Built-in cooking hob, with oversize external dimension, easily adaptable to adjacent encumbrances

Abstract: A built-in cooking hob, with oversize external width, having an upper visible part (1a) larger than the standard size of about 60 cm, has a lower base or carter (1b) of standard size, suitable to be recessed without play in a housing formed in the piece of furniture (10). The two parts (1a, 1b) of the cooking hob are adjustably fixed one to the other by means of a plurality of screws (7) integral with the upper visible part (1a) and going through the whole cooking hob (1) to be blocked on the lower side along elongated slots (9), formed in the sheet of the base in the direction of the width.

Description: The present invention concerns a built-in cooking hob, with oversize external dimension, easily adaptable to adjacent encumbrances, in particular next to a sink, since it can be moved leftwards or rightwards with respect to a central position, symmetrical both with respect to the hollow in the piece of furniture and to the carter or base housed in said hollow. It is known that in modern kitchens with integrated furniture it is often requested by the user to have cooking hobs with oversize supporting surface, in particular with width greater than the standard size of about 60 cm. On the other hand it is known that furniture-makers have conformed themselves to the standardization of said sizes so that it is not thinkable, unless with great manufacturing difficulties for the furniture-maker, to form hollows or "holes" of greater size in furniture which is already sized for these standard widths of 60 cm. Since it happens sometimes that a sink or another standard size domestic appliance is housed next to a cooking hob, so that it is not possible for an oversize width cooking hob to extend towards it, as it is possible on the contrary towards an area of the furniture surface to be used as a work top only, in these instances it is required to move most of the bulk of the cooking hob towards the side opposite to the one next to the encumbrance (sink or the like). Rejecting the solution of modifying the hollows, for the reasons mentioned above, the problem has been solved so far by providing the base of the cooking hob with a width significantly smaller than the standard size of 60 cm as known from EP-A-505 806. In this way, a certain mobility of the cooking hob with respect to the underlying hollow is assured since its base is free to move with respect to the latter. However, by reducing the size of the base other drawbacks arise such as the need to assemble the elements very near one to the other but most of all a reduced dispersion of the heat and a significant increase of the temperature on the walls of the base due to the smaller volume of air contained therein. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a cooking hob whose size is greater than the standard one, that can be recessed in the same hollow formed for a conventional size hob and is also provided with a conventional size, non reduced, base, which is fixedly housed inside the hollow, having, however, the visible part of the cooking hob capable of being moved from one side to the other with respect to the base so as to have most of the bulk on the right or on the left according to the need. This object is achieved by means of a cooking hob whose base is adjustably fixed to the upper visible part of the hob through a plurality of screws integral with the upper part and passing through the whole height of the cooking hob so as to be blocked on the lower side along elongated slots oriented in the direction of the width. Other objects, advantages and characteristics of the cooking hob according to the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description of a preferred embodiment thereof, reported as non-limiting example, referring to the annexed drawings wherein : Fig. 1 shows an upside down perspective view of a cooking hob according to the invention whose visible upper part has a width greater than the standard value of 60 cm; and Figs.2a, 2b and 2c show three different placings of the cooking hob according to the invention. Referring to fig. 1, the cooking hob according to the invention is shown upside down, so as to illustrate mainly the lower side of the cooking hob 1, i.e. the base or carter 1b though the upper part 1a is also visible, which is intended to abut on the surface of the furniture or "top". Arrows F indicate the direction of the width of the cooking hob and it should be noted that in said direction the size of part 1a is greater compared to the conventional standardized ones, of about 60 cm. According to the present invention, on the contrary, the size of the base or carter 1b in the direction of the width as mentioned above is exactly the same as the standard one, so that this part of the cooking hob, containing the various members for the regulation, control and distribution of the heating energy (gas or electricity), is housed in the suitable hollow in the furniture, having exactly the same size, but for a little play, without any possibility of movement. With reference to fig.2a, it is illustrated a situation wherein a cooking hob 1 as the one shown in fig.1 is recessed into a standard size piece of furniture, placed side by side with two similar pieces of furniture 10' and 10'' which form a continuous work surface or "top" 20. If the lateral portions of the upper plate 1a projecting with respect to the base 1b are indicated by the numerals 3 and 5 for the left and right side, respectively, in fig.2a there is seen that the portions 3 and 5 abut on the surface 20 without any problem. Referring now to fig.2b, where the piece of furniture 10, wherein the cooking hob 1 is recessed, is placed side by side, on the right of the drawing, with a sink 11, the lateral projecting portion 5 of the upper plate 1a can not extend rightwards, where sink 11 nearly reaches the edge of the piece of furniture 10. In this case, the upper part 1a of the cooking hob will be moved leftwards with respect to base 1b which obviously remains fixed inside its standard housing. This may be done since the upper part 1a of the cooking hob is usually fixed to the carter or lower base 1b by means of screws 7 as shown in fig.1. More precisely, said screws 7 may be formed by a threaded shank integral with said upper part 1a of the cooking hob and going down through the whole underlying carter 1b till they come out from the lower side thereof, to which they can be fixed by means of a nut or any other fixing device. Each screw 7 comes out below carter 1b through an elongated slot 9 extending for a certain length in the direction of the width. In normal conditions, with centered upper plate 1a, as in figs.1 and 2a, screws 7, five of them being represented here, are fixed at the center of the respective slot 9. The length of slots 9 corresponds to the maximum possible movement of the upper plate 1a with respect to the base, illustrated in figs.2b and 2c, where, respectively, the upper plate 1a is moved completely leftwards (and portion 3 is therefore nearly doubled in width, to the loss of portion 5, compared to the centered situation of figs.1 and 2a) and rightwards, not being on the left a surface 20 whereupon it can extend with its portion 3, since in this case the cooking hob 1 is recessed in the first piece of furniture 10 on the left side (and now it is portion 5 which is practically double in width to the loss of portion 3). It should be noted that, by making mutually movable the upper part of the cooking hob and the lower protection base, non-rigid connections must be provided between the two parts to allow the movements.

Claims: A built-in cooking hob, with oversize external width, having an upper visible part (1a) and a lower base (1b), characterized in that the latter, of standard size and suitable to be recessed without play in a housing of corresponding size, is adjustably fixed to said part (1a) of the hob by means of a plurality of screws (7) integral with part (1a) and going through the whole height of the cooking hob (1) to be blocked on the lower side along elongated slots (9) extended in the direction of the width. A cooking hob according to claim 1, characterized in that said upper visible part (1a) of the hob (1) projects sidewise with respect to said lower base (1b) with two lateral portions (3, 5), on the left and on the right respectively, of equal width when said screws (7) are blocked at the center of said slots (9). A cooking hob according to claim 2, characterized in that the sum of the widths of said projecting portions (3, 5) is constant for any adjustment of the cooking hob, up to concentrating completely in portion (3), with portion (5) practically negligible, in the case of the upper plate (1a) completely moved to the left and on the contrary in portion (5), with portion (3) practically negligible, with the upper plate (1a) completely moved to the right, the length of slots (9) being equal to the maximum possible movement between these two end positions.

Inventors: BERTAZZONI ROBERTO, BERTAZZONI, ROBERTO
Applicants: SMEG SPA, SMEG S.P.A.
Application year: 1993
Main classification: F24C15
IPC codes: F24C15