Patent GB-778036-A (GB)
Title: Improved electric cooker
IPC: F24C15/18
Filed: 1955-11-21
Abstract: 778,036. Electric cookers. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION. Nov. 21, 1955 [Dec. 2, 1954; Feb. 10, 1955], No. 33248/55. Class 39(3)  A cooker has several hot-plates 24 with sheathed wire heaters 32 in casings 40 hinged to turn down to a horizontal position for use on the hob 20 or to turn up vertically against a hollow splash back 22, which has an inlet adjacent the bottom and air outlets 80, 82 adjacent the top to form a flue, to prevent overheating of the splash-back if the hot-plate is turned up while still warm. The lower air inlet is a gap between the strip 66 and the base 42 of a hot-plate when the latter is vertical. Each hot-plate casing 40 has a stepped metal rear wall 46 carrying one member 70 of a hinge, which turns a horizontal pin on which is mounted the other hinge element 68 connected to the rear of a horizontal strip 66 forming the lower front edge of the splash-back. The rear casing wall 46 has slots 64 in its horizontal section for passage of cooling air. The sheathed heater 32 rests on' a spider 48 in a flanged drip pan 50, said flange resting on the edge of an aperture in the top 36 of the hollow casing 40. The terminal 54 of the heater projects through an aperture in the drip pan 50, below which is a horizontal baffle 60 having flanges connected to the walls of the casing 40. Extending above and below the baffle 60 are slots 62 in the casing walls allowing circulation of air for cooling. The casing 40 has in the front a handle 44 and has on its base strips 56 spacing the bottom wall 42 thereof above the hob 20. The splash-back has a base wall 72, a rear wall 74 and a top stepped wall 78, which is slotted at 80, 82 to allow ventilation. A curved shield 88 is pivoted at 86 to the rear edge of the casing 40 and rests against the rear wall 74 to prevent entry of crumbs into the splash-back. A front plate 76 is carried by the top 78 of the splash-back, so that the space between the plates forms a flue when the hot-plate is turned up. The hot-plates are connected to the current supply through a multiple pole switch for each hot-plate, 'so that current is switched on when the hot-plate is horizontal and is switched off when it is hinged up. Fastened to. the rear of the strip 66 of the splash-back is an insulator member 90 carrying three upwardly extending contact arms 92 separately connected to a switch in a control compartment 28 adjacent the hot-plate in the splash-back. This switch is operated by a vertically slidable bar 129 in the compartment 28 and is connected to an indicator 131. Three spring finger contacts 135 are mounted on an insulator 139 on the rear wall 46 of the casing 40, so that they engage the contact arms 92 only when the casing is turned from the position shown in Fig. 6 to the horizontal. A hot-plate may carry in its centre a resiliently supported thermostatic bulb connected by a flexible capillary tube to a bellows forming part of an adjustable thermostatic switch in the casing 28. The control knob of this switch may be connected by sprocket and a chain to an indicator sliding on the front of the casing 28. The flexible capillary tube is formed into a coil in the vicinity of the hinge axis of the hot-plate to minimize strain on the tube. The splash-back may include a cabinet for cooking ingredients, a pivoted toaster with wide lateral slots for insertion of food and a pivoted griddle comprising a flat plate with an electric heater beneath. A single control compartment on the splash-back may have slides each with a finger button movable laterally to uncover various switch position numbers.