Patent Publication Number: US-2005127063-A1

Title: Saucepan

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Saucepans conventionally comprise a vessel including one or more handles, which radially extend from the walls of said vessel and are firmly coupled thereto.  
      Said handles, however, frequently hinder a proper and efficient arrangement of the saucepan. This occurs, by way of a non limitative example, as the saucepans are packaged and shipped, or as they are arranged in washdishers, refrigerators, furniture pieces, on shelves and so on.  
      A feature which is negatively affected by said handles is, as well known, the stacking of the saucepans, or, more specifically, the possibility of arranging saucepans within one another.  
      A saucepan set designed for meeting most common culinary requirements conventionally comprises, inter alia, a number of saucepans, also called “casseroles or stewpans”, having a like configuration, mostly a cylindric one, and increasing diameters starting from the smallest one, which are slightly different from one another. By way of a non limitative example, a saucepan set could also comprise a series of casseroles having diameters of 120, 160, 200, 240, 280, 320 millimeters. On the other hand, said saucepans conventionally comprise two saucepan handles which radially extend for an extension varying, by way of a non limitative example, from 40 to 80 millimeters.  
      Thus, some saucepan set forming a saucepans could also be arranged, in general, in an increasing size order, each within a next one, if exclusively the cooking vessel size would be considered; however, this is not possible because of the provision of the saucepan handles.  
      A prior solution for overcoming the above mentioned drawback is that of providing the saucepan with removable handles.  
      However, such a solution is affected by several drawbacks: in fact, it provides, sometimes, an unreliable gripping; compels to use rather large handles and attachment lugs; involves a separated handling of the saucepans and their handles. Another prior solution for limiting the occupied space volume due to the provision of the projecting handles is that of providing saucepans with pivoted handles. Such a handle usually comprises metal moldings, pivoted at end portions thereof, which are lowered under their weight, and must be raised each time they must be gripped. Such a solution is sometimes adopted, for example, in oven saucepans, having a substantially rectangular shape; however, it provides an unreliable and difficult to be obtained gripping for the most part of other gastronomic uses.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to overcome the above mentioned drawbacks and, more specifically, to provide such a saucepan having either one or two saucepan handles which can stably assume a raised position at which, by radially extending from the walls of said saucepan, they can be easily and reliable gripped, and a lowered position, at which, being arranged as far as possible near to the walls of said saucepan, they greatly reduce the occupied space of the latter, while allowing the saucepan to be arranged inside another saucepan having a like shape and a slightly larger size.  
      Another object of the present invention is to provide such a saucepan having either one or two articulated handles, which can be made in a simple and unexpensive manner.  
      According to one aspect of the present invention, the above mentioned and yet other objects are achieved by a saucepan according to claim  1 . Further features being defined in the dependent claims. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      Further characteristics and advantages of a saucepan according to the present invention will become more apparent hereinafter from the following disclosure, given by way of a non limitative example, with reference to the schematic accompanying drawings, where:  
       FIG. 1  is an isometric view of a saucepan according to the invention having two handles one of which is arranged in a raised position and the other of which is arranged in a lowered position;  
       FIG. 2  is a top plan view of a saucepan according to the invention, into which a like saucepan having a slightly smaller size has been arranged;  
       FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view, taken along a diameter joining the centerlines of the handles, of the saucepan shown in  FIG. 2 , into which a non cross-sectioned like saucepan having a slightly smaller size has been arranged;  
       FIG. 4  is an isometric view of an attachment lug-handle assembly according to the invention, as cross-sectioned along an axis slightly spaced from the centerline;  
       FIG. 5  shows several isometric views of a possible embodiment of an attachment lug for a saucepan according to the invention;  
       FIG. 6  is an isometric view of a possible embodiment of a handle for a saucepan according to the invention;  
       FIG. 7  is an isometric view of a possible embodiment of a locking lever for a saucepan according to the invention;  
       FIG. 8  is an isometric and orthogonal cross-section view substantially taken along a symmetry axis, of the assembly comprising the attachment lug of  FIG. 5 , the saucepan handle of  FIG. 6  and lever of  FIG. 7 , in an assembled relationship, the handle being shown in a raised position;  
       FIG. 9  is a further isometric cross-section view passing through the axis of the hinge of the assembly of  FIG. 8 , the saucepan handle being shown in a lowered position; and  
       FIG. 10  is a further isometric view of the assembly comprising the handle of  FIG. 6  and the lever of  FIG. 7 , said lever being partially withdrawn. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS  
      With reference to FIGS.  1  to  10 , they show a saucepan  10 , comprising a substantially cylindric saucepan vessel  11 , having vessel walls to which are coupled, at a suitable height, two attachment lugs  30 , arranged at diametrically opposite positions. As shown in  FIGS. 5 and 9 , said attachment lugs comprise two holes  33 , a slot  34 , a recess  31  and a further recess  32 . Handles  20  are coupled, through holes  22  formed in embossed or bulged portions  24 , to the attachment lugs  30 , by coupling pins  40  passing through holes  33 . The slot  34  allows said coupling pins  40  to be easily engaged.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 , the assembly comprising the handles  20 , at a lowered position of the latter, coupled to the attachment lugs  30  connected to the vessel  11  is advantageously so designed as to be delimited by a cylindric surface, concentric to said vessel  11 , coinciding with the surface  21 , thereby further reducing the assembly occupied space while allowing the saucepan  10  to be arranged inside another like saucepan having a slightly larger diameter.  
      In this connection it should be apparent that, upon having coupled the attachment lugs  30  to the walls of the vessel  11  and applied the handles  20 , the latter will be able of performing, with respect to said walls, a movement limited to a rotary displacement about the axes of the coupling pins  40 . Thus, said handles  20  can be brought to a lowered position, at which they are abutted against the walls of the vessel  11 , and a raised position, at which they will extend radially of said walls, to a point at which the extrados  25  will contact said walls.  
      As shown in  FIGS. 4 and 8 , a device comprising, by way of a non limitative example, the lever  50  would allow to lock said handles  20  at said raised position, thereby making the latter as a stable position and preventing said handles from being undesirably bent, by way of a non limitative example, as the saucepan is reversed from empting its contents.  
      In a preferred embodiment, shown in  FIGS. 4, 7  and  8 , said device comprises a metal lever  50 , which, by way of a non limitative example can be made by a shearing and pressing method, including lever tongues  51 ,  52  and  53  engaged in the slot  23  of the handle  20 , as shown in  FIG. 10 , with a slight clearance, thereby sliding with respect to said handle  20 .  
      Urging springs having a suitable resilient constant, as engaged in a cavity  26 , will provide a reaction force against the displacement of the lever  50 , by affecting the lever tongues  53  and urging said lever  50  in the direction of the attachment lug  30 . As shown in  FIG. 8 , by raising the handle  20 , the lever  50 , by re-engaging in the recess  31  formed on the attachment lugs  30 , and bearing on the ridge  35 , will lock the handle  20  at a non use position, which is substantially parallel to the bottom of the vessel  11 .  
      In order to unlock the handle  20 , the lever  50  must be outward pressed (more specifically in a radial direction so as to move it away from the vessel  11 ), by affecting the lever tongue  52 , to cause the handle to downward turn. A recess  32 , formed on the attachment lug  30 , engages the lever tongue  51  therein as the handle is in a lowered position, so as to firmly set it in this position.  
      The above saucepan embodiment according to the present invention, as disclosed, is well adapted, by way of a non limitative example, for making metal cast or pressed single-block attachment lugs, and thermoplastic resin handles (by way of a non limitative example, phenolic resins).  
      It should be apparent that the above illustrated embodiment of the saucepan according to the invention represents only one of a lot of possible embodiments.  
      From the disclosure, the features of the saucepan, as well as its advantages, will be self-evident and, more specifically: 
          a small occupied space or size;     a possibility of arranging a saucepan inside another like saucepan having a slightly larger size;     a self-evident and reliable use;     a simple construction and assembling.        

      Finally, it should be apparent that the disclosed saucepan would be susceptible to several modifications and variations, all coming within the scope of the invention; moreover, all the details can be replaced by other technically equivalent elements. In practicing the invention, the used materials, as well as the contingent shape and size, can be any depending on technical requirements.  
      The invention scope, accordingly, will be defined by the accompanying claims.