APPLIANCE FOR COOKING FOOD WITH AN EASIER INDICATION OF THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BURNERS AND CONTROL KNOBS

APPAREIL DE CUISSON A INDICATION AMELIOREE DE LA CORRESPONDANCE ENTRE LA PUISSANCE DES BRULEURS ET LA POSITION DES BOUTONS

English Abstract

ABSTRACT
An appliance for cooking food, both of the house-
hold and industrial type, comprises means for an easier
indication of the correspondence between burners and
cooking knobs. Such a means is provided by ribs formed
on the plate of the burners, being either gas-rings
or hot plates, and directed between each of the burners
and the corresponding knob. Preferably said ribs are
integrally formed with the said plate by drawing and
may have a symmetric pattern with respect to a median
plane, perpendicular to a front panel on which said
knobs are mounted.

Claims

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:
1. Food cook;ng appliance comprising means for
indicating the correspondence between burners (3-3c)
and associate control knobs (3'-3c'), characterized
by the fact that said means is provided by ribs (4-4c)
formed on the plate (2) of the burners and directed
between each of them (3-3c) and corresponding knob
(3'-3'c).
2. Appliance according to claim 1, characterized
by the fact that said ribs (4-4c) are integrally form-
ed with said plate (2) by drawing.
3. Appliance according to claim 1 or 2, charac-
terized by the fact that said ribs (4-4c) have a sym-
metric pattern with respect to a median plane (X-X)
of the plate (2) being perpendicular to a front plate
(5) on which said knobs (3'-3'c) are mounted.

Description

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"APPLIANCE FOR COOKING FOOD WIT~ AN EASIER INDICATION
______________________________________________________
OF THE CQRRESPONDENCE BETWEEN BURNERS AND CONTBOL
KNOEIS"
The present invention relates to an appliance
for cooking food, both of the household and industrial
type, with an easier indication of the correspondence
between burners and control knobs, wherein the term
S "burners" means both gas-rings and possibly electric
hot plates.
It is known that particular difficulties are met
when one attempts to locate in a cooking hob or elec-
tric or gas-stove, which burner or cooking pLate cor-
responds to each control knob, namely one of the gas
taps or a sw;tch in case of electr;cally fed apparatusAs a consequence when one has to make an intervent;on
on a burner for ;ts ;gn;t;on or sw;tch;ng on, as well
as controll;ng the same up to the possible turning
(or switch;ng) off, ;t occurs frequently that a wrong
knob ;s operated, not correspond;ng to the burner
where an ;ntervent;on ;s requ;red, w;th consequent
overflowing of liquids from the cooking pot, as the
boiling degree cannot be decreased, while at the same
t;me heat ;s stopped under another pot wh;ch on the
contrary requ;res that a h;gh temperature is ma;nta;n-
ed. Somet;mes it ;s poss;ble to have an even more
serious consequence such as either gas flow;ng out
from a gas-r;ng which is not ignited, through opera-
tion of the relevant knob starting from a turned-off

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position, or heating an electric plate which instead
had to remain cold, this being not immediately noti-
ceable, with the dangerous consequences which can be
expected to the users and the persons thereabout.
It is true that in the past various attempts
have been made to try pointing out in some way the
association between cooking area and relevant control
knob, but these attempts have often proved to be in-
adequate to the purpose. As a matter of fact the dia-
grams which have been printed on the front panel of a
cooking hob or stove in the vicinity of each knob are
not very clear and immediately understandable by a
busy housewife, who on the contrary frequently over-
looks them. Also the solution of adopting the same
colours for the ring surrounding each burner and the
associate control knob has some inconveniences, not
last of which is the fact that these rings (or hot
plates) in time loose their colour and therefore there
is missing again the element of correspondence, without
mentioning the fact that, when the cooking area is
covered by a pot, it is difficult to check its colour
without remov;ng the pot itself.
It is therefore the object of the present inven-
tion to provide a means of simple structure, the same
duration as the appliance and immediate reading, which
can be understood even by a child, capable of giving
in each operating condition, a clear indication of
the association between knob and cooking area or vice-
versa.
This is obtained according to the present inven-
tion by forming on the cooking hob itself or upper

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plate of the stove r;bs or beads which extend them-
selves between each burner and associate control knob.
According to a preferred embodiment of the inven-
tion the correspondence between burners and knobs
will be such as to determine on the same plane of the
burners ribs which are symmetrically positioned with
respect to a median plane perpendicular to the front
panel on which the knobs are mounted, so as to bestow
an aesthetically agreable aspect upon the whole ap-
pliance.
These and additional features of the means indi-
cating a correspondence according to the present in-
vention as well as of the cooking appliance incorpo-
rating the same will appear more clearly from the
follow;ng detailed description of one preferred embo
diment thereof, given by way of a non limiting example
with reference to the accompanying drawing in which:
Figure 1 shows a plant of view of an example of
cooking hob with the indicating means according to
the invention; and
Figure 2 shows a partial cross-section view along
line II-II of Fig. 1.
With reference to the drawing, a cooking hob 1
has been shown, which however could also be the top
plate of a gas-stove, bearing however in mind that
the burners, instead of being formed of gas-rings 3
could be hot plates being heated by means of electric
resistors. A grid 10 for supporting cooking pots is
shown partially broken away in order to better il-
lustrate the indicating means 4, 4a accord;ng to theinvention.

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Such a means is provided by a rib or bead, prefe-
rably formed integrally wi~h a top plate 2 of the
burners, such as by drawing, as -it is better seen in
the cross-section view of Fig. 2 relating to the rib
4 joining the burner 3 with the corresponding knob
3'. As shown in the drawing, the knobs 3', 3a', 3b',
3c' are all mounted on a front plate 5 and correspond
to the burners 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, respectively.
As illustrated in the drawing, the two burners
3, 3c positioned towards the rear side of the appliance
1 correspond to the outermost knobs 3', 3c', while
the two front burners 3a, 3b, correspond to the two
innermost knobs 3a', 3b', so that associate ribs 4,
4a, 4b, 4c are directed according to a pattern that
is symmetric to the median plane X-X of appliance 1
or cooking plate 2, thus giving to the assembly an
agreable aspect also from an aesthetical point of
view, not only advantageous and useful as to the ope-
rat;on. To this purpose knobs 3a'-3c' will be mounted
on the front plate 5 in a symmetric configuration
with respect to the plane X-X.
In any case it will be to avoid that ribs 4-4c
cross each other thus giving rise to uncertainty in
indicating the correspondence between knob and cooking
area.
Finally it should be appreciated that the ribs
4, 4c can have wh;chever shape of the cross-section,
even different from that of Fig. 2, shown only as an
example. However the scope of the present invention
will not be limited to the described and illustrated
embodiment but will be extended to all possible mecha-

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nical equivalents which may accomplish equal utility.

Representative Drawing