DE9305316U1 - Uniform cooking hob - Google Patents

Description

Uniform cooking hob

This innovation concerns a particular type of hob fitted with gas burners or electric hotplates, used in particular as a built-in part. In order to better explain the innovation, the following description refers to a hob fitted with gas burners, but it is clear that the entire description can also be applied to hobs fitted with electric hotplates, the relevant and obvious modifications being within the competence of any person skilled in the art.

Today, depending on the manufacturing method and technology, the functional parts of a hob and the connection for the gas supply are assembled with the work surfaces or with boxes or support structures that are arranged in different ways under this hob.

In the case of hobs, which must have a minimum of space underneath and be as simple as possible in terms of construction, there is generally a gas distribution element, which is normally

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between the connection piece for the gas supply to the device and several taps which serve to open and regulate the gas supply to the various burners.

The said element (also called a "ramp") serves essentially to distribute the gas to the said taps and is normally formed by a metal pipe which is leak-tight under the operating pressure conditions of the gas, closed at one end and connected at the other end, possibly via another pipe, generally flexible, to the gas supply connection.

As is known, holes are made on the surface of the ramp in question in which the above-mentioned valves for regulating the gas flow are inserted using various techniques and hermetically sealed.

These parts must normally be made of rather high-quality material such as steel or brass, given that their suitability for this purpose is a rather delicate matter, and must be manufactured and assembled using precision techniques.

Furthermore, they must be specifically sized for each type of cooker in which they are fitted, since they must supply gas to taps which may be at different distances from each other and since the distance between the two taps furthest apart may of course vary from one cooker to another.

Hobs of this type and other similar types, although commonly used, have some disadvantages:

- The first disadvantage is that different dimensions of the various components that are connected to burners

of different dimensions, which entails high costs because the lack of standardisation leads to a significant increase in the number of components;

The second disadvantage is related to the fact that the complexity of the above-mentioned assembled units makes their installation by automatic techniques difficult or impossible;

Another disadvantage is that in order to achieve operation with all types of gas, it is usually necessary to disassemble most of the burner assembly in order to replace the gas outlet nozzle.

In addition, other factors such as the low rigidity of the assembly and the numerous machining operations, including precision work, with the resulting large amount of production waste must be taken into account.

All this creates a series of easily imaginable disadvantages: complicated processing and assembly, high costs and a very sharp increase in the number of components due to the lack of standardization.

However, it would be desirable and the main purpose of the innovation is to produce a type of work surface which, in addition to being designed using a more economical and simpler technology, also makes it possible to avoid the above-mentioned disadvantages, in particular to create improved dimensional uniformity during assembly.

This purpose is achieved with a cooking hob according to the claims below.

The innovation will become clearer from the following description, given as a non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

- Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a partially disassembled cooking hob according to the innovation;

- Fig. 2 shows a simplified set of some of the modules of Fig. 1.

Referring to the figures, the structure and operation of the innovation are shown schematically.

Essentially, it consists in eliminating the various components and individual parts that make up the traditional work surface and replacing them with those with uniform and combinable "functional blocks".

Each function block can contain:

a) Gas components and connections (burners, pipes, taps, supply ramps, etc.)

b) Electrical components and connections (supply terminal blocks, switches, changeover switches, connections for hotplates/spark plugs, other electrical controls)

c) Mechanical components (universal joints, fastening elements for trough/housing/substructure etc.)

d) Decorative elements (signs, moldings)

e) Optical, acoustic or light display elements (pointer, indicator light, buzzer)

f) End product identification elements (trademarks, rating plates, symbols, etc.)

Each block is therefore completely independent both mechanically and functionally and can easily be connected to other blocks, as well as replaced by blocks that are similar in terms of connections and dimensions of the connection side, but differ in performance.

or other dimensions or purposes.

Referring to Fig. 1, for example, the two functional blocks 1 and 2 can be seen. They are completely similar as far as the elements on the connection side are concerned, even if they have burners 3, , 5, 6 with different features.

Furthermore, following each of the burners mentioned, there is arranged a respective supply line 7, 8, 9 and 10, which is connected to a respective supply opening 7a, 8a, 9a, 10a regulated by a respective tap 11, 12, 13 and 14, each of which is arranged on a right or left side ramp 15 or 16, depending on whether the corresponding burner is on the right or left, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

The arrangement of the said lines I ₁ 8, 9, 10 is such that when these blocks are interchanged with each other - of course after they have been appropriately turned over - the said supply lines take their place exactly in connection with the previously mentioned supply openings, only that now line 7 is opposite opening 10a, line 8 opposite opening 9a, and analogously for lines 9 and 10 of block 2.

If the type of connection between each pipe and each opening is the same, as is logical, then these blocks can be directly replaced by one another by simply exchanging their places after having appropriately turned them over, thus allowing the greatest possible flexibility in positioning the individual burners.

This dimensional uniformity is made possible by the aforementioned equality and interchangeability of the connecting elements, therefore the final arrangement can be obtained immediately with the aforementioned interchangeable blocks.

From the description just given it is clear that the side blocks on which the left ramp 16 and right ramp 15 rest with the respective valves must also be constructed in such a way that they can be correctly connected to both block 1 and block 2.

The innovation can of course also be used in an even more flexible manner, having not only two central blocks and two outer blocks, as shown in Fig. 1, but having several central blocks which are completely interchangeable with each other as far as the characteristics of the connection sides are concerned, but have different characteristics of the burners installed on these several central blocks.

Conversely, as shown by way of example in Fig. 2, a simpler hob can easily be obtained, provided with a single functional block 20 of the type already described, arranged in the middle and along one side of which runs a ramp 21 of the same type as described above and along the other side of which runs a limiting and closing element 22 for the hob.

The advantages of this solution are now obvious to a person skilled in the field: in fact, it is sufficient to produce a large number of internal blocks, different in terms of functional characteristics but interchangeable with each other thanks to the connecting elements, in order to have a large number of types of hobs in a simple and economical way; this automatically means eliminating the need to produce and store numerous types of different hobs.

Furthermore, the production of the individual module and its assembly become repetitive work processes,

which are easily carried out by automated manufacturing systems.

Advantageously, a variant of this construction consists in the possibility of making said blocks and said ramps from particularly heat-resistant and durable plastics available on the market today, thus implementing the most suitable technology.

This technique also makes it possible to simplify and standardise the construction of the elements concerned, by manufacturing them directly in one piece.

Of course, while maintaining the principle of innovation, the details of the structure and the embodiments may differ significantly from what is described and shown, without, however, departing from the scope of this innovation.

Claims (4)

- 8 -CLAIMS 1. Cooking hob, in particular for domestic use, with a plurality of heating elements (3, , 5, 6) and corresponding elements (7, 8, 9, 10) for supplying said heating elements with energy, as well as operating and regulating elements (11, 12, 13, 1) which are connected to said supply elements, characterized in that the heating elements (3 - 6) are combined in central blocks (1, 2) which can be arranged interchangeably with one another in the cooking hob, and the supply elements (7 - 10) or the operating and regulating elements (11 - 1) are arranged in side ramps of the cooking hob, wherein said blocks and said ramps can be interchangeably connected to one another. 2. Cooking hob according to claim 1, characterized in that, when a single block with heating elements (20) and a single ramp with supply and feed regulating elements (21) is provided, the cooking hob is provided with a limiting and closing element (22) arranged on the opposite side to that with said ramp. 3. Cooking hob according to one of the preceding claims,
characterized in that said heating elements (3, 4, 5, 6) are gas burners or, alternatively, electric hotplates. 4. Cooking hob according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in that said blocks and said ramps are made of plastic, e.g. thermoplastic made of polyphenylene sulphide (PPS).