Abstract: A cooling tunnel for baked tortillas and the like, the tunnel having a housing defining a cooling space, an aperatured product conveyor for moving the product to be cooled through the cooling space, means for moving cooling gas over the tortillas in the cooling space, closed loop flexible hold down chains, supports for positioning the hold down chains in the cooling space for resting on the conveyor, and a drive for moving the hold down chains through the cooling space along with the conveyor with the tortillas between the hold down chains and the conveyor.

Abstract: A food product cooker having a main frame with a loading path and a discharge path, a cooking oil pan, a plurality of product carriages, and a main drive endless chain for moving the carriages about the main frame to and from the pan, with each of the carriages including a food product holder for holding a food product and a support arm having first and second ends with the drive chain attached at the first end and with a holder attached at the second end. Also a load support member and a loading conveyor downstream of the load support member, a first lifting rail for lifting a food holder away from the loading conveyor, a first pressure rail for moving the food holder toward the loading conveyor, a holder body stripper in the discharge path, and a discharge track for guiding cooked food products away from the discharge path.

Abstract: Method and apparatus for continuous production of tortilla chips, including mixing tortilla flour and water to form a dough, rolling the dough into a coninuous sheet, cutting tortilla shapes from the sheet, moving the tortilla shapes continuously through a baking oven to produce baked products, moving the baked products continuously along an equilibration conveyor to substantially equalize the moisture content of each baked product throughout the product to form an equilibrated product, moving the equilibrated product continuously through a refrigeration unit to cool the product to form a cooled product, cutting the cooled products into chip shapes, and moving the chip shapes to a fryer to produce the tortilla chips. The frying step may be continuous or batch as desired.

Abstract: A food product cooker having a main frame, a cooking oil pan, a plurality of product carriages, and a main drive endless chain for moving the carriages about the main frame to and from the cooking pan. A food product cooker particularly adapted for producing shells for enchiladas from tortillas, with each carriage having a food product holder with a tubular section on which the tortilla is wrapped and a clamp section which holds the wrapped tortilla in place while being moved into, through and out of the cooking oil pan.

Abstract: A food product cooker having a main frame with a cooking oil pan and a plurality of food product carriages driven about the frame to and from the pan, with each of the carriages including a food product holder having upper and lower sections for receiving and transporting the food product. Each of the carriages includes a holder having pivoted sections for receiving, retaining and molding the food product therebetween. Cam tracks and cam followers provide automatic control of the holder sections. The main drive chain moves the carriages from the unloading position to the loading position, and a separate carriage pusher chain moves the carriages through the cooking vat.