Patent Publication Number: US-7220945-B1

Title: Oven

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   1. Field of the Invention 
   This invention relates to an oven, particularly to one able to bake toasts, small-sized objects or a whole chicken that can be rotated automatically so as to keep it baked evenly. 
   2. Description of the Prior Art 
   Commonly, a conventional oven and a toaster are always two independent electric appliances because of their different applications. The toaster used only for baking toasts is mainly provided with two bread slots in the top, a lift controller and a timer at one side. The conventional oven, on the contrary, is provided with a rather big room, a timer and a temperature controller for baking various foods such as meat, chicken, cracker and cake etc. In order to prevent energy from wasted, the conventional oven is hardly used to bake toasts, and therefore, a kitchen is usually furnished simultaneously with a toaster and an oven, so they occupy too much space. Moreover, suppose a chicken is to be baked in the conventional oven, it has first to be put on a baking tray for baking and turn over manually and indefinitely so as to keep it baked evenly, very bothersome to handle. And, each time the oven door is opened for turning over the chicken, the temperature in the oven will drop obviously, wasting energy and time for re-rising temperature. So, the invention has been revised to improve the defects mentioned above. 
   SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
   The objective of this invention is to offer a multi-function oven able to bake toasts or other foods as big as a whole chicken that can be even rotated automatically to keep it baked homogeneously, saving some space possibly required by a conventional toaster and a conventional and oven. 
   The main characteristics of the invention are a main body, a toast tray, a baking pan, a door, a control panel, a bottom base and a shaft. The main body is provided with an upper chamber, a lower chamber, a roller set correspondingly at two sidewalls of the upper chamber respectively, an inserting groove set at a top of the lower chamber, a bottom plate set at a bottom of the lower chamber, plural sandwiched grooves set correspondingly on two sidewalls of the lower chamber respectively and a driving gear installed on a sidewall of the lower chamber. The upper chamber is provided with plural air openings in the bottom for communicating with the lower chamber. Plural upper and bottom electro thermal tubes are installed in the lower chamber. The lower chamber is further provided with two stop strips set respectively at two sidewalls above the lower electro thermal tubes, keeping one stop strip aligned on a same level with the other at the other side. The toast tray set in the upper chamber is provided with a frame and a handle, with a metallic net laid in the frame. The baking pan is inserted in the inserting groove. The door is pivotally installed at the front side of the main body. The control panel located on the front side of the main body is provided with plural knobs and a changeover switch. The bottom base laid at the bottom of the main body is provided with a supporting rack, a supporting plate laid on the supporting rack and two stands installed on the supporting plate, having a groove on its top respectively. The shaft mounted on the stands of the bottom base is provided with a fork near its two ends respectively and a driven gear at one end for engaging with the driving gear of the main body. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS 
     This invention is better understood by referring to the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
       FIG. 1  is an exploded perspective view of a preferred embodiment of an oven in the present invention; 
       FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of a bottom base of an oven in the present invention; 
       FIG. 3  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of an oven in the present invention; 
       FIG. 4  is a front view of the preferred embodiment of an oven in the present invention; 
       FIG. 5  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of an oven in the present invention, showing how to bake toasts; 
       FIG. 6  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of an oven in the present invention, showing how to bake foods with small sizes; and 
       FIG. 7  is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of an oven in the present invention, showing how to bake a whole chicken. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT 
   As shown in  FIGS. 1˜3 , a preferred embodiment of an oven in the present invention includes a main body  1 , a toast tray  2 , a baking pan  3 , a door  4 , a control panel  5 , a bottom base  6  and a shaft  7 . 
   The main body  1  is provided with an upper chamber  10  in the upper portion, a roller  11  at two sidewalls of the upper chamber  10  respectively, a lower chamber  12  in the lower portion, an inserting groove  13  set in an upper section of the lower chamber  12 , a bottom plate  14  set in the bottom of the lower chamber  12 , having two recesses  140  at its front edge, plural sandwiched grooves  16  set correspondingly on two sidewalls of the lower chamber  12  respectively, a driving gear  17  and plural air inlets  18  and plural heat dispersing holes  19  bored in a sidewall of the lower chamber  12 . Further, the upper chamber  10  is provided with plural air openings  100  in the bottom for communicating with the lower chamber  12 . The lower chamber  12  is provided with two upper electro thermal tubes  150  and two lower electro thermal tubes  151  installed respectively at its top and its bottom, and two stop strips  120  set respectively at its two sidewalls above the lower electro thermal tubes  151 . One stop strip is aligned on a same level with the other at the other side. 
   The toast tray  2  set in the upper chamber  10  is provided with a frame  20  that has a right side and a left side respectively mounted on the rollers  11  of the main body  1 , a metallic net  21  laid in the frame, a handle  22  fixed on the front side and a blocker  23  on one side edge near to the rear side. 
   The baking pan  3  is inserted in the inserting groove  13 . 
   The door  4  pivotally installed at the front of the main body  1  is provided with a handle  40 . 
   The control panel  5  set at the front side of the main body  1  is provided with an adjusting knob  50  located on the same level with the upper chamber  10 , a change-over switch  51  built below the adjusting knob  50 , and a function knob  52 , a temperature knob  53  and a time knob  54  set below the change-over switch  51  orderly. 
   The bottom base  6 , laid at the bottom of the main body  1  as shown in  FIG. 2 , is provided with a supporting rack  60 , a pair of supporting rods  61  set pivotally at the rear side, a supporting plate  62  laid on the supporting rack  60  and having its two sides rested on the two stop strips  120  of the lower chamber  12 , a pair of pivot bases  63  set on two sides respectively, and a pair of stands  64  having a groove  65  on its top respectively, pivotally connected with each pair of the pivot bases  63  so that it can swing down to rest on the supporting plate  62 . 
   The shaft  7  resting on the stands  64  of the bottom base  6  is provided with a fork  70  near its two ends respectively, and a driven gear  71  at one end for engaging with the driving gear  17 . 
   In using, as shown in  FIGS. 3–7 , if toasts  90  are to be baked, a user only has to pull the toast tray  2  out of the upper chamber  10  of the main body  1 , and put the toasts  90  on it, as shown in  FIG. 5 . In case of the toast tray  2  pulled out, the blocker  23  is able to stop and keep the toast tray  2  stabilized at a definite position, so a user does not have to worry about the toast tray  2  sliding off the oven. Then, the following successive actions are to push the toast tray  2  back into the upper chamber  10 , to change the changeover switch  51  to a toast scale and to turn the adjusting knob  50  to select a desired baking condition. By the time, the upper electro thermal tube  150  is initiated to heat. The fine net  21  of the toast tray  2  can prevent crumbs from dropping onto the upper electro thermal tubes  150 , otherwise the upper electro thermal tubes  150  could be damaged. If the fine net  21  is to be cleaned, just pull out the toast tray  2  and lift it up slightly to enable the blocker  23  to move over the rollers  11  to leave off the upper chamber  10 , ready for cleaning. If foods with small size, such as meat or sausage rolls, are to be baked, as shown in  FIG. 6 , they can be put on the baking pan  3  pulled out in advance from the inserting groove  13 , and then insert the baking pan  3  into the two corresponding sandwiched grooves  16 . Next, close the door  4 , and turn the changeover switch  51  to an oven scale, the function knob  52  to a desired scale, the temperature knob  53  to a desired temperature and the time knob to a desired period of time sequentially. By the time, the upper electro thermal tubes  150  and the lower electro thermal tubes  151  are simultaneously initiated to heat up. And, a fan (not shown in Figs.) in the main body  1  can blow through the air inlets  18  to keep air circulating in the lower chamber  12  to obtain an even temperature therein, so as to have foods evenly baked. 
   In addition, as shown in  FIG. 7 , if a bigger-sized of food such as a whole chicken is to be baked, it has to be centrally forked by the shaft  7  first. Next, swing up the stands  64  to stand vertically and keep two ends of the shaft  7  mounted on the grooves  65  of the stands  64 , so that the whole chicken  92  is mounted stably on the bottom base  6 . Then, push the bottom base  6  into the lower chamber of the main body  1 . When the bottom base  6  is started to be moved in, the supporting rods  61  of the bottom base  6  are to swing down to rest on the bottom base  6  because they lean against the bottom plate  14 , and the supporting plate  62  is to lie on the strip plates  120 . And when the bottom base  6  is completely put in the lower chamber  12 , the front feet of the supporting rack  60  are positioned in the recesses  140  of the bottom plate  14  and the driven gear  71  of the shaft  7  is engaged with the driving gear  17  in the lower chamber. By the time, the door  4  can be closed. Of course, the following steps are to turn the change-over switch  51  to oven reading, the function knob  52  to a desired baking condition, the temperature knob  53  and the time knob  54  to a needed scale orderly. The upper electro thermal tubes  150  and the lower electro thermal tubes  151  are automatically initiated to heat up. By means of the engagement of the driving gear  17  and the driven gear  71 , the shaft  7  is to be rotated slowly and automatically while baking, enabling the whole chicken  92  baked evenly. When the baking time is up, just pull out the bottom base  6  after opening the door  4 , and swing up supporting rods  61  to stand under the supporting rack  60  so as to support stably the supporting rack  60 , as shown in  FIG. 2 . Next, the whole chicken  92  can be taken off. Moreover, when the stands  64  are not to be used, they can be swung down to rest on the supporting plate  62 , never hindering a baking with the baking pan  3 . 
   The invention has the following advantages as can be seen from the foresaid description. 
   1. By means of the changeover switch  51  that can select toasting or oven baking, the invention can be used for various purposes, possible to save money and space. 
   2. Because the shaft  7  can be rotated automatically while baking, a big object, such as a whole chicken, can be baked evenly without wasting energy as a conventional oven does. 
   3. It is convenient not only for using the invention, but also for cleaning it. 
   While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been described above, it will be recognized and understood that various modifications may be made therein and the appended claims are intended to cover all such modifications that may fall within the spirit and scope of the invention.