of fire.
The said Cushion 08 comprises a long rectangular-shaped vertical wall with a hollow inner named Balloon 07 that extends along the length of the Cushion 08 while the bottom edge of the Cushion 08 is half-oval shaped. Whereas the topmost surface of the Cushion 08 named Crown 03 comprises a streak protruding up that extends along the length of the Cushion 08 to form a protuberant ridge. The said Cushion 08 top-surface that is adjacent to Crown 03 comprises a concave area named Dip 04 that extends along the length of the Cushion 08 whereas the area side of the Cushion 08 that is below Dip 04 named Lid-Seat 06 is attached to the width-end bottom-edge of the Inner-Strip 05 while the said Lid-Seat 06 extends along the length of the Cushion 08.
The said Inner-Strip 05 comprises a solid strip that extends along the length of the Cushion 08 and one width-end of the Inner-Strip 05 comprises a tapered-shaped tip while the other width-end of the said Inner-Strip 05 that is without the tapered-shaped tip is attached to the width-end of the Cushion 08 that is between Dip 04 and Lid-Seat 06 whereas the bottom-surface of the Inner-Strip 05 comprises many different shapes based on the end user application of the Top-Seal-Strip 01.
The said Outer-Strip 02 comprises a straight-leveled bottom-surface named Seating 09 along with a slope top-surface to form a tapered-shaped tip on one width-end of the Outer-Strip 02 and the said Outer-Strip 02 extends along the length of the Cushion 08 to form a shape like an awning. While the other width-end of the said Outer-Strip 02 that is without the tapered-shaped tip is attached to one width-end of the Cushion 08 that is the opposite side width-end from Dip 04 and adjacent to Crown 03. The said Outer-Strip 02 width-end that is not attached to Cushion 08 comprises a rectangular-shaped block named First-Block 10 hanging down from the Seating 09 and the said First-Block 10 extends along the length of the Outer-Strip 02.
The said Bottom-Cover 12 is composed of locking mechanisms and a Sliding-Mechanism 15 and two rectangular-shaped short-pieces named Side-Strip 14 along with two rectangular-shaped long-pieces named Long-Strip 13 and one length-end of a Long-Strip 13 is attached to one length-end of a Side-Strip 14 while one length-end of the second Long-Strip 13 is attached to one length-end of the second Side-Strip 14 to form two separate L-shaped pieces with a long-arm and a short-arm. The said Sliding-Mechanism 15 comprises two rectangular-shaped pieces and one of the said rectangular-shaped pieces comprises a pin on the front-face at the length-end of the said piece and the second rectangular-shaped piece comprises a slot on the front-face at the length-end of the said second piece. Whereas the said rectangular-shaped pieces length-ends that are with no pin or slot are molded into Long-Strips 13 length-ends that are not attached to the Side-Strips 14. The said Sliding-Mechanism 15 is assembled by combining the said pin and the slot to link both the Long-Strips 13 to form a long half-rectangular-bracket shaped piece while enabling both Long-Strips 13 to slide beside each other. Once both Long-Strips 13 are linked the said Sliding-Mechanism 15 will be in front-middle of the Bottom-Cover 12 to create a telescopic type sliding arrangement. Both Long-Strips 13 comprises a hole on the front-face of the Long-Strips 13 near the L-bend to accommodate the fasteners of the locking mechanism. While the bottom edges of all the rectangular-shaped pieces of the Bottom-Cover 12 are aligned to a level straight line.
The said locking mechanism comprises a hook named Hook 22 integrated into the side of a solid-cube named Hook-Block 19 along with a threaded metal-bolt named Bolt 16 and a metal nut named Nut 17 along with a Nut-Holder 18. The said Nut-Holder 18 comprises a Hexagon-Shaped-Opening 21 in the middle that extends from the front-face to the rear face of the said Nut-Holder 18. The said Nut-Holder 18 front-face is molded onto Hook-Block 19 rear-face. The said Nut 17 is pressed tightly into the said Hexagon-Shaped-Opening 21 of the Nut-Holder 18. The said Hook-Block 19 comprises a Pass-Through-Hole 20 that begins from the center of the front-face of Hook-Block 19 and continues as a tunnel through the rear-face of Hook-Block 19 into Nut-Holder 18. The said Pass-Through-Hole 20 tunnel in Hook-Block 19 is perpendicular to the length of Hook 22. The center of the said Pass-Through-Hole 20 tunnel coincides with the center of the Hexagon-Shaped-Opening 21.
The Bolt 16 open-end is inserted through the said hole that is near L-bends of the Long-Strips 13 and continued through the Pass-Through-Hole 20 tunnel in the Hook-Block 19 and then fasten the said open-end of the said Bolt 16 with the Nut 17 that is housed in the Nut-Holder 18. Blocking-Strip 11 comprises a regular single-sided-adhesive mounting tape that is readily available in the market while the Blocking-Strip 11 comprises the same length as Top-Seal-Strip 01.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63533920 | Aug 2023 | US |
