Cooking Ovens

Abstract

The shelf of a domestic cooking oven, instead of resting directly on runners at the side walls of the oven, has outriggers cantilevered from the front corners of the shelf extending rearwards alongside the ends of the shelf and engaging runners hidden behind the side walls of the oven or behind liners covering the side walls. The runners may be on the side walls or on the liners and the liners may have a heat-clean finish or be readily detachable and have a vitreous enamel or other easily cleaned finish.

Description

This invention relates to the supporting of shelves in domestic cooking ovens.

Hitherto oven shelves have been supported at various heights by runners on the inner surfaces of the panels at each side of the oven. The runners have either been formed integrally on a panel or as separate members attached to a panel and in each case present difficulties in cleaning the oven.

The present invention consists in a domestic cooking oven shelf of generally rectangular form having, spaced laterally from each end of the shelf, a shelf-supporting outrigger extending rearwards as a cantilever from the front of the shelf, the two outriggers lying parallel to one another in, or parallel to, the plane of the shelf and being adapted to support the shelf in the oven by sliding engagement with runners at the sides of the oven.

According to another aspect of the invention runners for supporting one or more shelves at different heights are disposed behind substantially flat front surfaces, that is to say the surfaces facing the cooking space, of the side walls of the oven chamber or of liners covering the side walls of the oven chamber, access for the outriggers to engage the runners being provided by openings in a border at each side of the door opening to the oven chamber and the shelf or shelves being supported in the oven substantially without touching said front surfaces.

As the front surfaces of the side walls or liners exposed to the oven chamber are substantially flat they are less liable to collect dirt than conventional walls with exposed runners and are more easily cleaned when soiled. The cantilever shelf-supporting outriggers enable the ends of the shelf or shelves to be well clear of the front surfaces so that abrasion and wear of the surface finishes of the front surfaces through engagement by the shelf or shelves can be avoided.

Preferably the runners are on the backs of the oven side walls that is to say on the surfaces directed away from the oven chamber, but the runners may be on the front surfaces of the oven side walls, that is directed towards the oven chamber, and be covered by liners or be on the backs of liners. Even when the runners are on the backs of the side walls clearance between the side walls and the ends of the shelf or shelves makes it possible for the side walls to be covered by liners and it is preferred that they should be covered.

Liners may be given a soiling-resistant finish which may be of the kind which is self-cleaning when sufficiently heated or of vitreous enamel or other easily cleaned surface finish. When they have a finish such as vitreous enamel the liners are preferably loose or readily detachable so that they can be easily lifted out and taken to the sink for cleaning. If the liners are separable from the oven the customer can be offered a choice of finishes.

The invention will now be described by way of example only and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a domestic cooker oven shell fitted with one shelf.

FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic cross-section through the side walls of an oven shell generally similar to that of FIG. 1 but fitted with a liner.

FIGS. 3 to 6 are cross-sectional views similar to FIG. 2 of further modifications.

FIG. 1 shows the oven shell of a cooker having two side walls 1 each with a substantially flat front surface 2, that is to say the surface facing the cooking space, an outwardly directed front flange 3 forming a border at each side of the door opening to the oven chamber, and a rear flange 4. Vertically spaced horizontal runners 5 are located on the outer surface of the side walls 1 by welding between the flanges 3, 4 lengths of top-hat section by the out-turned flanges along the free edges of the webs of the channel of the top-hat section so that the channel openings are closed by the side walls. Openings 6 in the front flanges 3 allow access to the runners. The rear ends of the runners are sealed so that oven dirt, grease vapour or, in the case of a gas oven, products of combustion cannot escape from the oven through the runners.

An oven shelf 7 comprises a rectangular frame 8 supporting cross-bars 9. The frame 8 and cross-bars 9 may be made from wire of round or rectangular cross-section. Outriggers 10 extend rearwards as cantilevers from the front corners of the shelf 7 and are well spaced from and parallel to the end members of the frame 8 so that when they are fitted into the runners 5 the end members of the frame do not touch the front surface of side walls 1. The runners may contain rollers or other means to reduce friction between the outriggers 10 and the runners 5. As shown in the drawing each outrigger 10 is formed as an extension of the adjacent end member of the frame 8 by being formed from the same length of wire but the outriggers may be separate pieces of wire attached to the frame. The openings 6 in the side panels 1 extend rearwardly from the front flanges 3 so that the front ends of the outriggers 10 can be fitted entirely within the oven.

The outriggers 10 are shown in the drawings as lying in the plane of the frame of the shelf but they may be cranked with respect to the frame 8 so as to lie in a plane parallel to the frame. The height of the shelf with respect to the oven can then be adjusted by turning the shelf over, the amount of the adjustment being about twice that of the crank.

The shelf shown is strong enough to support all normal loads but when exceptionally heavy loads are foreseen it may be necessary to add a support feature (not shown) to the inner surfaces of the side panels. Such a feature, for example a peg or a roller, would be positioned sufficiently low not to engage the shelf when it is deflected by normal loads.

In FIG. 2 the oven shell construction is similar to that of FIG. 1 including runners 5 of top-hat section welded to side walls 1 but the front of each side wall is covered by a detachable liner 11 the front surface 12 of which is substantially flat and preferably free of any perforation or protrusions or indentations which can collect dirt. The surface finish of the front surface 12 is soiling-resistant and may either be of the kind which is self-cleaning when sufficiently heated or of vitreous enamel or other easily cleaned surface finish. When a vitreous enamel or similar finish is provided the liners 11 are made readily detachable from the side walls, for example by hook engagement with lugs on the side walls. The liners can then be easily removed for cleaning.

The shelf 7 of FIG. 1 can be used with the oven construction of FIG. 2 as there is adequate clearance for the liners 11 between the end members of the frame 8 and the parts of the side walls 1. The shelf 7 of FIG. 1 can also be used with the oven constructions of FIGS. 3 to 6 all of which include liners.

In the oven construction of FIG. 3 the shelf runners 5 are formed by top-hat section members similar to those shown in FIG. 1 but welded to the fronts of the side walls 1 instead of the backs. The liners 11 cover the side walls and channel members. Although the outriggers would still not be visible if the liners were not used, the ledges formed by the channel section members, if exposed to the oven interior during cooking, would become soiled and be more difficult to clean than the substantially flat front surfaces of the liners 11.

In FIG. 4 the shelf runners 5 are shown as formed in the conventional manner integrally with the fronts of the side walls. The runners 5 and outriggers 10 of the shelves are covered by the liners 11. With this construction, deep outriggers capable of engaging both the confronting upper and lower surfaces of adjacent runners are preferable to prevent the shelf tipping. Such a deep runner could be formed by using a longer length of wire for the outrigger 10 and doubling it back at the rear to form a second rail parallel to but well spaced from a first rail which corresponds to the single rail outrigger 10 of FIG. 1.

In FIG. 5 runners 5 are of top-hat section similar to FIG. 1 but welded to the backs of the liners 11.

In FIG. 6 the runners 5 are also mounted on the liners but are of open channel section welded to the liners by the backs of the webs of the channel and with the channel openings directed laterally of the side walls of the oven chamber, facing away from the oven chamber in the example illustrated. Similarly mounted open channel members may also be used as alternatives to the top-hat section members of FIG. 3.

With all these constructions the use of liners in conjunction with cantilever shelves enables the side wall surfaces in the oven which are exposed to soiling during cooking to be flat, free from abrasion and wear through engagement by the shelves, and therefore freer from soiling and easier to clean.

Claims

I claim:

1. A domestic cooking oven including a shelf of generally rectangular form having spaced laterally from each end thereof a shelf-supporting outrigger extending rearwards as a cantilever from the front of the shelf, the two outriggers lying parallel to one another in, or parallel to, the plane of the shelf and supporting the shelf in the oven at different heights by sliding engagement with any pair of a plurality of pairs of runners at the sides of the oven, the runners of each pair being at opposite sides of the oven and at the same level.

2. A domestic cooking oven according to claim 1 wherein the outriggers are asymmetrical with respect to the plane of the shelf for the purpose of shelf height adjustment by turning the shelf over.

3. A domestic cooking oven according to claim 1 wherein the shelf has a frame of wire and each outrigger is formed from the length of wire which forms the adjacent end member of the frame and as an extension thereof.

4. A domestic cooking oven including at least one shelf of generally rectangular form having spaced laterally from each end thereof a shelf-supporting outrigger extending rearwards as a cantilever from the front of the shelf, the two outriggers lying parallel to one another in, or parallel to, the plane of the shelf and being slidably engageable with runners for supporting the shelf at different heights, said runners being disposed behind substantially flat front surfaces (that is to say the surfaces facing the cooking space) of the side walls of the oven chamber or of liners covering the side walls of the oven chamber, access for the outriggers to engage the runners being provided by openings in a border at each side of the door opening to the oven chamber and the shelf being supported in the oven substantially without touching said front surfaces.

5. An oven according to claim 4 wherein the runners are on the backs of the side walls of the oven chamber.

6. An oven according to claim 5 wherein the runners are on the front of the side walls of the oven chamber but covered by liners affording said front surfaces.

7. An oven according to claim 4 and having liners covering the side walls of the oven chamber wherein the runners are on the backs of the liners.

8. An oven according to claim 4, wherein the runners are formed by open channel members mounted by the backs of the webs of the channel members and with their channel openings extending laterally of the side walls of the oven chamber.

9. An oven according to claim 4, wherein the runners are formed by channel members secured by the free edges of the flanges, or by out-turned flanges thereon, to the side walls or liners, the channel openings being closed by the side walls or liners to which the channel members are secured.

10. An oven according to claim 4 wherein the side walls of the oven are covered by liners.

11. An oven according to claim 10 wherein the front surfaces of the liners have a surface finish which is easily cleaned and the liners are readily detachable from the side walls of the oven chamber.

12. An oven according to claim 10 wherein the front surfaces of the liners have a surface finish which is self-cleaning when sufficiently heated.