Barrier system for enhancing the safe operation of a commercial cooking appliance

A barrier system for enhancing the safe operation of a commercial cooking appliance, the commercial cooking appliance having one or more burners disposed beneath an open cooking surface, the one or more burners used to heat the open cooking surface to an appropriate temperature for cooking thereon, the commercial cooking appliance including an exhaust well running the length of a back side of the cooking surface through which waste heat and waste gas produced by the burners is vented from beneath the cooking surface, the exhaust well including a backsplash that forms a front wall of the exhaust well, the backsplash extending in an upwardly direction along the back end of the cooking surface to a first height above the cooking surface, the barrier system comprising:

• a barrier member configured to be coupled to the backsplash of the commercial cooking appliance so that it extends upwardly to a second height above the cooking surface that is substantially greater than the first height of the backsplash above the cooking surface, the barrier member having a length that extends substantially along the entire length of the exhaust well and back side of the cooking surface;
• an attachment assembly comprising at least one retaining clip, the attachment assembly affixed to the back of the barrier member and capable of coupling the barrier member to the backsplash to create a continuous extension of the backsplash whereby the barrier member is supported against rotation-to maintain the barrier member in its upward orientation;
• and
• a spacer disposed at a bottom end of the barrier member, the spacer configured to maintain the barrier member in a substantially vertical orientation when the barrier member is coupled to the backsplash such that the bottom end is in contact with and supported by the commercial cooking appliance, the spacer capable of displacing the lower end of the barrier member away from the backsplash sufficiently to compensate for any forward displacement of the barrier member at the top of the backsplash.

A barrier system for enhancing the safe operation of a commercial cooking appliance, the commercial cooking appliance having one or more burners disposed beneath an open cooking surface, the one or more burners used to heat the open cooking surface to an appropriate temperature for cooking thereon, the commercial cooking appliance including an exhaust well running the length of a back side of the cooking surface through which waste heat and waste gas produced by the burners is vented from beneath the cooking surface, the exhaust well including a backsplash that forms a front wall of the exhaust well, the backsplash extending in an upwardly direction along the back end of the cooking surface to a first height above the cooking surface, the barrier system comprising:

• a barrier member configured to be coupled to the backsplash of the commercial cooking appliance so that it extends upwardly to a second height above the cooking surface that is substantially greater than the first height of the backsplash above the cooking surface, the barrier member having a length that extends substantially along the entire length of the exhaust well and back side of the cooking surface;
• and
• an attachment assembly comprising at least one retaining clip, the attachment assembly affixed to the back of the barrier member and capable of coupling the barrier member to the backsplash to create a continuous extension of the backsplash whereby the barrier member is supported against rotation-to maintain the barrier member in its upward orientation,
• wherein the at least one retaining clip of the attachment assembly is a spring clip having a receiving end configured to receive and then squeeze the backsplash between the barrier member and the attachment assembly by spring-like compression.

A barrier system for enhancing the safe operation of a commercial cooking appliance, the commercial cooking appliance having one or more burners disposed beneath an open cooking surface, the one or more burners used to heat the open cooking surface to an appropriate temperature for cooking thereon, the commercial cooking appliance including an exhaust well running the length of a back side of the cooking surface through which waste heat and waste gas produced by the burners is vented from beneath the cooking surface, the exhaust well including a backsplash that forms a front wall of the exhaust well, the backsplash extending in an upwardly direction along the back end of the cooking surface to a first height above the cooking surface, the barrier system comprising:

• a barrier member configured to be coupled to the backsplash of the commercial cooking appliance so that it extends upwardly to a second height above the cooking surface that is substantially greater than the first height of the backsplash above the cooking surface, the barrier member having a length that extends substantially along the entire length of the exhaust well and back side of the cooking surface;
• and
• an attachment assembly comprising at least one retaining clip, the attachment assembly affixed to the back of the barrier member and capable of coupling the barrier member to the backsplash to create a continuous extension of the backsplash whereby the barrier member is supported against rotation to maintain the barrier member in its upward orientation,
• wherein the commercial cooking appliance includes side splashes disposed along the sides of the cooking surface perpendicular to the backsplash, and
• wherein said barrier system includes an adjustable side buttress disposed at each end of the barrier member so that each adjustable side buttress rests on the side splashes for additional rotational support when said barrier system is attached thereto.