Patent Publication Number: US-2011061641-A1

Title: Charcoal fuel assembly

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     (a) Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a charcoal fuel assembly, and more particularly to an assembly which can totally ignite the charcoal fuels by itself before carrying out cook-outs, so as to facilitate preparation of cooking. 
     (b) Description of the Prior Art 
     As economic development, working population is concentrated in urban area. Therefore, citizens obviously eager for outdoor lives, and enjoy cook-outs at leisure time to feel a prospect of nature. Due to physical restrictions of journeys and energy, it is the safest to use charcoal fuel for the cook-outs. However, being restricted by an environmental factor and conventional equipment, it is difficult to start fire. Accordingly, the present inventor has already disclosed a packaging material which can assist with the ignition of the charcoal fuel, to provide innovated convenience. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     Accordingly, to reduce a manufacturing process and provide a user with clean portability, a combustible paper board is made into a box, with an interior of the box being provided with a holding part for emplacing charcoal fuel and a firing space for maintaining a fire precursor, which are divided by a combustible pallet. A lower end of the box is provided with an oxygen drain-in opening, and an upper end of the box is provided with a leading hole which is used for guiding hot air or flames formed in an initial phase of ignition to push the raw and cold charcoal fuels inside the box, such that the a secondary ignition can be resulted to the charcoal fuels which are stacked at a top and periphery, after creating a thermal reaction at a central bottom of the fuel stack. The primary object of present invention is to provide a charcoal fuel assembly which enables most of the charcoal fuels to be approximately ignited in total. 
     A second object of the present invention is to provide a charcoal fuel assembly that each element of the assembly can be burnt out completely, and an organic fertilizer can be formed, after using the charcoal fuel assembly. 
     A third object of the present invention is to provide a charcoal fuel assembly that the assembly can be ignited automatically and totally in stages, only by igniting a fire precursor, thereby facilitating an operation of starting fire. 
     A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a charcoal fuel assembly wherein a box of which can completely enclose internal content such that even charcoal debris will not fall out, thereby facilitating carrying and preventing from getting dirty. 
     A fifth object of the present invention is to provide a charcoal fuel assembly where in a box of which can be made by a paper board or a corrugated paper board that is provided with strength to achieve a purpose of buffering, thereby preventing internal content of the box from being explicitly damaged when being impacted. 
     A sixth object of the present invention is to provide a charcoal fuel assembly wherein top and bottom surfaces of a box of which are parallel to each other, so as to facilitate stacking, displaying, and exhibiting. 
     A seventh object of the present invention is to provide a charcoal fuel assembly wherein a box of which is a square body, a cylindrical body, or a polygonal pillar, such that when the boxes are aligned on a plane, it is easy to make a matrix-like arrangement, thereby facilitating transportation and packaging, as well as achieving the aforementioned total ignition. 
     To enable a further understanding of the said objectives and the technological methods of the invention herein, the brief description of the drawings below is followed by the detailed description of the preferred embodiments. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  shows a perspective view of an assembly of the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  shows a schematic view of internal structures of an assembly of the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  shows a schematic view of implementing an ignition operation of the present invention. 
         FIG. 4  shows a working diagram of initial combustion in an ignition process of the present invention. 
         FIG. 5  shows a schematic view of a combustion process of the present invention. 
         FIG. 6  shows another schematic view of a combustion process of the present invention. 
         FIG. 7  shows still another schematic view of a combustion process of the present invention. 
         FIG. 8  shows a schematic view of the present invention which is positioned on a stove after being ignited totally. 
         FIG. 9  shows a structural diagram of making a box of the present invention. 
         FIG. 10  shows a schematic view of stabilizing a fire precursor at a bottom part of  FIG. 9 . 
         FIG. 11  shows a schematic view of an operation of taking out a fire precursor before using the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , a charcoal fuel assembly  10  of the present invention includes primarily a box  1  which is folded by a combustible board, such as a paper board or a corrugated paper board. An interior of the box  1  is formed with a holding space  100 , a center of an upper lid  13  is provided with a leading hole  11  for guiding flames or hot air, and a bottom of the box  1  is provided with a drain-in hole  12  for supplying oxygen. The leading hole  11  and the oxygen drain-in hole  12  are sealed in advance, to prevent objects or debris inside the box  1  from being exposed. The sealing method can use precut outlines  110 ,  120  to surround into a shape of sealing plates  111 ,  121  which are opened by pricking or peeling before using, to configure the leading hole  11  and the drain-in hole  12 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 2 , the holding space  100  inside the box  1  can be divided into an upper holding part  10 A and a lower firing space  10 B by a combustible pallet  4 . The upper lid  13  is provided with the leading hole  11  to connect with the holding part  10 A, and the lower firing space  10 B is connected with the oxygen drain-in hole  12 , whereas a periphery is formed with a wind-proof configuration, to prevent a fire precursor  3  which is installed by a stabilizing member  6  from being affected by environmental air-flow. In addition, an interior of the holding part  10 A is emplaced with charcoal fuels  2 . 
     The aforementioned charcoal fuels are chunks of charcoal, and most of them are stacked in the holding part  10 A. The charcoals are irregular chunks and are formed with the stack such that they can be aligned in the holding part  10 A sufficiently. In order to standardize all the elements, the charcoal fuels can be formed by dense charcoals that are finished with wood fibers and are provided with a same shape. By having the same shape, the charcoal fuels can be orderly aligned in an emplacement space of the holding part  10 A, which can sufficiently use the internal space of holding part  10 A, and can form an explicit alignment as matrixes or layers to the standardized dense charcoals for making an angular orientation for receiving fire attack, particularly. 
     Referring to  FIG. 3 , in using the present invention, the fire precursor  3  is first taken out to emplace on a stove plate  51  of a stove  5 . Flames are resulted after igniting a center of flame  31  above the fire precursor  3 . The fire precursor  3  is loaded at the stabilizing member  6  for the entire assembly  10 , and then the fire precursor  3  will be located in the aforementioned firing space. At this time, a shape of the burning fire precursor  3  will not be restricted by the stabilizing member  6 , as long as that the flames of fire precursor  3  can attack to the aforementioned pallet or the charcoal fuels. 
     Referring to  FIG. 4 , after the aforementioned installation, the fire precursor  3  will be positioned at the stabilizing member  6  and will be located in an interior of the firing space  10 B. Flames  30  which result will first attack to the combustible pallet  4  which will be burning by itself in advance, after receiving heat from the flames  30 . Thermal power of burning the pallet  4  by itself acts on the charcoal fuels  2  above it to start fire which first acts on the lower charcoal fuels  2 B. When the bottom charcoal fuels  2 B reach to a state of self-combustion, heat is indirectly transmitted to the upper charcoal fuels  2 A, and a total ignition is formed indirectly. The fire precursor  3  is configured as a regular solid body, such as a packaged fire pot or solid alcohol. In principle, its shape is positioned and supported by the stabilizing member  6  that it can be positioned in a center of the firing space  10 B and form burning height of the flames  30  with a bottom surface of the pallet  4 . 
     Upon igniting the fire precursor  3 , air A which is needed is fed in from the drain-in hole  12  that is disposed as at least one hole. Other three sides of the box are used to fix and maintain the fire precursor  3 , so as to prevent combustion of the fire precursor  3  from being directly affected by exterior air-flow. 
     Hot air which results in burning will flow upward t and be guided by the leading hole  11  of the upper lid  13 ; it will be accumulated at a center to float upward. The upper charcoal fuels  2 A or the central parts will receive the heat of the hot air to form a pre-heating operation; therefore, they are easier to be ignited than other peripheral charcoal fuels. Accordingly, the entire heat energy will be concentrated at the center of the holding part  10 A, and by three-dimensional transmission of thermal radiation waves, heat waves will be transmitted out from the center of stacked charcoal fuels  2 , thereby approximately achieving the total ignition. 
     Referring to  FIG. 5 , after the flames  30  of fire precursor  3  have attacked to the pallet  4  to burn the lower charcoal fuels  2 B, some part of the resulted hot air or flames is led out through the leading hole  11 , and other part is pushed upward to transmit spatial thermal radiation in the interior of the holding part  10 A, and to mix on an internal surface of the box  1 . Therefore, the hot air will flow upward to be accumulated at the upper end of the holding part  10 A, and will ignite a rim of the leading hole  11  first, thereby burning and fracturing the upper lid  13 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 6  and  FIG. 7 , after the upper lid  13  (not shown in the drawings) is burnt out, burning power will form an open-to-sky shape, and the pallet  4  will be fractured into fragments  4 A,  4 B after burning for a long time, along with that the upper and lower charcoal fuels  2 A,  2 B are crashed down. Accordingly, the entire stacked charcoal fuels  2  can form an operation of mixing or rotation by kinetic energy of crashing, allowing each charcoal fuel to have an equal opportunity of receiving the heat waves alternately, to be ignited. 
     Referring to  FIG. 8 , the charcoal fuels  2  which are totally ignited as described above, are crashed down and distributed on an upper surface of the stove plate  51  of stove  5 . If the distribution is not flat enough, any auxiliary tool can be used to separate and spread the charcoal fuels on the upper surface of the stove plate  51 . In addition, due to the aforementioned ignition procedure, the charcoal fuels  2  can release thermal power in a self-combustion state approximately uniformly, to provide heat to food to be cooked or a pot on a mesh rack  50 . As each particle of charcoal fuel achieves an equal state of self-combustion, it is not necessary to require the degree of self-combustion. Even a few of the particles does not achieve the self-combustion capability, they are mixed in the mostly self-combusted charcoal particles, and will be ignited very soon. 
     The assembly of present invention uses a box to enclose the internal charcoal fuels and to divide into the firing space for emplacing the fire precursor. Moreover, the oxygen drain-in hole and hot air leading hole which are connected to the exterior of the box are used to facilitate an operation of camp fire, such that as long as the fire precursor is ignited, the box can be left alone without caring to combust by itself. In the aforementioned procedure, after the hot air has first attacked to the pallet and the lower charcoal fuels, the central parts of the fuels are ignited in advance through the guiding of the leading hole, and then the thermal radiation waves which result from the ignition of the central parts are emitted to the peripheral charcoal fuel stacks, such that the charcoal fuels can approach to the total self-combustion. On the other hand, as the box is in a vertical shape, and its upper part is loaded with the charcoal fuels, the box will be crashed down by losing its structural intensity after burning out the pallet and the box. During the crashing process, the single charcoal fuel can be rotated by an angle and paved flat, such that the charcoal fuels can be effectively distributed on the upper end of the stove plate of the stove, thereby facilitating a user to ignite the raw and cold charcoal fuels. 
     The present invention is so convenient that even a kid who knows about fire safety can use it to easily ignite the raw and cold charcoal fuels, and the fuels will be turned into ashes and be mixed in earth after burning, which will be transformed into an organic fertilizer and be completely contained, thereby facilitating carrying cleanly, transporting, displaying, and exhibiting, which is a rather convenient innovated invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 9 , the box  1  of the present invention is further formed by folding. Basically, the box  1  is in a three-dimensional square or rectangular shape, and is primarily provided with a three-dimensional holding space  100 , such that after emplacing internal content, internal objects or debris will not fall out, in order to be suitable for manufacturing and transporting or to facilitate displaying, exhibiting, and accumulating. 
     The square box  1  is constituted by a front board  15 , a left board  16 , a right board  17 , and a rear board  18 , and its interior is emplaced with the pallet  4  for division. 
     The left board  16  at a top is extended upward with a left locking flop  161 , the right board  17  is formed upward with a right locking flap  171 , the front board  15  is formed with a front locking flap  151 , and the rear board  18  is formed with an upper lid  13 . Through alternately folding, the upper end of the box  1  is sealed. A center of the upper lid  13  is provided with a leading hole  11  which is formed by a precut outline  110  as described before, and a bottom of the box  1  is provided with a drain-in hole  12  which is connected to an internal firing space  10 B. In addition, the drain-in hole  12  is also formed by a precut outline  120 . The left and right locking flaps  161 ,  171  are provided with through-holes  162 ,  172  for connecting to the interior of the holding part  10 A. Referring to  FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5 , the through-holes  162  allow the hot air which results from the ignition process of the interior charcoal fuels  2  to burn toward a corresponding inner surface of the upper lid  13 , forming the through-holes of air-flow for burning open the upper lid  13  in two stages, as shown in  FIG. 5 . In addition to that the leading hole  11  of upper lid  13  can guide out the air flow, the hot air flow can be even conducted orderly at the positions of through-holes  162 ,  172 . By the actions of through-holes  162 ,  172 , the hot air will be drawn to an edge at an upper end of the holding part  10 A. Therefore, in addition to that the center of charcoal fuels is heated; the hot air will be also transmitted to the peripheral charcoal fuels. 
     Accordingly, the installation of through-holes  162 ,  172  allows the leading hole  11  to guide the hot air flow in an order from front to rear, which ignites the complete internal charcoal fuels in two stages. The leading hole  11  is primarily used for concentrating the thermal power of fire precursor, such that the thermal power can be accumulated directly to attack to the internal charcoal fuels and to meet requirement of internal heat convection. 
     The aforementioned upper lid  13  and a bottom of the box are all smooth and parallel, which facilitates overlapping or displaying. The box  1  is made by the combustible paper board or corrugated paper board, is deformable, and is provided with a buffering effect upon being subjected to impact of external force, to reduce a chance that the internal charcoal fuels are directly hit. 
     Below the box  1  is provided with a bottom lid  14 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 10 , the fire precursor  3  is fixed by a stabilizing member  6  which is formed by folding toward each other the left locking flap  163  and the right locking flap  173  that are located respectively below the left board  16  and the right board  17 . A center of the stabilizing member  6  is formed with a virtual frame  60  which is cut into independent pieces by a plurality of division braids  61 , with a root part at one side of which being connected with the left or right board  16 ,  17 . An outline of the fire precursor  3  is similar to but smaller than the frame  60 , and therefore can be stuffed into the stabilizing member  6  by pressure. In addition, the bottom lid  14  is used to cover and seal, which forms a package for shipping. The shipping package also includes the charcoal fuels and the pallet (as shown in  FIG. 4 ). 
     The bottom lid  14  is provided with a maintenance board  141  corresponding to the fire precursor  3 , so as to prevent the fire precursor  3  from being fallen out during transportation. Furthermore, after folding the aforementioned locking flaps, the box  1  can be packaged by any sealing method, to prohibit the internal content of the box  1  from being fallen out. 
     Referring to  FIG. 11 , as the prevent invention uses the box  1  for packaging, the board  141  which is installed on the bottom lid  14  should be opened to take out the fire precursor  3  before igniting, such that the fire precursor  3  can be ignited as shown in  FIG. 3 . 
     Similarly, to open the board  141 , the board  141  is peeled off along a precut line  142 , allowing the board  141  to be separated following a tear line  143 . As for the drain-in hole  12  and the leading hole  11 , they are opened as described before. Therefore, after igniting the fire precursor  3  as shown in  FIG. 3 , the same ignition sequence as shown in  FIGS. 4 to 8 , is initiated to achieve preparation for cooking. 
     In addition to a direct method of using the precut lines, the aforementioned packaging method for sealing the fire precursor  3 , the leading hole  11 , and the drain-in hole  12 , can also use a way of affixing with pieces of paper for sealing; whereas upon using the assembly, an access path is opened by pricking. 
     It is of course to be understood that the embodiments described herein is merely illustrative of the principles of the invention and that a wide variety of modifications thereto may be effected by persons skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims.