Abstract: An automatic, hot air corn popping machine has a feed conveyor to transport unpopped corn from a reservoir to the base of a popping tube forming part of the popping chamber, a damper-controlled blower and a thermostatically-controlled heater to heat and blow air to pop corn in the popping chamber. A control circuit is provided with a reprogrammable microcomputer which permits independent variation by digital incrementation of various operating parameters of the machine over continuous ranges to permit rapid, convenience and accurate adjustment of the machine, even while the machine operates, to configure the machine for optimal popcorn production at any selected production rate and to compensate for variations in popping chambers and in the nominal levels of local line voltages occurring in different locations.

Abstract: A popcorn popping machine adapted for cyclic operation has a feed conveyor for transporting unpopped corn from the reservoir to the base of the popping tube. A heating chamber has a plurality of heating elements over which air flows on its way through conveying ducts to the popping tube. A manually operable selector switch is adapted to be set at a plurality of positions. This switch controls electric circuitry which controls the operation of the feed conveyor for different preselected segments of a cyclic time period. The number of heating elements which are energized are also controlled by the setting of the selector switch. The selector switch also controls the setting of a damper in the air flow conveying duct.