Abstract: Apparatus for transferring heat between temperature controlled air dispensed from a pair of oscillating ducts and a food product in a cabinet having an interior compartment bounded by front, side and rear walls. A foraminous partition, having a central portion and extremities, is mounted to divide the interior of the cabinet into a cooking chamber and an air conditioning chamber. It is configured to encircle a portion of the cooking chamber such that the air conditioning chamber extends around a major part of the periphery of the cooking chamber wherein air is drawn along multiple paths toward side walls and toward the rear wall from the cooking chamber.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
December 16, 1994
Date of Patent:
April 23, 1996
Assignee:
Patentsmith Corporation
Inventors:
Donald P. Smith, Michael J. Dobie, Alden B. Sparman, Sr., John R. Norris
Abstract: A method and apparatus for heating a product which includes a plurality of tapered ducts in a cabinet above and below a conveyor to form streams which are directed toward the product. Spent air is drawn through return ducts which have intake openings centered between entrance and exit openings in the cabinet and centered between lateral edges of a conveyor and between the tapered ducts to provide a balanced flow of spent air in the cabinet to the return opening. Temperature controlled gas is delivered at an angle through an array of openings adjacent opposite edges of an opening through which a conveyor extends to cause most of the heated air to be drawn to the return duct opening and to maintain internal pressure in the cabinet to prevent ingress and egress of air through the opening.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 26, 1994
Date of Patent:
June 13, 1995
Assignee:
Patentsmith Corporation
Inventors:
Donald P. Smith, Jarald E. High, Michael J. Dobie
Abstract: An oven with a heated interior volume, an access into the heated interior volume, and a door mounted adjacent to the heated interior volume for pivoting between closed access and opened access positions and having a concave interior surface defining an interior space adjacent to the heated interior volume.
Abstract: A method and apparatus for vending a hot food product wherein a sealed container is moved from a protective sleeve and deposited in an oven where heat is transferred to the container for initially melting a protective sealing film and then heating the food product. After the food product has been heated, the container is removed from the oven and reinserted into the protective sleeve prior to dispensing the heated food product.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
July 2, 1992
Date of Patent:
May 10, 1994
Assignee:
Patentsmith Corporation
Inventors:
Donald P. Smith, Michael J. Dobie, Alden B. Sparman, Sr., John R. Norris
Abstract: A method and apparatus for vending a hot food product wherein a sealed container is moved from a protective sleeve and deposited in an oven where heat is transferred to the container for initially melting a protective sealing film and then heating the food product. After the food product has been heated, the container is removed from the oven and reinserted into the protective sleeve prior to dispensing the heated food product.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
June 28, 1991
Date of Patent:
May 11, 1993
Assignee:
Patentsmith Corporation
Inventors:
Donald P. Smith, Michael J. Dobie, Alden B. Sparman, Sr., John R. Norris, Donald P. Lohr, Gerald Easterling, R. W. Taylor
Abstract: A method and apparatus for vending a hot food product wherein a sealed container is moved from a protective sleeve and deposited in an oven where heat is transferred to the container for initially melting a protective sealing film and then heating the food product. After the food product has been heated, the container is removed from the oven and reinserted into the protective sleeve prior to dispensing the heated food product.
Type:
Grant
Filed:
January 10, 1990
Date of Patent:
September 15, 1992
Assignee:
Patentsmith Corporation
Inventors:
Donald P. Smith, Michael J. Dobie, Alden B. Sparman, Sr., John R. Norris