The West Bend Company

Premark Wb Holdings, Inc.

John Vancha

Robert V Myszka

James H Utzerath

An automatic breadmaker with improved thermal sensing, wiring, and a simplified assembly procedure. The breadmaker preferably includes a high voltage circuit board coupled to an interior wall of the breadmaker, the interior wall separating the baking chamber of the breadmaker from a component compartment. One or more thermal control devices electrically connected to the high voltage circuit board are disposed in a heat transfer relationship with the interior wall, thereby improving device accuracy and avoiding the need for leads to the thermal control devices. In the most preferred embodiment of the present invention, the high voltage circuit board is coupled to the interior wall via a component mounting bracket which also holds the thermal control devices against the interior wall. Preferably, the breadmaker also has a low voltage circuit board connected to the high voltage circuit board via low voltage leads, thereby providing additional safety for users operating a control panel near the low voltage circuit board. In this case, the high voltage circuit board is a power board supplying power to the various breadmaker components, such as the motor, heater, and fan, and the low voltage circuit board is a logic circuit controlling breadmaker operations and being receptive to commands received from a user via the control panel. The high voltage circuit board and the thermal control devices can be pre-assembled in a single assembly for insertion into the breadmaker, thereby decreasing assembly time and cost.

Breadmaker circuit board mounting method

The system described in the specification detects and visually indicates the presence of significant calcification in a conduit made of clear (i.e., light-transmitting) material. The present invention directly determines calcification and indicates cleaning of the clear water conduit. An infrared transmitting circuit emits an infrared pulse through the clear conduit. As long as calcification has not formed on the conduit to block the infrared pulse, a phototransistor or infrared receiving circuit receives the infrared pulse. When calcification has formed to a degree sufficient to block the emitted infrared pulse, the receiving circuit determines that calcification has occurred and provides a visual indication to a user that the conduit needs cleaning.

Circuit for detecting calcification in a coffee maker

A power-off control circuit for a household appliance, including a manually operating momentary switch having conductive and non-conductive states. The switch is connected to a source of electric power so when the switch is momentarily manually operated into the conductive state, power flows into the power-off control circuit. There is a power regulator connected to the manually operating switch for receiving the power during the conductive state and for converting the received power into a voltage. A timer is connected to the power regulator and when activated, initiates a predetermined time period in which the household appliance operates. The circuit also includes a relay connected to the timer and the source of electrical power so as to be in parallel with the manually operating switch. The relay operates in a conductive and non-conductive state and is in the non-conductive state until receiving a signal from the timer at which time the relay changes to the conductive state. Now, the power regulator receives power through the relay until the relay changes to the non-conductive state and power is prevented from flowing through the power-off circuit.

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Kewaskum, WI, United States of America

John Vancha