Patent GB-1125184-A (GB)
Title: Compact toaster
IPC: A47J37/08
Filed: 1966-03-03
Abstract: 1,125,184. Electric toaster. SUNBEAM CORP. 3 March, 1966 [22 Oct., 1965], No. 9448/66. Heading A4D. An electric toaster includes a bread carriage 62 which is movable between an upper position Fig. 4 and a lower toasting position Fig. 10, said carriage including bread-supporting members 62a Fig. 4 and (626) which extends into the toasting chamber. Bread slices are placed on the carriage 62 and moved down to the toasting position where both sides of the bread are exposed to heating elements 43 and 44. Dashpot means interconnecting the carriage 62 and the frame is mounted at one end of the carriage and the carriage is held in the toasting position by suction between the tube 73 (Fig. 10) and piston 69. When the tube 73 is opened by the action of the thermostat wire 85, air enters the lower end of the cylinder Fig. 15 (not shown) and the piston and carriage move upward slowly. After about ¢ inch travel, the piston passes a port (Fig. 15 not shown) in the cylinder wall and air is freely admitted. The carriage can then move up rapidly under the influence of the carriage spring 67. The piston 69 is cup-shaped and has an outwardly tapered conical sidewall and an annular lip at the upper end thereof (Fig. 15 not shown). The carriage 62 is thus provided with temperature-responsive releasable means for holding the carriage in the lower position and the temperatureresponsive element comprises an expansible wire 85, Fig. 10, which is in contact with the bread slice, said releasable means comprising the dashpot arrangement including the flexible tube 73 (Fig. 4) having one end open and the other end connected to the closed end of the cylinder and a movable clamping member 81 (Fig. 4) interconnected with the wire 85 and normally biased to close off the tube. On heating, the wire expands to release the clamping member, thus releasing the carriage 62 from the toasting position. The single central heating panel 44 (Fig. 4) comprises a thin flat sheet of mica and a continuous length of heating wire 55 strung across opposite faces of the panel so as to heat both sides. The panel is formed with notches 56 along opposite side edges thereof to provide vertical spacing between the spans 55a. Terminal tabs 55b are looped (Fig. 11, not shown) and held in place by staples 57, 58. Additional staples 59 are spaced inwardly of the terminal tabs on the upper and lowermost spans 55a and vertical mica strips 60 are stapled on both faces of the panel 44 to prevent bulging or sagging of the spans. The side heating panels 43 (Fig. 7 not shown) comprise a heat-resistant form of mica or the like on which is secured in a zig-zag pattern a continuous length of flat ribbonlike heating wire forming a plurality of straight divergent spans. The end of one span is continuous with the end of the next adjacent span and the spans are formed by looping the wire round the bright portions of small wire staples Figs. 7, 17 (not shown) which secure the wire spans to the faces of the panels. Only a single staple is required to secure the ends of two adjacent spans with the bight portion of the staple overlying one of the spans and underlying the other. Accordingly, as the spans lengthen during a heating period, they do not bulge away from the cards to any great extent and hence few hot spots develop.