WO2000060988A1

WO2000060988A1 - Barbecue

Info

Publication number: WO2000060988A1
Application number: PCT/DK2000/000175
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mogens Rasmussen; Bjarne Christensen
Original assignee: Co. M.B-Trading Aps
Priority date: 1999-04-12
Filing date: 2000-04-11
Publication date: 2000-10-19
Also published as: EP1176896A1; AU3803300A

Abstract

A barbecue (1) of the type comprising two upstanding supporting parts (2a, 2b), which in the mounted condition of use are arranged parallelly at a distance from each other, a rectangular or quadratic grilling grid (3), a rectangular or quadratic firebox (4), an upper support (6a, 6b) for supporting the grilling grid (3) and a lower support (7a, 7b) for supporting the firebox (4), said supports (6a, 6b, 7a, 7b) being arranged at each of the supporting part (2a, 2b) at the side of the supporting part opposite the other supporting part. The lower support (7a, 7b) is a horizontal guideway having two webs (9a', 9a'', 9b', 9b'') extending against each other from the upper and lower side, respectively, of the guideway (7a, 7b), and the firebox (4) has, at each of two opposite facing sides, a slide (10a, 10b) having a larger vertical height than the distance between the free edges of the two webs (9a', 9a'', 9b', 9b'') of the horizontal guideway, said slide (10a, 10b) being arranged for slidingly engaging said guideway (7a, 7b) during mounting of the barbecue (1). The firebox (4) serves as both the firebox and storage for the supporting parts (2a, 2b) and the grilling grid (3) in the demounted condition of the barbecue (1) in which the back parts (5) serves as a lid for entirely covering the open side of the firebox (4).

Description

Barbecue

The invention relates to a barbecue of the type comprising two upstanding supporting parts, which in the mounted condition of use are arranged parallelly at a distance from each other, a rectangular or quadratic grilling grid, a rectangular or quadratic tray, and an upper support for supporting the grilling grid and a lower support for supporting the tray, said supports being arranged at each of the supporting part at the side of the supporting part facing the other supporting part.

Barbecues are widespread used among e.g. campers, caravanners and summer house owners. However, the barbecues are often very large, heavy and takes up considerably room when they are not in use. These requirements for storage refrain many people from getting a barbecue. In addition it can be difficult to get access to favorable cleaning.

In order to solve these problems various portable and/or demountable barbecues have been manufactured.

US 2,965,097 disclose an adjustable and collapsible charcoal cooking grill comprising four identical flat upright members assembled in a frame. The frame can be placed over e.g. a bonfire and the top of the frame a number of rods can be mounted for forming a grilling grid of any required size within the limitation of the size of the frame.

However, a cooking grill of this type is very unpractical and complicated to mount and demount. Each rod of the grilling grid has to be placed separately before the cooking grill is usable and each rod has to be removed separately before the four identical flat upright members can be separated and the cooking grill demounted and collapsed again.

This cooking grill does only provide for one grilling distance from the bonfire or the charcoal and any other preferable distance can only be obtained if the cooking grill is raised using additional means for raising and supporting the cooking grill. Also there is a r sk that the cooking grill will fall apart when it is moved or lifted.

A portable barbecue oven is disclosed m US 3,809,051. This barbecue oven constitutes one collapsible unit of which the firebox serves as the storage for any other part of the barbecue oven .

This known barbecue oven is a rather complicated structure which is difficult and time consuming to mount. The parts are assembled with hinges, spit-bearings and tongue and groove joints and therefor the oven manifests an extremely unsteady and difficult structure, which is difficult and unsafe to lift and move after assembling . If the barbecue oven is moved during use there is a risk that the oven will fall apart whereby the person moving or lifting the grill can accidentally get burnt. Also, the grilling grid can exclusively be placed in one single position, making it difficult to prevent the grilling object from being burnt.

Non of the known barbecues mentioned above are easy to mount or demount and handle both before and after use.

The object of the present invention is to provide a barbecue which can be mounted and demounted m an easier manner that hitherto known.

Another object of the invention is to provide a barbecue, which is handy and transportable and has a safe and stable structure m the mounted condition of use.

A third object of the invention is to provide a barbecue, which can be assembled without using hinges or screws and can be mounted without using tools. A fourth object of the invention is to provide a barbecue, which is easy to clean.

The novel and unique whereby this is achieved according to the invention is the facts that each supporting part is a separate unit, that the lower support is a horizontal guideway having two webs extending against each other from the upper and lower side, respectively, of the guideway, and that the tray has, at each of two opposite sides, a slide having a larger vertical height than the distance between the free edges of the two webs of the horizontal guideway, said slide being arranged for slidingly engaging said guideway during mounting of the barbecue.

The barbecue according to the invention can be assembled in an easy manner by simply pushing the tray into the horizontal guideway in almost identical manner as a drawer is pushed into a chest of drawers.

Thereby the two supporting parts and the tray interlock each other in a very stable, reliable and secure structure, which easily can be lifted or moved without falling apart. Furthermore, the supporting parts provide standing support or legs for the barbecue.

The barbecue can be assembled withhin a few minutes. The tray serves as the firebox which easy and convenient can be filled with e.g. charcoals.

The supporting parts and the grilling grid each has a size allowing them to be accommodated in the tray in the demounted condition of the barbecue so that the grill quickly and easily can be packed and stored after use. The soot up grilling grid and the sooted supporting parts can be enclosed entirely in the tray and the used demounted barbecue can be put away either cleaned or uncleaned and cleaned later. In the packed condition the barbecue only takes up the same room as the tray.

When each supporting part has a vertical web extending against the opposite facing supporting part, and the barbecue further comprises a separate back part, which in the mounted condition of the barbecue is extending between the two supporting parts close to said vertical webs the back part locks the two supporting parts even more stable and strongly together.

When the back part is designed as a lid for covering the opening of the tray in the demounted condition of the barbecue the ash and any remaining from the grilling such as e.g. not burned out charcoals can be kept enclosed in the tray and carried away. Thereby the deposition of glowing material, which may give rise to a fire risk, can advantageously be avoided on places where it is not allowed or risky to make such deposition.

The lid also prevent the grilling grid and the supporting parts from falling out of the tray during transport and in the packed condition of the barbecue it appear as a suitcase.

The grilling grid is placed on the at least one shelf of each of the supporting parts. The at least one shelf can be a U- shaped profile welded on the supporting parts. The legs of the U provide two shelves and two different options for the placement of the grilling grid in a distance from the live charcoals. The shelf can be designed in any other known manner, such as e.g. punched out hooks or webs.

When the grilling grid, at each of two opposite edges, has a slide for slidingly placement on the at least one shelf the grilling grid can be placed and removed easily and without using unnecessary force. In an alternative embodiment the two webs of the horizontal guideway for accommodating the tray is designed as two rows of opposite directed hooks. This design provides an especially simple, cheap and light structure. The barbecue can be made even lighter when the hooks are made by punching.

In the same manner the upper support can be punched out and when both the upper and the lower support are made by punching the barbecue can be made very light .

In an simple and cheap embodiment according to the invention each slide of the tray is designed as a plate, said plate can be fixed on each respective side of the tray by e.g. welding.

Alternatively, each plate are made as a premade part of said side of the tray or as an extension of each side during the manufacture of the tray.

In the horizontal direction parallel to the supporting parts the tray has an extent which corresponds to the width of the supporting parts . Thereby the tray can secure the back part tightly against the vertical webs of the supporting parts in order to obtain a stable engagement in the mounted condition of the barbecue. Advantageously, the front side of the tray is at the same time primarily on the same plane as the front edges of the supporting parts .

The tray can be provided with a handle on the front side of the tray for carrying the barbecue in the demounted condition. The handle can also be used as a hanger for the grilling tools.

The back part of the barbecue can have a web extending along the upper edges of the supporting parts in the mounted condition of the barbecue and the extent of said web corresponds the higth of the tray. Furthermore, the web can be designed with a number of openings permitting the handle to extend through one of said openings when the back part is used as a lid for the tray in the demounted condition of the barbecue. In the packed condition the demounted barbecue has a presentation and an appearance as a suitcase whereby the barbecue is easy to carry, store and handle.

A horizontal web which serves as a handle for lifting or moving the barbecue is extending from the upper edge of each supporting part in the opposite direction of the other support part in the mounted condition of the barbecue.

Due to the placement of the firebox in relation to the supporting parts neither the handle nor the supporting parts will be heated during grilling to such an extent that it is impossible to move the hot or warm barbecue.

The invention will be explained more fully by the following description of an embodiment, which just serves as an example, with reference to the drawings, in which

Fig. 1 is a perspective exploded view of a barbecue according to the invention,

Fig. 2 shows the barbecue in the mounted condition,

Fig. 3 shows on an enlarged scale, seen in section, a detail of the tray engaged with the horizontal guideway, and

Fig. 4 shows the barbecue in the demounted condition.

In fig. 1 is seen in perspective and in an exploded view a transportable barbecue 1 according to the invention. The barbecue 1 consists of two upstanding supporting parts 2a and 2b, a rectangular or quadratic grilling grid 3, a rectangular or quadratic firebox 4 and a separate back part 5. Each of the supporting parts 2a and 2b has an upper U-shaped support 6a, 6b for supporting the grilling grid 3 and a lower support 7a, 7b for supporting the firebox 4, a horizontal web 8a, 8b extending from the upper edge of each supporting part 2a, 2b m the opposite direction of the other supporting part m the mounted condition of the barbecue and a vertical web 11a, lib extending against the opposite supporting part 2a, 2b m the mounted condition of the barbecue.

The supports 6a, 6b, 7a, 7b are arranged at each of the supporting part 2a, 2b at the side of the supporting part 2a facing the other supporting part 2b. The lower support 7a, 7b is a horizontal guideway having two webs 9a' , a ' ' , 9b' , 9b' ' extending against each other from the upper and lower side of the guideway 7a, 7b, and m the shown example said webs 9a' ,9a' ' , 9b' , 9b' ' consist of three hooks.

The firebox 4 has, at each of two opposite facing sides, a slide 10a, 10b having a larger vertical height than the distance between the free edges of the two webs 9a' , 9a' ' , 9b' , 9b' ' of the horizontal guideway 7a, 7b.

As can be seen better m fig. 2 and m more detail m fig. 3 the slides 10a, 10b is designed as attached or premade plates which slidingly engage the guideway 7a, 7b when the firebox 4 is pushed m interlocking engagement with the guideway 7a, 7b during mounting of the barbecue 1. The back part 5 is extending between the two supporting parts 2a, 2b close to the vertical webs 11a, lib. During mounting of the barbecue as shown m fig. 2 the back part 5 is pushed m the vertically downward direction of the arrow close between the vertical webs 11a, lib and the firebox 4 for further providing stability for the barbecue 1. The vertical webs 11a, lib furthermore serves as stops for the back side of the firebox 4, which on the other hand keeps the back part 5 m fixed position. The grilling grid has at each of two opposite edges a slide 13a, 13b for m an easy manner slidingly to place the grilling grid 3 on the U-shaped upper support 6a, 6b.

During demounting the back part 5 is pulled upwards m the vertically direction of the arrow. The grilling grid 3 is removed from the upper support 6a, 6b and the firebox 4 is withdrawn from the horizontal guideway 7a, 7b. The grilling grid 3 and the supporting parts 2a, 2b are then placed m the firebox 4. Finally the back part 5 is pushed m the horizontal direction of the arrow parallel to the lower support 7a, 7b underneath a web 12a, 12b on the firebox 4. The extent of said web 12a, 12b corresponds the width of the supporting parts 2a, 2b. The back part 5 is pushed into its position for covering the opening of the firebox 4 entirely and the back part 5 thereby serves as a very efficient lid for the barbecue m the demounted condition.

The back part 5 of the barbecue 1 has a web 14 extending along the upper edges of the supporting parts 2a, 2b in the mounted condition of the barbecue 1. The extent of the web 14 corresponds the external height of the firebox. In an advantageously embodiment as seen best m fig. 4 the web 14 further is designed with a number of openings 15 trough which a handle 16 on the firebox 4 extend m the demounted condition.

In the mounted condition the web 14 can be used for toasting bread or warming up vegetables .

As can be seen from fig. 2 the supporting parts 2a, 2b can have an angled slot 17a, 17b m whicn a skewer (not shown) can be arranged so that e.g. a chicken can be rotated above the glowing charcoals.

Furthermore, the supporting parts 2a, 2b can be provided with webs 18a, 18b at the front edge and webs 19a, 19b at the bottom edge for further improving the stability and standingability of the barbecue .

The barbecue according to the invention does not make use of means such as screws, hinges and locks for holding the parts of the barbecue together in the mounted position, and no tools are needed for the assembling. The barbecue is extremely easy to mount and demount and does not take up a lot of room during storage. In an easy manner the ash can furthermore be hidden in the firebox serving as the firebox.

The supporting parts and the grilling grid of the barbecue are sized to be accommodated in the firebox. In an especially advantageously embodiment the size of any of the above- mentioned parts also are fixed to fit into a common kitchen sink, thereby making the barbecue very easy to clean.

In the packed condition the barbecue does not take up more room than an attache case.

Dimensionallv example of a barbecue according to the invcention

Height in mm Width in mm Depth in mm

Packed barbecue: 315 420 85

Mounted barbecue: 430 470 330

Supporting part: 400 250 33

Back part: 410 265 77

Firebox: 85 420 315

The barbecue is made of 1,5 mm SPO steel plate and the grilling grid is made of cold-drawn nickel-plated rod iron having a diameter of 5 mm. The total weight of the barbecue will be approximately 9 kg and an embodiment having one punched guideway and a little less if also the at least one shelf of the upper support is made by punching. The barbecue is painted with a water based paint having a temperature resistance at 700°C .

Claims

1. A barbecue (1) of the type comprising:

- two upstanding supporting parts (2a, 2b), which in the mounted condition of use are arranged parallelly at a distance from each other,

- a rectangular or quadratic grilling grid (3),

- an rectangular or quadratic tray (4), and

- an upper support (6a, 6b) for supporting the grilling grid (3) and a lower support (7a, 7b) for supporting the tray (3), said supports (6a, 6b, 7a, 7b) being arranged at each of the supporting parts (2a, 2b) at the side of the supporting part facing the other supporting part,

characterized in that

- each supporting part (2a, 2b) is a separate unit,

- the lower support (7a, 7b) is a horizontal guideway having two webs (9a' , 9a' ' , 9b' , 9b' ' ) extending against each other from the upper and lower side, respectively, of the guideway

(7a, 7b) , and

- the tray (4) has, at each of two opposite facing sides, a slide (10a, 10b) having a larger vertical height than the distance between the free edges of the two webs

(9a' , 9a' ' , 9b' , 9b' ' ) of the horizontal guideway, said slide (10a, 10b) being arranged for slidingly engaging said guideway (7a, 7b) during mounting of the barbecue (1) .

2. A barbecue (1) according to claim 1, characterized in that the supporting parts (2a, 2b) and the grilling grid (3) each has a size allowing them to be accommodated in the tray (4) in demounted condition of the barbecue (1) .

3. A barbecue (1) according to claim 1 or 2 , characterized in that

- each supporting part (2a, 2b) has a vertical web (11a, lib) extending against the opposite supporting part, and

- the barbecue (1) further comprises a separate back part (5), which in the mounted condition of the barbecue (1) is extending between the two supporting parts (2a, 2b) close to said vertical webs (11a, lib) .

4. A barbecue (1) according to claim 4, characterized in that the back part (5) is designed as a lid for covering the opening of the tray (4) in the demounted condition of the barbecue (1) .

5. A barbecue (1) according to claim 1 to 4, characterized in that

- the upper support (6a, 6b) consist of at least on shelf, and

- the grilling grid (3), at each of two opposite edges, has a slide (13a, 13b) for slidingly placement of the grilling grid (3) .

6. A barbecue (1) according to claim 1 to 5 , characterized in that the two webs (9a' , 9a' ' , 9b' 9b' ' ) of the horizontal guideways (7a, 7b) for accommodating the tray (4) is designed as two rows of opposite directed hooks.

7. A barbecue according to claim 1 to 6 , characterized in that each slide (10a, 10b) of the tray is designed as a plate, each plate (10a, 10b) being fixed on each respective side of the tray (4) or is a part of said side of the tray.

8. A barbecue (1) according to claim 1 to 7 , characterized in that the tray (4) has, seen in the horizontal direction parallel to the supporting parts (2a, 2b), an extent which corresponds the width of the supporting parts.

9. A barbecue according to claim 1 to 8 , characterized in that

- a handle (16) is provided on the front side of the tray (4),

- the back part (5) of the barbecue (1) has a web (14) extending along the upper edges of the supporting parts (2a, 2b) in the mounted condition of the barbecue,

- the extent of said web (14) in the direction parallel to the supporting parts (2a, 2b) corresponds the height of the tray (4),

- the web (14) further is designed with a number of openings (15), and

- the handle (16) and one of this openings (15) is arranged in such a way, that the handle (16) extends through said opening (15) when the back part (5) serves as a lid for the tray (4) in the demounted condition of the barbecue (1).

10. A barbecue (1) according to claim 1 to 9 , characterized in that a horizontal web (8a, 8b) is extending from the upper edge of each supporting part in the opposite direction of the other supporting part (2a, 2b) in the mounted condition of the barbecue (1) .