Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – With stirring
Reexamination Certificate
1998-04-02
2001-11-20
Alexander, Reginald L. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
With stirring
C099S510000, C099S287000, C366S146000, C366S274000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06318247
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention pertains generally to devices that heat and mix, including food preparation appliances and, more particularly, to appliances for preparing food and beverages, including food and beverages which are heated and mixed.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many different types of media mixing devices have been devised, including industrial, chemical and food and beverage mixers and preparation appliances. Blenders have a motor-driven blade mounted at the bottom of a pitcher to chop, stir, whip or blend solids or liquids loaded into the pitcher. Conventionally, the blender blade is mounted directly on a motor shaft, and is removable to allow the pitcher to be removed from a base in which the motor is housed. The motor is electrically driven at various selectable speeds. The necessity to remove the blade, or to mechanically disengage it from the driving shaft prior to removal of the pitcher is problematic.
Some attempts have been made to induce rotation of a mixing element or impeller by magnetic coupling with a mechanically driven magnet array. U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,497 describes a prior art stirring device which has a motor driven magnet in a housing, magnetically coupled to a stirring magnet inside of a vessel. The patent also describes magnetic field induced rotation of a stirring member in a vessel by electronically controlled driving of a fixed magnet array within a housing on which the vessel rests. Described for use in chemical laboratories and being explosion proof, the lack of any mechanical registry of the mixing element allows for irregular rotational motion and decoupling of the magnetic drive.
Some blending or stirring machines have also been provided with a heat source in contact with a vessel or pitcher in which a blade is mechanically rotated, in order to prepare foods or vegetables which are both stirred and heated. A heat source is in such devices located at the bottom of the vessel has the disadvantage of providing rather poor heat distribution through the liquid or food in the pitcher or vessel.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a food preparation device for stirring and heating liquids or combinations of liquids and solids such as beverages or soups. In accordance with one aspect, the device includes a base which supports a vessel for receiving a quantity of liquid to be prepared as a heated beverage, a vessel bottom having a heating element, and a central opening in the vessel bottom, a motor connected to a shaft, the motor supported by the heater casting to orient the shaft generally orthogonal to the opening in the vessel bottom, the motor shaft supporting a driving magnet array and operative to rotate the magnet array, a cap over of the driving magnet array, the cap having a cap pin in general alignment with the motor shaft, and a mixing element attached to a driven magnet array and mounted for rotation upon the cap pin, rotation of the mixing element upon the cap pin induced by rotation of the driving magnet array by the motor.
These and other aspects of the invention are here in described in particularized detail with specific reference to the accompanying Figures which illustrate representative and preferred embodiments of the various principles of the invention.
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Di Nunzio David
Lint Timothy E.
Alexander Reginald L.
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Sunbeam Products Inc.
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