Device for Attachment to a Frying Pan, Cooking Pot or Like Cooking Utensil

This invention relates to a device for attachment to a frying pan, cooking pot or like cooking utensil.

When preparing food in a frying pan, the need may arise for temporarily removing and storing some of the food items being fried, e.g. eggs or sausages, before returning them to the pan for further treatment, or for removing and storing finished fried food items either to drain off excess oil or fat prior to serving them, or to retain them until other food items being fried are ready cooked. During the storage period the food items may be desired to be kept hot, and in order to attain this, use of additional cooking utensils and a hotplate or a heated oven is usually reverted to.

It is an object of the present invention to avoid this inconvienience in a simple manner.

The invention consists in a device for attachment to a frying pan, cooking pot or like cooking utensil, the device comprising an open-work metal base member which is substantially flat and of circular segment shape, a flange upstanding from the curved radially outer limit of the base member, and support means disposed at or near the said outer limit for supporting the device on the rim of such a cooking utensil in an easily attachable and detachable manner.

The open-work metal base member may consist of an open mesh wire gauze or net structure provided at its curved outer limit with an upstanding flange which may also be formed from the wire gauze or net structure.

Preferably, however, the open-work metal base member consists of a plurality of wires curved to part-circular shape and located in a common plane in which the wires are disposed concentrically with respect to a notional common axis and at a mutual spacing which is large compared with the wire diameter and a few widely spaced straight wires extending substantially radially across the curved wires and fixed thereto such as by soldering or welding.

The support means may be in the form of feet attached to or formed integrally with the base member or the flange.

The device is so arranged that in use the base member is located entirely within the peripheral dimensions of the cooking utensil in order that, e.g. if the utensil is a frying pan, any oil or fat dripping off a fried item of food deposited on the base member falls safely into the frying pan.

In order that access to the food items in the frying pan is not unduly impeded, the device is so dimensioned that it covers rather less than half the opening of the cooking utensil. It will be appreciated that food stored on the device will be kept hot by the heat rising from the bottom of the cooking utensil.

Two embodiments of the invention are described below by way of example with reference to the accompanying diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a device according to the invention, and

FIG. 2 illustrates a modification.

FIG. 1 illustrates a device 1 for attachment to a frying pan (not shown) and has a base member 2 produced from a plurality of mutually spaced, substantially concentrically disposed wires 3 bent to part-circular shape and held together by substantially radially extending straight wires 4 welded thereto at the respective crossing points. Preferably the straight wires 4 lie on top of the concentrically disposed wires 3 to permit the device to be used for a range of frying pans having a radius which is smaller than the largest radius of the device thereby to reduce the risk that the device slides inadvertently off the supporting rim of the pan. Also with the wires 4 in this position a kitchen tool, e.g. a spatula or a fish slice, can be more easily pushed under an item of food stored on the base, without becoming entangled in the concentric wires.

The radially outer ends of the straight wires 4 are bent upwardly and connected together by further co-axially disposed curved wires 5 to form an upstanding peripheral flange 6. One of the latter wires is furthermore provided with three outwardly and downwardly bent portions 7, one such portion being disposed near each end and one approximately in the centre of the wire, to serve as feet by which the device can rest on the rim of the frying pan, while the upstanding flange is located radially within the opening limited by the rim of the pan.

The feet may be arranged and disposed in various ways. Thus the centrally located foot may be so constructed that the base of the device is inclined slightly downwards from the centre towards the rim of the frying pan on which the device has been deposited, thereby to prevent items of food from sliding inadvertently back into the frying pan, and to cause any excess oil or fat to drip down preferably near the rim of the pan.

Furthermore, the feet of the present example are so constructed that the base member of the device, when in use, is located below the upper limit of the frying pan.

Alternatively the feet may be so arranged that the base member is located at the level of the upper limit of the pan. FIG. 2 illustrates a device 8 in position on a frying pan 9, the device being provided with feet 10 which raise the base of the device above the upper limit of the pan, otherwise the device 8 of FIG. 2 is constructed similarly to the device shown in FIG. 1.

For ease of handling, a handgrip may be provided on the device in any convenient manner. In the preferred embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1 such a handgrip 11 is constructed from wire bent to a substantially U-shaped and biasing limbs 14. The free end of these limbs are looped to form eyes 12 which engage around the outermost concentric wire 13 of the base member 2, whereby the handgrip can be folded down onto the base member when the device is to be stored. When the handgrip is folded upwardly into the position of use, the limbs 14 rest against the upstanding flange 6 and thereby permit safe conveyance of the device.

Although the device described above has been referred to as an attachment for a frying pan, no limitation is intended thereby, and it will be clear that the device is usable with advantage also in connection with saucepans, cooking pots and like cooking utensils.

Also, in order to facilitate production thereof, the device may be constructed in a manner which differs in some details from the illustrated embodiment, without thereby exceeding the scope of the appended claims. Thus, for example, instead of being welded thereto, the uppermost curved wire may be unitary with the upwardly bent straight wire portions forming the extreme ends of the upstanding peripheral flange.