Many folks with mental impairments (like Alzheimers) still like to get into the kitchen and cook - and do a good job of it. However this can be dangerous if a forgetful cook leaves a stove burner on, or especially if a gas burner fails to light and is left on. I propose that timer dials could be a simple add on attachment to the stovetop. This dial counts down 5 minutes (long enough for water to boil) and then the burner flips off with a ding. If there is still cooking to be done, the cook can turn the burner back on. If the cooking is over or the cook has lost interest or moved on to something else, the stove is off and no harm will come to the house or its occupants.
-- bungston, Sep 13 2006

Oh, motion detectors... http://www.freepate...ne.com/5628242.html
[DrCurry, Sep 13 2006]

...or smell the unburnt gas... http://www.assistir...ocID=4863#GasAlarms
[DrCurry, Sep 13 2006]

Scold's bridle https://en.wikipedi...ki/Scold%27s_bridle
Sadly, no longer in common use. [8th of 7, Jul 09 2016]

Sounds like a plan. But how does the cooker know the burner has been left on, lit or unlit?

(That's *cooker* you dolt, not *cook* ;)
-- DrCurry, Sep 13 2006


/But how does the cooker know /

The cooker does not know, or she would turn it off. She has forgotten. Thus the timer.

The linked motion detector is too gadgety. This would be a timer like on a heat lamp. It turns off after a given time regardless of what is going on. You can always turn it back on.
-- bungston, Sep 13 2006


I sometimes simmer stuff for much longer than 5 minutes. It'd be a pain to have to come back to the kitchen all the time to turn the soup or stew back on.
-- wiml, Sep 13 2006


Beautiful. a simple, elegant mechanical safety feature... Have a croissant. You can bake it... well, you can cook it or steam it or fry it on your new range top.

This timer... is it like an egg timer, so you can set it for up to an hour or so? five minutes is simply not enough time for making mashed potatoes on the range top... well, I guess it might be if we had a pressure cooker...

I'm sure that even people without mental disorders would greatly appreciate a device that turned off their burners for them at a time they could specify. It's awful troublesome to cook several things at once when the only timer in the house is attached to the microwave.

Now get baking, I want a set of four for mother's day!
-- ye_river_xiv, Sep 13 2006


I wish thermostat-controlled burners were readily available. My parents used to have one on their old pilot-light gas stove, but I've never seen one since. For many applications, a pan heated to low boiling is perfect; for others, something around 325F is better. In either case, though, an electric burner that's thermostatically-controlled to a temperature below 400F will generally not ignite things, and a gas burner that's so controlled won't ignite anything if there's a pan on top of it.
-- supercat, Sep 13 2006


This is a common feature of the cooking equipment with which "Apartment-Hotels" are fitted these days - presumably to avoid any guests accidentally leaving the hob on before leaving the country.
-- zen_tom, Sep 13 2006


Great idea, except for the five minute limit. That might be enough for ramen (3min), but not enough for mac&cheese(7min), or to boil spagetti(11min)
-- Galbinus_Caeli, Sep 13 2006


I have a mechanical/clockwork timer on my microwave oven that sets to any time with one simple twist. Something like that could be installed on a gas line, Shirley.

I remember reading that many apartment gas meters used to require coins to run for a certain time.
-- baconbrain, Sep 13 2006


Just thought of exactly this 'cos my wife nearly burnt the boiled eggs (!!) while she was talking on the phone....

+
-- Ling, Jul 09 2016


// my wife ... talking on the phone //

May we draw to your attention to the disturbing fact that although you have concisely identified the potential failure mode, your analysis of the causation lacks clarity and the proposed mitigation fails to address the fundamental problem.
-- 8th of 7, Jul 09 2016


Hehe...
-- Ling, Jul 09 2016


<link>
-- 8th of 7, Jul 09 2016


Such foresight.... such a device shields from electromagnetic radiation, and reduces the need to cook and eat in the first place.
-- Ling, Jul 09 2016


Everyone who thinks the timer doesn't last long enough to cook X needs to reread the idea.
-- notexactly, Jul 19 2016



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