Year: 1895

page_text: VICTOR GEORGE MIDDLETON and DOUGLAS NEALE both of Broadway
Chambers, Westminster, Electrical Engineers do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows
11
An oven made of sheet iron or other suitable material covered on the outside by
non-conducting composition protected by an outer case. In place of a door the
four sides and top together with their non-conducting covering and protective case,
are made to slide off vertically their weight being sustained by a counterbalance or
other suitable means.
The base of the oven is made sunilarly to the sides and top and supports a
rectangular metal frame which fits inside the top and sides and acts as a guide to
them while they are being raised. Said frame also sustains metal tiays oi shelves
upon which the articles to be cooked or heated may be placed. The temperature
108ide oven may be raised and maintained by means of an electric current passing
through incandescent lamps or other high resistance or by any known means of
generating heat
The object of the invention is to avoid the loss of heat experienced in other
forms of ovens owing to the escape of the heated an from the interior when the
door (being formed in the sides or top) is opened during the process of cooking.
Dated this Tenth day of May 1895.
V. G. MIDDLETON.
DOUGLAS NEALE.
We, VICTOR GEORGE MIDDLETON, and DOUGLAS NEALE, both of Broadway
Chambers, Westminster, Electrical Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention has reference to an improved construction of electric oven in
which the sides and top of the oven are arranged to lift vertically and the
temperature of the air inside the oven is raised and maintained at any desired
degree by means of the heat usually from the passage of an electric current through
the filaments of incandescent electric lamps or other high resistances, or by any
known electrical means of generating heat, an object of the invention being to
avoid the loss of heat that obtains with ovens having doors, owing to the escape of
the heated air when the doors are opened.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a front elevation, Fig 2 a plan, Fig. 3 an end elevation and Fig. 4 a
longitudinal vertical section, showing an electric oven constructed according to this

page_text: Fig. 5 is a plan of the lower portion of the oven with its support; and
Fig. 6 is similar view to Fig. 3 but with the upper portion of the oven
rasel.
The oven is divided horizontally into two parts viz. an upper portion 1 and a
lower portion or baso 1 each being made of suitable sheet metal 2, for example
iron or aluminium covered on its outer side by material 3 that is a bad conductor
of heat, such as silicate cotton, this material being protected by an outer case 2ª
which may also be of sheet metal. The four sides and top of the oven, with their
non-conducting covering and protective case, together and constituting the upper
portion 1 of the oven, are arranged to move vertically, for which purpose
there is attached to an eye 4, fixed to the top of the oven, a cord 5, that is led
over a guide pulley 6 carried by a cross piece 7 supported by two hollow
standards 8, which are fixed to the frame or support 9 upon which the oven
is mounted. The weight of the movable portion of the oven 18 suitably
counter balanced, as by weights 10 which are arranged to work in the hollow
standards 8 and are connected by cords 11, passing over guide pulleys 11,
to the eye 4. By these means the upper portion of the oven can be easily raised
by pulling on the cord 5. By providing two cords 5 as shown, each passing over
a guide pulley 6 as shown, the upper part of the oven can be easily raised from
either side thereof. The lower portion or base 1 of the oven carries a rectangula
metal frame 12 which fits within the sides of the upper portion of the oven
frame, which serves as a guide to the upper portion of the oven whilst the same is
being raised and lowered, also serves by means of cross pieces 12 fixed thereto,
to carry metal trays or shelves upon which the articles to bo cooked or heated are
placed. 13, 13 are incandescent electric lamps fixed within the upper and lower
portions 1, 1 respectively of the oven and whereby the temperature of the air
therein can be readily raised and maintained at any desired degree The number
and arrangement of these lamps can be varied. In the example shown, there are
six lamps in the upper portion of the oven, and six in the lower portion, those in
the upper portion being arranged in independent circuits each controlled by a
switch 14 and those in the lower portion being arranged in pairs each comprising
a lamp at each end of the oven, the several pairs of lamps being included in
parallel circuits 15, 15ª, 15° (Fig. 5) each of which 19 controlled by a separate
snitch 16. By this arrangement any one of the lamps in the upper portion of the
oven and any one or more pairs of the lamps in the lower portion of the oven can
be readily put in or out of circuit according to the temperature it is desired to
maintain, for the time being, within the oven.
This
By constructing an oven in the manner described, the hot air within the upper
portion of the oven, will, on this portion being raised, and lowered, rise and fall
with it and thus be prevented to a large extent from escaping, whereby a more
efficient and uniform heating of the oven 18 effected than is the case in ovens
having doors as heretofore usually employed.
As will be obvious, an electric oven according to this invention can be variously
modified without departing from the essential features thereof. Thus with the
object of lessening loss of heat by radiation from the lower lamps 13" when the
upper portion of the oven is raised the back and ends of the frame 12 may be
closed by sheet metal, so that access can be gained to the interior of the oven only
from the front.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
1. An electric oven the upper portion 1 of which is arranged to move bodily
ID a vertical direction and, the temperature of the air within which is capable of
being raised and maintained at the desired degree by means of the heating
effect of an electric current flowing through a conductor substantially as
described

page_text: 2. The combination with an oven of incandescence electric lamps arranged within
the same for heating it substantially in the manner described.
3. Our improved electric oven constructed substantially as described and shown.
Dated this 10th day of March 1896.
W. Lloyd Wise,
V. G. MIDDLETON.
D. NEALE.
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicants.