Lily I Cheng

US Patent:

59450177, Aug 31, 1999

Filed:

Aug 6, 1997

Appl. No.:

8/906983

Inventors:

Lily I Cheng - Darnestown MD

International Classification:

H05B 368
H05B 102

US Classification:

2194461

Abstract:

Most residential fires originated in the kitchen areas and were the results of negligence during cooking. As the least regulated cooking appliance in a kitchen, stove-top burners were often the culprits. Burners were left on without user presence and caused utensil melt down, igniting fire. It is the objective of this invention to minimize such risks. An electric or gas burner can be improved by the installation of an automated fire safety device that first determines whether the burner is being attended to and if not, senses the temperature of the cooking utensil on it and automatically shuts off the flow of electricity or gas to the burner when the temperature of the cooking utensil begins to exceed a predetermined temperature range. A motion detector is integrated into the safety device and serves as the front-end to a temperature sensor switch. The switch is designed to trigger a power shut-off mechanism when high utensil temperature is encountered.