Patent ID: 8692164

Claim:
A cooking appliance comprising: a first heating assembly having a front, a back, two sides, at least two handles extending from the two sides and a first cooking surface; and a second heating assembly having a second cooking surface, said second heating assembly being operatively connected to said first heating assembly, wherein said first cooking surface is locatable in at least three operative positions relative to said second cooking surface and said at least two handles enable a user to translate said first cooking surface in a substantially linear manner relative to said second cooking surface and manually engage at least one hinge pin associated with said first heating assembly with one of a plurality of notches of a J-shaped track, wherein the at least one hinge pin and the J-shaped track are configured such that if the user does not manually engage the at least one hinge pin with one of the plurality of notches, a weight of said first heating assembly cannot be supported by the at least one hinge pin in relation to the respective notch of the J-shaped track, said at least three operative positions including: (i) a first operative position wherein said first cooking surface is secured in an abutting relationship with said second cooking surface, (ii) a second operative position wherein said first cooking surface is located at an angle relative to said second cooking surface, (iii) a third operative position wherein said first cooking surface is secured in a spaced-apart relationship relative to said second cooking surface, and said first cooking surface is oriented along a plane substantially parallel to said second cooking surface, and (iv) a fourth operative position relative to said second cooking surface wherein said first cooking surface is secured in a spaced-apart relationship relative to said second cooking surface at a different space from said second cooking surface than in said third operative position, and said first cooking surface being oriented along a plane substantially parallel to said second cooking surface, wherein when in said third operative position and said fourth operative position, the weight of said first heating assembly is supported in said respective spaced apart relationship by the at least one hinge pin associated with said first heating assembly abutted against a respective notch of the J-shaped track, and wherein said first cooking surface is maintainable in a substantially parallel relationship with the second cooking surface as said first cooking surface is substantially linearly translated relative to the second cooking surface between the first, third and fourth operative positions by said user via the at least two handles.