Patent Publication Number: US-2005139087-A1

Title: Constructive arrangement for cooking utensils

Description:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION  
      The present invention refers to a constructive arrangement to be applied to cooking utensils, more particularly to pans and cooktops provided with gas burners.  
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION  
      Food cooking operations on gas stoves are generally carried out by means of utensils in the form of pans or other recipients presenting a generally cylindrical tubular body, with the lower end closed by a flat or substantially flat bottom wall, against which is directed the flame of a respective gas burner of the cooktop that is generally incorporated to the upper part of a stove.  
      The cooktops are usually defined by a metallic plate, which is stamped in order to define a kind of a shallow tray, from the bottom of which the usual gas burners are projected.  
      In these known constructive arrangements used in the household gas stoves, it is necessary to position the pans during a cooking operation with their bottom somewhat vertically spaced from the flame of a burner, so as to obtain an adequate operation of the stove.  
      In order to correctly position the pans over the burners, the cooktop is provided with grates generally made of cast iron or steel wire, which are placed around the burners, each grate serving an individual burner or a group of burners. These grates are placed on the cooktop so as to be detachable for cleaning and they are generally locked against horizontal slides by the action of surrounding steps provided by deformation of the plate that defines the cooktop.  
      The pans are placed on the grates to be submitted to the action of the burners in operation.  
      Due to the fact that the cooktop can receive different types and sizes of pans, the grates are constructed so as to define a seating support from a region that surrounds and is adjacent to the circular alignment of the flame produced by the burner, making the grates to have their radially internal region directly reached by the flame of the burners. The heating of the whole structure of the grates is inevitable during the operation of the gas burners, making the operations of removing the grates for cleaning the latter and the cooktop laborious, unpleasant and associated to constant accidents as a function of the overheated condition of said parts.  
      Besides the disadvantages related to the cleaning operations, the existence of the grates in the gas stoves is a factor that impairs the production of cooktops having a “clean” design, i.e., with no steps to retain the grates and which can be easily handled during the cooking and cleaning procedures. The existence of the grates is an obstacle to the design flexibility and to the ease of movements on a cooktop.  
     OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION  
      Due to the disadvantages of the known solutions mentioned above, the present invention has as a generic object to provide a constructive arrangement for cooking utensils, which allows the use of cooktops provided with gas burners but not presenting the usual grates for placing the pans on the burners.  
      It is still an object of the present invention to provide a constructive arrangement such as mentioned above, which allows using different types and sizes of pans in association with the gas burners of the cooktop.  
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
      In order to attain the objects mentioned above, the constructive arrangement for cooking utensils comprises a set of pans and other recipients to be used on a cooktop provided with gas burners, each of said recipients presenting a tubular body with a lower end closed by a bottom wall, against which is directed the annular flame of a gas burner.  
      According to a first aspect of the invention, each recipient carries, preferably in a single piece, at least three lower feet, circumferentially spaced from each other and which are preferably disposed according to the same circular alignment with a diameter which is at least slightly larger than that of the annular flame produced by the gas burners, said feet being dimensioned to be seated on the cooktop, maintaining the bottom wall of the recipient at a certain height above the gas burners.  
      The feet of a recipient are preferably arranged, so as to be contained inside a contour that is inscribed in the inner contour of another recipient of the same arrangement of utensils, making possible the telescopic stacking of at least two recipients.  
      Still according to the invention, the cooktop consists of a horizontal flat plate presenting a plurality of median openings, through which respective gas burners are projected, with the flat plate region disposed around each gas burner defining the surface that supports the feet of the recipient positioned on the respective gas burner.  
      The constructive arrangement proposed herein allows to eliminate the grates and to form cooktops devoid of superficial discontinuities other than those defined by the gas burners. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
      The invention will be described now, with reference to the enclosed drawings, in which:  
       FIG. 1  is a top perspective view of a cooktop provided with fours gas burners, one of said burners being covered by a recipient in the form of a pan presenting the constructive arrangement according to the present invention, and another burner being associated with an optional grate;  
       FIG. 2  is a top plan view of the arrangement of  FIG. 1 ;  
       FIG. 3  is rear elevational view of the arrangement of  FIGS. 1 and 2 ;  
       FIGS. 4 and 5  are cross sectional views of the present constructive arrangement taken along lines IV-IV and V-V of  FIG. 2 , respectively; and  
       FIGS. 6, 7  and  8  are cross sectional views of three constructive variations of a recipient in the form of a pan that can be used in the constructive arrangement of the present invention. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT  
      As illustrated in the figures of the enclosed drawings and as mentioned in the beginning of this specification, the present constructive arrangement comprises, according to a first aspect of the invention, a set of recipients  10  defined by pans, frying pans, kettles etc., presenting a tubular body  11  generally of a circular section with a lower end closed by a bottom wall  12 . The recipients  10  may be constructed in any material that is suitable for cooking food when placed directly on the flame, such as for example stainless steel, aluminum alloys, other cast metals, and glass, and incorporating in a single piece at least three lower feet  15  circumferentially spaced from each other.  
      The feet  15  are preferably disposed according to the same circular alignment, generally concentric to the axis of the recipient  10  and presenting a diameter which is at least slightly larger than that of the circular flame produced by the gas burners  25  of a cooktop  20 .  
      The feet are dimensioned to seat on the cooktop  20 , maintaining the bottom of the recipient at a certain height above the gas burners  25 .  
      In the recipient  10  illustrated in the drawings and defined by a pan, the feet  15  consist of axial extensions of the bottom wall  12 , said extensions being circumferentially spaced from each other in order to allow the air to circulate below the bottom wall  12 , when the recipient  10  is positioned on a gas burner  25  in operation. However, it should be understood that the feet  15  might present different embodiments since they allow maintaining the recipient  10  to be placed directly on the cooktop  20  at a certain height over a gas burner  25 .  
      The feet  15  are preferably shaped to be contained inside a contour that is inscribed, with a small radial gap, in the inner contour of another recipient  10  of the same arrangement of utensils, in order to allow the recipients to be stored telescopically stacked at least in groups of two.  
      As a function of the fact that the recipients  10  are directly and adequately placed on the cooktop  20 , the latter does not require the usual grates around the gas burners  25  for placing the recipients  10  provided with feet  15 . Thus, the cooktop  20  can be formed by a horizontal plate presenting a plurality of median openings (not illustrated), through which are projected the respective gas burners  25 . The flat plate region disposed around each gas burner  25  defines a seating surface for the feet  15  of the recipient  10  positioned onto a respective gas burner  25 .  
      The cooktop  20  can be further optionally provided with control knobs  26  for controlling the gas valves, or it can be completely smooth, except in the assembly region of the gas burners  25  where it can be provided with a slight upper annular draw. In this last constructive option, the knobs  26  are mounted to a control panel outside the cooktop  20 .  
      In order that the cooktop  20  can also operate with the conventional recipients not presenting the feet  15 , it is foreseen a grate  30  to be removably seated on the cooktop  20  around a respective gas burner  25 .