Induction kettle

Abstract

An appliance (10) to heat a liquid, the appliance (10) including: a vessel (12) to receive the liquid to be heated, the vessel (12) having a generally central upright longitudinal axis (24), a bottom wall (26), and a side wall (28) extending upwardly from the bottom wall (26), with the bottom wall (26) and side wall (28) at least partly enclosing a chamber (40) within which the liquid is heated, with the chamber (40) having an upper region (42) axially spaced from the bottom wall (26), and a lower region (44) located between the bottom wall (26) and the upper region (42); a heating element (50) located within the chamber (40) for relative movement therewithin, with the element (50) at least partly formed of ferromagnetic material; a heater base (14) to be positioned relative to the bottom wall (26) of the vessel (12), the heater base (14) including at least a portion of an induction coil (18); connections to deliver an alternating current to the induction coil (18) so as to deliver a magnetic field to the lower region (44); and wherein the element (50) is movable relative to the coil (18) between an operative position at which the element (50) is located within the lower region (44) so as to be energised by the magnetic field to cause heating of the element (50) so that heat generated by the element (50) can be delivered to the liquid via conduction, and an inoperative position at which the element (50) is located in the upper region (42) so as to no longer place an operative load on the induction coil (18).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.