CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

THE NAMES OF THE PARTIES TO A JOINT RESEARCH AGREEMENT

Not Applicable

INCORPORATION-BY-REFERENCE OF MATERIAL SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISC OR AS A TEXT FILE VIA THE OFFICE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEM.

Not Applicable

STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES BY THE INVENTOR OR JOINT INVENTOR

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Field of the Invention.
Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.

The disclosure and prior art relates to cooking appliances and more particularly pertains to a new cooking appliance for mixing and cooking ingredients for preparing food items, such as fufu.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a housing and a shell. The housing comprises a back, a base, and a top. The base is coupled to and extends from a lower end of the back. A plate is coupled to an upper surface of the base and a heating element is coupled to the plate. The top is hingedly coupled to and extends from an upper end of the back. A motor is positioned in the top. The top is configured to pivot to an open configuration to position the shell upon the plate. A whisk that is couplable to the motor is inserted into the shell, and ingredients that are positioned in the shell, as the top is pivoted to a closed configuration. The motor rotates the whisk to mix the ingredients and the heating element heats the ingredients to prepare food, such as fufu.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.

The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an isometric perspective view of a cooking appliance according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a bottom view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a front view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a side view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 is an in-use view of an embodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to FIGS. 1 through 5 thereof, a new cooking appliance embodying the principles and concepts of an embodiment of the disclosure and generally designated by the reference numeral 10 will be described.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 1 through 5, the cooking appliance 10 generally comprises a housing 12 that defines an internal space 14 and a shell 16 that defines an interior space 18. The housing 12 comprises a back 20, a base 22, and a top 24. The base 22 is coupled to and extends from a lower end 26 of the back 20. The top 24 is hingedly coupled to and extends from an upper end 28 of the back 20. The top 24 is configured to reversibly pivot from a closed configuration to an open configuration. In the closed configuration, the top 24 is substantially parallel to the base 22. In the open configuration, the top 24 extends transversely from the back 20.

A cord 30 is coupled to and extends from the housing 12. The cord 30 is configured to couple to a source of electrical current. In one embodiment, the cord 30 is configured to couple to a source of alternating current. In another embodiment, the cord 30 extends from the back 20 proximate to the lower end 26.

A switch 32 is coupled to the housing 12. The switch 32 is operationally coupled to the cord 30. In one embodiment, the switch 32 is positioned on the back 20 proximate to the lower end 26.

A plate 34 is coupled to an upper surface 36 of the base 22. In one embodiment, the plate 34 comprises metal. In another embodiment, the plate 34 is circularly shaped. A heating element 38 is coupled to the plate 34 and is positioned in the base 22. The heating element 38 is operationally coupled to the switch 32. The switch 32 is positioned to selectively couple the heating element 38 to the cord 30 to heat the plate 34.

A motor 40 is coupled to and positioned in the top 24. The motor 40 is operationally coupled to the switch 32. A whisk 42 is reversibly couplable to the motor 40. The switch 32 is positioned to selectively couple the motor 40 to the cord 30 to rotate the whisk 42.

The shell 16 has an upper face 44 that is open. The shell 16 is configured to position ingredients, such as flour and water, through the upper face 44 into the interior space 18. The top 24 is configured to pivot to the open configuration to position the housing 12 to place the shell 16 upon the plate 34. The whisk 42 is positioned to be inserted through the upper face 44 of the shell 16 into the interior space 18 as the top 24 is pivoted from the open configuration to the closed configuration. The switch 32 is positioned to couple the motor 40 and the heating element 38 to the cord 30. The motor 40 is positioned to rotate the whisk 42 to mix the ingredients. The heating element 38 is positioned to heat the plate 34 so that the plate 34 heats the shell 16 and the ingredients to prepare food, such as fufu. The shell 16 has a bottom 46. In one embodiment, the bottom 46 is substantially complementary to the plate 34.

A microprocessor 48 is coupled to the housing 12 and is positioned in the internal space 14. The microprocessor 48 is operationally coupled to the switch 32, the motor 40, and the heating element 38. The microprocessor 48 is configured to selectively couple the motor 40 and the heating element 38 to the cord 30. In one embodiment, the microprocessor 48 is positioned in the back 20.

A controller 50 is coupled to the housing 12. The controller 50 is operationally coupled to the microprocessor 48. The controller 50 is configured to input commands into the microprocessor 48 so that the microprocessor 48 is positioned to control a rotational speed of the motor 40, a heating level of the heating element 38, and a time to decouple the heating element 38 from the cord 30. In one embodiment, the controller 50 is coupled to the top 24 proximate to a front edge 52 of the top 24. In another embodiment, the controller 50 comprises a plurality of buttons 54. Each button 54 is configured to be depressed to input a respective cooking regimen into the microprocessor 48 so that the plurality of buttons 54 has a variety of cooking regimens. In yet another embodiment, the plurality of buttons 54 comprises eight buttons 54.

In one embodiment, a vent 56 is positioned through a lower surface 58 of the base 22. The vent 56 is configured to ventilate the internal space 14. In another embodiment, a plurality of feet 60 is coupled to the lower surface 58. The feet 60 are configured to stabilize the housing 12 and the shell 16 on a substantially horizontal surface. In yet another embodiment, the plurality of feet 60 comprises four feet 60 positioned singly proximate to each corner 62 of the base 22.

In use, the shell 16 is configured to position the ingredients, such as the flour and the water, through the upper face 44 into the interior space 18. The top 24 is configured to pivot to the open configuration to position the housing 12 to place the shell 16 upon the plate 34. The whisk 42 is positioned to be inserted through the upper face 44 of the shell 16 into the interior space 18 as the top 24 is pivoted from the open configuration to the closed configuration. The controller 50 is positioned on the housing 12 so that each button 54 is configured to be depressed to input the respective cooking regimen into the microprocessor 48. The microprocessor 48 is positioned to control the rotational speed of the motor 40 to rotate the whisk 42 to mix the ingredients. The microprocessor 48 also is positioned to control the heating level of the heating element 38 to heat the plate 34. The plate 34 is positioned to heat the shell 16 and the ingredients to prepare the food, such as the fufu. The microprocessor 48 also is positioned to control the time to decouple the heating element 38 from the cord 30.

With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.

Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.