Adjustable-length grill plate

An adjustable-length flare-up preventing plate assembly for a barbecue grill comprising at least two elongated plates, each elongated metallic plate including a pair of longitudinal wings and at least one fastener, wherein the fastener is designed to couple the elongated metallic plates together in a longitudinal fashion,

• wherein the longitudinal wings are angled downwardly from a middle longitudinal section to form a concave side and a convex side,
• wherein each elongated plate includes a plurality of the fasteners distributed longitudinally therealong, adapted to couple at least two of the elongated plates together longitudinally in a partially overlapping manner,
• wherein the plurality of fasteners include a plurality of female fastening components and a plurality of male fastening components, and
• wherein:
• the plurality of female fastening components include a plurality of holes extending through the elongated plate;
• and the plurality of male fastening components include a plurality of projections extending from the convex side of the elongated plate, each of which are sized to be received within one of the holes in an overlapping one of the elongated plates.

The method of adjusting the length of a flare-up preventing plate for a barbecue grill, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) overlapping at least two plates longitudinally with respect to one another;
• (b) extending the overlapping plates longitudinally outward or inward with respect to each other until the plates reach a desired length;
• and
• (c) securing the overlapping plates together at the desired length, wherein the securing step (c) includes the steps of:
• (c1) cutting out three sides of a plurality of rectangular tabs along a middle longitudinal section of each plate and folding the rectangular tabs substantially perpendicularly into the concave portion of the plate thereby leaving a plurality of holes along the middle longitudinal section of the plate, the tabs forming a plurality of male fastening components and the holes forming a plurality of female fastening components;
• and
• (c2) inserting at least some of the rectangular tabs from an upper one of the overlapping plates into a corresponding number of holes in a lower one of the overlapping plates.

The method of fabricating a flare-up preventing plate for a barbecue grill, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing an elongated metallic plate;
• (b) folding the lateral ends of the elongated metallic plate downward at an angle from a middle longitudinal section along the length of the plate to provide a substantially concave surface and a substantially convex surface;
• and
• (c) cutting out three sides of a plurality of rectangular tabs along the middle longitudinal section of the elongated metallic plate and folding the rectangular tabs into the concave portion of the plate thereby leaving a plurality of holes along the middle longitudinal section, the tabs forming a plurality of male fastening components and the holes forming a plurality of female fastening components.

The method of fabricating a flare-up preventing plate for a barbecue grill, the method comprising the steps of:

• (a) providing an elongated metallic plate;
• (b) folding the lateral ends of the elongated metallic plate downward from a middle longitudinal section at an angle along the length of the plate to provide a substantially concave side and a substantially convex side;
• and
• (c) punching out a plurality of rectangular tabs along the middle longitudinal section such that the tabs extend substantially perpendicularly from the convex side of the plate, leaving a corresponding plurality of openings along the middle longitudinal section, the tabs forming a plurality of male fastening components and the openings forming a plurality of female fastening components.