Patent Document

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0001]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0002]    This invention relates to an outdoor barbeque grill (OBG) that includes a cooking surface, one or more burners and a source of fuel which can be, for example, either a portable container of propane or a conduit connected to a source of fuel utilized in a home or business. An oven is located within the grill housing. 
         [0003]    2. Description of Related Art 
         [0004]    Drippings from food being cooked on an outdoor grill can create problems. First the drippings can clog the burner outlets so as to interfere with proper combustion. Secondly, the drippings can cause flare ups by coming into contact with the burners. Flare ups can burn the food being barbequed and may have adverse health consequences. 
         [0005]    One prior solution is to install covers over the burners to stop the drippings from direct contact with the burners; however the covers themselves can become hot enough to cause the drippings to ignite. Another approach is to use infrared heating. In this approach a surface is heated to the point of emitting infrared radiation which cooks the food. Yet another approach is to use a perforated plate between the cooking surface and the burner. These approaches are still subject to flare ups and utilize more energy because the intermediate surface needs to be heated. 
         [0006]    Yet another approach has been tried involving indirect heat wherein the burners are not located directly below the cooking surface. Heated air and combustion gas are directed to the cooking surface. Consequently drippings do not fall on the burners. However, these indirect heating designs have not achieved commercial acceptance due to design failure. For example, an indirect heating unit is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,163,359. 
         [0007]    However, the dripping collection area  100  is awkward to clean and requires some sort of a drain mechanism as shown in  FIG. 5 . Additionally cold air is drawn in through passages  70  which may create cool spots on the cooking surface and reduces the heating efficiency of the unit. 
       BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The invention as claimed herein is to an OBG of the indirect heating type which includes a convenient arrangement for collecting and removing drippings from the food. According to another aspect of the invention, an oven is provided in addition to the traditional grilling surface whereby a variety of food items such as breads and vegetables may be cooked or heated. According to another aspect of the invention, a container for flavoring materials such as wood chips may be positioned within the heated gas flow to enhance the flavor of the cooked food. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S) 
         [0009]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of an OBG and oven according to an embodiment of the invention. 
           [0010]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  2 - 2  of  FIG. 4 . 
           [0011]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view taken along line  3 - 3  of  FIG. 4 . 
           [0012]      FIG. 4  is a vertical cross-sectional view of the embodiment shown in  FIG. 1   
           [0013]      FIG. 5  is a side view of a tray holder for food flavoring. 
           [0014]      FIG. 6  is a perspective view of an OBG and oven according to a second embodiment of the invention. 
           [0015]      FIG. 7  is a vertical sectional view of the OBG and oven shown in  FIG. 6 . 
           [0016]      FIG. 8  is a top view of the adjustable vent in the top portion of the oven shown in  FIG. 7 . 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
       [0017]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , an embodiment of the invention disclosed herein includes a support frame  31  having four legs  32  for supporting the OBG and oven  100  on a horizontal surface. The outdoor grill includes a pivoted cover  17 , temperature gauge  48  and a handle  47  attached to cover  17 . Grill  10  includes cooking surfaces  16  and  18  which may be of the type that included a plurality of spaced apart rods or bars that allow heated gases to pass between the bars or rods that support the food to be cooked. The top surface  55  of an oven is positioned between cooking surfaces  16  and  18 . The oven includes a vertically pivoted oven door  52 . 
         [0018]    As shown in  FIG. 2 , the grill may include four burners  41 ,  42 ,  43  and  44  having control knobs  27 . The burners may be circular or rectangular in shape or may comprise any type of burner that is known in the art. 
         [0019]    The grill  10  includes a box like housing which is open in the bottom and includes side walls  13 ,  24  and front and rear walls  25  and  26  as shown in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . A pair of drip pans  21  and  22  with handles  28  are slidably mounted within the grill housing as shown in  FIG. 2 . The grill housing also slidable supports two trays  45  and  46  in any known manner. Trays  45  and  46  may have semi-circular portions  51  within which food flavoring elements  52  are supported. 
         [0020]      FIG. 4  discloses the internal structure of the outdoor grill. Drip trays  21  and  22  are located directly below cooking surfaces  16  and  18 . Tray  21  is positioned between two baffles  14  that extend the width of the housing. Tray  22  is positioned between two baffles  20  that also extend the width of the housing as shown in  FIG. 2 . Burner  41  is positioned between one of the baffles  14  and the side wall  13  of the housing such that drippings from cooking surface  16  will not impinge upon the burner  41 . Heating gases from burner  41  will be deflected by inclined wall portion  12  of the housing upwardly and inwardly toward cooking surface  16  as shown in  FIG. 4 . Tray  46  is positioned above burner  41  so that the heated gases will heat the contents of the tray to cause flavoring elements  52  to vaporize. Inwardly extending baffles  15  and  19  are located within the housing to direct any drippings toward the centerline of pans  21  and  22 . 
         [0021]    Located within the grill housing is an oven  100  formed by two converging bottom wall portions  54  and  53 ; sidewall portions  58  and  59  and a top wall  56 . Shelves  101  and  102  are located within oven  100 . A baffle  56  extends along the width of the housing between rear and front housing portions  25  and  26  as shown in  FIG. 2 . As can be seen in  FIG. 4 , hot gases from burners  42  and  43  are directed inwardly and upwardly by inclined bottom wall portions  54  and  53 . Oven wall portions  54 ,  53 ,  58  and  59  are thereby heated by the hot gases arising from burners  42  and  43 . Baffle plates  20  function in the same manner as baffle plats  14  to form areas within the grill that are not located directly beneath cooking surface  18  and within which drip pan  22  is slideably located. Thus drippings from cooking surface  18  will not impinge upon burners  43  or  44 , thereby avoiding flare-ups. Baffles  19  also serve to direct drippings to the center line of drip pan  22 . 
         [0022]    Drip pans  21  and  22  may be slideably supported by rails that extend between housing walls  25  and  26  or in any other well-known manner, such as by rails attached to baffles  14  and  20 . 
         [0023]    Individual burners  41 ,  42 ,  43  and  44  are connected to a source of ignitable gas such as propane. Control knobs  27  for individual gas valves that include an ignition device as is well-known in the art are also provided. Burners  41 ,  42 ,  43  and  44  may be supported within the housing by any suitable means. 
         [0024]    A second embodiment of the invention is illustrated in  FIGS. 6 through 8 . This embodiment is very similar to that of  FIGS. 1-5 . The two main differences being the provision of separate cooking chambers and the provision of a third cooking surface above the oven. As shown in  FIG. 6 , the cooking grill of this embodiment includes a plurality of legs  61  for supporting a frame  80 . A pair of drip trays  68  and  67  are slidably mounted within the housing. However, in lieu of a single cover or hood as is the case for the embodiment of  FIGS. 1-5 , the embodiment of  FIG. 6  includes two separate covers  69  and  70  that are pivotably attached to the grill housing in any known manner. Cover  70  is located above cooking surface  75  and cover  69  is located above cooking surface  76  thereby forming two separate cooking chambers. An auxiliary cooking surface  79  which may be of the open grill type is positioned above oven  200  as shown in  FIG. 7 . An opening  201  is provided in the top surface  203  of oven  200  through which hot gases may escape toward cooking surface  79 . A slidable plate  202  is adapted to be moved into and out of opening  201  to vary the amount of hot gases that are directed to cooking surface  79 . Hot gases are directed into oven  200  via louvers  98  and  99 . Handle  205  is connected to plate  202  and extends outwardly of the grill housing. 
         [0025]    As in the first embodiment, baffles  93 ,  94 ,  95 ,  96  and  97  extend between the front and rear walls of the housing to form areas to isolate burners  63 ,  64 ,  65  and  66  from drippings that may fall from cooking surfaces  75  and  76 . Baffles  101  and  102  also deflect drippings toward the centerline of drip pans  67  and  68 . Slanted bottom wall portions  91  and  92  of oven  200  direct heated gases around the oven wall surfaces. Gases are also directed into the interior of oven  200  through louvers  98  and  99 . A gas burner may optionally be located within oven  200  as a substitute for or in addition to burners  98  and  99  to provide a heat source within the oven. 
         [0026]    Separate covers  69  and  70  include individual temperature gauges  71  and  72  and handles  73  and  74 . 
         [0027]    Operation of the apparatus is as follows. With respect to the embodiment of  FIG. 1 , one or more of the burners  41 - 44  may be turned on. Food to be barbequed may be placed on cooking surfaces  16  or  18  and items to be baked or heated can be placed in oven  100 . Heated gases will be deflected by surfaces  12 ,  54 ,  53  or  35  toward the cooking surfaces and around the exterior of oven  100 . Drippings from the food will fall directly into drip pans  21  and  22  without impinging upon any of the burners. Additionally, baffles  15  and  19  will further direct any drippings toward drip pans  21  and  22 . Food flavoring materials such as wood chips can be placed in elongated bowls  51  which can be positioned above burners  41  and/or  44  as shown in  FIG. 4 . 
         [0028]    With respect to the embodiment illustrated in  FIGS. 6-8 , burners  63 - 66  can be individually turned on and it is possible to turn on only burners  63  and  64  so that only the left hand portion of the grill including cooking surface  75  and the area under hood  70  will be heated. With all four burners on heated gases will be directed to both cooking surfaces  75  and  76 . Also heated gases will be directed into over  200  through louvers  98  and  99 . The amount of heated gases directed to cooking surface  79  will depend upon the degree to which vent  201  in the top surface of the oven is open. Typically, vegetables, pots and/or pans can be placed on cooking surface  79 . 
         [0029]    Although the present invention has been described with respect to specific details, it is not intended that such details should be regarded as limitations on the scope of the invention, except to the extent that they are included in the accompanying claims.

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