Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Imperforate sheet or griddle type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-27
2001-05-29
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Imperforate sheet or griddle type
C099S340000, C099S403000, C099S449000, C016S111100, C016S425000, C016SDIG004
Reexamination Certificate
active
06237471
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a folding handle assembly for cooking pans, such as outdoor frying pans or outdoor saucepans, and, more particularly, to a folding handle assembly for such cooking pans, fabricated by hinging a specifically and symmetrically bent wire handle to a bracket to allow the handle to be selectively closed onto the top of a cooking pan, the handle assembly of this invention being specifically designed to reliably maintain its desired elasticity for a lengthy period of time.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1
is an exploded perspective view of a frying pan with a conventional folding handle assembly. As shown in the drawing, the conventional folding handle assembly for cooking pans comprises a handle bracket
10
and a folding handle
20
.
The bracket
10
is a single body, which is mounted to a cooking pan at a desired position and has a fitting hole
11
and two stoppers
12
. The handle
20
is a wire member, which is specifically and symmetrically bent to form an elastic structure consisting of opposite fitting ends
21
, two snap arms
22
and one handle body
23
.
That is, the bracket
10
is formed by pressing a steel plate and is mounted to a desired position on the external surface of the cooking pan through a riveting process, a screwing process or a welding process. The handle
20
is formed by specifically and symmetrically bending a steel wire, having a desired length, in a way such that the handle
20
has a desired elasticity. This handle
20
is assembled with the bracket
10
into a desired folding handle assembly by inserting the opposite fitting ends
21
of the handle
20
into the opposite ends of the fitting hole
11
of the bracket
10
.
When the handle
20
is assembled with the bracket
10
by inserting the opposite fitting ends
21
of the handle
20
into the two fitting holes
11
of the bracket
10
, the two snap arms
22
of the handle
20
can be elastically caught by or released from the inner surfaces of the two stoppers
12
of the bracket
10
. The handle
20
can be thus elastically opened or closed relative to the handle
20
as desired.
Therefore, when the handle
20
is fully opened with the two snap arms
22
being elastically caught by the inner surfaces of the two stoppers
12
, it is possible for a user to safely move the cooking pan while cooking, with the handle body
23
being gripped by a hand. When the handle
20
is compressed by a hand to reduce the gap between the two snap arms
22
, the two snap arms
22
of the handle
20
are released from the two stoppers
12
of the bracket, thus allowing the user to rotate the handle
20
upwardly around the fitting hole
11
of the bracket
10
and to close the handle
10
onto the top of the cooking pan.
While moving such a cooking pan containing hot food with the folding handle
20
being gripped by a hand, it is necessary for the snap arms
22
of the handle
20
to be continuously and firmly caught by the stoppers
12
of the bracket
10
. However, when the gripping force applied to the handle body
23
during a movement of the pan carelessly exceeds a predetermined level, the snap arms
23
may be released from the stoppers
12
and allows the handle
20
to be unexpectedly collapsed, thus being dangerous to the user. Particularly, it is necessary for users to grip the handle body
23
with somewhat exceeding force in order to prevent an unexpected dropping of the pan when the pan is somewhat heavy due to food contained in the pan. In such a case, the snap arms
23
of the handle
20
are more easily released from the stoppers
12
of the bracket, thus being very inconvenient and dangerous to users while using the cooking pans having such folding handles
20
.
In addition, the elasticity of the folding handle
20
is more quickly reduced as the length of the handle
20
is increased. Therefore, it is very difficult to maintain a desired elastic engagement of the folding handle
20
with the bracket
10
for a desired period of time, but the handle
20
may be easily and unexpectedly played relative to the bracket
10
.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a folding handle assembly for cooking pans, which is designed to maintain the elasticity of its folding handle for a lengthy period of time, thus preventing the snap arms of the folding handle from being unexpectedly released from the stoppers of the bracket and allowing users to more easily and safely handle such cooking pans.
In order to accomplish the above object, the present invention provides a folding handle assembly for cooking pans, comprising a bracket mounted to the external surface of a cooking pan at a desired position, the bracket being formed by pressing a steel plate to have a horizontal fitting hole and two opposite stoppers, the stoppers being formed at positions around opposite ends of the fitting hole, a folding handle movably assembled with the bracket, the folding handle being formed by specifically and symmetrically bending a steel wire to have two opposite fitting ends, two snap arms and a handle body, the folding handle being hinged to the opposite ends of the fitting hole of the bracket at its opposite fitting ends and selectively, elastically caught by the inner surfaces of the two stoppers of the bracket at its two snap arms, and being gripped by a hand at its handle body as desired, and a coil spring seated within the fitting hole of the bracket at a position between the two fitting ends of the handle, thus normally biasing the two fitting ends of the handle outwardly in opposite directions to allow the snap arms of the handle to be reliably caught by the stoppers of the bracket.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4014129 (1977-03-01), Capra
patent: 4171144 (1979-10-01), Rodriguez
patent: 4574777 (1986-03-01), Bohl et al.
patent: 4653468 (1987-03-01), Lemme et al.
patent: 4711366 (1987-12-01), Chen
patent: 4822087 (1989-04-01), DeCarlo
patent: 4926521 (1990-05-01), Gagnepain
patent: 5125130 (1992-06-01), Stanish
patent: 5313735 (1994-05-01), Latouche
patent: 5365832 (1994-11-01), Gaydoul
patent: 5373608 (1994-12-01), Welch
patent: 5673458 (1997-10-01), Raoult
patent: 5715570 (1998-02-01), Hyun
Simone Timothy F.
Staas & Halsey , LLP
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