U.S. patent number 3,624,742 [Application Number 05/046,113] was granted by the patent office on 1971-11-30 for self-cleaning gas oven with heat exchanger.
This patent grant is currently assigned to General Electric Company. Invention is credited to James A. Dooley, Bohdan Hurko.
United States Patent |
3,624,742 |
Hurko , et al. |
November 30, 1971 |
SELF-CLEANING GAS OVEN WITH HEAT EXCHANGER
Abstract
A heat exchanger system for a self-cleaning gas cooking oven
where the oven is operated as a muffle oven for both baking and
heat-cleaning operations. A heat exchanger is employed for cooling
the flue gases as well as preheating the secondary air for the bake
burner. There is an auxiliary secondary air supply for the bake
burner, and it includes a normally open temperature-responsive
damper means that serves to close the auxiliary air supply when the
firebox temperature reaches a predetermined amount. This same
auxiliary air supply is used when an upper broiler burner is
operated during closed door broiling, and it cooperates with a
normally closed oven vent that is opened for use during the
broiling operation.
Inventors: |
Hurko; Bohdan (Louisville,
KY), Dooley; James A. (Louisville, KY) |
Assignee: |
General Electric Company
(N/A)
|
Family
ID: |
21941693 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/046,113 |
Filed: |
June 15, 1970 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
126/39D; 126/21R;
126/41R |
Current CPC
Class: |
F24C
15/2007 (20130101); F24C 14/025 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
F24C
14/02 (20060101); F24C 14/00 (20060101); F24c
015/32 () |
Field of
Search: |
;126/39R,39C,39D,21R,21A,19R,41R,273R |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Myhre; Charles J.
Claims
What is claimed as new and is desired to be secured by Letters
Patent of the United States is:
1. A gas oven comprising an oven body supporting a boxlike oven
liner and a front-opening access door which define an oven cooking
cavity, a firebox disposed beneath the bottom wall of the oven
liner, a bake burner means located within the firebox, heating
channels extending from the firebox around the outside of the oven
liner so that convection currents of flue gases from the bake
burner means may pass through the channels so as to heat the oven
liner, a heat exchanger mounted in the oven body and having
adjacent one end a flue gas inlet from the heating channels and a
flue gas outlet adjacent the other end as well as an ambient air
inlet adjacent the flue gas outlet and an ambient air outlet
communicating with the firebox, said ambient air outlet supplying
heated air to the firebox as preheated secondary air for the bake
burner means, additional ambient air openings in the walls of the
firebox for supplying secondary air to the bake burner means during
a preheat period of the heating cycle while the heat exchanger is
operating relatively cold and the burner means is incapable of
drawing the ambient air through the heat exchanger, and normally
open temperature-responsive closure means cooperating with the said
ambient air openings to close said openings after the firebox
reaches a predetermined temperature whereupon preheated secondary
air is furnished to the bake burner means by the heat
exchanger.
2. A gas oven as recited in claim 1 including a broiler burner
means located adjacent the top portion of the oven liner as the
sole heating means during a broiling operation whereby the said
firebox remains relatively cool so as not to operate the said
temperature-responsive closure means and thereby allowing the said
ambient air openings to remain open, second air openings in the
bottom portion of the oven liner, an oven vent means in the top
portion of the oven liner, and second closure means for closing the
oven vent means during normal baking and high-temperature
heat-cleaning operations while being held open during broiling
operations, so that broiling may be accomplished with the oven door
closed, whereby secondary air for the broiler burner means enters
the firebox through the ambient air openings and enters the oven
liner through the said second air openings and after passing over
the broiler burner means exits through the said oven vent
means.
3. A self-cleaning gas-fired cooking oven comprising an oven body
supporting a boxlike inner oven liner and a front-opening access
door which define an oven cooking cavity, and an outer oven liner
surrounding the inner oven liner and spaced therefrom to form a
firebox beneath the inner oven liner as well as heating channels
around the inner oven liner, and bake burner means within the
firebox to cause convection current of flue gases to pass around
the inner oven liner for heating the walls thereof during both
baking and heat-cleaning operations, and a vertically arranged
stationary heat exchanger located adjacent at least one wall of the
outer oven liner, and flue gas inlet openings in the bottom of the
heat exchanger communicating with the said heating channels, and
flue gas outlet means in the top portion of the heat exchanger, and
ambient air inlet means adjacent the top portion of the heat
exchanger and heated air outlet means adjacent the bottom portion
of the heat exchanger communicating with the firebox as a source of
preheated secondary air for the bake burner means, second ambient
air openings in the firebox, and normally open
temperature-responsive closure means associated with the said
second ambient air openings and adapted to close said openings
after the temperature within the firebox reaches a predetermined
temperature thereby furnishing an initial source of secondary air
for the bake burner means while the heat exchanger is in a
relatively cool condition when the bake burner means is incapable
of drawing the ambient air supply down through the heat exchanger,
the heated air supply from the heat exchanger being established
prior to the closure of the second ambient air openings.
4. A domestic cooking oven as recited in claim 3 with a broiler
burner means positioned adjacent the upper portion of the inner
oven liner, and openings in the bottom portion of the oven liner
communicating with the firebox, and a normally closed oven vent
means for the cooking cavity adjacent the top portion of the inner
oven liner, whereby closed door broiling may be performed in the
oven by first opening the oven vent means and operating the broiler
burner means such that secondary air for this burner means enters
the firebox through the said second ambient air openings and passes
into the cooking cavity through the openings in the bottom of the
inner oven liner for sweeping over the broiler burner means and
exhausting through the oven vent means.
5. A self-cleaning gas oven comprising an outer supporting
structure, an inner layer of thermal insulating material protecting
the supporting structure, a boxlike outer oven liner positioned
within the thermal insulating material, an inner oven liner
positioned within the outer oven liner and spaced therefrom to form
a firebox beneath the inner oven liner and heating channels around
at least a major portion of the inner oven liner, a bake burner
located within the firebox, whereby hot flue gases from the burner
means pass through the heating channels for raising the temperature
of the walls of the inner oven liner for normal cooking operations
as well as for high-temperature heat-cleaning operations, and heat
exchanger means mounted across at least one vertical wall of the
outer oven liner, said firebox having air inlet means communicating
with the heat exchanger, the lower portion of said vertical wall
having flue gas outlet means from the heating channels
communicating with the heat exchanger, the upper portion of the
heat exchanger having an ambient air inlet means and flue gas
outlet means whereby the heat exchanger causes the flue gases to be
cooled before they are released from the oven and the air supply to
the firebox to become preheated secondary air for the bake burner
means; the invention comprising an auxiliary secondary air supply
means for the bake burner means for use when the temperature within
the firebox is not high enough to create a draft strong enough to
draw the ambient air down through the heat exchanger, said
auxiliary air supply means comprising second ambient air openings
in the firebox, and normally open temperature responsive damper
means cooperating with the said second ambient air openings and
serving to close said second openings when the firebox temperature
reaches a predetermined level.
6. A self-cleaning gas oven as recited in claim 5 with a broiler
burner means located in the upper portion of the inner oven liner,
openings through the bottom portion of the inner oven liner
communicating with the firebox, an oven vent means in the upper
portion of the inner oven liner, and normally closed cover means
cooperating with the oven vent means, whereby closed door broiling
operations may be performed in the oven when the said cover means
is opened and the broiler burner means is operated so that
secondary air flow is created for the broiler burner means with air
entering the said second ambient air openings and rising through
the firebox and passing through the openings in the bottom portion
of the inner oven liner and passing around the broiler burner means
and exhausting through the said oven vent means.
7. A self-cleaning gas oven comprising an outer supporting
structure, an inner layer of thermal insulating material within the
supporting structure, a boxlike oven liner positioned within the
insulated oven structure, a firebox positioned beneath the oven
liner, bake burner means within the firebox, and heating channels
associated with at least a major portion of the walls of the oven
liner and communicating with the firebox whereby hot flue gases
from the bake burner means pass through the heating channels in the
manner of a muffle oven for raising the temperature of the walls of
the oven liner for normal baking operations as well as for
high-temperature heat-cleaning operations, and heat exchanger means
associated with the oven for receiving the flue gases and cooling
them down before the gases are exhausted from the oven, the heat
exchanger means using ambient air as a coolant means, said air
becoming heated in the process of cooling the flue gases and being
fed into the firebox as preheated secondary air for the bake burner
means, an auxiliary secondary air supply means for the bake burner
means for use when the temperature within the firebox is below a
predetermined temperature, said auxiliary supply means comprising
ambient air openings in the firebox, and normally open
temperature-responsive damper means cooperating with the said
ambient air opening and serving to close said air openings when the
firebox temperature reaches a predetermined level, and broiler
burner means located in the upper portion of the oven liner,
openings through the bottom portion of the oven liner, oven vent
means in the upper portion of the oven liner, and normally closed
cover means to cooperate with the oven vent means whereby closed
door broiling operations may be performed in the oven when the said
cover means is opened and the broiler burner means is operated so
that a secondary airflow is created for the broiler burner means by
air passing through the said ambient air openings in the firebox,
then through the openings in the bottom portion of the oven liner,
over the broiler burner means and exhausting through the oven vent
means.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
A great amount of testing has led to the conclusion that the most
efficient self-cleaning gas cooking oven design is one using a
muffle oven principle where the oven liner is heated externally by
convection currents of hot flue gases from the lower firebox or
combustion chamber. Both the baking and heat-cleaning operations
would be performed using such a heating method. However, the bake
burner is unable to draw sufficient ambient air through the heat
exchanger when the burner first starts burning with ambient air
temperature conditions in the firebox. Hence, it is well to provide
other means for supplying secondary air to the bake burner during
the preheat portion of either the baking or heat-cleaning
operations. Moreover, it is well to provide a secondary air supply
for an upper broiler burner so as to be able to perform a closed
door broiling operation.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a gas
cooking oven with the capability of a high-temperature, pyrolytic,
self-cleaning oven cycle of operation wherein the temperature of
the hot flue gases is reduced in a heat exchanger before the gases
are released to the atmosphere, as well as having provision for an
auxiliary air supply to the bake burner until the heat exchanger
reaches an operating temperature.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a gas oven
of the class described with a temperature-responsive damper means
for the auxiliary air supply so as to discontinue the auxiliary air
supply once the heat exchanger is up to operating temperature.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a
self-cleaning gas cooking oven of the class described with a closed
door broiling cycle that utilizes the auxiliary air supply means
for the bake burner as the secondary air supply for the broiler
burner.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention, in accordance with one form thereof, relates
to a self-cleaning gas cooking oven with an insulated outer
structure and an oven liner with outer heating channels associated
with at least a major portion of the walls thereof. These heating
channels communicate with an underlying firebox whereby hot flue
gases from a bake burner in the firebox pass through the heating
channels in the manner of a muffle oven for raising the temperature
of the walls of the oven liner for normal baking operations as well
as for high temperature, heat-cleaning operations. A heat exchanger
means is associated with the oven for receiving the flue gases and
cooling them down before the gases are returned to the atmosphere.
This heat exchanger uses ambient air as a coolant and this air
becomes heated in the process and is drawn into the firebox as
preheated secondary air for the bake burner. An auxiliary secondary
air supply means is available for use during the preheat portion of
the baking or heat-cleaning cycle. This auxiliary air supply is
furnished with a normally open temperature-responsive damper means
for closing the auxiliary air supply once the heat exchanger
reaches its operating temperature. Moreover, this auxiliary air
supply means is used to advantage as the air supply means of
secondary air for an upper broiler burner when a normally closed
oven vent means is opened for a closed door broiling operation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Our invention will be better understood from the following
description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and
its scope will be pointed out in the appended claims.
FIG. 1 is a left side-elevational view of a free-standing gas range
with some parts broken away and others in cross section to show a
single oven cooking cavity for both baking and broiling operations,
and a heat exchanger extending across the back of the range, and a
layer of thermal insulating material on the inner surface of the
outer cabinet structure for the oven.
FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevational view taken on the line
2--2 of FIG. 1 and showing the lower portion of the oven
construction with a bake burner in the firebox beneath the oven
liner, and cooperating heating channels for heating the walls of
the oven liner, as well as an auxiliary secondary air supply means
in the bottom of the firebox with its normally open damper means
for use during the preheat portions of the baking and heat-cleaning
operations.
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary plan view looking down into the heat
exchanger and taken on the lines 3--3 of FIG. 1 to show the
compressed corrugated sheet metal nature of the vertical pipes of
the heat exchanger for the upward passage of the hot flue gases and
the downward passage of the ambient air.
Turning now to a consideration of the drawings and in particular to
FIG. 1, there is shown a free-standing domestic gas range 10 in
left side elevational view comprising a sheet metal outer cabinet
or body structure 11 supporting a horizontal cooktop 12 and an
underlying baking and broiling oven cooking cavity 13. The cooktop
12 supports a plurality of surface burners 15, which are not
illustrated in detail since the present invention centers around
the oven structure and its operation. Arranged along the back of
the cook top 12 is a backsplash 17 which supports a control panel
in the front face thereof which would have a complete array of oven
burner control components 18, including an oven thermostat, oven
timer, convenience outlets, and the like; generally of the same
nature as is found on a standard gas range. As shown, the controls
19 for the surface burners are located toward the front of the
cooktop.
The oven cavity 13 is formed by a boxlike oven liner 20 in
combination with a front-opening access door 21. The oven liner 20
has a bottom wall 23, opposite vertical sidewalls 24, a top wall 26
and a rear wall 27. The oven racks and their support means are not
shown for the sake of simplicity. The bottom wall 23 of the oven
liner is formed with a large generally rectangular opening 30, as
is best seen in FIG. 1, which is adapted to be covered by a
removable cover plate 31. The reason for the removable cover plate
31 is to make it possible to gain easy access to a bake burner 33
which is located in a combustion chamber or firebox 34 beneath the
bottom wall 23 of the oven liner. The front of the oven liner 20 is
open, and it has an outwardly turned flange 36 on its peripheral
edge as part of the supporting means for the oven liner. Fastening
means (not shown) such as adjustable J-bolts or the like are used
at the rear of the oven to pull the oven liner 20 back into the
body 11 until the flange 36 bears against a cooperating collar or
door frame 38. Sandwiched between the flange 36 and the door frame
38 is a thermal break 40 such as a continuous asbestos or fiber
glass gasket which serves to break the conductive path of the heat
flow from the oven liner to the front of the oven body, as well as
providing a sealing means between these two elements and preventing
flue gases from escaping at the front of the oven.
The oven door 21 is fabricated of sheet metal panels and it is
substantially filled with heavy thermal insulation (not shown) so
as to retain most of the heat within the oven cavity so that the
temperature of the outer surface of the door will be within a
comfortable temperature range so as not to cause discomfort or
injury to those who might touch it during a high-temperature
heat-cleaning operation, as well as to prevent the wasteful loss of
heat into the kitchen. The door 21 is shown with an outer door
panel 42 of shallow pan shape and an inner door panel 44 which is
adapted to be carried thereby, but is thermally isolated therefrom
by means of a high-temperature gasket material 45 such as woven
asbestos or the like. This gasket 45 also serves to bear against
the front flange 36 of the oven liner 20 and also engages the front
wall of the oven body 11 to substantially seal the front opening of
the oven when the door is closed and locked (by locking means not
shown) as it would be during a heat-cleaning cycle.
Located within the oven body 11, and surrounding the oven liner 20,
is an outer oven liner 47 that is spaced outwardly from the inner
oven liner 20 to form heating channels 50 therebetween. These
channels surround the oven liner and communicate with the firebox
34, as is best seen in the front elevational view of FIG. 2. The
hot flue gases from the bake burner 33 pass through the heating
channels 50 for raising the temperature of the walls of the inner
oven liner 20 for normal baking operations as well as for a
high-temperature heat-cleaning operation. This outer oven liner 47
has a bottom wall 52, rear wall 53, a top wall 54 and opposite
sidewalls 56. A layer 58 of thermal insulating material such as
fiber glass or the like is disposed outside of the outer oven liner
47 and inside of the oven body or cabinet structure 11 for
retaining the heat within the oven structure.
The direction of flow of the flue gases from the bake burner 33 is
generally up the two heating channels 50 at the two sides of the
inner oven liner 20 and back through the heating channel 50 over
the top of the inner oven liner and then down the back heating
channel 50 to exit through a flue gas exhaust opening 60 adjacent
the bottom portion of the back wall 53 of the outer oven liner 47,
as is best seen in FIG. 1. For a more detailed explanation of the
actual flue gas flow pattern for heating the walls of the inner
oven liner 20 and the manner in which it is directed, reference may
be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,507,265 of Bohdan Hurko and Raymond L.
Dills, which first taught of this construction. Another patent
showing a muffle oven design is U.S. Pat. No. 3,364,912 of the same
inventors Hurko and Dills.
In the oven configuration shown, the brake burner 33 is of a size
and a heat rating somewhere between 16,000 and 30,000 B.T.U.'s an
hour for a standard discharge nozzle and gas pressure. It is
optional whether one large burner or two small burners should be
used. The rear portion of the bake burner 33 has a venturi tube
throat 62 connected to a gasline connector 64 through the back wall
of the oven. A shroud 66 encircles the venturi and the gasline
connector 64. Air openings 67 are formed in the back wall of the
oven body so that the shroud is open to the atmosphere, and ambient
air may be introduced into the venturi tube throat 62 as primary
air for combustion. An adjustable air mixer head (not shown) is
combined with the venturi tube as is standard in this art in order
to provide the best air-to-gas mixture ratio. The means for
physically supporting the burner within the firebox and the
necessary pilot and gas line control valves are not shown, nor are
the temperature-sensing and control systems since they may be of
standard construction and do not form part of the present
invention.
An upper gas burner or broil burner 70 is assembled in the top of
the oven cavity 13 for use during normal broiling operations, but
it may be disregarded during the baking operations or during the
heat-cleaning cycle. This broil burner 70 and a venturi tube throat
72 that terminates within the oven cavity, and it connects with a
gasline 74 that extends out through the back of the oven.
The bake burner 33 will be used during baking operations for
raising the temperature within the oven cavity 13 to various levels
between 150.degree. F. and 550.degree. F. It only takes a short
time to reach the preset temperature such that the burner will only
operate for a short period of time at full rating, as for example
10-15 minutes. However, during a heat-cleaning cycle where the
maximum oven air temperature should reach somewhere between 750
.degree. F. and 950.degree. F., the preheat period of the cycle
might approximate 40-60 minutes, and the oven may be maintained at
maximum oven temperatures for up to 3 hours depending upon the
amount of food soils lodged on the walls of the oven liner and
inner surface of the door 21. The rate of "heat to maintain" the
oven at the maximum heat-cleaning temperature for a period of from
1-3 hours is about 75 percent of the preheat rate or about
10,000-16,000 B.T.U.'s per hour.
A gas burner produces very little radiant heat since the flames
radiate only about 10-15 percent of the heat of the burner, while
the remainder of the heating is accomplished by convection currents
of flue gases. In a standard gas oven large amounts of flue gases
and hot air pass through the oven. The heating value of 1 pound of
natural gas is about 30,000 B.T.U.'s per hour. For ideal combustion
it is necessary to have at least 15.3 pounds of air for each pound
of gas. However, an excess amount of air is needed in heating up
the oven, up to 300 percent of excess air. This means that for each
pound of gas up to about 61.2 pounds of air (15.3 .times.4 ) may be
needed to provide complete combustion while holding the amount of
carbon monoxide to a minimum.
If, for example, the flue gases are at the necessary maximum
heat-cleaning temperature of about 900 .degree. F. above the room
ambient temperature (.DELTA.t) when the gases break contact with
the walls of the inner oven liner 20 during the cleaning cycle, and
the heating rate is 1 pound of gas burner per hour, then the heat
of the exhaust may be calculated as follows:
Q=C.sub.p .DELTA.t (m.sub. a +m.sub. g )
=0.26 .times.900.times.(61.2+1 )= 14,650 B.T.U.'s per hour
m.sub.g =pounds of gas
m.sub.a =pounds of air
C.sub.p =specific heat of flue gas
.DELTA.t =temperature differential
The exhaust heat of 14,650 B.T.U.'s per hour is equivalent to
heating a kitchen with an electric heater of 4,300 watts rating. In
addition to this amount of heat being returned to the kitchen,
there will be the usual heat losses from the oven body which will
be of the same order of magnitude as the heat losses in a
self-cleaning electric oven and will depend upon the maximum
surface temperature of the oven body or cabinet 11.
In a self-cleaning electric oven the amount of circulated air
through the oven is very low, on the order of less than 3 cubic
feet per minute, as compared with a gas oven with an air movement
of about 38.6 cubic feet per minute. Hence, the heat exhausted by
an electric oven will be less than 8 percent of the heat exhausted
by a gas oven during the heat-cleaning cycle.
The high heat losses and the inherently low efficiency of a gas
burner system for a self-cleaning oven have led to the discovery of
significant improvements in the design; namely, the incorporation
of a heat exchanger 80 shown in FIG. 1 between the insulation layer
58 and the rear wall 53 of the outer oven liner 47. The heat
exchanger 80 substantially covers the back wall 53 of the outer
oven liner 47. The purpose of this heat exchanger 80 is to recover
much of the heat from the flue gases that leave the heating
channels 50 by way of the opening 60 before the gases are returned
to the kitchen atmosphere. This is accomplished by passing room
ambient air in a counterflow direction down through the heat
exchanger 80 which extracts heat from the flue gases. This heated
air is fed through openings 82 in the lower portion of the rear
wall of the outer oven liner 47 into the firebox 34 to serve as a
source of preheated secondary air for the bake burner 33.
A better understanding of the nature of the heat exchanger 80 may
be obtained by reference to the fragmentary cross-sectional plan
view of FIG. 3 taken on the line 3--3 of FIG. 1. The heat exchanger
80 has a series of individual vertical pipes where one set of
alternate pipes 86 handle the upward passAge of the hot flue gases,
while the alternate set of pipes 84 are for the downward passage of
the room ambient air. The actual construction of the heat exchanger
is very simple and ingenious in that it incorporates a thin
corrugated sheet metal configuration where the corrugated sheet is
compressed in its plane between its two sides such that the
corrugation close and engage each other along both the front side
87 and the back side 88, and it is best shown and described in a
copending application that was filed concurrently herewith, Ser.
No. 46,114, filed June 15, 1970. Notice that the pipes 84 and 86
have a transverse cross section of an isosceles triangle. Thus, the
heat exchanger 80 has a large surface area and it is an efficient
heat exchange medium. Notice also that these triangular pipes 84
and 86 reduce heat losses toward the outside because the entire
back wall 88 is cooled by ambient air. Thus, less insulation 58 is
needed to hold down the exterior temperatures of the range to
allowable limits. A louvered opening 90 is formed in the upper
portion of the back wall of the oven body as an ambient air inlet
opening. This air enters into a channel-shaped manifold 92 which
extends across the back of the oven and from which the air enters
the air pipes 84 through individual slots 94 in the air pipes.
Another set of louvered openings 96 are formed above the louvered
air inlet openings 90, and this is for exhausting the flue gases
that rise up the flue gas pipes 86 and empty in the rear area
beneath the cooktop 12 where they are dispersed either rearwardly
through the exhaust openings 96 or up through an opening 98 beneath
the backsplash panel.
It has been found best to provide some auxiliary means for
supplying secondary air to the bake burner 33 during the preheat
portion of a baking or heat-cleaning cycle when the heat exchanger
80 is relatively cold and it is not possible to create a sufficient
downdraft to draw the ambient air down the air pipes 84, 84. Such
an auxiliary air supply is furnished by providing a pair of
parallel openings 100 through the insulated bottom wall 52 of the
outer oven liner 47 such that room air may first enter the lower
portion of the oven body, as for example through the openings 102
in the back of the oven, and pass into the firebox through the
openings 100. Actually there is another plate 101 above the bottom
wall 52 and it has a series of spaced slots 103 positioned directly
under the bake burner 33.
Once the temperatures in the firebox 34, in the heating channels 50
and in the heat exchanger 80 have risen to a predetermined level,
sufficient air would then be drawn down through the heat exchanger
and introduced into the firebox as preheated secondary air. Then it
would be preferable to discontinue the auxiliary air supply through
the bottom openings 100. Hence, a normally open
temperature-responsive damper mechanism 104 is installed on the
bottom wall 52 of the outer oven liner 47, and it has a center
support member 105 that carries across its top a bimetallic strap
107 that extends over the sides of the support and is furnished at
each end with a hinged damper 109, such that when the temperature
within the firebox 34 reaches a predetermined level the bimetal
will flex downward causing the dampers 109, 109 to clamp down over
the openings 100 and substantially seal these openings, thereby
discontinuing the auxiliary secondary air supply.
In the oven as described above, no airflow has been described as
being capable of moving through the oven cavity 13. Such movement
would not be necessary during the baking operations or the
heat-cleaning operations. Now we come to a consideration of the
upper broiler burner 70. It, like all gas burners, requires a large
amount of oxygen for mixture with the gas to obtain the proper
combustion. Moreover, it is preferable to be able to operate the
broiler with the oven door closed such that the heat and spatter of
the oven will not enter the kitchen.
Closed door broiling has been furnished in this design by first
taking advantage of the presence of the bottom air openings 100 in
the bottom wall of the outer oven liner 47. Moreover, additional
air openings 110 are provided in the removable plate 31 forming a
portion of the bottom wall 23 of the inner oven liner 20. Of
course, air would not flow continuously into the oven cavity unless
there were also an exhaust vent for the air. This is provided by an
oven vent opening 115 in the top wall of the oven adjacent the rear
thereof. This oven vent 115 is provided with a normally closed
damper 117, and this damper is manually operated by linkage 119
which extends forwardly to the front edge of the cooktop 12 and is
shown with an external handle 121.
Thus, in order to initiate the closed door broiling operation it
would first be necessary to open the damper 117 and then ignite the
broiler burner 70 and air would flow through the oven cavity 13 by
first entering the openings 100 in the bottom of the oven and then
passing through the firebox and the openings 110 in the bottom of
the inner oven liner, and then after sweeping over the broiler
burner 70 would exhaust through the oven vent 115 and pass either
out through the backsplash opening 98 or back through the rear
openings 96, as best shown in FIG. 1. Only the broiler burner 70
would be operating during a broiling operation. Hence, the firebox
34 would be relatively cool and the normally open
temperature-responsive damper means 104 would remain open during
the entire broiling operation so as not to shut off the air supply
through the openings 100 to the broiler burner 70. The manually
operated damper 117 would be closed during both the baking and the
heat-cleaning operations and would be used only during the broiling
operations.
Modifications of this invention will occur to those skilled in this
art, therefore it is to be understood that this invention is not
limited to the particular embodiments disclosed but that it is
intended to cover all modifications which are within the true
spirit and scope of this invention as claimed.
* * * * *