Foods and beverages: apparatus – Cooking – Automatic control
Reexamination Certificate
2000-07-06
2001-11-06
Simone, Timothy F. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Cooking
Automatic control
C099S3290RT, C099S3290RT, C099S331000, C099S337000, C099S342000, C099S385000, C099S389000, C099S391000, C219S492000, C219S521000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06311608
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to toasters, and more particularly, is directed to a toaster providing varied toasting features and a safety control.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
With conventional toasters, when a slice of toast or pastry gets lodged in the toast chamber during toasting, there generally is no fail-safe device for shutting off power to the heating elements. This can result in the toast or pastry being overcooked or burnt, and more importantly, can result in more hazardous occurrences, such as a fire.
Many currently available toasters rely on a timing circuit to release a solenoid or electromagnet which in turn releases the bread racks, along with a set of mechanical contacts for controlling voltage to the heating elements. The problem with these toasters occurs when the bread or pastry becomes jammed at the bottom of the toast rack and the electrical contacts are not sufficiently opened to turn off the heating elements.
Further, with existing toasters, the toast lowering mechanism is usually formed by bread racks, one per slot, connected at one end to a yoke assembly which slides vertically on a metal rod, and a knob for actuating the same. The opposite end of each bread rack is guided imprecisely in large slots punched out in the metal housing. This design translates to a loose, imprecise and noisy operator control.
Further, with many toasters there is no adequate display for indicating the shade of the toast, that is, such displays are not precise.
Still further, most slots for food are rectangular on exiting toasters. However, with bread items which do not have planar sides, such as bagels, it is often desirable to toast only one side of the bagel. Currently, some toasters do attempt to offer this feature, using a mechanical lever to switch off certain sides of the slots, but this requires the user to consider which orientation the toast or bagel is placed in the toaster, and therefore, the likelihood of negative results is high. Therefore, even if a toaster includes a control to allow the user to choose not to toast both sides of a bagel, there would be no obvious proper orientation for loading the bagel corresponding to the control, so that this would limit the usefulness of the feature to the user.
In addition, conventional toasters do not permit non-toasting functions such as defrosting food items or reheating food items after toasting.
Lastly, conventional toasters do not take into account differences in the original state of the item to be toasted, such as frozen foods, i.e., frozen waffles, and non-frozen foods, i.e., bread.
OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a toaster that overcomes the aforementioned deficiencies of the prior art.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a toaster having an automatic shutoff feature. For example, the present invention allows a minimum overtravel built into the lever/yoke mechanism of the toast rack lever to permit movement of the lever past the lowest position of the toast in the chamber so that after the toasting cycle, the lever/yoke mechanism is released to travel a minimum distance sufficient to ensure that the electrical contacts are fully open prior to engaging the toast rack. Therefore, if the bread or pastry is jammed, the heating elements will have already been shut off, and there will be no further burning of the food.
It s still another object of the present invention to provide a toaster that includes a means for indicating to the user that the bread is jammed, such as by a flashing LED and/or audible buzzer.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a toaster having an improved toast lever mechanism for smooth operation. For example, the present invention includes a plastic or other non-metallic part which is connected to the free end of the bread racks and is formed by a pin or the like which functions as a precise guide in a vertical slot in the heat shield or other metal surface adjacent the rear wall of the toaster. This allows the bread racks to be supported and guided at both ends thereof, which gives the benefit of more precise control and reduced chatter.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a toaster with a toast shade control display incorporating, for example, a radial array of light emitting diodes (LEDs) on the printed circuit board inside the toaster which transfer light via light pipes to the exterior surface of the toaster. For example, the LEDs are arranged in a radial pattern around a rotary control knob, and are sequentially turned on and off as the knob is rotated by the user for selecting the desired toast shade. In addition, the display may include a countdown feature which would display a decreasing or increasing light bar effect approaching the selected LED as the toast cycle is progressing to its conclusion. A variation to the light bar effect may be a moving or flashing LED that would progress to its conclusion.
It as a still further object of the present invention to provide a toaster with an improved toasting operation for bagels. For example, an embodiment of the present invention includes slots which are shaped to indicate the proper orientation of the bagel so that when a user specifies a bagel as the food item, only the sliced planar surface, and not the outer curved surface, of the bagel half will be toasted. The toaster control may include a pushbutton or mechanical switch to indicate that the food item is a bagel. If a bagel is selected, then the outer heating elements or cards are turned off by means of a switch or relay. Another variation may allow for the outer heating elements or cards to be turned “off” at a reduced time to allow light toasting on the outer curved surface of the bagel half.
It is a yet further object of the present invention to provide a toaster with additional control selection to allow for non-toasting functions of the toaster, such as defrosting food items or reheating food items after toasting. For example, this selection uses the same heating control (that is, the same voltage, current, etc.) but with a reduced cycle time.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a toaster with a pushbutton selection that allows the user to toast frozen items such as frozen waffles. For example, the electronics would add a preset amount of time to the normal toast cycle to compensate for the defrosting of the item before the actual toasting cycle occurs.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following detailed description thereof which is to be read in connection with the accompanying drawings.
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Hardin George
Spencer Cliff
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Simone Timothy F.
Sunbeam Products Inc.
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