Abstract:
A food support for boosting the food-cooking capacity of a microwave oven. The support includes a plate having a number of legs extending downwardly therefrom. Each of the legs has a base adapted for selective insertion into a cup integrally fastened to the bottom of the plate. An arcuate stem projects downwardly from each base and bows outwardly for easy access to food items positioned beneath the plate.

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention relates generally to electrical heating apparatus and, in particular, cookware used therewith. 
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Microwave ovens are typically provided with a small, cooking chamber so as to reduce oven size and lower cooking times by concentrating microwaves on foods placed therein. While millions have embraced the benefits of small microwave ovens, their principal drawback of being unable to cook large portions of food at one time has no doubt exasperated an equal number. 
     To increase the quantities of food that a microwave oven can cook in a given period of time, some people have proposed multi-tiered racks for stacking foods within the ovens&#39; cooking chambers. Unfortunately, these racks have been complex in their construction and cumbersome to use. They have not seen great commercial success. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In light of the problems associated with the known racks for increasing the cooking capacity of microwave ovens, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a food support for use in a microwave oven that is: uncomplicated in design, light in weight, inexpensive to manufacture and fully effective in use. 
     It is another object of the invention to provide a food support of the type described having a knockdown construction. Such a support can, thus, be easily disassembled by a user for washing or storing. 
     Briefly, the food support in accordance with this invention achieves the intended objects by featuring a plate having a plurality of cups integrally fastened to the bottom thereof. Each of the cups has a socket and a peripheral recess around the socket. A pin extends downwardly from the plate into each socket. The base of each of a plurality of legs is selectively inserted into each of the sockets. Each base has a bore in its top for snugly receiving one of the pins and a peripheral ridge for mated engagement with a peripheral recess. Each leg also has an arcuate stem that projects downwardly from the base so as to support the plate above the floor of a microwave oven and that bows outwardly for easy access to food items positioned beneath the plate 
     The foregoing and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The present invention may be more readily described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a support for use in a microwave oven in accordance with the present invention. 
     FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the upper portion of one leg of the support of FIG. 1 being inserted into a socket of the plate of said support. 
     FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view taken along line  3 — 3  of FIG.  1 . 
     Similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the accompanying drawings. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
     Referring now to the FIGS., a food support in accordance with the present invention is shown at  10 . Support  10  includes a plate  12  from which a plurality of legs  14  extend downwardly so as to elevate plate  12  above a platform such as a microwave oven carousel or floor (not shown). Legs  14  are detachable from plate  12  thereby facilitating the washing and storing of support  10  when it is not in use. 
     Plate  12  is a disk about 12.75 inches (32 cm) in diameter and 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) thick. Integrally fastened to the bottom of plate  12  is a plurality of downwardly opening cups  16 . Each cup  16  has a pair of opposed side walls  18  connected together by a pair of opposed end walls  20  so as to define therebetween a socket  22  with a rectangular shape. Preferably, side walls  18  are about 1.75 inches (4.45 cm) long and 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) tall whereas end walls  20  are about 1.25 inch (3.18 cm) long and have a similar height. Walls  18  and  20  are all about 0.125 inches (0.32 cm) thick. 
     Cups  16  are each provided with a peripheral recess  24  and a pin  26  that permit legs  14  to be mechanically joined to plate  12 . As shown in FIG. 2, each peripheral recess  24  bisects the inner surfaces of walls  18  and  20  into upper and lower halves. Each recess  24  measures approximately 0.063 inch (0.16 cm) in width and 0.031 inches (0.08 cm) in depth. Pin  26 , on the other hand, projects downwardly from the bottom of plate  12  into the center of cup  16 . Pin  26  is about 0.125 inches (0.32 cm) tall and 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) in diameter. 
     Legs  14  each include a base  28  adapted for releasable insertion into any one of cups  16 . Base  28  comprises a rectangular block  30  measuring about 1.5 inches (3.81 cm) in length, 1 inch (2.5 cm) in width and 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) in height. A bore  32 , having a diameter of about 0.25 inches (0.64 cm) is provided in the top of block  30  for snugly receiving pin  26 . Also, a peripheral ridge  34  extends outwardly from the sides of block  30  and bisects such into upper and lower halves. Peripheral ridge  34  is dimensioned for a “snap” fit within any recess  24  being 0.063 inches (0.16 cm) in width and 0.031 inches (0.08 cm) in height. 
     Each of legs  14  has an arcuate stem  36  which projects downwardly from block  30  for engagement with a microwave oven carousel or the like. Arcuate stem  36  is a C-shaped plate having a concave, inner surface  38  and a convex, outer surface  40 . Arcuate stem  36  is about 0.25 inches (2.5 cm) thick and about 3.75 inches (9.53 cm) tall. At its midpoint, arcuate stem  36  bows outwardly about 1 inch (2.5 cm) from an imaginary line connecting its uppermost and lowermost points that are substantially vertically aligned. 
     All parts of support  10  are molded from plastic although other microwave-transparent materials may be employed. Plate  12  and cups  16  are preferably integrally formed. Additionally, base  28  and stem  36  of each leg  14  are integrally formed. Thus, support  10  is constructed from a few easily made elements. 
     Use of support  10  is straightforward. First, legs  14  are attached to plate  12  by inserting their bases  28  into sockets  22 . Support  10  is, next, positioned within the cooking chamber of a microwave oven. Then, food is positioned both atop plate  12  and between legs  14  with the cooking capacity of the oven being effectively doubled by such positioning. After cooking is completed, the food is removed from the oven with the bowed configuration of the stems  36  creating a relatively wide space between the midpoints of adjacent legs  14  through which larger plates can be moved. The entire process requires mere seconds to complete. After use, support  10  may be disassembled for cleaning in a dishwasher or for convenient storage in a drawer. 
     One should appreciate that support  10  is highly stable, being short and squat in statue. Because the upper and lower points of stems  36  are substantially vertically aligned, the weight of food on plate  12  does not tend to cause leg bases  28  to disengage from cups  16 . Should the tendency ever develop due to unequal loading of plate  12 , it is thwarted by the dual, failsafe features, i.e., the interlocking pin  26  and bore  32  as well as interlocking ridges  34  and recesses  24  provided to support  10 . In other words, support  10  will not easily fall apart during us. 
     While the invention has been described with a high degree of particularity, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that modifications may be made thereto. For example, the number and location of the cups  16  as well as legs  14  may be increased if desired but this may limit the size of items which may be easily slid between the legs during use. Therefore, it is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to the sole embodiment described above, but encompasses any and all embodiments within the scope of the following claims.