The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 30, 1993
Filed:
Oct. 18, 1989
Horst Schultz, Massenheim, DE;
Abstract
An apparatus for signalling an operating condition of a cooking vessel is provided to signal a user of the cooking vessel when a preset condition is reached in the cooking vessel, e.g. temperature or pressure. Cooking vessels are frequently provided with an operating condition display device, such as a thermometer or a pressure gauge, which have a measurement scale and an indicator element moving relative to the measurement scale to indicate the internal condition of the cooking vessel. The apparatus of the present invention provides a housing having therein a detector for detecting a change in the reflected surface light from the operating condition display device caused by the presence of the indicator element of the display device. When the detector detects the change in the reflected light due to the presence of the indicator element, a signalling device, such as an acoustical or optical signalling device, is activated to signal the user of the cooking vessel. The apparatus can be set along the measurement scale at a desired operating condition, such as a specific temperature or pressure, so that the user is warned when the cooking vessel reaches this condition.