Cooking appliances

Abstract

 A cooking appliance includes a cooking oven comprising an oven cavity which is open at the front and which may be heated, and a front oven door for closing said cavity, the oven door comprising an outer closure panel 1, first and second side support members 3,4 mounted on the inside face of the outer closure panel 1 and which respectively extend adjacent the side edges thereof, the first and second side support members 3,4 being adapted to support between them an inner closure panel 11 which is spaced from the outer closure panel 1, the first and second side support members 3,4 being clamped to the outer closure panel 1 without any intervening support by retaining screws 14 which extend through holes in the outer closure panel 1 into a handle 2 (Fig. 1).

Description

[0001] This invention relates to cooking appliances, and more specifically to cooking appliances which include a cooking oven. The cooking appliance may be domestic or commercial and may incorporate a gas, electric or microwave oven.

[0002] In cooking appliances which include an oven it is becoming customary to provide a so-called "cool" oven door, the outside temperature of which, when the oven is operating, is maintained at a temperature which is considered to be not dangerous.

[0003] It is an object of the present invention to provide a cooking appliance which incorporates an oven which has an improved form of oven door.

[0004] According to the present invention there is provided a cooking appliance which includes a cooking oven comprising an oven cavity which is open at the front and which may be heated, and a front oven door for closing said cavity, said oven door comprising an outer closure panel, first and second side support members mounted on the inside face of said outer closure member and which respectively extend adjacent the side edges thereof, the first and second side support members being adapted to support between them an inner closure panel which is spaced from said outer closure panel, said first and second side support members being clamped to said outer closure panel without any intervening support by retaining means which extend through holes in said outer closure panel.

[0005] In a preferred appliance in accordance with the present invention, a horizontally disposed oven handle will be provided, the outer ends of which correspond to the position of said first and second side support members, respectively, and into which ends the retaining means are secured whereby the said outer closure panel is clamped between said handle and said side support members.

[0006] In carrying out the invention a lower support member may be provided having a channel section into which the lower edge of said outer closure panel extends, the outer ends of said lower support member being secured to respective ones of the side support members.

[0007] Advantageously, each side support member comprises two metal pressings which are joined together e.g. by welding, and it may be arranged that the two metal pressings of each side support member define between them a channel for receiving the inner closure panel.

[0008] Conveniently, the side support members are of generally "U" shaped cross-section, the edges of which are provided with outwardly extending flanges which are clamped to the inside face of said outer closure panel.

[0009] Each of said flanges may be provided with a gasket which contacts said inside face.

[0010] It may be arranged that the outer and inner closure panels are made of glass, in which case at least part of the glass outer and inner closure panels may be transparent to provide a viewing window.

[0011] An exemplary embodiment of the invention will now be described, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1, is a view of the inside of an oven door for incorporation in a cooking appliance in accordance with the present invention;

Fig. 2, is a side view of the oven door of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, is a top view of the oven door of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 4, is an enlarged fragmentary cut-away view of the part marked "A" in Fig. 3.

[0012] The present invention relates to a cooking appliance having a gas, electric or microwave oven comprising an oven cavity which is open at the front and which may be heated, and which is provided with a so-called "cool" oven door for closing the oven cavity. The oven door which is to be described is a pull-down oven door which is hinged at the bottom, but the invention may be applicable to sideways opening doors which are hinged at one or other of its sides.

[0013] The oven door depicted in the drawings consists of an outer closure panel in the form of a glass plate 1 to the outside of which is secured a horizontally disposed door handle 2 located towards the top of the glass plate 1. On the inside face of the glass plate 1 are secured two metal fabricated side support members 3 and 4 which extend down the respective sides of the glass plate 1 adjacent its side edges.

[0014] The side support members 3 and 4 are of complimentary construction and the construction of the support member 3 is best seen in Fig. 4. As shown in Fig. 4, the support member 3 is formed from two separate pressings 7 and 8 which are secured together, e.g. by welding, to provide a generally "U" shaped cross-section, the edges of which are provided with respective outwardly extending flanges 9 which, as will be described, are clamped to the inner face of the glass plate 1, conveniently via sealing gaskets 9'. The two pressings 7 and 8 of the support member 3 also define between them a channel 10 into which is received an inner closure panel in the form of an inner glass plate 11 which bears against protective bushes 12 which extend through holes in the pressing 8 along the length of the channel 10, as shown in Fig. 1.

[0015] The open tops of the side support members 3 and 4 are provided with respective plastic infill pieces 5 and 6, each of which has an inner part 13 which extends into the respective side support member 3,4 as far as the handle 2 on the outside of the glass plate 1. As best seen in Fig. 4, the side support bracket 3, the inner part 13 of the infill piece 5 and the glass plate 1 are provided with aligned holes for receiving a screw 14 which is screwed into a threaded bore 15 in the handle 2, and by means of which the glass plate 1 is clamped between the handle 2 and the side support member 3.

[0016] In a similar way, the glass plate 1 is clamped between the other end of the handle 2 and the side support member 4.

[0017] Inside each of the side support members 3 and 4, in the lower part thereof as viewed in Fig. 1, is disposed hinge mechanisms 16 which are of proprietary form, the construction of which is not important as far as the present invention is concerned. Each of the hinge mechanisms 16 is secured by means of screws 17 and 18.

[0018] The lower edge of the glass plate 1 is received into a "U" shaped channel 19 of a bottom spacing member 20, which is provided with inwardly directed flanges 21 in the vicinity of the lower parts of the side support members 3 and 4 and which are secured to them by means of screws 22. The retaining screws 18 for the hinge mechanisms 16 also pass through holes in the flanges 21. The bottom spacing member 20 has the affect of determining the spacing of the side support members 3 and 4 and retains them in position against the glass plate 1.

[0019] It will be appreciated that the oven door which has been described is given by way of example only and may be modified to suit any particular application. As has already been mentioned, the oven door described is of pull-down construction which is hinged at the bottom but it is envisaged that it may be modified to a sideways opening door by incorporating suitable hinge mechanisms in one or other of the side support members 3 and 4 as required.

Claims

1. A cooking appliance which includes a cooking oven comprising an oven cavity which is open at the front and which may be heated, and a front oven door for closing said cavity, said oven door comprising an outer closure panel, first and second side support members mounted on the inside face of said outer closure member and which respectively extend adjacent the side edges thereof, the first and second side support members being adapted to support between them an inner closure panel which is spaced from said outer closure panel, said first and second side support members being clamped to said outer closure panel without any intervening support by retaining means which extend through holes in said outer closure panel.

2. An appliance as claimed in claim 1, comprising a horizontally disposed oven handle, the outer ends of which correspond to the position of said first and second side support members, respectively, and into which ends the retaining means are secured whereby the said outer closure panel is clamped between said handle and said side support members.

3. An appliance as claimed in claim 2, comprising a lower support member having a channel section into which the lower edge of said outer closure panel extends, the outer ends of said lower support member being secured to respective ones of the side support members.

4. An appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, in which each side support member comprises two metal pressings which are joined together e.g. by welding.

5. An appliance as claimed in claim 4, in which the two metal pressings of each side support member define between them a channel for receiving the inner closure panel.

6. An appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the side support members are of generally "U" shaped cross-section, the edges of which are provided with outwardly extending flanges which are clamped to the inside face of said outer closure panel.

7. An appliance as claimed in claim 6, in which each of said flanges is provided with a gasket which contacts said inside face.

8. An appliance as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the outer and inner closure panels are made of glass.

9. An appliance as claimed in claim 8, in which at least part of the glass outer and inner closure panels are transparent to provide a viewing window.

Drawing