Field of invention

The present invention relates to a heating appliance . More especially it relates to a heating appliance that can act as an outdoor heater and/or as an outdoor cooker . The invention could therefore equally relate a cooking appliance .

Background to the invention

An earlier outdoor heating appliance conceived by the applicant is disclosed in the applicant ' s earlier patent GB2558192 . That hearing appliance generally comprises a main body having a fire-box for receiving combustible fuel , a fire-door for closing the fire-box opening and a rotatable baf fle which can be disposed in front of the fire-box behind the fire-door to form a shield to the fuel .

Whilst the earl ier heating appliance has proved to be success ful in the market , the applicant has identi fied some areas for improvement , which are addressed in this application .

For example , when the fire-doors are shut and the baf fle is disposed downwardly, a person using the appl iance to cook is unable to see into the f ire-box to see i f the fuel is still combusting ef ficiently .

Moreover, in order to rotate the baf fle downwardly, a user must reach up into the combustion chamber which may cause inj ury, particularly of the chamber is hot . The present invention seeks to provide an improved heating appliance which maintains visibility of the fire-box even when the fire-doors and shielding elements are closed, and which does not require manually movement of the baf fle .

Also , in the heating appliance of GB2558192 , primary air for combustion enters directly through an air valve positioned underneath the ashpan . As such, the inlet can tend to get blocked up with ash and debris building up in the ashpan .

The present invention further seeks to provide an improved heating appliance in which the primary air inlet is not susceptible to being blocked with excessive build-up of ash and debris .

Statement of invention

According to a first aspect of the invention there is provided a heating appliance comprising a main body having a fire-box with an opening at its front for placing combustible fuel therein with which said heating appliance is used, a fire door for closing said opening, the fire door having a window, and at least one shielding element hingedly connected to a side wall of the main body to be movable between a first position whereby the shielding element extends across the opening and a second position whereby the shielding element is locatable against or adj acent to the inside surface of the side wall , the shielding element having at least a central part constructed from a mesh material . Preferably, the appliance comprises two shielding elements hingedly connected to opposing sidewalls of the main body .

Preferably, the or each shielding element includes a shaped recess to provide a handle for movement of the or each shielding element between first and second positions .

According to a second aspect of the invention, there is provided a heating appliance comprising a main body having a fire-box with an opening at its front for placing combustible fuel therein with which said heating appliance is used, a fire door for closing said opening, and a hori zontally orientated baf fle plate located within the main body above the fire-box and extending from an inner rear wall of the main body and across approximately hal f the width .

Preferably, the heating appliance further comprises a grill plate locatable above the baf fle plate .

According to a third aspect of the invention, there is provided heating appliance comprising a main body having a fire-box with an opening at its front for placing combustible fuel therein with which said heating appliance is used, a fire door for closing said opening and an ash chamber located at the base of the main body, the appliance having a primary air inlet formed by opening in and through the rear wall of the main body at or near the base thereof to provide air flow into a side of the ash chamber .

Brief description of the drawings One embodiment of the invention will now be described by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying figures in which :

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a heating appliance constructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 2 is a side perspective view of the heating appliance of figure 1 ;

Figure 3 is a side perspective view of the heating appliance with the fire door and shields open;

Figure 4 illustrates a shielding element of the appliance ;

Figure 5 is a top plan view of the heating appliance with the lid open;

Figure 6 is the view of figure 5 with the grill removed;

Figure 7 is a rear perspective view of the heating appliance ; and

Figure 8 is a side perspective view of the heating appliance .

Detailed description of preferred embodiments

Referring first to figure 1 , a solid fuel heating appliance or stove has a generally rectangular shaped main body 2 having a vertical longitudinal axis . The main body 2 has a fire-box 4 with an opening 6 at its front in which combustible fuel , such as charcoal or logs of wood, can be placed .

The opening is closed by a fire door 8 with a transparent window 10 .

Two shielding doors or elements 12 are provided across the front opening 6 . The shielding elements 12 are connected to opposing sides of the opening frame via hinges to allow the shields 12 to extend across the opening, as seen in figures 1 and 2 , or for each shield to be individually rotated about its respective hinge such that the or each element lies against or adj acent the respective side wall of the main body, to allow acces s into the fire-box 4 , as can be seen in figure 3 .

Figure 4 shows the profile of each shielding element 12 . The shield 12 is generally rectangular to compliment the opening of the main body 2 and includes a central section constructed from a mesh material 14 . The mesh 14 allows visibility into fire-box 4 when the shields 12 are closed to allow continuous monitoring o f the combustion of the fuel within combustion chamber so to observe i f and when more fuel needs to be added .

Each shielding element 12 has a shaped recess 16 at or near a top edge providing a handle for the user to easily open one or both shields 12 about their respective hinge to gain access to the fire-box 4 .

An elongate lower flange 18 extends outwardly from the bottom edge of each shielding element 12 . Referring now to figures 5 and 6 , a generally hori zontally orientated baf fle plate 20 is located above the combustion chamber under the grill 22 and which extending from the rear wall 24 of the main body 2 across approximately hal f the width of the main body .

The baf fle plate 20 provides indirect cooking of food located in the rear hal f of the grill 22 .

Moreover, the location of the baf fle plate 20 is such to prevent flames and unburnt smoke from travelling directly up the flue 26 of the appliance . Rather, any flames and unburnt smoke that rises to the under surface of the baf fle plate 20 is deflected downwardly thereby increasing the mixing of the flames and unburnt smoke with preheated airflow from the fire bricks at the rear of the chamber, increasing the overall combustion and heat ef ficiency within the chamber .

The primary air inlet 28 into the main body 2 is located towards the bottom of the rear wall 24 of the main body 2 , as can be seen in figure 7 . This location of the air inlet 28 allows for a generally hori zontal flow of air into the side of the ash chamber 30 located at the bottom of the main body 2 . The fact that the air inlet 28 provides an opening orientated perpendicular to the ash chamber 30 prevents the air inlet from being blocked by excessive build up of ash or debris in the chamber 30 .

The air inlet 28 is opened or closed ( and therefore controlled) by a sprung panel 32 hinged above the inlet opening, as can be seen best in figure 8 . Side connecting elements 34 extend from one or both side walls of the appliance to allow connection or removal of shelving units or other similarly constructed or complimentary appliances or modular units such as a fridge , waste disposal unit , warming shelves and the like .