Abstract:
A device for supporting cutlery includes at least one movable part for supporting the cutlery. The at least one movable part is designed to lift the cutlery from a rest position by an acting on the at least one movable part.

Description:
[0001]     Priority is claimed to German patent application DE 10 2005 056 886.6, filed Nov. 28, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein.  
         [0002]     The present invention relates to a device for supporting cutlery, especially for dishwashers.  
       BACKGROUND  
       [0003]     Devices for supporting cutlery, in particular, cutlery baskets or cutlery trays (both terms will be used synonymously hereinafter) for dishwashers have been known for quite some time.  
         [0004]     European Patent EP 0 186 157 B1 of the Applicant discloses a household dishwasher having a cutlery basket which provides cutlery receptacles in the form of cutlery holders and cutlery rests for individual items of cutlery placed separately on their side edges.  
         [0005]     European Patent EP 0 323 496 B1 of the Applicant describes a cutlery basket for a dishwasher. The support surfaces of the disclosed cutlery basket are profiled differently and/or have different support heights, allowing the cutlery items to be placed spaced apart from each other to obtain a good cleaning result.  
         [0006]     It is difficult to remove cutlery from a dishwasher or, to be more precise, from a cutlery tray according to the prior art. When removing the cutlery from the cutlery tray, the orderly arranged and cleaned cutlery items are difficult to grasp and remove with one movement of the hand. Moreover, unpleasant abrasions on the back of the hand and on the fingers may occur during removal due to sharp-edged portions of the cutlery receptacles.  
         [0007]     A quiver-shaped cutlery receptacle which is pivotally mounted to the upper rack of a dishwasher is described in DE 10 2004 035 727 A1. Document DE 20 2004 005 059 U1 describes a cutlery insert for a drawer. Said cutlery insert can be pivoted out of the drawer and then be removed therefrom. Both prior art devices do indeed provide a cutlery support which, because it is pivotable, overall provides increased ease of access, but there are still individual or a plurality of cutlery items that are difficult to remove.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0008]     It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a device for supporting cutlery that avoids the above-mentioned disadvantages in cutlery trays and/or that simplifies the removal of cutlery from cutlery trays.  
         [0009]     In an embodiment, the present invention provides a device for supporting cutlery. The device includes at least one movable part configured to support the cutlery, the at least one movable part being configured to lift the cutlery from a rest position by an acting on the at least one movable part.  
         [0010]     Since the device of the present invention is designed to include at least one movable and liftable part, the removal of cutlery is simplified. The support surface of the movable part can be lifted from its rest position by acting on the movable part. In this manner, handle portions of the supported cutlery are lifted, so that a plurality of cutlery items can be grasped as a bundle with one movement of the hand and returned to the kitchen drawer.  
         [0011]     To further increase the ease of use, the at least one movable part of the device according to the present invention can be locked in at least two positions, for example, in a first position, hereinafter referred to as “horizontal cleaning position”, and a second position, hereinafter referred to as “tilted removal position”. This eliminates the need to hold the at least one movable part in the removal position with one hand while the other hand grips around the bundle of cutlery items and removes it. Advantageously, the movable part is moved to the removal position with one hand and remains in this position because of the lockability in position. Then, the same hand can grip around the bundle of cutlery and remove it.  
         [0012]     In an embodiment of the device of the present invention, the movable part is in the form of a rocker which is pivotally supported in a cutlery tray in such a manner that it can pivot about an axis of rotation. A cutlery tray may have several such rockers. In this specific embodiment, the rocker is an integral part of the cutlery tray and can be mounted already during the manufacture of the cutlery tray. Preferably, the rocker has upwardly projecting dividing pins, at least one pin for actuating the rocker projecting upwardly beyond supported cutlery. In order to allow for easy grasping of the supported cutlery items, the rocker is shorter in length than the cutlery supported therein, and least a portion of a handle portion of the cutlery projects beyond the rocker after the device has been tilted, so that these handle cantilevering handle portions can be easily grasped.  
         [0013]     In another embodiment of the device according to the present invention, the at least one movable part takes the form of a wire bar which provides a support surface for one or more cutlery items and has a loop-shaped handle portion. This embodiment makes it possible to retrofit a cutlery tray with the device of the present invention. To this end, the wire bar is attached to the cutlery tray using fastening means such as, for example, plastic clips. Thus, the device of the present invention can be offered as a retrofit part for dishwashers. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0014]     Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are schematically illustrated in the drawings and will be described in more detail below. In the drawings,  
         [0015]      FIG. 1  shows a portion of a cutlery tray with a rocker in the cleaning position and with cutlery placed therein;  
         [0016]      FIG. 2  shows a portion of the cutlery tray depicted in  FIG. 1  with a rocker in the removal position and with cutlery placed therein;  
         [0017]      FIG. 3  depicts a portion of the cutlery tray shown in  FIG. 1 , with a rocker in the removal position and without any cutlery placed therein;  
         [0018]      FIG. 4  shows a portion of a cutlery tray with a wire bar in the cleaning position and without any cutlery placed therein;  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  depicts a portion of a cutlery tray with a wire bar in the removal position and without any cutlery placed therein;  
         [0020]      FIG. 6  illustrates a portion of a cutlery tray with a wire bar in the cleaning position and with cutlery placed therein;  
         [0021]      FIG. 7  shows a portion of a cutlery tray with a wire bar in the removal position and with cutlery placed therein. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION  
       [0022]      FIG. 1  shows a portion of a cutlery tray  1  for a dishwasher. A rocker  2  is in a horizontal cleaning position, in which rocker  2  is located in the same plane as a grid of cutlery tray  1 , i.e., in a position where the cutlery is placed in cutlery tray  1  for subsequent cleaning. Further details will be described further below with reference to the following Figures.  
         [0023]      FIG. 2  shows an enlarged portion of cutlery tray  1 . Here, rocker  2  is in the tilted removal position; i.e., in the position in which handle portions  3  of the cutlery are lifted by rocker  2 .  
         [0024]      FIG. 3  shows a rocker  2  in an enlarged view. Rocker  2  is supported in the cutlery tray in such a manner that it can pivot about an axis of rotation  5 . Rocker  2  has an actuating pin  6  and pins  7  for holding individual cutlery items. Rocker  2  can be tilted from the cleaning position to the removal position by a slight tilt impulse on the actuating pin  6  upwardly projecting beyond the cutlery, which impulse may be imparted, for example, by a finger and is in a direction transverse to axis of rotation  5 . In this manner, the handle portions of the cutlery are lifted and can then be removed more easily since rocker  2  is shorter in length than the cutlery and, therefore, handle portions  3  project beyond rocker  2 , at least partially.  
         [0025]      FIGS. 4 and 5  illustrate a portion of cutlery tray  1  which is equipped with another cutlery lifting device, a wire bar  9 , according to the present invention. In  FIG. 4 , wire bar  9  is in a horizontal cleaning position, while in  FIG. 5 , it is in a tilted removal position.  
         [0026]     Wire bar  9  has a loop-shaped actuating member  10  which is connected to a first longitudinal part  12  via a first angled part  11 . First longitudinal part  12  is connected to a second angled part  13 , to which in turn is connected a second longitudinal part  14 . Longitudinal part  14  at the same time serves as an axis of rotation  15  and is attached to the cutlery tray by spaced apart plastic clips  16 . By actuating the loop-shaped actuating member  10 , wire bar  9  can be moved from the cleaning position (shown in  FIG. 4 ) to the removal position (shown in  FIG. 5 ), where it can be locked in position. In the process, longitudinal part  12 , which serves as a support surface, performs an upward movement. In this manner, the handle portions of the cutlery (not shown) are lifted and can then be removed more easily.  
         [0027]      FIG. 6  shows a knife  17  placed in a cutlery tray which is provided with cutlery receptacles  18  in the form of dividing pins  18  which laterally support knife  17 , the lower handle portion of knife  17  resting on longitudinal parts  12  and  14  of wire bar  9 . When loop-shaped actuating member  10  of wire bar  9  is now actuated, then longitudinal part  12  performs an upward movement.  
         [0028]     As shown in  FIG. 7 , the handle portion of knife  17  is lifted in the process, and projects upwardly beyond pins  18  of the cutlery tray. Since the knife continues to be supported by cutlery receptacles  18 , it remains in the lateral position and can now be removed more easily from the cutlery tray.  
         [0029]     The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described herein; reference should be had to the appended claims.