Portable Stove with Incorporated Gas Tank

Abstract

A portable cooking stove has a stove base member configured to receive a custom-shaped LP gas tank, a burner mounted directly on the fuel tank and a stove top detachably mounted on the stove base member by over center latches. The removal of the stove top permits the gas tank to be removed from the stove assembly to be refilled or replaced. The burner includes a regulator that is mounted to the gas tank before the tank is inserted into the stove base member and the stove top is secured to the stove base member. The burner is detachable mounted on the regulator.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims domestic priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/085,423, filed on Nov. 28, 2014, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to cooking devices, and more particularly, to a portable cooking apparatus using bottled gas as the fuel source that incorporates the gas battle into the structure of the cooking apparatus.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Portable cooking stoves have often been designed to use alcohol as a fuel source and are well known in the art. Such cooking stoves are used by hikers, campers, backpackers, hunters and others who have a need to boil water or cook a hot meal in remote locations or primitive conditions. Although alcohol is widely available, inexpensive, convenient, relatively innocuous, easy to handle, readily repackaged and safely carried in lightweight plastic bottles, other portable stoves have been designed to utilize petroleum based fuels, specifically bottled gas, because alcohol fueled stoves are considered to have a poor overall performance as the heat generated is marginal and do not efficiently cook food.

A portable, low cost, but efficient gas burning stove can also provide an effective solution for individuals of low income, particularly citizens of developing nations who are often moving from place to place. Such a portable stove would need to be convenient to use, convenient to store and to place into usage from storage, and affordable to manufacture and sell. Such a portable stove would also need to utilize a petroleum based fuel source, such as bottle LP gas to provide an effective and efficient apparatus for cooking food.

Portable, lightweight cooking stoves utilizing non-petroleum based fuels as the heat source can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,900,623, granted to Wiedzimierz Sosnowski on Mar. 8, 2011, and in U.S. Pat. No. 8,701,650, granted to Timothy Gregg Huggins on Apr. 22, 2014. Portable cooking stoves that are easy to knock down into a storage or transport configuration from an upright operative configuration can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 8,820,310, granted to Matt Plott on Sep. 2, 2014, and in U.S. Pat. No. 8,220,449, granted to Martin Rheault on Jul. 17, 2012. However, none of these prior art portable cooking stoves retain the fuel source with the structure of the portable cooking stove to enable a quick utilization from a storage or transport configuration.

U.S. Pat. No. 6,725,856, granted to Rodney A. Barbour, et al, on Apr. 27, 2004, also discloses a structural configuration that can be collapsed into a smaller storage orientation, but utilizes an external bottle of LP gas as the fuel source. The complex configuration of the Barbour portable cooking stove does not provide a convenient apparatus for switching from a storage mode to an operable configuration. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 6,832,607, granted to Dongsheng Zhou, et al, on Dec. 21, 2004, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,173,709, granted to Hiroaki Yokoyama on Jan. 16, 2001, also disclose a portable cooking stove that uses a remote source of bottled gas as the fuel source to provide an efficient cooking.

A portable gas stove assembly in which the burner element is mounted directly on top of a bottle of LP gas is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,168,426, granted to Huang-Hsi Hsu on Jan. 30, 2007. The Hsu cooking stove discloses a prior art stove stand that is a separate device placed over the burner to support cooking utensils such as pots and pans. The disclosed configuration for the Hsu portable stove has the stove stand adapted to be mounted directly to the burner by utilizing a threaded connection device. While the Hsu portable cooking stove packages the gas bottle with the burner and the stove stand, this configuration is not structurally substantial and will not provide a satisfactory portable cooking stove for people relying on the apparatus as the primary cooking device.

Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a portable cost effective cooking stove that is designed to be affordable to manufacture and sell, and be convenient to utilize.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of this invention to overcome the disadvantages of the prior art by providing a portable cooking stove that can be used as a primary cooking apparatus for low income people.

It is a feature of this invention that the portable cooking stove utilizes a petroleum based fuel source.

It is another object of this invention to provide a portable cooking stove that has the fuel source captured within the structure of the stove.

It is an advantage of this invention that the portable cooking stove is compact and can be stored easily for travel and placed into use conveniently.

It is another feature of this invention that the portable cooking stove has a detachable stove top that separates from the base member in which the gas bottle is stored.

It is another advantage of this invention that the stove top is attached to the stove base by removable over center latches that are easily manipulated to permit removal of the stove top.

It is still another advantage of this invention that the removal of the stove top permits the extraction of the gas bottle in a convenient manner.

It is still another feature of this invention that the structure of the portable cooking stove can be manufactured and sold in an affordable manner.

It is yet another feature of this invention that the cooking stove and the fuel source are assembled together to facilitate a portable utilization thereof.

It is still another object of this invention to provide a custom shaped LP gas fuel tank for use with the portable stove structure.

It is still another feature of this invention that the LP gas tank is stackable to facilitate shipment.

It is yet another advantage of this invention that the structure of the stove base is formed without sharp edges.

It is still another advantage of this invention that the completely assembled portable cooking stove can be easily carried from one location to another.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a portable cooking stove that is durable in construction, inexpensive of manufacture, carefree of maintenance, facile in assemblage, and simple and effective in use.

These and other objects, features and advantages are accomplished according to the instant invention by providing a portable cooking stove that has a stove base member configured to receive a custom-shaped LP gas tank, a burner mounted directly on the fuel tank and a stove top detachably mounted on the stove base member by over center latches. The removal of the stove top permits the gas tank to be removed from the stove assembly to be refilled or replaced. The burner includes a regulator valve that is mounted to the gas tank before the tank is inserted into the stove base member and the stove top is secured to the stove base member. The burner is mounted on the regulator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The advantages of this invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed disclosure of the invention, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the assembled portable cooking stove incorporating the principles of the instant invention, the stove top being detachably secured to the stove base member with the LP gas tank housed in the Stove base member;

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the portable cooking stove shown in FIG. 1 looking into the side having access to the regulator valve;

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of the portable cooking stove depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the portable cooking stove shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is an exploded view of the portable stove structure;

FIG. 6 is an exploded view of the portable stove structure as depicted in FIG. 5, but having a differently configured stove base member;

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the entire portable cooking stove assembly;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of the over center latch mounted on the stove base member to detachable secure the stove top to the stove base member;

FIG. 9 is a side elevational view of the over center latch shown in FIG. 8, the open position of the latch being shown in solid lines and the closed position being shown in phantom;

FIG. 10 is an exploded view of the gas tank assembly including the regulator valve and burner;

FIG. 11 is an elevational view of the custom-shaped LP gas fuel tank;

FIG. 12 is a partial cross-sectional view of the LP gas fuel tank with the right side being in cross-section to show the internal shape of the tank;

FIG. 13 is a side elevational view of a pair of stacked LP gas tanks; and

FIG. 14 is a side elevational view of the pair of stacked LP gas tanks with the upper tank being shown in cross-section to reflect the structure of the gas tanks permitting stacking.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring now to the drawings, a portable cooking stove incorporating the principles of the instant invention can best be seen. The assembled portable cooking stove 10 can be seen best in FIGS. 1-4, with the exploded views of the portable cooking stove 10 being shown in FIGS. 5-7. The stove base member 11 is a formed structural member having open sides to reduce weight with a base portion 12 and top portion 14 interconnected by integral corner posts 13. The stove top 15 is formed separately from the stove base member 11, but is detachably connected to the stove base member 11. The stove top member 15 includes a burner opening 16 through which the burner 35 extends, as will be described in greater detail below. Around the burning opening 16 a removable grate 17 is supported on the stove top 15 to provide support for a cooking utensil, such as a port or pan. Preferably, the grate 17 is not connected in a fixed manner to the stove top 15 so that the grate can be removed and cleaned easily.

The stove top 15 is detachably secured to the stove base member 11 by a pair of over center latches 20 positioned on opposite sides of the stove base member 11. The details of the over center latches are shown in FIGS. 8 and 9. Preferably, the latches 20 are secured to the top portion 14 of the stove base member 11, such as by rivets or other fasteners, and then are releasably engaged with openings 19 formed in the stove top 15. The latches 20 are formed with an upper engagement tab 22 that is positionable within the opening 19 in the stove top 15, and a movable top member 25 that is pivotally connected to a base 24 secured to the top portion 14 of the stove base member 11. FIG. 6 depicts a slightly differently shaped stove base member 11 which has a thinner top portion 12. To enable the mounting of the over center latches 20 to the top portion of the alternative configuration of the stove base member 11, a pair of mounting tabs 29 are provided depending from the top portion 14 to provide support structure for the over center latches 20.

Once the engagement tab 22 is positioned into the opening 19 with the top member 25 moved into a raised unlatched position, as shown in FIG. 9, the actuator tab 26 on the top member 25 can be pushed toward the top portion 14 of the stove base member 11 to move the top member 25 into an over center position with respect to the pivotal connection of the top member 25 to the base 24, as is shown in phantom in FIG. 9. Once in this latched position, the stove top 15 is secured to the stove base member 11 until the actuator tab 26 is lifted to override the over center relationship of the top member 25 relative to the base 24. In this unlatched position, the engagement tab 22 can be removed from the opening 19 in the stove top 15 to allow the stove top 15 to be removed from the stove base member 11.

The custom designed LP gas fuel tank 30 can be seen best in FIGS. 10-14. The shape of the tank 30 is rounded to resist the internal pressure of the LP gas placed therein. The opening 31 at the top of the tank 30 is associated with an internal valve and permits the attachment of a conventional regulator 32 having a rotatable flow adjustment control member 33 that controls the rate of flow of LP gas into the burner 35 that is mounted on top of the regulator valve 32. Once ignited, the LP gas will burn with the flame projecting upwardly through the burner 35 to heat the cooking utensil placed on top of the grate 19. One skilled in the art will recognize that an optional battery powered igniter (not shown) can be mounted on the stove top 15 or on the burner 35 to provide a spark when activated in a conventional manner to ignite the LP gas exiting the burner 35.

The gas tank 30 has a pair of grips 40 welded to the upper portion of the gas tank to assist the insertion and retraction of the gas tank 30 from the bottom portion 12 of the stove base member 11. The footring 38 surrounds an upward indentation in the bottom of the gas tank, as can best be seen in FIGS. 12 and 14 to enable the stacking of gas tanks 30 with the peak of the rounded tank 30 resting inside of the footring 38 of the gas tank 30 sitting on top within the space formed by the upward indentation at the bottom of the tank 30. In this manner, the gas tanks 30 can be stacked to a convenient height for packaging and shipment.

Once the component parts have been manufactured and the LP gas tank 30 has been filled with gas, the portable cooking stove 10 can be assembled and placed into use. The first step is to attach the regulator 32 to the internal valve at the top of the custom designed LP gas tank 30 in a conventional manner by screwing the stem 34 of the regulator 32 into the opening 31 for engagement with the internal valve. Then the burner 35 can be mounted to the top mount 34a of the regulator 32 by carefully threading the stem 36 of the burner 35 onto the top mount 34a without damaging the threads. Once the regulator 32 and the burner 35 are mounted to the gas tank 30, the tank 30 can be placed into the stove base member 11. Grips 40 are welded to the upper portion of the gas tank 30 to facilitate the lifting of the gas tank 30 into and out of the stove base member 11.

The retainer ring 39 is attached to the bottom portion 12 of the stove base member 11 by fasteners engaged into the ring recess 18. The footring 38 of the tank 30 is then inserted into the central opening 37 formed into the bottom portion 12 around which the retainer ring 39 is mounted in the ring recess 18. The gas tank 30 can be stabilized within the central opening 37 by one of a number of manners, including the placement of a connector (e.g. a fastener or a spring clip) that would interengage the footring 38 with a tab (not shown) on the retainer ring 39 or formed on the bottom portion 12. Also, the stove top 15 could be formed with downwardly projecting members (not shown) that press the top of the gas tank 30 toward the retainer ring 39. Also, the corner posts 13 could be formed with brackets (not shown) that could be moved into position to engage the curved shape of the gas tank 30 and thereby stabilize movement thereof relative to the stove base member 11.

After the gas tank 30 has been installed into the stove base member 11, the stove top 15 is placed on top of the stove base member 11. Specifically, the stove top 15 is preferably located on top of studs 14a located at the corners of the stove base member 11 above the corner posts 13. The engagement tabs 22 of the over center latches 20 are inserted into the latch openings 19 and the top members 25 are pressed into the over center latched position to secure the stove top 15 to the stove base member 11. The grate 19 can then be placed on top of the stove top 15 and the portable cooking stove 10 is ready to be utilized. The regulator control 33 can be turned to allow the flow of LP gas into the burner 35. The gas can then be ignited and the portable cooking stove 10 is in use.

After either securing the grate 19 or removing it for separate storage and/or transport, the entire assembled portable cooking stone 10 can be stored or carried for transport from one location to another. Once a location has been reached, the portable cooking stove 10 can be placed onto a stable surface, the regulator control rotated to allow the flow of gas into the burner 35, whereupon the gas can be ignited and the stove placed into use.

Once the LP gas within the tank 30 has been consumed, the tank 30 can be replaced, or the present gas tank 30 can be refiled, by moving the over center latches 20 into the unlatched position by lifting the actuator tabs 26 to raise the top member 25 into the unlatched position, whereupon the engagement tabs 22 can be removed from the latch openings 19 in the stove top 15. Once released from the over center latches 20, the stove top 15 can be removed from the stove base member 11 to allow the gas tank 30 to be removed from the bottom portion 12 of the stove base member 11. Upon removal of the regulator 32 and the attached burner 35, the gas tank 30 can be refilled with LP gas. In the alternative, a replacement gas tank 30 can be procured. Once replacement LP gas has been obtained, the regulator 32 and burner 35 can be repositioned as described above and the gas tank 30 placed into the stove base member 11. The stove top 15 can then be reconnected to the stove base member 11 by reinstalling the over center latches 20 and the portable cooking stove 10 can then be placed into continued use.

It will be understood that changes in the details, materials, steps and arrangements of parts which have been described and illustrated to explain the nature of the invention will occur to and may be made by those skilled in the art upon a reading of this disclosure within the principles and scope of the invention. The foregoing description illustrates the preferred embodiment of the invention; however, concepts, as based upon the description, may be employed in other embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A portable cooking stove, comprising:

a stove base member having a bottom portion, a top portion and corner posts interconnecting said top and bottom portions;

a stove top detachably mounted on said stove base member by latches interengaging said stove base member and said stove top;

a gas tank received within said stove base member beneath said stove top, said gas tank including a regulator operable to control the flow of gas from said gas tank; and

a burner detachably mounted on said regulator and positionable through a burner opening formed in said stove top.

2. The portable cooking stove of claim 2 further comprising a grate positionable on said stove top to support a cooking utensil above said burner.

3. The portable cooking stove of claim 2 wherein said latches are over center latches mounted on said stove base member and are selectively engagable with said stove top to affix said stove top to said stove base member in a releasable manner.

4. The portable cooking stove of claim 3 wherein said stove top is formed with latch openings for engagement by said over center latches.

5. The portable cooking stove of claim 4 wherein said gas tank has a rounded upper portion and a rounded indentation in a bottom portion of said tank, a footring is affixed to said bottom portion and surrounding said indentation such that said gas tanks can be stacked with the round upper portion nested in the footring below said rounded indentation in the bottom portion of a stacked gas tank.

6. The portable cooking stove of claim 4 wherein said regulator is detachably connected to an internal valve within said gas tank, said burner being mounted to a top mounting stem of said regulator.

7. The portable cooking stove of claim 4 wherein said top portion of said stove base member includes mounting tabs for the support of said over center latches.

8. The portable cooking stove of claim 4 wherein said upper portion of said stove base member is formed with upwardly projecting studs corresponding to said corner posts, said stove top being supported on said studs before being secured by said over center latches.

9. A portable cooking stove, comprising:

a stove base member including: a bottom portion having a central opening formed therein; a top portion spaced above said bottom portion and being formed with upwardly directed studs; and corner posts interconnecting said top and bottom portions and defining open sides between said top and bottom portions and said corner posts;

a stove top supported on said studs and having latch openings on at least two sides thereof, said stove top including a central opening therethrough;

over center latches affixed to said top portion of said stove base member and being selectively engagable with said latch openings in said stove top to detachably secure said stove top to said stove base member;

a gas tank positioned in said central opening of said bottom portion of said stove base member below said stove top;

a regulator connected to said gas tank to control a flow of gas from said gas tank;

a burner detachably mounted on said regulator to receive the flow of gas therefrom, said burner being positionable within said central opening in said stove top; and

a grate supported on said stove top above said burner.

10. The portable cooking stove of claim 9 wherein said top portion of said stove base member is formed with mounting tabs for the mounting of said over center latches.

11. The portable cooking stove of claim 9 wherein said regulator is detachably connected to an internal valve within said gas tank, said burner being mounted to a top mounting stem of said regulator.

12. The portable cooking stove of claim 9 wherein said gas tank has a rounded upper portion and a rounded indentation in a bottom portion of said tank, a footring is affixed to said bottom portion and surrounding said indentation such that said gas tanks can be stacked with the round upper portion nested in the footring below said rounded indentation in the bottom portion of a stacked gas tank.

13. The portable cooking stove of claim 12 wherein said gas tank includes grips on said upper portion to facilitate the movement of said gas tank relative to said stove base member.

14. The portable cooking stove of claim 9 wherein said grate is removable from said stove top.

15. A portable cooking stove, comprising:

a gas tank having a rounded upper portion and a rounded lower portion formed with a rounded indentation and a footring surrounding said round indentation;

a regulator mounted into an internal valve within said gas tank to control the flow of gas therefrom;

a stove base member having a bottom portion formed with a central opening therein, said gas tank being received within said central opening in said bottom portion, said stove base member further having a top portion spaced above said bottom portion and spaced above said gas tank;

a stove top detachably supported on said top portion, said stove top including a central opening extending therethrough;

a burner mounted on said regulator to receive the flow of gas from said regulator, said burner being positioned within said central opening in said stove top; and

a grate mounted on said stove top around said central opening therein.

16. The portable cooking stove of claim 15 wherein said stove base member is formed with corner posts interconnecting said top and bottom portions, said corner posts defining open sides between said top and bottom portions.

17. The portable cooking stove of claim 16 wherein said top portion is formed with upwardly extending studs corresponding to said corner posts to support said stove top thereon.

18. The portable cooking stove of claim 15 further comprising:

a pair of over center latches mounted to said top portion of said stove base member and being selectively engagable with latch openings formed in said stove top to detachably secure said stove top to said top portion of said stove base member.

19. The portable cooking stove of claim 18 wherein said top portion is also formed with mounting tabs for the connection of said over center latches to said top portion of said stove base member.

20. The portable cooking stove of claim 19 wherein said upper portion of said gas tank includes grips to facilitate the movement of said gas tank relative to said stove base member.