Patent GB-745781-A (GB)
Title: Improvements relating to drip pans for electric cooker range heater elements
IPC: F24C15/14
Filed: 1954-02-08
Abstract: 745,781. Electric cookers ; drip - pans. GENERAL MOTORS CORPORATION. Feb. 8, 1954 [Feb. 25, 1953; March 26, 1953 ; July 20, 1953 ; Aug. 26, 1953], No. 3566/54. Classes 39(3) and 126. A drip pan or reflector 24 for an electric cooker range heating element 30 of the sheathed wire type has a continuous rim 26 adapted to rest on the edge of an aperture 22 in the top 20 of the range and has a slot 48 below the rim extending through an arc of not more than 180 degrees to allow removal of the spiral heating element 30 therethrough. The element 30 rests on a spider support 42 with three radial arms, two of which are supported at the ends by notches 44 in the side wall of the drip pan, the third being supported on the lower edge of the slot 48. The outer end 12 of the element extends tangentially downwards through an aperture 34 opening into the slot 48, and rests in a bearing 31 attached to the underside of the range top 20. The element 30 rotates in the bearing 31, and when it is raised, the support 42 is removed and the drip pan 24 may be removed from the element which passes through the slot 48. On removal of a terminal block 36 at the end of part 32 of the element, the latter may also be removed. In Fig. 6 the spider support 42 has feet 43 at the ends of the arms, which pass through apertures 49 in recesses 47 of the drip pan 24 and rest on spaced horizontal ledges 45 integral with a flange 22 of the aperture in the range top 20, whereby the drip pan is relieved of the weight of the heater. In Fig. 13 the end 32 of the element 30 is rotatably held by a U-shaped strip 31, the ends of which pass through apertures in a hinge bracket 35 and are retained by a metal U-shaped spring 39 extending through a slot in the projecting end 37 of the U-shaped strip 31. A lug 46 on the end part 32 of the element 30 engages in a slot in the U- shaped strip 31 to prevent axial movement and allow rotation of the heater part 32. The hinge bracket 35 has a horizontal part 51 fastened by screws to the flange of the aperture in the range top. Porcelain is removed from the flange around the screws and their lock nuts to provide an earth for the element 30. In Fig. 9 two of the arms of the spider support 42 have projections 56 extending through apertures in the drip pan to rest on the horizontal part 23 of the flange of the aperture in the cooker top ; and the third arm is supported on a projection 62 of the bracket part 51 extending through a recess 64 in the upper part of the slot 48 allowing removal of the pan. The projection 62 has an aperture in which a projection 68 on the end of this arm 60 engages. The support 42 has a central raised ring 70 fitting closely into the centre of the spiral heating element 30. In Fig. 15, the vertical wall of the pan has a slot 55 and the flange 23 of the cooker aperture is slotted at 59. Both slots are in line with the third arm 60, so that when the heater is turned upwardly, the spider support may be lifted and moved laterally so that the arm 60 enters the slots 55, 59. The spider support may then be removed and the pan by means of its aperture 48 removed from the heating element.