ELECTRIC FROTHING DEVICE

Abstract

An electric frothing device includes a driving unit, a connecting rod, and a frothing unit. The driving unit has a housing, and a drive motor disposed in the housing. The drive motor has a power outputting shaft. The connecting rod is fixed to the power outputting shaft of the drive motor. The frothing unit has a fan fixed to the connecting rod and having blades, and a coil spring disposed with an interval from the blades of the fan.

Claims

1. An electric frothing device comprising: a driving unit having a housing and a drive motor disposed in the housing, the drive motor having a power outputting shaft; a connecting rod fixed to the power outputting shaft of the drive motor; and a frothing unit having a fan fixed to the connecting rod and having a plurality of blades, and a coil spring disposed with an interval from the blades of the fan.

2. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 1, wherein the fan has an annular body portion, and the blades disposed in the annular body portion at intervals; the annular body portion has a top and a bottom, and the bottom has two positioning members disposed oppositely; two ends of the coil spring are detachably fixed to the positioning members of the fan respectively.

3. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the frothing unit comprises a fixing ring detachably sleeved and fixed to the bottom of the annular body portion and covering the positioning members and said two ends of the coil spring.

4. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the positioning members has a rod-shaped body portion and a head portion connected with the rod-shaped body portion; said two ends of the coil spring are each formed with a fixing loop; the fixing loops are sleeved onto the rod-shaped body portions of the positioning members respectively; the fixing ring has a top and a bottom; the top of the fixing ring has two positioning holes disposed oppositely; the head portions of the positioning members are inserted in the positioning holes of the fixing ring respectively.

5. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the bottom of the annular body portion of the fan has an annular positioning groove, and the top of the fixing ring has an annular positioning flange; the annular positioning flange is embedded in the annular positioning groove.

6. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the bottom of the annular body portion of the fan has two protruding lugs disposed oppositely; each of the protruding lugs is provided with a said positioning member and an embedding portion located at the annular positioning groove; the top of the fixing ring has two protruding lugs disposed oppositely, and embedding breaches corresponding to the protruding lugs of the fixing ring respectively; the embedding portions are embedded in the embedding breaches respectively.

7. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the fan further has a central axle provided with an axial hole; an inner end of each of the blades is fixed to the central axle, and an outer end of each of the blades is fixed to the annular body portion of the fan.

8. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the axial hole of the central axle has two locking blocks disposed oppositely; an end of the connecting rod has two locking recesses; each of the locking recesses has a small path portion and a large path portion communicating with the small path portion; the locking blocks are respectively disposed into the locking recesses through the small path portions and embedded in the large path portions of the locking recesses.

9. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the connecting rod comprises a tube, a first rod member combined with an end of the tube in a sleeved manner, and a second rod member combined with another end of the tube in a sleeved manner; the first rod member is fixed to the power outputting shaft of the drive motor; the second rod member is fixed to the central axle of the fan.

10. The electric frothing device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the axial hole of the central axle has two locking blocks disposed oppositely; an end of the second rod member has two locking recesses; each of the locking recesses has a small path portion and a large path portion communicating with the small path portion; the locking blocks are respectively disposed into the locking recesses through the small path portions and embedded in the large path portions of the locking recesses.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] The electric frothing device provided by the present invention will be further described by the embodiment given herein below and the accompanying drawings, and wherein:

[0017] FIG. 1 is an assembled perspective view of an electric frothing device of a preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0018] FIG. 2 is a top view of the electric frothing device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the electric frothing device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of partial components of the electric frothing device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing a second rod member and each component of a frothing unit; and

[0021] FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of another angle of the partial components of the electric frothing device of the preferred embodiment of the present invention, showing the second rod member and each component of the frothing unit.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0022] First of all, it is to be mentioned that the technical features provided by the present invention are unlimited to the specific structure, usage and application thereof described in the detailed description of the invention. It should be understood by those skilled in the related art that all the terms used in the contents of the specification are for illustrative description. The directional terms mentioned in the specification, such as front, upper, lower, rear, left, right, top, bottom, inner and outer, are also just for illustrative description on the basis of normal usage direction, not intended to limit the claimed scope.

[0023] Referring to FIG. 1 to FIG. 3, an electric frothing device 1 provided by a preferred embodiment of the present invention is primarily composed of a driving unit 10, a connecting rod 20 and a frothing unit 30.

[0024] The driving unit 10 is primarily composed of a housing 11, a drive motor 12 disposed in the housing 11, a hanging lug 13, a switch 14, and an electric power source 15 electrically connected with the drive motor 12. Specifically speaking, the housing 11 has a base 110, a first covering plate 111 fitted on the base 110, a second covering plate 112 fitted on the first covering plate 111, and an outer reinforcing plate 113 fixed to the base 110. The outer reinforcing plate 113 has a first end portion 113a and a second end portion 113b, and a protruding portion 113c located between the first and second end portions 113a and 113b. The drive motor 12 has a power outputting shaft 120. The power outputting shaft 120 is inserted through the protruding portion 113c of the outer reinforcing plate 113, so that a part of the power outputting shaft 120 is exposed out of the housing 11. Two ends of the hanging lug 13 are fixed to the first and second end portions 113a and 113b of the outer reinforcing plate 113 respectively. The switch 14 is disposed on a bottom surface of the base 110. The electric power source 15 is placed between the first covering plate 111 and the second covering plate 112 for driving the power outputting shaft 120 of the drive motor 12 to rotate.

[0025] Referring to FIG. 3 to FIG. 5, the connecting rod 20 has a first rod member 21, a tube 24, and a second rod member 25. Specifically speaking, the first rod member 21 has a rod-shaped body portion 22 and a head portion 23 communicating with the rod-shaped body portion 22. The tube 24 has a first end 241 and a second end 242. The second rod member 25 has a rod-shaped body portion 26 and a head portion 27 communicating with the rod-shaped body portion 26. The first end 241 of the tube 24 is sleeved onto the rod-shaped body portion 22 of the first rod member 21. The second end 242 of the tube 24 is sleeved onto the rod-shaped body portion 26 of the second rod member 25. Besides, the head portion 23 of the first rod member 21 has a fixedly connecting hole 231. The fixedly connecting hole 231 of the first rod member 21 is sleeved and fixed to the power outputting shaft 120 of the drive motor 12. The head portion 27 of the second rod member 25 has two locking recesses 271 corresponding to each other. Each of the locking recesses 271 has a small path portion 271a and a large path portion 271b communicating with the small path portion 271a. The small path portion 271a extends from the bottom end of the head portion 27 of the second rod member 25 inwardly along the axial direction. The large path portion 271b is located on the outer peripheral surface of the head portion 27 of the second rod member 25 and extends chordwise to perpendicularly communicate with the top end of the small path portion 271a.

[0026] The frothing unit 30 is primarily composed of a fan 31, a coil spring 35, and a fixing ring 36. Specifically speaking, the fan 31 has an annular body portion 32, a plurality of blades 33 disposed in the annular body portion 32 at intervals, and a central axle 34. An inner end of each blade 33 of the fan 31 is fixed to the central axle 34. An outer end of each blade 33 of the fan 31 is fixed to the annular body portion 32. Besides, a bottom of the annular body portion 32 has two protruding lugs 321 disposed oppositely, and an annular positioning groove 324. Each protruding lug 321 is provided with a positioning member 322, and an embedding portion 323 located at the annular positioning groove 324. Each positioning member 322 has a rod-shaped body portion 322a and a head portion 322b connected with the rod-shaped body portion 322a. It is to be mentioned that the central axle 34 has an axial hole 341, and two locking blocks 342 disposed oppositely in the axial hole 341 and extending along the axial direction of the axial hole 341. In this way, during the combining of the second rod member 25 with the fan 31, the locking blocks 342 of the central axle 34 can respectively slide through the small path portions 271a of the locking recesses 271 of the second rod member 25 into the large path portions 271b, and then the second rod member 25 is rotated to make the locking blocks 342 embedded in the large path portions 271b of the locking recesses 271 and thereby prevented from coming off. In this way, the second rod member 25 is fixed to the fan 31, and when it is to be detached for clean, the second rod member 25 can be separated from the fan 31 by the reverse operation of the above-described process.

[0027] The coil spring 35 is disposed with an interval from the blades 33 of the fan 31. Specifically speaking, two ends of the coil spring 35 are each formed with a fixing loop 351. The fixing loops 351 are sleeved onto the rod-shaped body portions 322a of the positioning members 322 respectively, so that two ends of the coil spring 35 are detachably fixed to the positioning members 322 of the fan 31 respectively and located below the blades 33.

[0028] The fixing ring 36 is sleeved and fixed to the bottom of the annular body portion 32 of the fan 31 to cover the positioning members 322 and two ends of the coil spring 35. Specifically speaking, a top of the fixing ring 36 has an annular positioning flange 361 and two protruding lugs 362 disposed oppositely. Besides, the annular positioning flange 361 has two embedding breaches 361a disposed separately, and the embedding breaches 361a correspond to the protruding lugs 362 respectively. Each protruding lug 362 is provided with a positioning hole 362a. When the fan 31 is combined with the fixing ring 36, the annular positioning flange 361 is embedded in the annular positioning groove 324, and the embedding portions 323 are embedded in the embedding breaches 361a respectively, so that the head portions 322b of the positioning members 322 can be inserted in the positioning holes 362a respectively, making the fan 31 and the fixing ring 36 tightly and closely fixed and clamping the coil spring 35 between the fan 31 and the fixing ring 36 steadily.

[0029] The structural features of the electric frothing device 1 provided by the preferred embodiment of the present invention are described above. The usage manner and effects of the electric frothing device 1 will be further described hereinunder. It can be known from the above description that the first rod member 21 of the connecting rod 20 is fixed to the power outputting shaft 120 of the drive motor 12 by the fixedly connecting hole 231, and the second rod member 25 of the connecting rod 20 is fixed to the fan 31 by the locking recesses 271. Therefore, through the connection of the connecting rod 20, the power outputting shaft 120 of the drive motor 12 can drive the fan 31 to rotate.

[0030] When producing milk froth, the user firstly puts the electric frothing device 1 into a cup of milk (not shown), and uses a hand to press and release the switch 14 of the driving unit 10 for frothing the milk into milk froth. Specifically speaking, when the switch 14 is pressed, the electric power source 15 supplies electric power to drive the power outputting shaft 120 of the drive motor 12 to rotate the fan 31, and the rotated frothing unit 30 can pump a lot of air into the milk to froth the milk. When the switch 14 is released, the electric power source 15 is cut off, so the power outputting shaft 120 of the drive motor 12 stops rotating, thereby stopping the rotation of the fan 31. Therefore, by the actions of pressing and releasing the switch 14, the user can make the power outputting shaft 120 of the drive motor 12 drive the fan 31 to rotate intermittently and stop it, and the time and frequency of pressing and releasing the switch 14 can be even self-decided by the user according to the requirement thereof.

[0031] In conclusion, when the electric frothing device 1 provided by the present invention is used for producing milk froth, the milk froth is easy to drop from the coil spring 35, and the configuration design that the coil spring 35 is detachably fixed between the fan 31 and the fixing ring 36 is beneficial for the cleaning of the milk froth remaining on the coil spring 35. Besides, the electric frothing device 1 is unlimited to the usage of frothing milk, but may be used in other frothable drinks for adding flavor of the drinks.

[0032] The invention being thus described, it will be obvious that the same may be varied in many ways. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the invention, and all such modifications as would be obvious to one skilled in the art are intended to be included within the scope of the following claims.