CONTROLS FOR LIQUID HEATING VESSELS

Abstract: A thermally sensitive control unit for a liquid heating vessel comprises a pair of L-shaped metal side plates (20) between which are sandwiched an electrical connector unit (16) and a switch unit (26). A pair of thermally sensitive actuators (24) are mounted for thermal contact with the base of a liquid heating vessel on a corner plate (22) which is also mounted between the plates (20), the actuator (24) operates to trip a trip lever (78), which opens a set of contacts in the switch unit (26) in the event that the base of the liquid heating vessel overheats. A steam sensitive switch (10) mounted between the plates (20) also operates to trip the lever (78) to open the contacts.

Description: Controls for Liquid Heating Vessels The present invention relates to controls for electrically powered liquid heating vessels, and in particular to water heating vessels such as jugs and kettles, having heated bases, for example having an electrical heating element secured to the underside of the vessel base. It has been common in such vessels to provide thermally sensitive overheat protection means in thermal contact with the element of the vessel which operates to interrupt or reduce the supply of electrical energy to the element in the event of the element overheating, as might happen if the vesεel boils dry or if it is switched on without any liquid in it. Typically such overheat protection means comprises a thermally sensitive switch, mounted on the base plate of the vessel, which operates to open a set of contacts in the electrical supply to the element. The switch may, for example, comprise a bimetallic actuator, and be such aε to reset automatically upon the container cooling down. Some vessels may also be provided with a one-shot device such as a thermal fuse arranged under the base, which senses a dangerous overheating of the vessel and must be replaced after it operates . Furthermore, said vessels typically comprise a power connector, for connection to an external power supply. Such connections are typically positioned in a peripheral edge of a base compartment, or in the base of a handle of the vessel. The connector and the overheat protection means are separately mounted components which have to be interconnected electrically after assembly to the vessel. This is both inconvenient and expensive in assembly of the vessel . The present invention seeks to overcome these problems, and from a first aspect provides a thermally sensitive control unit for an electrically powered liquid heating vessel, comprising at leaεt one, preferably bimetallic, actuator arranged so as to be engageable in good thermal contact with the base of the vesεel, and an electrical connector unit having terminal means for connection to an external power supply, said actuator and said connector unit being mounted, at laterally spaced apart locations, on a common elongate support . Thus in accordance with the invention, a thermally responsive actuator and a connector unit are mounted on a common support which can then be mounted aε an assembly to the vesεel baεe, which conεiderably facilitates assembly of the vessel. Whilst the support may be a plastics moulding, for example, having suitable mounting locations for the actuator and the connector unit, in view of the high temperatures experienced below the vessel base, the support is preferably metallic. This will provide the necessary strength for the control and will be relatively inexpensive. Most preferably, for ease of manufacture and for cost reasonε, the εupport comprises one or more plates, most preferably metal plates. Although it would be possible to use moulded plastics plates, this is not preferred for reasonε of cost. Preferably the support compriseε a pair of side plates, most preferably generally parallel side plates, suitably connected together. This may be done, for example, by forming a sheet or strip into a U-shaped configuration the side arms being joined by a base plate. Most preferably, however the side plates are separate plates and joined together by suitable means. The use of side plates in a control iε in itself a novel arrangement, so from a further broad aspect the invention also provides a thermally sensitive control unit for an electrically powered liquid heating vessel comprising an elongate support comprising a pair of side plates connected together, a thermally responsive bimetallic actuator mounted at a first location on said support and an electrical connector unit mounted at a second location on said support spaced from εaid firεt location. In the preferred embodiment, the connector unit iε εandwiched and located between the side plates. Preferably the support is relatively slender, being not substantially wider than the connector. Preferably the connector unit comprises a moulded inlet housing mounting a number of terminal pins in a predetermined configuration and which iε mounted to the support. Moεt preferably the εupport is configured so as to be able to receive a range of connector units, for example a "corded" unit in which the pinε extend horizontally for connection to a power lead or a "cordleεε" unit in which the pins may, for example, extend vertically for engagement with a connector provided on a base for the vessel . The terminal pins of the connector unit may extend through mounting apertures in the inlet moulding and be riveted over to electrical conductors on the reverse face of the inlet base to retain them in position. Preferably the electrical conductors, at least those connected to the line and neutral terminal pins of the connector, are resilient metal strips which mount contacts at their other ends, as will be described below. The earth pin is preferably riveted to an earth plate or strap which joins the εide plates together, the side plates then providing an earthing path from the vessel base to the earth pin. The actuator is preferably mounted on an upwardly facing surface of the support. Although the bimetallic actuator may be directly mounted to the support, preferably it is mounted to a carrier, most preferably a metallic carrier, which iε itself mounted to the support. In the preferred embodiment, the carrier iε arranged to join the side plates together, thereby also providing an earth path to the element. The actuator, which iε preferably a εnap-acting actuator, for example of the type deεcribed in GB 1542252, operateε to open a set of switch contacts in the electrical supply to the vessel heater. Preferably the fixed contact of the contact set is mounted on an electrically insulating body, for example a moulding, mounted to the support and arranged below the actuator and the movable contact of the contact set is provided on a leaf εpring which is joined to a terminal pin of the electrical connector, aε described above. The actuator may allow the contacts to re-make after it haε cooled, but preferably the actuator operates to trip a spring loaded trip lever pivotally mounted to the support which opens or continues to open the contacts upon operation of the actuator and which must be manually reset by a user when it is desired to re- energise the heater. Preferably two actuators are provided, each acting to open a respective set of contacts in a respective pole of the electrical supply to the heater. In the preferred arrangement, the actuator(s) first open the contactε, thereafter tripping the trip lever which then openε the contacts further and holds them open until they are reset manually. Whilst the present invention may provide just overheat protection for a vesεel, it alεo facilitateε the provision of a boiling control for the vesεel which diεconnects the power supply to the vessel heater when liquid in the vesεel boilε . Variouε arrangementε have been proposed for providing boiling controls in vesselε with heated bases. In one proposal, a separate steam- sensitive switch is mounted in an upper part of a handle of the vesεel and connected electrically to the overheat protector and electrical connector. However, thiε is expensive in terms of individual components and assembly. In another, it has been proposed to conduct a steam pipe around or through the baεe of the veεεel to exhaust steam onto a steam sensitive actuator arranged under the vessel base. However this can be expensive, particularly where a pipe is mounted through the vessel baεe, and, furthermore, there may not always be εufficient space available under the vesεel baεe to accommodate a boiling control. Also, it iε disadvantageouε to conduct steam (and even posεibly liquid if the vessel is overfilled) into the region of the vessel base where liquid may collect or come into contact with live electrical parts, particularly the electrical contactε. In the embodimentε described above, this problem may be overcome by forming the support εo aε to be generally L-shaped with the thermally sensitive actuator mounted on one limb of the control and a steam-εenεitive actuator on the other limb of the control so that it may be arranged, in use, behind a side wall of the vesεel. An L-εhaped control is believed to be a novel arrangement, and from a further broad aspect of the invention, the invention provides a generally 'L' shaped control unit for an electrically powered water heating vessel, comprising a first thermally sensitive actuator arranged on one limb of the control for engagement with the base of the vesεel and a second, steam senεitive actuator arranged on the other limb of the control, for poεitioning behind a εide wall of the vessel. Thus in accordance with thiε aspect of the invention, a thermally sensitive overheat protection device, for example a bimetallic actuator as described above, is mounted under the base of the vesεel and a steam εensitive actuator, for example a snap-acting bimetallic actuator, is arranged adjacent the side wall of the vessel, the respective actuators being mounted on respective limbs of an L-shaped control. This not only provides a unitary control which can be mounted to the vesεel in one operation, but also is self locating, as it may engage on the side wall and baεe of the vessel . In the preferred embodiment described above, the steam sensitive actuator will be arranged generally above the connector unit of the control. Preferably the steam sensitive actuator will be a bimetallic actuator, most preferably a snap-acting bimetallic actuator. Preferably the actuator iε mounted in a steam chamber which iε mounted to the εupport, the εteam chamber having an inlet which in uεe receiveε εteam from the veεsel, for example from a steam pipe connected to an aperture in the upper part of the vessel wall . Although the steam sensitive actuator may operate a separate set(ε) of electrical contactε, it preferably openε the same set of contacts as the overheat protector. Most preferably therefore, in the preferred arrangement described above the steam senεitive actuator acts to trip the trip lever of the control so as to open one or more sets of contacts when liquid in the vesεel boilε. The trip lever may therefore be generally L-εhaped, so as to extend upwardly to the steam senεitive actuator. The trip lever may alεo mount a control knob for operation by a user, so that the control may be reset after operation either of the steam control or overheat protector. Preferably at leaεt one of the actuatorε iε adjustably mounted on the support so as to accommodate manufacturing tolerances when the control is mounted to the vessel. For example, the steam chamber may be mounted so as initially to be rotatable so that it can be rotated to a bring the steam actuator into contact with the trip lever arm and then fixed in position. In use, the control will be located in the desired position around a lower edge of the vessel with the thermally sensitive actuator(s) in good thermal contact with the vessel base, and with the steam actuator arranged adjacent the side wall of the vessel. The control and/or vesεel may be provided with εuitable meanε to locate and secure the control in position on the vessel . The act of mounting the control also preferably earths the element . It will be appreciated that the concept of an L- εhaped control need not be limited to having a εteam sensitive actuator provided on an upper limb of the control. It would be possible also, for example, to mount a (further) thermally senεitive actuator in thiε position which could be εensitive to the temperature of liquid in the vesεel itself, and for example cycle to maintain the liquid temperature at a predetermined value. From a yet further broad aspect, therefore the invention provides a generally L-shaped control for a liquid heating vessel having respective thermally senεitive actuatorε mounted on reεpective limbs of the control . One particular application for the control is in liquid heating vessels in which a sheathed electrical heating element is mounted to the underside of the vessel base, for example to an aluminium or aluminium alloy heat diffusion plate which is bonded to the vesεel base. In certain fault conditions, particularly due to manufacturing problems leading to poor local heat transfer from the element to the vessel base through the diffusion plate, the element may actually fall from the vessel base, whilst still being powered. In the preferred embodiment of the invention described above, the trip lever of the control may be arranged so as to underlie a portion of the element such that if the element drops, it will engage and trip the trip lever so as to open the switch contacts . This is in itself believed to be a novel arrangement and from a further aspect, therefore, the invention provides an electrically powered liquid heating vessel comprising a sheathed heating element attached to the underside of the vessel base, and a control mounted to the vessel, said control comprising means arranged such that in the event of the element falling from the veεεel base, εaid means operateε to interrupt the εupply of electrical energy to the element . A preferred embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawingε in which: Fig. 1 iε a schematic away perspective view of a control in accordance with the invention; Fig. 2 is a view similar to that of Fig. 1 with certain components cut away for clarity; Fig. 3 iε an exploded perspective view of the control of Figs . 1 and 2 ; and Fig. 4 is a schematic underneath perspective view showing the control of Figs. 1-3 mounted to a liquid heating vessel . As can be εeen from the drawings, preferred control 2 according to the invention is generally L-shaped having respective upper and lower limbs 4,6. At the upper end 8 of the upper limb 4 is mounted a steam unit 10 and at the outer end 12 of the lower limb is mounted an overheat protector unit 14. An electrical connector unit 16 is mounted at the lower end 18 of the upper limb 4 below the steam unit 10. Operation of either the steam unit 10 or the overheat protector unit 14 opens a set of contactε in the electrical supply to the element of the control as will be described in greater detail below. Dealing in more detail with the control construction, it compriseε a pair of L-εhaped, galvanised εteel εide plateε 20 which, aε will be described below, are held together by the various components sandwiched between them. The overheat protector unit 14 comprises a stamped galvanised steel carrier plate 22 mounted at the outer end 12 of the lower control limb 6, which mountε two εnap-acting bimetallic actuators 24 of the type described in GB 1542252. The carrier 22 overlies a plastics moulding 26 which has guide bores 28 arranged beneath a movable portion of the bimetallic actuators 22 to receive electrically insulating puεh rodε 30. The moulding 26 mountε, in slots 42, a pair of electrical terminals 32 whose outer ends 34 are connected to the cold tails 36 of a heating element 38 of the vessel and which carry at their other ends respective fixed electrical contacts 40. The moulding alεo includeε, at one end 44, channels 46 for receiving respective leaf springε 48. The leaf springs 48 mount electrical contactε 50 on their outer ends 52 and are riveted at their other ends to the line and neutral pins 54,56 of the electrical connector unit 16. The connector unit 16 compriseε a moulded plastics inlet housing 58 which has apertures 60 in the rear face thereof for receiving the line and neutral pins 54,56 and an earth pin 62. As stated above, the line and neutral pins 54,56 are riveted to the ends of the leaf springs 52 which extend upwardly through slotε 64 in the moulding 58. The earth pin 62 iε riveted to an earth strap or plate 66 having lugs 68 which extend laterally from the connector unit 16 through the side plates 20 and which are riveted to the εide plates thereby holding the plates together and also providing an electrically conductive path from the earth pin 62 to the base of the vesεel through the side plates 20 and the carrier plate 22 which is faεtened to the vessel base. The inlet moulding 58, pins 54,56,62, leaf springs 52 and earth plate 66 are preassembled into an inlet/ conductor sub-assembly before mounting to the control . The contactε 52 of the respective leaf springs 48 are arranged to lie below the fixed contacts 40 of the terminals 32, and their free ends 70 are arranged to extend between respective pairs of abutments 72,74 provided on one end 76 of a trip lever 78 which is mounted pivotally between the side plates 20. The trip lever 78 comprises a plastics moulding part 80 which is pivotally mounted on knife edges 82 in knife edge slotε 84 in the εide plates 20. The firεt abutment 72 iε arranged to lie under each of the leaf springs 48 with the second abutment 74 lying over the leaf springε 48. Upon assembly of the control, the push rods 30 acted upon by the bimetallic actuatorε 24 engage with the leaf εpringε such that when they operate, the puεh rodε move the endε 52 of the leaf εpringε 48 downwardly to break the contacts 40,50, and then to move the leaf springs sufficiently far so that they engage the respective abutments 74 to pivot the trip lever 78 to the point where the lever goes over centre with respect to a C- spring 90 arranged between the lever moulding 80 and the moulding 26. This causes the trip lever to move downwardly with a snap action, the abutment 72 then picking up the end 52 of the leaf spring to continue movement of the leaf spring εo as to open the contacts 40,50 by a predetermined amount, preferably over 3 mm. At the other end of the trip lever moulding 80 iε mounted a preεεed metal lever 92 which haε an upwardly extending arm 94 which iε forked at itε end. The arm 94 extendε through a εlot 96 in the inlet moulding 58. The firεt forked portion 98 of the arm extendε through a slot opening 100 formed in a εteam chamber 102 for engagement with a bimetallic actuator 104 arranged in the εteam chamber. The other forked portion 112 iε intended to extend from the rear of the control to mount a uεer-operated knob (not shown) . The steam chamber 102, which may be made, for example in two parts, is open at its upper end 106 to receive steam from a εteam pipe 108. Vents 110 are provided to allow steam and condensation to escape from the chamber 102, and corresponding vent holes 112 are provided in the side plates 20. The bimetallic blade 104 is mounted generally vertically in a suitable seat in the chamber 102 so as to engage the trip lever portion 98 when it operates in response to steam entering the chamber upon liquid in the vesεel boiling, εo as to trip the lever 78 and open the contacts 40,50 to disconnect the power supply to the heater. In asεembly of the control, variouε modules are first preasεembled. Theεe moduleε may be, for example: the εteam chamber 102 and εteam εenεitive bimetallic actuator 104; the carrier plate 22 and thermally sensitive bimetallic actuators 24; the moulding 26; the electrical connector unit 16 comprising the moulded inlet housing 58, the respective line, neutral and earth pins 54,56,62, the contact carrying leaf springs 48 and earth plate 66; and the trip lever 78. The variouε modules are then be assembled together between the side plates 20 in the appropriate positions. The various components may have suitable locating means such as pegs or spigots which engage in location holes on the side plates 20. Suitable retaining means may also be provided to hold the plates 20 together for example the lugs on the carrier plate 22 and the earth plate 66 which may be staked over to secure the side plateε together. The trip lever 76 may then be mounted between the εide plateε 20 and the C-spring 90 placed between itε reεpective εeatε on the trip lever 76 and the moulding 26 to cock the mechanism. The control may then be mounted to a suitable location on the base 3 of a liquid heating vessel 1, with the bimetallic actuators 24 being arranged in good thermal contact with the base 3 of the vessel and the steam unit 10 being arranged adjacent the side wall 5 of the vessel under the steam pipe 108 leading from an upper part of the vessel. A forwardly projecting flange 103 on the steam chamber 102 may abut the side wall 5. The control is secured to the vessel 1 by suitable meanε, not εhown, for example screws extending into the base 3 through mounting holes 23 in the bimetal carrier 22. In operation, should the liquid in the vessel boil, εteam will be exhauεted onto the εteam εenεitive bimetallic actuator which, when it operateε, will act on the end 98 of the trip lever 94 to cause the trip lever to go overcentre with respect to the C-spring 90, thereby opening the contacts 40,50. If it is desired to reheat liquid in the vesεel then the contactε 40,50 may be cloεed again by moving the operating knob 112 to an 'on' poεition, thereby cloεing the switch contactε again. In the event that the vessel iε turned on without any water in it, or boils dry, and the base of the vessel overheats, one or both of the overheat protection bimetallic actuators 24 will operate moving the push rods 30 downwardly to engage with the leaf spring(s) 48 to open the contactε 40,50. The leaf εpring(ε) 48 will then move further to trip the trip lever 76 to open contactε further. Such a "trip free" arrangement meanε that even if the trip lever 76 iε held cloεed, the contactε 40,50 will εtill open to diεable the heater. To reset the control the user may move the knob to 'on' position again. Although not shown, it would be possible, for example to provide a spigot (for example a ceramic pin) pressed into the trip lever moulding, underneath the element, so that should the element drop, the trip lever will trip to operate contacts 40,50 do diεable the element. Other εimilar arrangementε may be enviεaged, for example, an arm pivoted on the εupport and coupled to the trip lever, so that should the element drop from the vessel base onto the arm, it will pivot to trip the trip lever. The lever effect may provide a mechanical advantage so that a large movement of the element will produce a smaller movement of the lever, but with a greater force to operate the trip lever. It will be appreciated that the invention allows a modular control to be produced in which modules can be changed for different installationε . For example, if a cordleεs appliance is required, the electrical connector may be reconfigured and suitably supported on the side limbs . Furthermore, various modifications may be envisaged within the scope of the invention. For example, the steam chamber 102 may be mounted so as to be rotatable so aε to take up any toleranceε in the trip lever εystem, so that the actuator 104 will be in the proper position relative to the trip lever after asεembly. An arcuate εlot could therefore be provided in each εide plate 20 to align with the vent hole 110, and a second arcuate slot provided to receive a spigot or the like which could be staked into a final desired position, if required. Furthermore, the invention iε not limited to uεe with veεεelε having εheathed heating elementε attached to the base of the vessel, but can equally be applied, for example, to vesεelε having a thick film element printed or otherwiεe depoεited on the baεe of the veεεel .

Claims: ( "1 aims 1. A thermally sensitive control unit for an electrically powered liquid heating vesεel, comprising at leaεt one thermally sensitive actuator arranged εo aε to be engageable in good thermal contact with the baεe of the veεεel, and an electrical connector unit having terminal meanε for connection to an external power εupply, εaid actuator and said connector unit being mounted at laterally εpaced apart locations on a common elongate support. 2. A control unit as claimed in claim 1 wherein said support iε metallic. 3. A thermally sensitive control unit for an electrically powered liquid heating vessel comprising an elongate support comprising a pair of side plates connected together, a thermally responsive bimetallic actuator mounted at a first location on said support and an electrical connector unit mounted at a second location on said support spaced from said first location. 4. A control unit as claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein said side plates are metallic. 5. A control unit as claimed in claim 3 or 4 wherein said side plates are parallel. 6. A control unit as claimed in any of claims 3 to 5 wherein said εide plates are separate plates joined together. 7. A control unit as claimed in any of claims 3 to 6 wherein the connector unit is sandwiched between the side plates. 8. A control unit as claimed in claim 7 wherein an earth pin of said connector unit is coupled to an earthing plate or strap which joins the εide plateε together. 9. A control unit as claimed in any of claims 3 to 8 wherein said actuator is mounted on a carrier which connects said εide plateε together. 10. A control unit aε claimed in claim 9 further compriεing an electrically inεulating body mounted between the εide plates below the actuator, said body mounting a fixed contact of a switch contact set . 11. A control unit as claimed in claim 10 further comprising a movable contact provided on a leaf spring which iε coupled to a terminal pin of the electrical connector. 12. A control unit as claimed in any preceding claim wherein εaid actuator operateε to trip a εpring loaded lever pivotally mounted to the support to open a or the set of contacts . 13. A control unit as claimed in any preceding claim further comprising a steam-senεitive actuator operable in the event of liquid in the veεεel boiling to open a or the set of contacts . 14. A control unit as claimed in claims 12 and 13 wherein said steam sensitive actuator also acts to trip εaid lever. 15. A control unit aε claimed in claim 13 or 14 wherein εaid support is generally L-shaped with the thermally senεitive actuator mounted on one limb of the control and a εteam-εensitive actuator on the other limb of the control εo that it may be arranged, in uεe, behind a εide wall of the vessel. 16. A generally ' L' shaped control unit for an electrically powered water heating vesεel, comprising a first thermally senεitive actuator arranged on one limb of the control for engagement with the baεe of the veεsel and a εecond steam εensitive actuator arranged on the other limb of the control, for positioning behind a side wall of the vesεel. 17. A control unit aε claimed in claim 13, 14 or 15 wherein the εteam-sensitive actuator is arranged generally above the connector unit. 18. A control unit as claimed in any of claims 13 to 17 wherein the steam sensitive actuator is mounted in a steam chamber which is mounted to the support, the steam chamber having an inlet which in use receives steam from the vesεel . 19. A control unit aε claimed in claim 18 as dependent directly or indirectly upon claim 3 wherein εaid εteam chamber iε mounted between the plateε of the εupport. 20. A control unit as claimed in any preceding claim wherein an actuator of the control is adjustably mountable on the support. 21. A generally L-εhaped control for a liquid heating vessel having respective thermally sensitive actuators mounted on respective limbs of the control . 22. An electrically powered liquid heating vesεel comprising a control unit as claimed in any preceding claim. 23. An electrically powered liquid heating veεεel compriεing a εheathed heating element attached to the underside of the veεεel baεe, and a control mounted to the vessel, εaid control comprising means arranged such that in the event of the element falling from the vesεel base, said means operates to interrupt the εupply of electrical energy to the element.

Inventors: ASHTON STEVEN ANTHONY, CRITCHLEY MARTIN CHARLES, TAYLOR JOHN CRAWSHAW, ASHTON, STEVEN, ANTHONY, CRITCHLEY, MARTIN, CHARLES, TAYLOR, JOHN, CRAWSHAW
Applicants: ASHTON STEVEN ANTHONY, CRITCHLEY MARTIN CHARLES, STRIX LTD, TAYLOR JOHN C, ASHTON, STEVEN, ANTHONY, CRITCHLEY, MARTIN, CHARLES, STRIX LIMITED, TAYLOR, JOHN, CRAWSHAW
Application year: 1996
Main classification: A47J27
IPC codes: A47J27