Electric oven toaster door operating mechanism

Claim 2

An electric oven toaster construction having two generally vertical side walls, a generally horizontal top wall and a front opening comprising: a. a door pivotally mounted to the lower portion of each of the side walls for selectively opening or closing the front opening of the oven toaster; b. a carriage operably connected to said door and mounted for movement to open or close the door; c. a bifurcated lever having two arms pivotally mounted on said carriage for holding said carriage and door; d. a spring having two end portions, one of the end portions of said spring being connected to said carriage and the other end portion of said spring being connected to a first arm of said bifurcated lever for resiliently urging said bifurcated lever toward said carriage; e. an abutment stop position adjacent to the arms of said bifurcated lever; and f. manual means connected to the door for permitting the door to be manually opened and closed, the first arm of said bifurcated lever being moved into engagement with said abutment when the door is moved toward its closed position and continued movement of the door causing said carriage to pivot said bifurcated lever to remove the first arm of said bifurcated lever from said abutment as the door is moved to its closed position, the second arm then being spring urged toward said carriage to resist subsequent movement of the door to its full open position.

Claim 3

An electric oven toaster construction as defined in claim 1 wherein the second arm of said bifurcated lever is in engagement with said abutment stop and said spring exerts a resiliently force on said first arm to resiliently hold the second arm in engagement with the abutment stop to thereby securely hold the carriage and the door in their door closed position.

Claim 4

An electric oven toaster construction as defined in claim wherein said abutment stop is spaced from said second arm of said bifurcated lever when the door is in its fully closed position and a timing device operably positioned with respect to the carriage may automatically move the carriage until the second arm of the bifurcated lever is brought into engagement with the abutment stop whereby the bifurcated lever and the abutment stop hold the carriage and the door in their partially opened position.

Claim 5

An electric oven toaster construction having two generally vertical side walls, a generally horizontal top wall and a front opening comprising: a. a door pivotally mounted to the lower portion of each of the side walls for selectively opening or closing the front opening of the oven toaster; b. a carriage operably connected to said door and mounted for movement to open or close the door; c. a bifurcated lever having a base portion and two arms extending outwardly from the base portion at an angle with respect to each other; d. a pivot means extending through said base portion for pivotally connecting said bifurcated lever to said carriage; c. a spring having two end portions, one of the end portions of said spring being connected to said carriage in the vicinity of said pivot means, and the other end portion of said spring being connected to a first arm of said bifurcated lever for resiliently urging said first arm of said bifurcated lever toward said carriage; f. said spring being positioned with respect to said bifurcated lever so that as the first arm of the bifurcated lever is moved away from the carriage the spring passes through the axis of said pivot to cause said spring to resiliently urge the other arm of said bifurcated lever toward said carriage; and g. an abutment stop positioned adjacent to the arms of said bifurcated lever so that when the door is manuaLly closed the carriage and the pivotally mounted bifurcated lever are moved as a unit to cause the first arm of the bifurcated lever to engage said abutment, continued movement in a door closing direction causing said spring to overcenter said pivot axis so that the spring causes the second arm of the bifurcated lever to engage the abutment stop to snap the door to its door closed position, the spring continuing to exert a force on the second arm of the bifurcated lever to hold the second arm in engagement with the abutment stop to thereby hold the door in its door closed position.

Claim 6

An electric oven toaster construction having two generally vertical side walls, a generally horizontal top wall and a front opening comprising: a. a door pivotally mounted to the lower portion of each of the side walls for selectively opening or closing the front opening of the oven toaster; b. a carriage operably connected to said door and mounted for movement to open or close the door; c. a bifurcated lever having a base portion and two arms extending outwardly from the base portion at an angle with respect to each other; d. a pivot means extending through said base portion for pivotally connecting said bifurcated lever to said carriage; c. a spring having two end portions, one of the end portions of said spring being connected to said carriage in the vicinity of said pivot means, and the other end portion of said spring being connected to a first arm of said bifurcated lever for resiliently urging said first arm of said bifurcated lever toward said carriage; f. said spring being positioned with respect to said bifurcated lever so that as the first arm of the bifurcated lever is moved away from the carriage the spring passes through the axis of said pivot to cause said spring to resiliently urge the other arm of said bifurcated lever toward said carriage; and g. an abutment stop positioned adjacent to the arms of said bifurcated lever so that when the door is manuaLly closed the carriage and the pivotally mounted bifurcated lever are moved as a unit to cause the first arm of the bifurcated lever to engage said abutment, continued movement in a door closing direction causing said spring to overcenter said pivot axis so that the spring causes the second arm of the bifurcated lever to engage the abutment stop to snap the door to its door closed position, the spring continuing to exert a force on the second arm of the bifurcated lever to hold the second arm in engagement with the abutment stop to thereby hold the door in its door closed position.

Claim 7

An electric oven toaster construction as defined in claim 1 wherein an outwardly extending tab is formed on the first arm of said bifurcated lever and one of the end portions of said spring is connected to said outwardly extending tab.

Claim 8

An electric oven toaster construction as defined in claim 1 wherein said abutment stop includes a pin having a head portion fixed to one of the vertical side walls of the oven toaster and a roller rotatably mounted on the pin sandwiched between the head of the pin and the side wall for achieving a relatively low friction abutment for the bifurcated lever.