Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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TITLE:
A smoke exhauster
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to smoke exhauster and more
particularly to a structurally improved smoke exhauster which has
a quick releasable device for facilitating the rapid and thorough
cleaning of the exhauster.
Typical smoke exhauster generally has an enclosure having
lateral plates and front penal, a pair of fan rotors enclosed in
a fan housing and a hood plate attached to the lower portion of
the enclosure.
The smoke exhauster is disposed over a stove or cooking
range in a kitchen. The cleaning of the hood plate and fan
housing is usually a tiresome task to the user especially a smoke
exhauster is found not readily releasable.
In the US Patent No. 5,311857, a pair of pivoting catches
at rear side of the hood plate releasably engage with a pair of
locking bars respectively on the enclosure and a pair of tabs at
the front side of the hood plate are supported by a protrudent
edge of the rear penel of the enclosure. The fan housing thereof
has a pair of spring catches releasably engaged with a pair of
corresponding hook-shaped securing appendages. So that both the
hood plate and the fan housing thereof are releasable and
facilitate the cleaning of oil and grime accumulated thereon.
However, this smoke exhauster has been found disadvantageous on
that the lever of the spring catch is harmful to user's finger
when the fan housing engages with enclosure and that the tabs of
the hood plate supported by the protrudent edge of the penal are
found not so stable because of the deformation of both of the
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tabs and the protrudent edge. Besides, it is difficult to align
the pivoting catches with the locking bars after the tabs are
supported on the edge. When the pivoting catches are disengaged
with the locking bars, the hood plate must be immediate taken out
of the enclosure and laid down on an appropriate plate. This
causes a great inconvenience for the user.
SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
The present invention has a main object to provide a
structure of smoke exhauster which has a quick releasable device
to facilitate a ready assembly and disassembly of thP fan housing
and the hood plate from thereon for rapid cleaning the oil and
grime accumulated on the surface of the exhauster.
Accordingly, the smoke exhauster of the present invention
generally comprises a rectangular enclosure having lateral plates
and front penal extended downward from four sides thereof, a fan
housing enclosed with contrifugal suction fans therein and a
concave hood plate releasably mounted on the lower portion of the
enclosure. This invention is characterized in a spiral coupling
recess which mounts the fan housing onto the enclosure and a
sliding catch member which is used to fix or suspend the hood
plate from the enclosure. Both the spiral coupling recess and the
sliding catch member are designed to provide more convenient
assembly or disassembly of the fan housing and the hood plate
from the enclosure as to facilitate rapid eleaning of the oil and
grime accumulated thereon.
The present invention will become more fully understood by
reference to the following detailed description thereof when read
in conjunction with the attached drawings.
2 1 6 7 5 5 5
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Figure 1 is a elevational section illustrating the
preferred embodiment according to the present invention,
Figure 2 and 2A are the perspective views to show the
sliding catch member of the present invention,
Figure 3 and 3A are the perspective views to shew a spiral
coupling device between the fan housing and the enclosure of the
present invention, and
Figure 4 is a perspective view to sho~ an assembled smoke
exhauster of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
With reference to Fig.1 of the drawings, the smoke
exhauster of the present invention comprises generally an
enclosure IO, 2 fan housing 20 and a concave hood plate 30.
The enclosure lO is composed of a rectangular housing 11
having a top plate, a pair of lateral plates and a front penal
extended downward from four sides thereof. Fan rotor 23 rotatably
mounts on motor 12 which in turn mounts to seat 111 on the top
plate of the housing 11 and is sealed by sealing members 13 and
112. A curved reinforcement plate 21 is formed under the top
plate and connects with the sealing member 13 defining a space
therebetween. Vent 113 communicates to an exit 114 which connects
to a ventilating pipe 115.
A plurality of spiral coupling recesses 214 have been
formed between the top plate of the housing 11 and the
reinforcement plate 21 (as shown in Fig.3) which comprises a
circular hole 214A abutting a pair of sectorial portions 214B at
opposing circumferences on the top plate, a circular hole 214C on
the reinforcement plate 21 made in registry with hole 214A
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abutting a pair of rectangular portions 214D at opposing
circumferences thereof and a pair of sloped strips 214E connect
between the top plate and the reinforcement plate 21. The sloped
strips 214E each starts from the respective sectorial portion
214B of the top plate and terminates at a respective rectangular
portion 214D of the reinforcement plate 21. So that the spiral
coupling recess 214 is accomplished thereon. A fastener 215, as
shown in Fig.3A is provided to cooperate with the recess 214
which is composed of a hexagon shank 215A and a T-shaped head
215B. Further, the fan housing 22 has al:o a plurality of
coupling holes 221 made in registry with holes 214C. To mount the
fan housing 22 is to align hole 221 with hole 214C at first and
insert the T-shaped head of the fastener 215 into holes 221 and
214C sequentially and then swing shank 215A clockwise so as to
slide the transverse portion of the T-shaped head 215B upwardly
along the pair of the sloped strips 214E until that the T-shaped
head thereof retained on the upper surface of the top plate of
the housing 11. Therefore, the fan housing 22 is mounted onto the
enclosure 10 easily. This arrangement provides more faster and
convenient assembly or disassembly of the fan housing 22.
Referring to Fig.2 and 2A, illustrating a sliding catch
member 31 secured to each corner of the hood plate 30 in registry
with the locking cavities on the respective positions of the
inward walls of the lateral plate of the housing 11. The sliding
catch member 31 comprises a lug member of roughly L-shaped
section 311, a latch member 312, a compression spring 313 and a
retaining ring 314. The lug member 311 has a pair of screw holes
31la on the planar portion made in registry with the
corresponding screw holes 301 on the flanges of the hood plate
30, an axial aperture 31lb through each of it's upright ears. The
latch member 312 has a press tab 312a, a locking rod 312b longer
than the lug member 311 and an annular groove 312c on the outer
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periphery of the locking rod 312b. When assembling, dispose the
spring 313 into the space between the ears of the lug member 311
and insert the locking rod 312b of the latch member through the
apertures 311b and the spring 313 and then secure the retaining
ring 314 into the groove 312c. So that the latch member 312 is
retained and biased by spring 313 and slides about the lug member
311 therewithin.
The sliding catch member 31 is screw secured to each corner
of the upper surface of the flanges of the hood plate 30 as shown
in Fig.2. With that the catGh members 31 of the front side of the
hood plate 30 turn their press tabs downward and passed through
the rectangular recesses 302 on the flange so as to have the
press tabs to be accessible from the under side and sliding about
the recesses 302 therein, and the catch members 31 on the rear
side of the hood plate 30 turn their press tabs upward so as to
be accessible from the top of the hood plate 30.
When assembly, engage the sliding catch members 31 on
the rearside with the respective locking holes (not shown) on the
enclosure 10 at first so that the hood plate 30 is suspended from
the rear side of the enclosure 10. Then swing the hood plate 30
into place of the front side of the enclosure 10 and appl~ the
press tabs of the two catch members 31 simultaneously to insert
to locking rods 312b into their respective locking recesses on
the enclosure 10 by the urge of the springs 313. So that the hood
plate 30 completely mounts onto the enclosure 10 as shown in
Fig.4.
Upon this arrangement, the sliding catch member 31 not only
provides ready and faster engagement of the hood plate 30 with
enclosure 10 but also provides a chance to hang up the hood plate
30 on the rear side of the enclosure 10 if the user has no
intention to remove the hood plate 30 from the enclosure 10 when
cleaning or fixing the fan housing 20 or the rotors therein.
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Note that the specification relating to the above
embodiment should be construed as to exemplary rather than as
limitative of the present invention, with many variations and
modifications being readily attainable by a person of average
skill in the art without departing from the spirit or scope
thereof as defined by the appended claims and their legal
equivalents.
