Electric heating – Heating devices – Combined with container – enclosure – or support for material...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-08-25
2001-09-04
Walberg, Teresa (Department: 3742)
Electric heating
Heating devices
Combined with container, enclosure, or support for material...
C219S405000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06285009
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to the art of cooking and, more particularly, to an electric heating element for use in a cooking appliance.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In electric cooking appliances, resistance type heating elements are commonly employed to generate a desired temperature within an oven. For instance, conventional electric ovens typically incorporate sheathed, resistance coil heating elements. Actually, separate upper and lower heating elements are traditionally provided adjacent bottom and top walls of an oven cavity for use in connection with baking and broiling functions.
A fair amount of emphasis has been placed in the past on designing electric heating elements in an attempt to enhance the uniform heating of the oven cavity. The electric heating elements used for baking in cooking appliances found on the market today typically assume either a U-shape or a generally M-shape. In each of these arrangements, laterally spaced side leg portions of the heating element extend substantially linearly from a rear portion toward a front portion of the oven cavity.
Although these known arrangements have been used to produce an acceptable flow of heat in the cavity for cooking purposes, there still exists the need for an electric heating element configuration which can be used to develop more uniform heating in an oven cavity. In addition, there exists a need in the art for a reconfigured electric heating element which will enhance the use of the oven cavity for additional cooking operations such as, for example, a toasting operation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In a ccordance with the present invention, an electric heating element is configured to include laterally spaced side legs which are interconnected by a front leg, with each of the side legs being formed with an inward bend. In the most preferred form of the invention, the electric heating element is adapted to be mounted adjacent a floor or bottom wall of an oven cavity, with each of the side legs extending forward within the oven cavity and including an inwardly directed section followed by an outwardly direction section which leads to the front leg through arcuate or radiused corner portions. Most preferably, the front leg is also formed with a generally central, inwardly directed bend.
With this configuration, the heating element can effectively be used to create more uniform heating within the oven cavity. For instance, instead of concentrating the heat developed by the side legs solely adjacent side walls of the oven cavity, the inwardly and outwardly directed leg sections provide for a more even heat distribution for improved cooking performance. This enhanced configuration has been found to be particularly advantageous when utilized as a baking element in performing a toasting operation in a compact oven cavity. That is, the inwardly and outwardly directed leg sections can extend substantially directly beneath food item support positions of an oven rack such that an even toasting operation can be performed in combination with a broiling element.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment, when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
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Barnes Shelton T.
Bennett Perry A.
Hern-Fonseth Valerie L.
Ometer David C.
Diederiks, Jr. Everett G.
Fastovsky L
Maytag Corporation
Walberg Teresa
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