Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Convertible
Reexamination Certificate
2003-09-09
2004-07-06
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Convertible
C099S372000, C099S375000, C099S378000, C099S400000, C099S425000, C099S444000, C099S446000, C219S386000, C219S524000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06758132
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electric cooking device, more particularly to an electric cooking device that is suitable for grilling and baking foodstuffs.
2. Description of the Related Art
As shown in
FIGS. 1 and 2
, a conventional electric cooking device includes a base unit
11
and a cover unit
12
. The base unit
11
includes a lower housing
110
made of a heat resistant material, a lower cookware member
111
made of a heat conductive material and mounted in the lower housing
110
, and an electric heating element
112
operatively coupled to the lower cookware member
111
for supplying heat to the lower cookware member
111
. The cover unit
12
includes an upper housing
120
made of a heat resistant material, an upper cookware member
121
made of a heat conductive material and mounted in the upper housing
120
, and an electric heating element
122
operatively coupled to the upper cookware member
121
for supplying heat to the upper cookware member
121
. The upper housing
120
is mounted pivotally to the lower housing
110
such that the cover unit
12
is movable to a closed position relative to the base unit
11
so as to form a cooking chamber with the base unit
11
.
The lower cookware member
111
includes a grill plate
14
and a surrounding wall
15
that extends upwardly from a periphery of the grill plate
14
. The grill plate
14
is formed with an oil-collecting hole
141
adjacent to a front edge portion thereof, and has a top surface formed with a plurality of straight grill ribs
142
. Each of the grill ribs
142
has one end adjacent to the oil-collecting hole
141
, and generally extends in a radial outward direction relative to the oil-collecting hole
141
.
In use, oil that is generated when cooking foodstuffs on the grill plate
14
is drained through the oil-collecting hole
141
.
In the conventional electric cooking device, since the grill ribs
142
generally extend in radial directions, the grill ribs
142
, are more closely arranged at the vicinity of the oil-collecting hole
141
than at the vicinity of a rear edge portion of the grill plate
14
. The arrangement as such results in uneven heat distribution that tends to scorch portions of the foodstuffs on the grill plate
14
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide an electric cooking device that can overcome the aforesaid drawback associated with the prior art.
According to the present invention, an electric cooking device comprises a base unit that includes a lower housing, a lower cookware member mounted in the lower housing, and an electric heating element operatively coupled to the lower cookware member for supplying heat to the lower cookware member.
The lower cookware member includes a grill plate that has front and rear edge portions opposite to each other in a first direction, and left and right edge portions opposite to each other in a second direction transverse to the first direction and interconnecting the front and rear edge portions. The grill plate defines a plate axis that extends in the first direction and that is disposed between the left and right edge portions.
The grill plate has a top cooking surface that inclines rearwardly and upwardly from the front edge portion to the rear edge portion relative to a horizontal plane. The top cooking surface of the grill plate further inclines downwardly from the plate axis to each of the left and right edge portions.
The grill plate is formed with an oil-collecting hole adjacent to the front edge portion and disposed at the plate axis. The oil-collecting hole has left and right sides relative to the plate axis.
The top cooking surface of the grill plate is formed with a plurality of curved grill ribs. Each of the grill ribs includes a curved left rib portion extending from the left side of the oil-collecting hole to the plate axis, and a curved right rib portion extending from the plate axis to the right side of the oil-collecting hole.
The grill ribs have different arc lengths and intersect the plate axis at different distances with respect to the oil-collecting hole such that longer ones of the grill ribs surround shorter ones of the grill ribs.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4142094 (1979-02-01), Barradas
patent: 4178500 (1979-12-01), Brindopke
patent: 4241650 (1980-12-01), John et al.
patent: 4403540 (1983-09-01), Erkelenz
patent: 4857708 (1989-08-01), DeMars
patent: 4987827 (1991-01-01), Marquez
patent: 5129313 (1992-07-01), Coppier
patent: 5138938 (1992-08-01), McClean
patent: 5606905 (1997-03-01), Boehm et al.
patent: 5845562 (1998-12-01), Deni et al.
patent: 5848567 (1998-12-01), Chiang
patent: 6276263 (2001-08-01), Huang
patent: 6429409 (2002-08-01), Siu
Kuo Po-Chun
Tsai Chung-Ju
Quine Jonathan Alan
Quine Intellectual Property Law Group P.C.
Simone Timothy F.
Tsann Kuen Enterprise Co. Ltd.
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