Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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A COOKING VESSEL
The present invention relates to a cooking vessel having
a pot-, bowl- or pan-like container that is used to hold food that
is to be prepared and a cover that can be placed on this, the
cover closing the opening of the container, and having at least
one handle.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a
new type and versatile heating method for a cooking vessel of this
kind.
In essence, this object is achieved by the present
invention in that an electric heat source such as, for example, a
lamp or a grilling element is installed in the interior space of
the cover and with the interior of the cover beirlg covered on its
side which when in place faces the interior of the container, with
a plate which is transparent to radiation emitted by the heat
source, characterized by the cover being provided with a
peripheral edge pro~ecting beyond the outside of the plate, being
a glass ceramic plate, which edge fits into a peripheral groove in
the wall of the container, when the cover is in place, by the
peripheral edge groove being located radially outside of the wall
of the container, and; by the internal diameter of the recessed
space defined by the circular peripheral edge of the cover being
slightly larger than the external diameter of the container in its
bottom region. The food that is contained in the container
portion of the cooking vessel can thus be heated from above by
means of this heater that is installed in the cover when the cover
is installed on the pot, and can thus be cooked. The solution
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according to the present invention entails the advantage that the
cover, when reversed, can also be used as a hot plate, on which
the container or any other container can be set in order to heat
the food contained therein from below and thus cook it. This
means that the cover oE the cooking vessel according to the
present invention can be used in a variety of ways.
Glass-ceramic plates are already known as the cooking
areas on electric ranges. If the cover according to the present
invention is to be used as such, the heat resistant glass-ceramic
plate protects the heater that is arranged behind it against the
ingress of rising vapour and rising steam. In the event that the
cover is used as a hot plate, the glass-ceramic plate fulfills its
familiar function as a surface for the container used to hold the
food that is to be prepared.
~ hen the device is used as a hot plate, the edge serves
as a resting surface, the cover edge fitting into a peripheral
edge groove in the container wall ensures that the cover rests
concentrically on the edge of the container so as t~;ensure a good
sealing effect. When the cover is used as a hot plate, the cover
edge, which is now uppermost, serves to secure the position of the
container that is set upon it which means that this can be slid
sideways far less easily and by accident.
The fact that the peripheral edge groove of the
container lies preferably radially outside the walls of the
container results in that the opening of the container is
completely unobstructed. Since the unobstructed diameter of the
area that is defined by the circular cover edge is slightly
greater than the outside diameter of the container as measured at
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its base, it is assumed that the container fits exactly into the
area on the glass-ceramic plate that is defined by the cover edge
if the cover is used as a hot plate. The housing can be so
matched to the cover that the housing with its edge that defines
the opening can be beaded around the lower flange edge of the
cover and thus form the peripheral cover bead that is additionally
stiffened thereby.
Preferably, the cover is provided with two diametrically
opposed foot-like projections with flat standing surfaces. This
means that despite the fact that the cover is heated, this can be
used as a hot plate without causing any damage to the working
surface on which it is set, in particular if the projections are
of a material that conducts heat very poorly, such as plastic.
According to a further proposal made according ~o the
present invention the foot-like projections can also form a part
of a handle for the cover~ which can then be made, for example, in
one piece out o~ material that conducts heat very poorly, such as
plastic. Preferably, the standin~ surfaces formed by these
pro~ections are located at a distance from the surEace of the
cover, so that the heated upper surface of the cover is k~ept at a
distance from the working surface on which the cover is set when
used as a hot plate.
According to a further confiyuration of the concept of
the present invention there is a control device incorporated in
the cover handles, this being used to control the temperature of
the heater.
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This control device has, for example, an adjuster wheel,
the position of which can be read from above as well as from
below. This ensures that the user can read the setting that is
used very simply from above, regardless of whether the cover is
being used as such or as a hot plate.
For a simple installation of the cover according to the
present invention, it is foreseen that the heater is clamped
between the base of a housing that is accommodated in the interior
space of the cover and the glass~ceramic plate which is set into
the opening which is opposite the base of the container and there
held in position by means of a spring. This means that the outer
edge of the glass-ceramic plate must be secured to the housing
adjacent to its openings, for example, by means of cement. The
intermediate space between the housing and the wall of the cover
can serve to accommodate thermal insulation material.
In an alternate embodiment of the invention it can also
be arranged that the glass-ceramic plate of the cover used as
such, which is to say with the glass-ceramic plate facing
downwards, is
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curved downwards on its outer edge and can be set with a Elat
face surface on a flat area of the container edge that is curved
d~Rwards from the container wall. This provides for a
particularly good sealing of the lnner space of the cover against
the ingress of moistureO ~lere, too, it is preferably arranged
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that the unobstructed diameter of the turned down outer edge of
the glass-ceramic plate is slightly greater than the outside
diameter of the container as measured at its base, so that the
container can be set in the area that is defined by the turned
down edge area of the glass-ceramic plate when the cover is used
as a hot plate./
In a further configuration of the invention the
glass-ceramic plate has a centre area that forms a flat resting
surface as well as an area that surrounds this and which is
angled downwards and to the outside, the outer edge oE which is
accom~odated in an edge groove in the container edge. In place
of this downward~angled arrangement, the glass-ceramic plate can
be suitably curve~. In such a configuration the glass-ceramic
plate thus over~ the inner space of~ the container to some
extent. In this case, the container tapers inwards towards its
base, preferably such that its base area once again matches the
flat resting surface of the glass-ceramic plate and can be
centred precisely above the heater of the cover when this is used
as a hot plate./
Further objectives, features, advantages and application
possibilities of the present invention result from the subsequent
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description of exemplary versions that are described in greater
detail below on the basis of the drawings. In this connection,
all the features that are described and/or shown in the drawings
form the object of the present invention either in and oE
themselves or in any expedient combination regardless of whether
they are so combined in the claims. These drawings are as
follows:/
Figure 1: a cooking vessel according to the present invention,/
this being shown schematically in vertical cross/
section in the area of the cover;/
Figure 2: a view of the cover from below, as indicated by the/
direction A in figure 1;/
Figure 3: a further embodiment of the cover according to the/
presen-t invention, in its edge area, this being/
shown in enlarged detail relative to figure 1;/
Figure 4: a schematic vertical cross section of another/
version oE the cooking vessel according to the/
present invention./
The cooking vessel that is shown in figure 1 consists of a
pot-, bowl- or pan-]ike container l ~hat is used to hold the food
that is to be prepared and a cover 2 that is set upon this and
which closes the opening of the container 1. In the case that is
shown herein, the cover 2 is provided with two handles 3 that are
of thermally insulating material, namely plastic. Within -the
internal space 4 that curves above the wall of the cover there is
an electric heater 5 that can consist, for example, of a radiant
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heat unit or other heat source, and which radiates sufficient
energy by thermal radiation onto the material that is to be
cooked that is contained within the container 1. A grill element
can also form a component part of the electrical source oE heat
5, Using the cover 2 that is set on the container 1 in the
manner shown in figure 1, the food that is contained in the
container 1 can be heated, cooked and/or grilled from above. The
interior space 4 of the cover 2 is covered over by means of a
glass-ceramic plate 6 or any other sort o:E plate that permits the
passage of the thermal radiation :Erom the heater 5 such that the
heater 5 is protected against the ingress of moisture from the
container 1 during the cooking process or when being cleanedO In
the case that is shown, the glass-ceramic plate 6 is held in the
opening 14 of a housing 13 that is accommodated in the interior
space 4 of the cover 2. To this end, the housing 2 has in the
area of its lower opening 14 a peripheral step 28, on which the
edge area of the glass-ceramic plate 6 rests. The peripheral
surface of the glass-ceramic plate 6 is sealed and cemented to
the edge section of the housing 13 that is curved down still
further and which adjoins the step 28. The edge area of the
housing 13 that is turned down further and which defines the
opening 14 of the cover 2 is beaded around the edge 22 of the
cover 2 that projects downwards beyond the outer surface 16 of
the glass-ceramic plate 6 so as to form the cover edge 17. The
cover edge 17 is of such a diameter that it fits into an edge
channel 18 of the container flange 19 that is curved towards the
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outside. The unobstructed diameter of the opening 1~ that is
defined by the cover edge 17 is somewhat greater than the outside
diameter of the container 1 as measured at its base, so that if
the cover 2 is reversed the container 1 can be set upon the outer
surface 16 of the glass-ceramic plate 6, so that the cover 2 can
then function as a hot plate, in which case the food contained in
the container 1 will be heated from below./
The handles 3 are secured diametrically opposed to each
other on the outer surface of the cover wall. In addition to the
actual handle portion these incorporate foot~like projections 7,
the standing surfaces 8 of which lie at a distance above the
upper side 9 of the cover 2. If the cover 2 is reversed and set
upon a working surface, in order that it can be used as a hot
plate, the foot-like projections 7 keep the heated upper surface
~ of the cover 2 at the necessary distance Erom the working
surface. Within one handle 3 there is a device 10 to control the
temperature of the heater 5. The control device 10 is ope~ated
by hand by means of an adjuster wheel 11, that protrudes from the
upper side and from the under side of the handle 3 and is
provided with a cooking indicator, such that the cooking stage or
the cooking temperature can be read off it both from above, when
the cover 2 is used as such, and from below, when ths cover 2 is
used as a hot plate./
The heater 5 is held, so as to provide for simple and
reliable installation, between the base 12 of the housing 13 and
the glass-ceramic plate 6 that is set in the opening 1~ that is
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g
opposite the base 12 of the housing 13 by means of a leaf spring
15./
Whereas as is shown in figure 1 the cover 2 lies with its
cover edge 17 that is formed of the edge 22 and the beaded
housing edge 21 in an edge groove 18 of the container edge 19
that lies radially outside the container wall 20, in the version
that is shown in figure 3 the container edge 19 of the container
wall 20 is curved outwards from the container wall 20 so as to
form a flat contact area. The outer edge 23 of the glass-ceramic
plate 6, is in this case, bent essentially vertically downwards
and forms a flat face surface 23 with which the cover 2 can rest
on the flat surface of the container edge 19. Here, too, the
housing 13 forms a step 28, on which the glass-ceramic plate 6
rests~ In the same way, the lower housing edge 21 is bent down
around the lower edge 22 of the cover 2 to form a cover edge 17.
The gap between the outer edge 23 of the glass-ceramic plate 6,
which is bent downwards, and which is to be sealed with cement,
and the area of the housing edge 21 that is proximate to this is
correspondingly longer than in the version that is shown in
figure 1, so as to provide a more reliable sealing effect./
Figure 4 shows a further embodiment of the present
invention, that differs, essentially, from the preceding
embodiments in that the glass-ceramic plate 6 has a central area
26 with a flat surface 25 for when the cover 2 is used as a hot
plate, this being surrounded by an area 27 that is inclined
obliquely downwards and outwards. This means that the
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glass-ceramic plate 6 overla~s the interior space o~ the
container 1 and lies with its outer edge in the correspondingly
oblique edge groove 18 of the container edge l9 that is curved
towards the outside. In this case, the housing edge 21 and thus
the cover edge 17 run practically over the whole outer contact
surface of the oblique area 27 of the glass-ceramic plate 6 and
can be placed there so as to Eorm a seal. As in the embodiment
according to figure 3 the sealing gap between the glass~ceramic
plate 6 and the housing 13 or the edge 22 of the cover 2 lies
outside the area exposed to the steam during the cooking
process. In the embodiment shown in figure 4 the container wall
20 extends downwards conically towards the base 29 of the
container, so that the outer diameter of the container 1 at the
base is slightly smaller than the diameter of the surEace 25
formed by the g:Lass-ceramic plate 6 on its outer surface 16, so
that the container 1 can be placed directly on the surEace 25
when the cover 2 is used as a hot plate./
