Assembly of a cooking container with a handle and a detachable grip

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to the general technical field of cooking vessels and removable handles, the removable handle being intended to cooperate with the cooking vessel which has at least one handle curved outwards.

[0002] From patent EP1476064, an assembly consisting of a cooking vessel with an outwardly curved handle, in which an opening is formed, and a removable handle designed to cooperate with the handle is known. The removable handle extends along a longitudinal axis and has a spout at one end that can be inserted into the opening. The spout has a lower support wall to cooperate with an upper support face of the handle. The handle has a locking device comprising a bolt that moves along the longitudinal axis between a coupling position in which the handle is assembled onto the handle and a discoupling position in which the handle can be disassembled from the handle. The handle has a free end under which the bolt slides in the coupling position. Document FR 2 579 444 A1 discloses an assembly consisting of a cooking vessel comprising at least one curved handle.outwards and comprising an opening and a removable handle intended to cooperate with said handle, said removable handle extending along a longitudinal axis and having at one end a beak capable of being inserted into said opening to assemble onto the handle by pivoting about a pivot axis, transverse to the longitudinal axis and contained in a horizontal plane, said beak being provided with a lower support wall to cooperate with an upper support face of the handle to form a second support posterior to the pivot axis, said handle comprising a locking device comprising a bolt movable in translation along the longitudinal axis between a coupling position in which the handle is assembled onto the handle and a discoupling position in which the handle can be disassembled from the handle, said handle having a free end, assembly in which the bolt comprises an inclined wallrelative to a horizontal plane passing through the longitudinal axis, which exerts a force on the free end of the handle to press the upper bearing face against the lower bearing wall along an axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis in the coupling position, and in that the free end of the handle has a straight lower edge, the inclined wall exerting a force on the lower edge to press the upper bearing face against the lower bearing wall along the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis in the coupling position.

[0003] However, in such devices, a significant amount of mechanical play is required between the lock and the shackle to obtain an acceptable operating force for the lock, particularly when retracting the lock to disengage the handle from the shackle.

[0004] Thus, such gripping devices have the disadvantage of not allowing perfect immobilization of the handle on the loop, particularly along a transverse axis vertical to the longitudinal axis of the handle.

[0005] The aim of the present invention is to remedy the aforementioned drawbacks and to offer an assembly consisting of a cooking container and a removable handle with optimized ergonomics to allow the user to handle it easily and safely.

[0006] Another aim of the invention is to provide a removable handle that is simple in design and economical to implement.

[0007] Another aim of the invention is to provide a removable handle and cooking container that can be easily stored.

[0008] These goals are achieved with a set according to claim 1.

[0009] The angled wall allows the handle to be gripped securely in the coupling position, thus eliminating vertical play once the handle is attached to the handle. The absence of relative movement between the handle and the grip during handling of the cooking vessel improves ergonomics and the perceived quality for the user.

[0010] According to the invention, the inclined wall is flat and the free end of the handle has a straight lower edge, the inclined wall exerting a force on the lower edge to press the upper bearing face against the lower bearing wall along the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis in the coupling position.

[0011] Thus, the inclined wall of the lock acts on the shackle only through a line of contact. Consequently, the contact area between the inclined wall and the shackle is minimized.

[0012] Preferably, the angle α is between 10° and 20°, preferably 15°.

[0013] This design allows for effective clamping of the shackle by the inclined wall of the lock. A slight pushing force from the lock towards the coupling position secures the shackle to the handle.

[0014] Advantageously, the locking device includes a lock operating button and the operating button includes a user's finger support area, said support area being arranged substantially vertically above the inclined wall along the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, in the vertical cutting plane.

[0015] By user finger support zone, we understand that the user presses on this zone to move the lock from the coupling position to the uncoupling position to allow the handle to be disassembled from the shackle.

[0016] By a support zone arranged approximately vertically above the inclined wall, it could also be understood that a projection of the support surface onto the longitudinal axis, in the vertical cutting plane, is inscribed in a segment which is centered on the lower edge and which has a length of less than 10 millimeters.

[0017] This arrangement reduces the forces induced in the translational guidance system of the lock and the button when the user presses on the support area to move the lock from the coupling position to the discoupling position.

[0018] Preferably, the operating button has a protrusion extending along the axis perpendicular to the longitudinal axis, the support area being arranged on the protrusion.

[0019] Thus, the user can apply force to the bearing area along the longitudinal axis to move the lock from the coupling position to the discoupling position, thereby reducing the forces induced in the translational guidance system of the lock and the button.

[0020] This design allows the user to easily operate the lock with one finger, while holding the handle with the same hand.

[0021] Advantageously, the locking device includes means for returning the lock to the coupling position.

[0022] This arrangement allows the lock to be automatically held in the coupling position by a constant force applied to the free end of the shackle by the inclined wall. Thus, the clamping force on the shackle by the inclined wall is virtually constant and effective.

[0023] Preferably, the locking mechanism's return mechanism includes a spring.

[0024] Advantageously, the cooking vessel is a frying pan, a saucepan or a sauté pan.

[0025] The cooking vessel is intended to be placed on a hob, burner or similar for cooking food.

[0026] The objects, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will be better understood from the following description of a particular embodiment of the invention, presented by way of non-limiting example, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: There figure 1 is an overall perspective view of an assembly formed by a cooking container comprising a handle and a removable handle according to a particular embodiment of the invention, The figure 2 is a perspective view of the removable handle of the figure 1 , There figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the removable handle and the grip along section plane III of the figure 1 with the lock in the disengaged position, The figure 4 is a cross-sectional view of the removable handle and the grip along section plane III of the figure 1 , the lock being in the coupling position.

[0027] It should be noted that, in this document, the terms "horizontal", "vertical", "lower", "upper", "longitudinal", "transverse", "top", "bottom", used to describe the cooking vessel and the handle, refer to this cooking vessel in a situation of use, when it is placed on a horizontal plane.

[0028] There figure 1 Figure 5 illustrates an assembly 50 consisting of a cooking vessel 2 and a removable handle 1. The cooking vessel 2 has a dome 4 with a side wall 5 to which a handle 21 is attached. The handle 21 is fixed to the side wall 5, notably by two rivets (not shown in the figure). The handle 21 extends radially from the side wall 5 in a substantially horizontal plane, parallel to the plane on which the dome 4 is mounted, to form a free end 27. The handle 21 has a substantially rectangular opening 22.

[0029] As seen at figures 1 et 2 , the removable handle 1 extends along a longitudinal axis 13 and includes at one end a double-curved spout 12 ( fig.2 ) intended to cooperate with the opening 22 to assemble or disassemble the handle 1 from the handle 21. The handle 1 has a gripping body 11 which, once the handle 1 is assembled onto the handle 21, allows the cooking container 2 to be manipulated.

[0030] The spout 12 is inserted into the opening 22 from above to be assembled onto the handle 21 by pivoting around a pivot axis 14, transverse to the longitudinal axis 13 and contained in a horizontal plane. The spout 12 has an upper end face 15 which cooperates with a lower face 23 of the handle 21 to form a first support anterior to the pivot axis 14. The spout 12 has a lower support wall 16 which cooperates with an upper support face 26 of the handle 21 to form a second support posterior to the pivot axis 14. Thus, during handling by the user, the weight of the cooking vessel 2 creates a torque around the pivot axis 14 which generates a first force on the first support and a second force on the second support in the opposite direction.

[0031] In accordance with figures 3 et 4 , the handle 1 includes a locking device comprising a lock 31 movable in translation along the longitudinal axis 13. The lock 31 is movable between a coupling position in which the handle 1 is assembled on the lug 21 ( Fig.4 ) and a disengagement position ( Fig.3 in which the handle 1 can be disassembled from the shackle 21. The lock 31 has a front end 32 which is slid under the lower face 23 of the shackle 21 in the coupling position. An operating button 33 is arranged on the grip body 11 and is fixed to the lock 31 by means of a screw 35 to allow the lock 31 to be operated.

[0032] A return spring 36 is arranged in the gripping body 11 to return the latch 31 to the coupling position. The front end 32 of the latch 31 has a rounded lower face 34 which cooperates with the free end 27 of the handle 21 when the handle 1 is assembled by pivoting it onto the handle 21. Thus, the retraction of the latch 31 when the handle 1 is assembled onto the handle 21 is automatic.

[0033] The front end 32 of the latch 31 has a wall 40 inclined with respect to a horizontal plane passing through the longitudinal axis. The inclined wall 40, under the action of the spring 36, exerts a force on the free end 27 of the shackle to press the upper bearing face 26 against the lower bearing wall 16 along an axis 17 perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 13 in the coupling position. The inclined wall 40 is flat. The free end of the shackle 27 has a straight lower edge 28 on which the inclined wall 40 exerts a force to press the upper bearing face 26 against the lower bearing wall 16 along the axis 17 perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 13 in the coupling position.

[0034] The inclined wall 40 and the longitudinal axis 13, in a vertical cutting plane, form an angle of 15°. Thus, the restoring force exerted by the spring 36 on the lock 31 towards its coupling position generates on the lower edge 28 a force with a significant vertical component of pressing the upper bearing face 26 of the handle against the lower bearing wall 16 of the spout 12.

[0035] The operating button 33 has a projection 37 extending upwards along axis 17 perpendicular to longitudinal axis 13 and arranged above the front end 32 of the lock 31. The projection 37 has a finger rest 38 of the user which is substantially vertically aligned with the wall 40 inclined along axis 17 perpendicular to longitudinal axis 13, in the vertical cutting plane. The finger rest 38 is positioned in front of the screw 35, towards the front end 32.

[0036] In operation, the user grasps the gripping body 11 of the handle 1 and inserts the nozzle 12 into the opening 22 from above. Next, it pivots the handle 1 around a pivot axis 14, transverse to the longitudinal axis 13 and contained in the horizontal plane, and the rounded lower face 34 of the front end 32 of the latch 31 bears against the free end 27 of the shackle 21. As the handle 1 continues to pivot, the latch 31 will recoil against the restoring force of the spring 36. When the handle 1 is almost in the assembled position on the shackle 21, the upper end face 15 of the beak 12 comes into contact with the lower face 23 of the shackle 21, and the front end 32 of the latch 31 slides under the lower face 23 under the effect of the spring 36. The inclined wall 40 bears against the lower edge 28 to press the shackle 21 against the lower support wall 16 of the beak. 12 ( Fig. 4 ).

[0037] To disassemble the handle 1 from the shackle 21, the user operates the operating button 33 to move the latch 31 back into the disengaged position, against the return force of the spring 36. As the latch 31 moves, the inclined wall 40 disengages from the lower edge 28. The user can then tilt the handle 1 and extract the beak 12 from the opening 22 of the shackle 21, while releasing the operating button 33.

[0038] Of course, the invention is by no means limited to the embodiment described and illustrated, which has been given only by way of example, and modifications remain possible, in particular from the point of view of the constitution of the various elements or by substitution of technical equivalents, without departing from the scope of protection of the invention, as defined in the claims.

[0039] In an alternative embodiment not part of the invention, the inclined wall may have in a vertical cutting plane a profile slightly curved upwards.

Claims

1. Set (50) composed of a cooking vessel (2) comprising at least one handle (21) curved outward with an opening (22) provided therein, and a detachable handle (1) intended to cooperate with said handle (21), said detachable handle (1) extending along a longitudinal axis (13) and featuring at one end a nozzle (12) that can be inserted into said opening (22) to assemble onto the handle (21) by pivoting around a pivot axis (14), transversal to the longitudinal axis (13) and within a horizontal plane, said nozzle (12) having an upper end surface (15) to cooperate with a lower surface (23) of the handle (21) forming a first support prior to the pivot axis (14), and said nozzle (12) being equipped with a lower support wall (16) to cooperate with an upper support surface (26) of the handle (21) to form a second support posterior to the pivot axis (14), said handle (1) featuring a locking device comprising a lock (31) movable in translation along the longitudinal axis (13) between a coupling position where the handle (1) is assembled on the handle (21) and an uncoupling position where the handle (1) can be disassembled from the handle (21), said handle (21) having a free end (27), the lock (31) having a wall (40) inclined at an angle α relative to a horizontal plane passing through the longitudinal axis (13) which exerts a force on the free end (27) of the handle (21) to press the upper support surface (26) against the lower support wall (16) along an axis (17) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (13) in the coupling position, the inclined wall (40) being flat and the free end (27) of the handle having a straight lower edge (28), the inclined wall (40) exerting a force on the lower edge (28) to press the upper support surface (26) against the lower support wall (16) along the axis (17) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (13) in the coupling position, the inclined wall (40) of the lock acting on the handle (21) by only a line of contact.

2. Set (50) according to claim 1, characterized in that the angle α is comprised between 10° and 20°, preferably 15°.

3. Set (50) according to any of claims 1 to 2, characterized in that the locking device comprises an operating button (33) for the lock (31) and in that the operating button (33) has a support area (38) for a finger of the user, said support area (38) being arranged substantially directly above the inclined wall (40) along the axis (17) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (13), in the vertical sectional plane.

4. Set (50) according to claim 3, characterized in that the operating button (33) has a protusion (37) extending along the axis (17) perpendicular to the longitudinal axis (13), the support area (38) being arranged on the protusion (37).

5. Set (50) according to any of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the locking device comprises return means (36) of the lock (31) to the coupling position.

6. Set (50) according to claim 5, characterized in that the return means of the lock (31) comprise a spring (36).

7. Set (50) according to any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the cooking vessel (2) is a frying pan, a saucepan, or a sauté pan.