Patent Document

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION 
       [0001]    This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/184,591, filed Jun. 5, 2009, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. 
     
    
     FIELD OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    The present disclosure relates to toy ovens, and more particularly to multi-purpose toy ovens that operate electrically for heating products designed for use by children. The oven will have particular utility as a baking oven, e.g. for creating decorative items, and will be described in connection with such utility. 
       BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0003]    For many years, toy ovens have been extremely popular products for use by children, enabling a child to cook, on a small scale, various products specially designed for use by children. Such products include craft items, and various toy or play products. Although numerous products have been constructed for use by children in connection with toy ovens and toy ovens have been extremely popular products sold in the marketplace for numerous years, currently available toy ovens continue to suffer from common drawbacks which have been incapable of being fully eliminated. 
         [0004]    One of the principal difficulties encountered with toy ovens is insufficient safety features, e.g., preventing injury to a child in connection with the heat and electricity associated with the oven. Although numerous developments have been made in an attempt to provide a safe oven which is inaccessible to a child when hot, such prior art constructions have failed to be fully effective in limiting potential injuries. 
         [0005]    While several advances have been made to prevent access to the internal parts of the oven while the temperature of these parts of the oven exceed a safe value, external portions of the oven may still become very hot to the touch and may provide mild to severe burns, the former discouraging use of the appliance and the latter creating liability for its maker. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0006]    A particular point of interest for children is an observation window that allows them to view the cooking process. This specific location is of great curiosity to the child and, unfortunately, is usually the most poorly insulated portion of the appliance. The present disclosure improves upon the prior art by providing a toy electric oven featuring an insulated structure including an observation window that is cool to the touch. 
         [0007]    One aspect of the present disclosure provides a toy electric oven, comprising: an insulated housing containing a heating chamber, the insulated housing having an aperture for placing an object in the heating chamber; a door for closing the aperture; a window for viewing the heating chamber when the door is closed, the window remaining at a safe temperature for touching while the toy electric oven is operating; a cooling system including a cooling fan; and a timer. In order to minimize the surface temperature of the window, the window may be comprised of at least two panes, spaced from one another, wherein the cooling fan optionally may be used to force an airstream between the at least two panes. 
         [0008]    Another aspect of the present invention provides a method for operating a toy electric oven having an insulated housing with a window comprised of at least two panes, spaced from one another, for observing a heating chamber within, the method comprising: setting a timer, whereupon heat is provided to the heating chamber and a cooling fan optionally is activated, the cooling fan passing an airstream between the at least two panes; and, upon the conclusion of the timer, ceasing to provide heat to the heating chamber and optionally directing the cooling airstream to pass through the heating chamber. 
     
    
     
       DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    Further features and advantages of the present invention will be seen from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  is an illustration of a toy oven in accordance with the present disclosure; 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram illustrating operation of a toy oven in accordance with the present invention; and 
           [0012]      FIGS. 3-5  illustrate an alternative design of my toy oven. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 
       [0013]    In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, various embodiments of the present disclosure. It is understood that other embodiments may be utilized and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. 
         [0014]    A primary aspect of the present disclosure provides a toy electric oven comprised of an insulated housing  10 . Preferably, but not necessarily, the housing may be shaped and bear decorations that are “fun” and attractive to children. Within the insulated housing is a heating chamber (not shown) that may be accessed through an aperture so that an object to be heated may be placed in the heating chamber. It is intended that the aperture and the heating chamber be sized large enough to process three dimensional projects. The aperture is covered by a hingedly mounted door  12  that may be latched. The insulated housing also includes a window  14  for viewing the heating chamber when the door is closed. Referring also to  FIG. 2 , the oven includes a cool touch handle  16 , a control system  20  for operating a heating element  22  as will be discussed below, and a cooling system including a cooling fan  24  is provided so that the object and the heating chamber may be sufficiently cooled, thereby preventing injury. Finally, a timer  26  may be used to initiate operation of the toy electric oven and may also be used to automate some of the other functions of the toy electric oven. 
         [0015]    The heating chamber may be heated using an incandescent bulb  22 , though other sources of heat, such as an electric resistance heating element, may be used. As a safety feature, the heating chamber may be divided into first and second compartments. The first compartment contains the incandescent bulb  22  and the second compartment is constructed to receive the object to be heated. The first and second compartments may be divided to prevent a child user from accessing the incandescent bulb  22  through the aperture. For example, a grating, a transparent plate, or an optical plate for focusing the light of the incandescent bulb, may be used to separate the first compartment from the second compartment. The incandescent bulb may be changed by removing a panel from the insulated housing that is fastened to the insulated housing, for example, by a plurality of screws. It is intended that the incandescent bulb  22  will be changed only by an adult. 
         [0016]    The toy electric oven may also be constructed using a small heating element using a similar configuration to that described above. 
         [0017]    The heating chamber may be configured with the surrounding surfaces to be substantially covered with a reflective material to aid in the distribution of heat and to contain the heat within the heating chamber. 
         [0018]    The timer  26  of the present disclosure may be used to operate the toy electric oven. The timer may be set, for example, by turning a dial or entering a time value on a digital keypad. In this example, once the timer is set, the door  12  is locked shut by a locking device  28 , and heat is provided to the heating chamber for the duration of the set heating time. When the timer concludes, heat is no longer provided and the cooling system  24  is used to cool the heating chamber. 
         [0019]    The device may further include a temperature sensor  30  that senses the temperature of the heating chamber. The control  20  is programmed to operate the cooling system  24  to cool the heating chamber until the temperature sensor  30  indicates that the temperature within the heating chamber has fallen below a predetermined value whereupon it is safe for the child to retrieve the object. When this occurs, the locking device  28  is triggered to unlock the oven door  12 . 
         [0020]    A feature and advantage of the present invention is the provision of a cool-to-the-touch viewing window  14 . The window  14  is configured to minimize the surface temperature, so that the child may use the toy electric oven and observe the cooking process without threat of even a minor injury. The window  14  may be kept at near-ambient temperatures while the heating chamber is being heated. 
         [0021]    The window may be comprised of at least two panes, forming a vapor space between the at least two panes. The vapor space may be sealed, e.g. to contain a partial vacuum or may be vented to atmosphere. In a preferred embodiment, the cooling fan  24  may be used to force an airstream through the vapor space while the heating chamber is being heated. The insulated housing contains a first path  32  and a second path  34  for an airstream powered by the cooling fan, the first path  32  directing the airstream through the vapor space and the second path directing the airstream through the heating chamber  34 . The first path and second path may have a common intake and a common exit, and are separated by a control valve  36 . The control valve  36  directs the airstream through the vapor space while heat is being provided to the heating chamber and then directs the airstream through the heating chamber upon conclusion of the heating cycle. 
         [0022]    Alternatively, a second fan may be included to perform the separate tasks of cooling the window and the heating chamber. 
         [0023]    Because the location of the window  14  is a point of interest to the child, the airstream should be directed away from the window upon exiting the insulated housing. 
         [0024]    Forcing an airstream through the vapor space could potentially cause condensate to build up on one or more surfaces. To mitigate this problem, at least one of the panes may have a surface coated with a material that discourages water condensate from collecting. 
         [0025]    In order to more effectively keep heat within the heating chamber, one of the panes may have an inner surface (facing the heating chamber) coated with a reflective material that reflects light and heat from within the heating chamber back into the heating chamber. 
         [0026]    The toy electric oven of the present disclosure also includes a locking device or latch  28  for the door, so that a user may be prevented from opening the door  12  when the heating chamber is hot. The latch  28  keeps the door  12  from opening when the heating chamber is being heated and remains latched until the cooling system is turned off once the temperature falls to a safe level as sensed by the temperature sensor  30 . The toy electric oven of the present disclosure is intended for a variety of uses, including but not limited to, glazing surfaces, melting plastic crystals into forms, shrinking plastic forms, baking clay or dough, fusing two or more plastic items together, fusing beads, baking plaster in molds or baking foods. The toy electric oven may produce various products that include but are not limited to: jewelry and beads, name plates light plate switch covers, picture frames, mobiles, figurines, boxes, plates, cups, bowls magnets, buttons, tiles, suncatchers, and trays. 
         [0027]    Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method for operating a toy electric oven as described above. The method allows the toy electric oven operated through initiating a heating cycle. As the heating cycle starts, the door is locked shut automatically, and, heat is provided to the heating chamber and a cooling fan is activated, the cooling fan passing an airstream between the at least two panes of the window. Upon the conclusion of the heating cycle, heat is no longer delivered to the heating chamber and the airstream is directed to pass through the heating chamber in order to cool the heating chamber and the object that has been baked. The cooling fan continues to cool the heating chamber and the object therein until the temperature of the heating chamber falls below a predetermined value at which time the door latch is unlocked. 
         [0028]    The operation of the door and latch may also be controlled by the timer. At the start of the timer, the door is latched to prevent the door from being opened. The door is unlatched a set time after the heating element is turned off. The set time is set at the factory, and is designed to permit the temperature of the heating chamber to fall below a predetermined value. In other words, the door is kept locked until sufficient time elapses to permit the heating chamber to cool to a safe temperature. 
         [0029]    It should be emphasized that the above-described embodiments of the present device and process, particularly, and “preferred” embodiments, are merely possible examples of implementations and merely set forth for a clear understanding of the principles of the disclosure. Many different embodiments of the disclosure described herein may be designed and/or fabricated without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. For example, the toy electric oven may further include a delay timer for delaying the function of the timer and other functions that depend on the start of the timer. All these and other such modifications and variations are intended to be included herein within the scope of this disclosure and protected by the following claims. Therefore the scope of the disclosure is not intended to be limited except as indicated in the appended claims.

Technology Category: a