Patent ID: 7475630

Claim:
A cooking appliance comprising a base adapted to rest on a generally flat surface, said base comprising a floor and four sidewalls; a removable cooking plate having two cooking surfaces for transferring heat to food product place on said cooking surface; a heat element embedded in said cooking plate for generating heat from electrical energy and transferring said heat to said cooking surfaces; an electrical conductor socket adapted to plug into said cooking plate to deliver electrical energy to said appliance; a control dial residing on said conductor socket for controlling heat generated by said heat element; and a mechanical switch actuator formed as a horizontally extending member that extends outwardly from one of said sidewalls and that is adapted to activate said conductor socket to enable electrical energy to be delivered to said appliance when said socket is positioned in contact with said actuator in a predetermined position, and to disable electrical energy preventing its delivery to said appliance when said socket is positioned out of said predetermined position.