Electrically heatable water kettle

Details Electrically heatable water kettle Electrically heatable water kettle

2000-01-20

2001-01-09

Pelham, Joseph (Department: 3742)

Electric heating

Heating devices

Combined with container, enclosure, or support for material...

C099S281000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06172341

ABSTRACT:

This invention relates to an electrically heatable water kettle comprising a vessel having a bottom with an upwardly adjoining circumferential side wall on which is formed a handle and whose free end is formed by an opening essentially closable by a lid, having an electric heating unit arranged in proximity to the bottom and adapted to be switched on and off by a mechanically controlled switch so that, with the appliance switched on, it heats any water contained in the vessel, having an actuating element coupled to said switch and operable by hand so that its mechanical actuation transmits a movement to the switch, and having a button acting on the lid and operable by hand so that its actuation releases the lid for opening.
A water kettle of this type is already commercially available and is marketed by the company Petra Elektrik, D-89331 Burgau under the name “Wasserkocher WK 12”. The lid to close the vessel's opening can be opened and closed by a button mounted above the handle on the vessel's wall and on the lid. In the lower area of the water kettle there is an actuating element which protrudes sideways from the handle and is mechanically connected to a switch for switching off and on the heating unit arranged in proximity to the bottom.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a water kettle increasing the safety of the appliance such that in particular the risk of a user's hand being scalded can be essentially eliminated.
This object is accomplished in accordance with the invention by the features of the characterizing portion of patent claim
1
. Thanks to the invention it is ensured that the heating unit of the water kettle is in operation only when the lid closes the vessel securely. As soon as the lid uncovers the vessel's opening during operation of the water kettle, the heating unit is) switched off. The advantage of this arrangement is that the production of superheated steam leaving the vessel's opening decreases and not too much boiling water is able therefore to escape from the opening. Scalding of a user's hand by accidentelly reaching into the opening is also reduced because super-heated steam stops escaping from the opening just a short time after the heating unit is switched off. Thanks to the safety arrangement of the present invention the water kettle will never again be left in the kitchen boiling with its lid open and hence opening uncovered. Nor will accidental tipping of the water kettle result in unpleasant scalding because during boiling the vessel's opening is always closed by the lid. To make it possible, for simplicity's sake, to fill water into or pour out water out of the water kettle in limited amounts while at the same time allowing steam to escape during the boiling process even when the lid is “closed”, the outlet and inlet location is not completely closed by the lid but as a rule is covered by a sieve. The cross section of the inlet and outlet location is so small however as to permit only a limited amount of hot water to escape through this particular location or should the water kettle topple. Unpleasant scalding is therefore practically ruled out.
When water is boiled it invariably enters a brief nucleate boiling phase until the thermostat device automatically switches off the heating unit. The safety arrangement of the present invention protects in particular children from accidents because it is only when the lid of the vessel's opening is locked that they are able to switch on the water kettle. It is impossible to reach unintentionally into the boiling water kettle because the lid of the vessel's opening closes to such an extent that even small children's hands are unable to reach into the opening of the outlet and inlet location while the water kettle is in operation.
The user friendliness and safety of the water kettle are further improved by the features of patent claim
2
. As soon as the lid is opened by the button, the heating unit is automatically switched off and with it the water kettle. This cuts the time the water continues to boil after reaching boiling point so that the water has settled again by the time is lid is opened. For this purpose the water kettle is equipped with means which do not allow the lid to flip fully open the instant the button is pressed but raise it only slightly from the opening.
The devices for releasing and locking the switch and the lid may be mechanical or electromechanical means controlled by an electronic control. Electromechanical means include, for example, relays which convert electric pulses into mechanical movements which then lock the lid while at the same time releasing the actuating element, that is, the switch for switching on. Such electromechanical solutions are relatively elaborate and expensive however. Purely mechanical means are more economical and equally effective.
According to the features of patent claim
3
, the follower device provided on the actuating element serves to lock the button in its movement when the lid is in its open position. This is done by the detent element, which in turn locks the actuating element, which ultimately transfers its detent action to the button.
At this point it should be noted that the lid's open position refers not only to that position in which the lid has visibly uncovered the opening but also that position in which the lid still covers the opening but the closing device for closing the lid on the vessel has been actuated by a certain amount. Hence this type of open position begins shortly before the safety arrangement releases the lid for opening or precisely at the instant said safety arrangement has released the lid for opening. This is intended to preclude with certainty the case that as a result of an accumulation of tolerances which inevitably occur during the production of the detent element, the actuating element, the button and the lid following their assembly, the lid has uncovered the vessel's opening slightly while yet allowing the actuating element to be switched on.
By virtue of the features of patent claim
4
, both the button and the actuating element are positively controlled not by electromechanical means but by purely mechanical means in dependence on the detent element, so that the actuating element, constructed preferably as a rocker control, and the button, which in turn is dependent thereon, can or cannot be moved in dependence upon a specific position of the detent element. A lever mechanism is particularly easy to manufacture for this purpose since it is comprised only of at least three levers preferably made of plastic and mechanically linked in such a way as to enable the electric switch to be switched on only in certain positions of the lid.
The features of claim
5
improve the operation of the lid. In this arrangement the button can be mounted to slide back and forth, to tumble, to pivot, to rotate or to move in any other way. When the button is actuated with the lid closed, the lever device provided on the lid releases the lock on the vessel to open the lid, enabling the lid to flip partly open, i.e., just far enough for the ends of the levers to rest with their ramps against the upper edge of the water kettle's opening. When the lid is closed, the levers then engage, with a snap action, in the detent holes provided on the vessel, and the actuating element is released to switch on the switch.
According to the features of patent claim
6
, the axes of rotation of the lid, button, actuating element and detent element are arranged in separate positions on the vessel's housing, partly for safety reasons and partly because of the limited play of forces. This results ultimately in the safety arrangement being activated even when minor actuating forces are applied by a user to the button or the rocker control. Viewed from the bottom up (
FIGS. 1
to
5
), the axis of rotation of the detent lever is followed by the axis of rotation of the actuating element, then the axis of rotation of the lid, and finally the axis of rotation of

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