Knock-down Electric Food Smoker

Abstract

An electric food smoker comprised of quickly detachable panels which can be secured together without the use of any special tools or attaching means and some of which panels include interior baffles that can be readily assembled to their respective panels without the use of special tools, all of the panels and baffles being held together by interlocking tabs and slots in the various parts. The electric smoker can thus be readily assembled or disassembled for storing or transport.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Various types of collapsible food smoking appliances have been proposed and used with some degree of success. They have had several shortcomings however, in that they have either not been completely collapsible having required special tools or fastening means to hold the parts together, or have been complicated in design and expensive to manufacture, and difficult to assemble and disassemble.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an electric food smoker which can be readily and quickly assembled or disassembled, particularly, the various panels forming the walls and their associated interior baffles. The assembled panels can then be quickly attached to an integral base unit which includes an electric heater, and also a top member which can be readily attached to the various panels. When assembled, the smoker is rigid in construction and efficient in operation and the unit can be completely disassembled to occupy little space for transport or storage.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear hereinafter as this disclosure progresses, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of two side panels and the rear panel when laid flat on the floor or the like prior to assembly, the interior baffles of the assembly already being inserted in the side panels;

FIG. 2 is a cross sectional view taken along line 2--2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken generally along the line 3--3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a cross sectional view taken generally along the line 4--4 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1, but showing one of the end panels connected to the rear panel after having been swung into a right angle position relative thereto;

FIG. 6 is a view similar to FIG. 5, but showing the other side panel after being interengagable with the rear panel and after it has been swung to a 90 degree position relative to the rear panel;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the assembled smoker, the front door panel shown removed;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged, perspective, exploded view of the smoker, certain parts being shown as broken away, in section, or removed for the sake of clarity in the drawings; and

FIG. 9 is a fragmentary, enlarged, sectional view of the corner construction between the rear panel, the side panel, and an interior baffle.

DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring particularly to FIG. 1, the rear panel 1 is generally flat and includes a series of outwardly extending tabs 2 which are spaced along each of the edges of the panel and, as shown in FIG. 3, are inwardly offset slightly from the main body of the panel 1. Panel 1 also has an elongated open slot 3 in its lower end and also has holes 4 adjacent the lower end. The side panels 5 and 6 are generally similar in construction except that one is the reverse of the other as far as the construction of their two edges is concerned. Panel 5 will be described in detail, it being understood that panel 6 is similar in construction with the exception noted. Panel 5 along one edge has an inwardly turned flange 8, the flange being formed generally by fabricating that edge of the panel into a generally U-shape, thus providing a rounded corner. Along the other edge of the panel it is fabricated by again bending a flange 10 into a generally right angle position with respect to the main body of the panel, there also being provided an enlarged rounded corner portion 11. It should be noted a series of slots 12 are formed in the flange 10, these being alignable with the tabs 2 of the back panel 1. Panel 5 has a pair of holes 13 along its lower edge.

An interior baffle plate 16 having shelf brackets 17 secured thereto as by welding is insertable into the side panel 5 as clearly shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The baffle plate 16 has inwardly turned flanges 18 and 19, one along each of its sides for strengthening purposes and for also holding it in proper relationship within the overturned flanges 8 and 10 of the panel 5. It should also be noted that the baffle 16 has a series of slots 20 formed along its rear side, which slots are also alignable with the tabs 2 of the rear panel 1 and with the slots 12 of the panel 5.

With this construction, it will be seen that when the parts are disassembled as in FIG. 1, the panel 5 is moved into engagement with the panel 1 and more particularly so that the tabs 2 enter the slots 12 of the panel 5 and the slots 20 of the baffle 16. As the panel 5 is then raised to a right angular position with respect to panel 1, the tabs 2 fully enter the slots and thereby lock the baffle in respect to panel 5 and also lock the panel 5 to the panel 1.

Panel 6 is fabricated similar to panel 5 and can be assembled in the manner, as shown in the sequence of FIGS. 1 and 5.

After the rear and side panels have thus been assembled together with the interior baffle plates, the unit is raised to the vertical position where the top 30 (FIG. 8) can be slipped over the assembled panels in which holes 31 in the top are aligned with holes 32 of the panels and bolt means 34 are inserted to hold the top and sides in assembled relationship. As also shown in FIG. 8, a base unit 40 containing a heating unit 42 fixed thereon is similarly rigidly connected to the side panels by bolt means 44 which extend through holes 45 in the side panels and into nuts 47 that have been permanently affixed to the downwardly extending flanges 49 of the base unit 40. The floor 50 of the base unit 40 also has upstanding brackets 51 fixed thereto as by spot welding or the like, and these brackets support a pan containing smoke producing material a distance above the heating unit 42. An electric conduit 55 extends from the rear end of the base unit 40 and connects the power source (not shown) to the heating unit 42. The slots 3 in the rear panel are adapted to slip over the outwardly extending conduit 55.

The larger holes 4 and 13 adjacent the lower edge of the panels are alignable with holes 57 in the base unit and permit a controlled amount of air to enter under the base unit as is required in electric food smokers of this character.

As shown in FIG. 7, a series of open grills 60 can be supported on the brackets 17 for supporting food thereon which is to be smoked.

A removable door 62 is provided and has an inwardly turned flange 63 along each of its vertical sides which frictionally engages flange 8 of sides 5 and 16 and thus requires no additional fastening means. Door 62 also has a small swingable door 64 having a slotted opening 65 through which the handle of the pan (not shown) can extend. The pan can thereby be removed by simply pulling it outwardly and thus opening the door 64.

Claims

I claim:

1. Sheet metal panels construction for a knock-down electric food smoker cabinet comprising, two vertical side panels each having a flange extending at right angles and located along the rear edge of each panel, slots located in said flanges, an interior baffle plate located in parallelism along the inside of each of said side panels, said baffle plates having slots which are alignable with said slots in said side panels, a vertical rear panel having tabs extending outwardly from each of its sides and which tabs are inserted in said aligned slots of said baffles and side panels to thereby rigidly hold said baffle plates, said side panels and said rear panel together in assembled relationship.