Electric toaster with improved heat-up cool-down bimetal timer

Claim 2

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a rigid timer body member; b. an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; c. a first electric circuit including said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; d. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; e. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal; f. a bimetal control member positioned adjacent to said bimetal and being provided with a pivot surface which is arranged in engagement with the free end portion of said bimetal; g. a pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit which are closed for energizing the electric resistance wire for heating the bimetal during its heat-up cycle and opened by said bimetal to prevent energization of said electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal when the bimetal is in its cool-down cycle; and h. a calibration member movably supported on said bimetal control member for setting the position of said bimetal control member and its pivot for the bimetal for controlling the amount of movement of the bimetal necessary to open said switch contacts to thereby control the duration of said bimetal heatup cycle.

Claim 3

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer as defined in claim 1 wherein said calibration member is a screw which is threaded through said bimetal control member.

Claim 4

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer as defined in claim 1 wherein a timer actuating member is rotatably mounted on said timer body member for preventing or allowing said pair of contacts to be moved to an open position.

Claim 5

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimeTal timer as defined in claim 3 wherein a switch blade is mounted on said timer body adjacent to said first pair of switch contacts for opening and closing said switch contacts and said timer actuating member is positioned adjacent to said switch blade for selectively holding said switch blade in one position to prevent said switch blade from opening said contacts as a result of heating the bimetal.

Claim 6

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer as defined in claim 1 wherein said timer actuating member is rotatably mounted on said timer body member and is spring biased toward said switch blade for holding said switch blade to prevent said pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit from being opened by said bimetal.

Claim 7

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a rigid timer body member; b. an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; c. a first electric circuit including said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; d. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; e. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal and said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; f. a bimetal control blade connected to said body member and positioned adjacent to said bimetal, said bimetal control blade being provided with a pivot surface which is arranged in engagement with the free end portion of said bimetal; g. a pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit which are closed for energizing the electric resistance wire for heating the bimetal during its heat-up cycle and opened to prevent energization of said electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal when the bimetal is in its cool-down cycle; h. an actuator blade connected to said bimetal and in operative connection with said switch contacts to open said switch contacts after said bimetal has moved a predetermined amount during its heat-up cycle; and i. a calibration member movably supported on the free end portion of said bimetal control blade for setting the position of said bimetal control blade and its pivot for the bimetal for controlling the amount of movement of the bimetal necessary to open said switch contacts to thereby control the duration of said bimetal heat-up cycle.

Claim 8

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a rigid timer body member; b. an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; c. a first electric circuit including said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; d. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; e. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal and said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; f. a bimetal control blade connected to said body member and positioned adjacent to said bimetal, said bimetal control blade being provided with a pivot surface which is arranged in engagement with the free end portion of said bimetal; g. a pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit which are closed for energizing the electric resistance wire for heating the bimetal during its heat-up cycle and opened to prevent energization of said electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal when the bimetal is in its cool-down cycle; h. an actuator blade connected to said bimetal and in operative connection with said switch contacts to open said switch contacts after said bimetal has moved a predetermined amount during its heat-up cycle; and i. a calibration member movably supported on the free end portion of said bimetal control blade for setting the position of said bimetal control blade and its pivot for the bimetal for controlling the amount of movement of the bimetal necessary to open said switch contacts to thereby control the duration of said bimetal heat-up cycle.

Claim 9

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a rigid timer body member; b. an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; c. a first electric circuit including said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; d. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; e. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal and said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; f. a bimetal control member having a pivot surface arranged in pivotal engagement with the free end portion of said bimetal; g. a pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit which are closed for energizing the electric resistance wire for heating the bimetal during its heat-up cycle and opened by said bimetal to prevent energization of said electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal when the bimetal is in its cool-down cycle; and h. a manually adjustable member connected to said body member and positioned between said body member and said bimetal control member for adjusting the position of said bimetal control member with respect to the body member and the bimetal.

Claim 10

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a rigid timer body member; b. an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; c. a first electric circuit including said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; d. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; e. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal and said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; f. a bimetal control member having a pivot surface arranged in pivotal engagement with the free end portion of said bimetal; g. a pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit which are closed for energizing the electric resistance wire for heating the bimetal during its heat-up cycle and opened by said bimetal to prevent energization of said electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal when the bimetal is in its cool-down cycle; and h. a manually adjustable member connected to said body member and positioned between said body member and said bimetal control member for adjusting the position of said bimetal control member with respect to the body member and the bimetal.

Claim 11

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer as defined in claim 7 wherein said manually adjustable member includes a cam follower which is integrally formed therewith aNd a cam is provided for moving said cam follower, said cam being rotatably supported for movement on a bracket which is rigidly fixed to said timer body so that the supporting bracket for said cam is fixed with respect to the timer body to minimize any calibration errors due to movement between the support for the bimetal and the support for the cam.

Claim 12

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a first electric circuit including an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; b. a main switch for controlling energization of said electric resistance wire heater; c. an electric solenoid for opening the main switch at the end of the toasting cycle; d. a generally L-shaped timer body member formed of suitable insulating material having a generally vertical wall portion and generally horizontal wall portion; e. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; f. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal; g. a first pair of switch contacts mounted on said body member for controlling energization of said electric resistance wire bimetal heater; h. a second pair of contacts outside of said bimetal heater circuit for controlling energization of said main electric toaster heater circuit when the first pair of switch contacts are opened during bimetal cool-down; i. a third pair of contacts mounted on said supporting member for controlling energization of said solenoid at the termination of said cool-down cycle, one of said contacts of said third pair of contacts being mounted at the end of the bimetal and being moved into contact with the other contact of said third pair of contacts when the bimetal cools down at the end of a toasting cycle; j. a manually adjustable mechanism for setting toast brownness by adjusting a pivot point of the bimetal and the relative position of said one of said contacts of said third pair of contacts to the other contact of said third pair of contacts including: j1. a flexible bimetal control blade mounted on the generally vertical wall portion of said body member and positioned between said wall and said bimetal, said control blade having a pivot surface arranged in pivotal engagement with the free end portion of said bimetal; j2. a heat-up calibration screw threaded through an aperture formed in the end of said bimetal control blade extending toward the generally vertical wall portion of the body member; j3. a cam follower resiliently mounted on the generally vertical wall of said body member and positioned adjacent to an end of said heat-up calibration screw; j4. a cam positioned adjacent to said cam follower for moving said cam follower toward or away from said heat-up calibration screw to move the end of said flexible bimetal control blade and its pivot away from said vertical wall to move the bimetal and said one of said contacts of said third pair of contacts toward said other contact of said third pair of contacts; and j5. said heat-up calibration screw being movable within the aperture formed in the end of said flexible blade for adjusting the distance between the cam follower and the bimetal control blade to provide a manufacturing adjustment in the brownness setting of the heat-up cool-down bimetal timer.

Claim 13

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a first electric circuit including an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; b. a main switch for controlling energization of said electric resistance wire heater; c. an electric solenoid for opening the main switch at the end of the toasting cycle; d. a generally L-shaped timer body member formed of suitable insulating material having a generally vertical wall portion and generally horizontal wall portion; e. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; f. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal; g. a first pair of switch contacts mounted on said body member for controlling energization of said electric resistance wire bimetal heater; h. a second pair of contacts outside of said bimetal heater circuit for controlling energization of said main electric toaster heater circuit when the first pair of switch contacts are opened during bimetal cool-down; i. a third pair of contacts mounted on said supporting member for controlling energization of said solenoid at the termination of said cool-down cycle, one of said contacts of said third pair of contacts being mounted at the end of the bimetal and being moved into contact with the other contact of said third pair of contacts when the bimetal cools down at the end of a toasting cycle; j. a manually adjustable mechanism for setting toast brownness by adjusting a pivot point of the bimetal and the relative position of said one of said contacts of said third pair of contacts to the other contact of said third pair of contacts including: j1. a flexible bimetal control blade mounted on the generally vertical wall portion of said body member and positioned between said wall and said bimetal, said control blade having a pivot surface arranged in pivotal engagement with the free end portion of said bimetal; j2. a heat-up calibration screw threaded through an aperture formed in the end of said bimetal control blade extending toward the generally vertical wall portion of the body member; j3. a cam follower resiliently mounted on the generally vertical wall of said body member and positioned adjacent to an end of said heat-up calibration screw; j4. a cam positioned adjacent to said cam follower for moving said cam follower toward or away from said heat-up calibration screw to move the end of said flexible bimetal control blade and its pivot away from said vertical wall to move the bimetal and said one of said contacts of said third pair of contacts toward said other contact of said third pair of contacts; and j5. said heat-up calibration screw being movable within the aperture formed in the end of said flexible blade for adjusting the distance between the cam follower and the bimetal control blade to provide a manufacturing adjustment in the brownness setting of the heat-up cool-down bimetal timer.

Claim 14

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer as defined in claim 6 wherein a cool-down calibration screw is threaded through a bracket which is fixed to the vertical wall portion of said timer body and extends toward the generally vertical wall portion of the body, the end portion of said cool-down adjusting screw being the other contact of said third pair of contacts, and said heat-up and cool-down calibration screws extending in the same direction and being positioned adjacent to each other so that both of said screws May be readily adjusted during manufacture of the heat-up cool-down bimetal timer.

Claim 15

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a first electric circuit including an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; b. a main switch for controlling energization of said electric resistance wire heater; c. an electric solenoid for opening the main switch at the end of the toasting cycle; d. a generally L-shaped timer body member formed of suitable insulating material having a generally vertical wall portion and a generally horizontal wall portion; e. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion member; f. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal; g. a switch contact fixed to said bimetal; h. a second switch contact formed as an adjusting screw spaced outwardly from said bimetal for cooperating with said first contact to energize said solenoid at the end of the cool-down cycle of said bimetal; i. a flexible bimetal control blade positioned between said vertical body wall and said bimetal; and j. an adjusting screw threaded through said bimetal control blade for adjusting the relative position of said control blade and said bimetal to said generally vertical wall to thereby adjust the heat-up time period of said bimetal during manufacture by rotating said adjusting screw.

Claim 16

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a first electric circuit including an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; b. a main switch for controlling energization of said electric resistance wire heater; c. an electric solenoid for opening the main switch at the end of the toasting cycle; d. a generally L-shaped timer body member formed of suitable insulating material having a generally vertical wall portion and a generally horizontal wall portion; e. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion member; f. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal; g. a switch contact fixed to said bimetal; h. a second switch contact formed as an adjusting screw spaced outwardly from said bimetal for cooperating with said first contact to energize said solenoid at the end of the cool-down cycle of said bimetal; i. a flexible bimetal control blade positioned between said vertical body wall and said bimetal; and j. an adjusting screw threaded through said bimetal control blade for adjusting the relative position of said control blade and said bimetal to said generally vertical wall to thereby adjust the heat-up time period of said bimetal during manufacture by rotating said adjusting screw.

Claim 17

A heat-up cool-down bimetal timer as defined in claim 11 wherein a cam follower plate is positioned between said vertical wall and said adjusting screw, and a rotatable cam is provided for moving said cam follower to move said adjusting screw to thereby adjust the relative position of said flexible bimetal control blade with respect to said vertical wall in order to manually adjust the heat-up cycle of said timer to thereby provide a manual adjustment in the total time interval set by said bimetal timer.

Claim 18

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a rigid timer body member; b. an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; c. a first electric circuit including said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; d. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; e. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal; f. a pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit which are closed for energizing the electric resistance wire for heating the bimetal during its heat-up cycle and opened by said bimetal to prevent energization of said electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal when the bimetal is in its cool-down cycle; g. a timer actuating member rotatably mounted on said timer body member for preventing or allowing said pair of switch contacts to be moved to an opened position by heating of the bimetal, said actuator being movable to an off position wherein said pair of contacts are prevented from being opened and said actuator being movable to an on position for allowing said pair of contacts to be opened at the end of a bimetal heat-up cycle to thereby permit toaster operation of said bimetal timer; and h. a primary manual setting mechanism mounted for movement to any one of a plurality of positions to control operation of said timer, said primary manual setting mechanism having an off position wherein it is spaced from said timer actuating member for permitting said timer actuating member to retain said pair of said contacts in their closed position, and said primary manual setting mechanism being movable to an on position for moving said timer actuating member to permit said pair of contacts to be moved to an open position at the end of a bimetal heat-up cycle.

Claim 19

An electric toaster with a heat-up cool-down bimetal timer comprising: a. a rigid timer body member; b. an electric resistance wire heater for toasting a slice of bread; c. a first electric circuit including said electric resistance wire for toasting a slice of bread; d. a heat-up cool-down bimetal having two end portions, one of the end portions of said bimetal being connected to said body member and the other end portion being a free end portion; e. a second electric circuit including an electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal; f. a pair of switch contacts in said second electric circuit which are closed for energizing the electric resistance wire for heating the bimetal during its heat-up cycle and opened by said bimetal to prevent energization of said electric resistance wire for heating said bimetal when the bimetal is in its cool-down cycle; g. a timer actuating member rotatably mounted on said timer body member for preventing or allowing said pair of switch contacts to be moved to an opened position by heating of the bimetal, said actuator being movable to an off position wherein said pair of contacts are prevented from being opened and said actuator being movable to an on position for allowing said pair of contacts to be opened at the end of a bimetal heat-up cycle to thereby permit toaster operation of said bimetal timer; and h. a primary manual setting mechanism mounted for movement to any one of a plurality of positions to control operation of said timer, said primary manual setting mechanism having an off position wherein it is spaced from said timer actuating member for permitting said timer actuating member to retain said pair of said contacts in their closed position, and said primary manual setting mechanism being movable to an on position for moving said timer actuating member to permit said pair of contacts to be moved to an open position at the end of a bimetal heat-up cycle.