Abstract: An oven for heating food is disclosed. The oven has at least one heating compartment with a left side wall, a right side wall, a back wall, a top wall, a bottom wall, and an open front, without a door, in open communication with a surrounding environment outside the oven. Gas flow openings are provided in the left and right side walls. The oven includes a blower for blowing gas through the gas flow openings into the heating compartment, and a heater for heating gas blowing into the heating compartment through the openings. In certain embodiments, the gas flow openings are configured such that substantially all of the gas blowing into the heating compartment is directed generally away from the open front of the compartment.

Abstract: A flexible automatic broiler and method of use for variable batch cooking for particular use in quick serve and fast food service restaurants. The automatic cooking devices include a conveyorized cooking surface for alignment and discharge of food products, an altering/pulsating infrared energy radiation heat sources, and a control system. The arrangement and method facilitate a combination of batch preparation and made-to-order assembly of fast-food sandwiches.

Abstract: A flexible automatic broiler and method of use for variable batch cooking for particular use in quick serve and fast food service restaurants. The automatic cooking devices include a conveyorized cooking surface for alignment and discharge of food products, an altering/pulsating infrared energy radiation heat sources, and a control system. The arrangement and method facilitate a combination of batch preparation and made-to-order assembly of fast-food sandwiches.

Abstract: A flexible automatic broiler and method of use for variable batch cooking for particular use in quick serve and fast food service restaurants. The automatic cooking devices include a conveyorized cooking surface for alignment and discharge of food products, an altering/pulsating infrared energy radiation heat sources, and a control system. The arrangement and method facilitate a combination of batch preparation and made-to-order assembly of fast-food sandwiches.

Abstract: An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food from either the front or back of the cabinet. The interior surface of the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent the interior of the tray.

Abstract: An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food from either the front or back of the cabinet. The interior surface of the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent the interior of the tray.

Abstract: An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food from either the front or back of the cabinet. The interior surface of the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent the interior of the tray.

Abstract: An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food from either the front or back of the cabinet. The interior surface of the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent the interior of the tray.

Abstract: A merchandiser that is capable of holding and displaying both cold foods and warm foods includes a cold pan which has walls that are recessed into the top of a counter to provide a cold compartment that opens out of the counter top. The cold foods occupy the cold compartment. In addition, the merchandiser has a closure assembly which rises upwardly form the cold pan and includes side walls that support a shelf above the cold pan and also housing above the shelf. Front and rear doors are attached to the side walls to close the space between the shelf and housing at the front and rear, respectively, of the closure assembly, so that the doors, the side walls, the shelf and the housing enclose a warm compartment that holds and displays warm foods. Both doors pivot about horizontal axes to provide access to the warm compartment. The housing contains a fan and heating element for circulating heated air through the warm compartment.

Abstract: An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food from either the front or back of the cabinet. The interior surface of the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent the interior of the tray.

Abstract: A cooking oven has a housing and walls which enclose an oven chamber in which a rotisserie supports food to be cooked. The heat for cooking the food derives from a burner having a plenum and tiles in front of the plenum, with the tiles being exposed to the oven chamber along the upper wall of the chamber and near the rear of the chamber. A removable baffle fits into the oven chamber along the upper wall ahead of the burner and it forms an air duct in which two blowers revolve. The blowers draw air from within chamber into the duct and forces it out of the duct downwardly so that it impinges on the food as the food passes beneath the discharge region of the duct, A deflector keeps the air so discharged for disturbing the flame along the tiles of the burner.

Abstract: Various representative commercial cooking devices are disclosed wherein a recirculating flow of heated air, at a food cooking temperature, is created within a housing in which a horizontally disposed food support and cooking member, such as a perforated metal plate, a solid griddle plate or a metal broiling grate, is positioned. A plenum structure is utilized to convert a portion of the continuously recirculated air into a spaced series of relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which are caused to laterally diffuse and at least slightly overlap prior to striking at least one side surface of the food support structure. In this manner, each food support structure side surface subjected to such diffused jet impingement is evenly blanketed with heating air to thereby very uniformly transfer heat from the air to the food support structure, and thus to the food supported thereby, at an accelerated rate.

Abstract: Various representative commercial cooking devices are disclosed wherein a recirculating flow of heated air, at a food cooking temperature, is created within a housing in which a horizontally disposed food support and cooking member, such as a perforated metal plate, a solid griddle plate or a metal broiling grate, is positioned. A plenum structure is utilized to convert a portion of the continuously recirculated air into a spaced series of relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which are caused to laterally diffuse and at least slightly overlap prior to striking at least one side surface of the food support structure. In this manner, each food support structure side surface subjected to such diffused jet impingement is evenly blanketed with heating air to thereby very uniformly transfer heat from the air to the food support structure, and thus to the food supported thereby, at an accelerated rate.

Abstract: Various representative commercial cooking devices are disclosed wherein a recirculating flow of heated air, at a food cooking temperature, is created within a housing in which a horizontally disposed food support and cooking member, such as a perforated metal plate, a solid griddle plate or a metal broiling grate, is positioned. A plenum structure is utilized to convert a portion of the continuously recirculated air into a spaced series of relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which are caused to laterally diffuse and at least slightly overlap prior to striking at least one side surface of the food support structure. In this manner, each food support structure side surface subjected to such diffused jet impingement is evenly blanketed with heating air to thereby very uniformly transfer heat from the air to the food support structure, and thus to the food supported thereby, at an accelerated rate.

Abstract: Various representative commericial cooking devices are disclosed wherein a recirculating flow of heated air, at a food cooking temperature, is created within a housing in which a horizontally disposed food support and cooking member, such as a perforated metal plate, a solid griddle plate or a metal broiling grate, is positioned. A plenum structure is utilized to convert a portion of the continuously recirculated air into a spaced series of relatively high velocity heated air impingement jets which are caused to laterally diffuse and at least slightly overlap prior to striking at least one side surface of the food support structure. In this manner, each food support structure side surface subjected to such diffused jet impingment is evenly blanketed with heating air to thereby very uniformly transfer heat from the air to the food support structure, and thus to the food supported thereby, at an accelerated rate.

Abstract: A commerical, dual tier pizza cooking oven is formed from substantially similar but relatively inverted lower and upper modules. The lower module has a housing, with a cooking chamber therein, which is floor supported in an elevated position by suitable depending support legs and has a downwardly projecting fan and heating section used to create a recirculating flow of air, heated to a suitable food cooking temperature, through the housing. The upper module housing is stacked on top of the lower module housing, and its fan and heating section projects upwardly therefrom and also operates to create a recirculating flow of heated air through its cooking chamber. Perforated metal food support plates are horizontally disposed in each of the two cooking chambers for support the pizzas to be cooked.

Abstract: Cooking oil contained in a fuel-fired deep fat frypot is heated utilizing a recirculating flow of combustion gas produced by an induced flow fuel-air burner. A squirrel cage type centrifugal fan draws a fuel-air mixture inwardly through the burner into an inlet chamber in which the combustion gas is formed. The hot combustion gas is discharged from the fan into a supply chamber, flowed from the supply chamber into and through external heating passages extending rearwardly along the opposite exterior side surfaces of the frypot, and then enters an external heating passage extending along the rear frypot wall. From this rear passage the combustion gas is drawn forwardly through generally triangularly shaped heating tubes extending horizontally through the frypot cooking zone, into and through a return plenum, into the fan where it is mixed with a fresh supply of combustion gas from the inlet chamber, and is then discharged into the supply chamber.

Abstract: A merchandiser that is capable of holding and displaying both cold foods and warm foods includes a cold pan which has walls that are recessed into the top of a counter to provide a cold compartment that opens out of the counter top. The cold foods occupy the cold compartment. In addition, the merchandiser has a closure assembly which rises upwardly form the cold pan and includes side walls that support a shelf above the cold pan and also housing above the shelf. Front and rear doors are attached to the side walls to close the space between the shelf and housing at the front and rear, respectively, of the closure assembly, so that the doors, the side walls, and shelf and the housing enclose a warm compartment that holds and displays warm foods. Both doors pivot about horizontal axes to provide access to the warm compartment. The housing contains a fan and heating element for circulating heated air through the warm compartment.

Abstract: An oven for maintaining cooked foods at temperatures suitable for serving the foods or even for cooking foods has a cabinet containing multiple heat sinks of channel-shaped configuration. The ends of the heat sinks open out of the cabinet, so that any heat sink may receive a tray of food from either the front or back of the cabinet. The interior surface of the heat sinks generally conform to the cross-sectional shapes of the trays, so that the heat sinks lie along the bottoms and sides of the trays. The heat sinks have a heating elements extended along their sides and bottoms for elevating the temperature of the heat sinks and directing heat into the trays within the heat sinks. In addition, each heat sink also contains a cover which may close the top of the tray in the heat sink and thereby retard the escape of moisture from the tray or may vent the interior of the tray.