Abstract: A griddle includes a thick metal plate having a cooking surface and is heated from below by four infrared gas burner units. A deflector plate is mounted adjacent the outer edge of the two outer burner units and is upwardly bent at about a 45.degree. angle for deflecting infrared energy near the outer edges of the two outer burners toward the outer extremities of the bottom of the plate for producing a uniform surface temperature over the cooking surface.

Abstract: A catalytic stove is provided comprising a mixing chamber having one end adapted to receive a fuel can and an opposite end provided with a diffuser. A plate provided with a grid of between 200 and 400 openings per square inch extends across the exit end of the diffuser. A catalytic surface is coated on the exit portion of the plate. The catalyst is selected from the group consisting of platinum, palladium, rhodium and iridium.

Abstract: A cooking panel comprising gas-fired burner units and a continuous cooking surface consisting of glass ceramic or comparable material which is particularly suited for incorporation in kitchen appliances consists of one or two, low-height structural parts in which all main components if the burner units such as combustion chamber, gas mixing chamber, gas mixing means, exhaust gas ducts, warming zones and exhaust gas stack are integrated. These integrated structural parts can be economically manufactured with known wet molding techniques for silicate fiber material--this leading to a weight reduction--and can be built in with a minimum of assembly outlay.

Abstract: Disclosed is a gas-fired cooktop for a range which provides high thermal efficiency and low emissions of air pollutants, particularly low levels of NO.sub.x. The cooktop includes a perforated tile burner which radiates infrared energy upward at a high flux rate to rapidly quench burner gas temperatures and inhibit the formation of NO.sub.x. A perforated glass-ceramic jet plate positioned between the burner and a cooking vessel transmits most of the radiant infrared energy from the burner to the vessel and also forms jets of combustion products which are directed against the bottom of the vessel for convective heating. Thermal efficiencies of up to about 70 percent and NO.sub.x emissions as low as about 15 parts per million are achieved by the cooktop.

Abstract: A self-contained oven using an intense source of radiant heat applied directly onto the bottom surface of a heat transfer grill that can directly support food or objects being heated. The grill includes a lower section having downwardly open hollow cells formed by intersecting metal walls, a solid metal plate capping the lower section, and a covering insulating section that can support the food or objects. A natural draft is permitted to flow through the oven chamber from an inlet leading to the area directly beneath the heat transfer grill. Warmed air and gas then flows in a convoluted path through the oven in convection currents to transfer heat to the food or objects.

Abstract: A continuous meat processing line having a patty-forming machine at the inlet end, a cooking portion, a transfer section, a quick freeze section and a packing section at the outlet end. The cooking portion has a first cooking section adjacent to the patty-forming machine and a second cooking section in line with the first cooking section. Each cooking section has a conveyor belt for moving patties through the cooking section. A plurality of heating units are spaced above the conveyor belt in each cooking section and a plurality of individual radiant heaters are located in each heating unit. A water tray is located below each conveyor belt and a drain trough is connected with the water trays.

Abstract: A system for the transmission and conversion of the potential energy of hydrocarbon fuels to available heat, power and light. The system is particularly adapted for use with natural gas, artificial gases or any of the LPG fuels such as propane, butane, etc. According to the system of the invention, the fuel gas is mixed with air preferably in the amount providing the stoichiometric ratio to oxygen and is stored under pressure and ultimately transmitted to burner elements which are hermetically sealed except for the inlet and discharge ports, such as tubes, power sources, such as captive and free piston devices and gas turbines and light sources. The system includes special forms of equipment for mixing and pressurizing the gas and air in the correct ratio and special forms of equipment for establishing and controlling the combustion processes.

Abstract: A system for the transmission and conversion of the potential energy of hydrocarbon fuels to available heat, power and light. The system is particularly adapted for use with natural gas, artificial gases or any of the LPG fuels such as propane, butane, etc. According to the system of the invention, the fuel gas is mixed with air preferably in the amount providing the stoichiometric ratio to oxygen and is stored under pressure and ultimately transmitted to burner elements which are hermetically sealed except for the inlet and discharge ports, such as tubes, power sources, such as captive and free piston devices and gas turbines and light sources. The system includes special forms of equipment for mixing and pressurizing the gas and air in the correct ratio and special forms of equipment for establishing and controlling the combustion processes.

Abstract: A molded refractory slab for positioning in a barbecue grill between the burner unit and the heat-supporting grate has a plurality of uniformly spaced bosses simulating coals projecting upwardly from its top surface and integral dam means connecting adjacent bosses near the periphery of the slab to form a parapet for containing grease and rendered meat juices on the slab and preventing their dripping off the sides of the slab into the fire. The mold in which the slab is formed is of light-weight disposable material and is used as a protective container for shipping unfired slabs, which can then be fired during initial use of the slabs in barbecue grills.

Abstract: A heat absorbing and reflecting disc-shaped device having a flat top and a convex bottom and an irregular radially inward-extending cut-out and a plurality of randomly spaced throughbores, said disc being removably mounted on an electric range between the electric coil and reflector pan and resting on the latter. The device is preferably formed from a predetermined mixture of sand clay, water and sodium silicate and may be glazed, if desired. An irregular generally diamond-shaped central opening, preferably, is provided.

Abstract: A thermal cut-out for gas-heated glass ceramic cooking surfaces has a temperature sensor extending from a switch housing which contains a snap switch. The sensor consists of a tube with a rod therein, the tube and at least one portion of the length of the rod having differing coefficients of thermal expansion. The temperature sensor is surrounded by an enveloping tube which is at a distance from the temperature sensor.

Abstract: A gas burner for cookers the essential feature of which is the enlargement of the body of the burner to form a flat plate equivalent to a real hotplate the inside of which is heated by the flame in such a way that the flame heats the plate by conduction, and further, the heat reaches this hotplate from the central area of the flame and from the point where combustion originates.

Abstract: Gas-heated, glass-ceramic cooking stove incorporating at least one improved gas heated radiation burner subassembly. Each such burner subassembly comprises an infrared radiation burner, a glass, a housing about a burner chamber, a burner plate, a nozzle and mixer pipe, an exhaust gas ring, a waste gas conduit, an igniter, and safety and regulating means. A glass ceramic cover plate is integrally associated with each burner subassembly and serves directly as a cooking surface.

Abstract: A flameless combustion burner and method for operating the device. The burner includes an ignition zone with a starting device, a catalyst zone, and a plenum. To obtain flameless combustion, a fuel and a combustion supporting gas is introducted into the ignition zone from the plenum and a flame is initiated by means of the starting device. The products of combustion flow over the catalyst to heat it to a temperature where it can initiate flameless combustion. Then the flow of either the fuel or the combustion supporting gas or both is momentarily stopped and the flame is extinguished. The flow is then resumed while the catalyst is still hot and flameless combustion will start in the catalyst zone. The products of combustion are withdrawn from the catalyst zone and the heat is utilized in the burner.

Abstract: A glowing wire type electric lighter or ignition system for a burner assembly in a gas heated stove having a vitreous ceramic cooking plate is provided. The system incorporates a direct warning indication not only that the associated burner assembly is "on" or "off", but also that the heated zone region of the cooking plate over such burner assembly remains too hot to be safely touched after such burner assembly has been switched off until such heated zone region has cooled to a predetermined harmless temperature.

Abstract: An electronic control system monitors, in a gas burner, the four functions of (1) initial ignition of the gas, (2) continued combustion of the gas, (3) the average time rate at which the gas is burned, and (4) the maximum temperature of the combustion chamber. A first comparator is responsive to a first thermosensitive element for controlling the average burning rate (or energy output) and the maximum temperature limit; a second comparator is responsive to a second thermosensitive unit for monitoring the flame of the burner, to sense initial and continued ignition; a third comparator functions as a timedelay circuit in association with the second comparator during an initial ignition procedure; and a fourth comparator controls the source of gas in response to the condition of the first and second comparators, so that gas is supplied only when both safe and necessary.

Abstract: A burner for use on a gas range top in which the burner combustion products heat the bottom surface of a ceramic-glass plate. My stoichiometric burners provide optimum performance when they are used to heat surfaces which operate at low temperatures such as a water heater or a steam boiler.There are, however, other applications wherein the surfaces to be heated must operate at high temperatures such as a broiler for a gas range.A new principle stoichiometric equation is provided for the spacing of the apertures in the top surface of the burner chamber when the stoichiometric burner is exposed to a thermal radiation field.A new principle blower for forcing the combustion air through a heat exchanger is now described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,009.

Abstract: A burner chamber with a flat top is provided with an hexagonal array of specifically spaced apertures through which are discharged free turbulent jets into a mixing chamber in which the fuel gas is mixed by entraining heated air. Combustion occurs above the plane where the jets coalesce and a ceramic top is provided on top of the combustion chamber for heating by combustion products. These hot jets are brought in heat exchange relationship with air flowing into the mixing chamber; radiation from the ceramic top heats the burner chamber.

Abstract: In a grill for cooking, of the type popularly used for outdoor barbequeing, wherein a gas flame is used as a heat source, a meat support is provided, and a grizzly is positioned between the heat source and the meat support, on which grizzly non-flamable "briquettes" are scattered, a plurality of aluminum briquettes are used, arranged in spaced relation to one another through at least a part of their perimeter, so as to provide a plurality of heat-communicating channels between the heat source and the meat support. The aluminum briquettes are preferably provided with a broad convex surface which for high heats is oriented toward the meat support, which surface is provided with liquid-retaining means, in the form of channels, pits or the like. A broad flat surface is preferably provided to be oriented toward the meat support for cooking at lower heats, the flat face preferably being provided with distributing channels.

Abstract: A portable barbecue unit with a gas fired, vertically disposed heat source for roasting spit mounted foodstuffs. The vertical heat source includes an upstanding panel of radiant material extending along a tubular gas burner detachably mounted within the cooking enclosure to the side of the rotisserie spit. A modification combines the upstanding radiant panel with a horizontally disposed bed of radiant material underlying the spit and heated by an auxiliary gas burner.

Abstract: The range has one or more burners. Above these is arranged a glass-ceramic plate. Each burner has a perforate ceramic element that is spaced from the plate by a distance just sufficient to permit the combustion gas to travel through this space. A thermal securing arrangement detects the temperature of the plate, and an adjusting arrangement permits adjusting of the burners, and therefore of the plate, to a plurality of different temperature levels.

Abstract: A gas cooking range of the smooth top type has four burners positioned under a single plate of heat-resistant glass/ceramic material; and a single igniter and safety control assembly is centrally positioned between the burners. The supply of gas to each of the burners flows through an ignition chamber where it is ignited, and it then flows through a combustion tube to a combustion chamber, where combustion is completed. Some air is mixed with the gas at the fuel supply control valve, and additional air is supplied through the ignition chamber. The burning gas mixture then flows through the combustion tube to the combustion chamber at the entrance of which an additional quantity of air is added to provide the remainder of air necessary for complete combustion.

Abstract: A gas cooking range of the smooth top type has four burners positioned under a single plate of heat-resistant glass/ceramic material; and a single igniter and safety control assembly is centrally positioned between the burners. The supply of gas to each of the burners flows through an ignition chamber where it is ignited, and it then flows through a combustion tube to a combustion chamber, where combustion is completed. Some air is mixed with the gas at the fuel supply control valve, and additional air is supplied through the ignition chamber. The burning gas mixture then flows through the combustion tube to the combustion chamber at the entrance of which an additional quantity of air is added to provide the remainder of air necessary for complete combustion.

Abstract: A gas smooth top range in which the burner beneath the glass ceramic top is of powdered blue flame, rather than radiant, type. The burner in this and other possible environments is controlled by electric circuit means including a resistance igniter element having an appreciable energy output, electrically operated valve means in circuit with the igniter, and cycle control means for cyclically energizing the igniter and valve means at a rate that can be varied to regulate the heat output of the burner. Heat transfer structure is associated with the burner and arranged so that hot exhaust gases from the burner are effective to preheat the respective inflows of ambient air and fuel making up the mixture which is combusted.

Abstract: A circuit for protecting a gas burner is described to shut the flow of gas off, if the air blower fails.

Abstract: The invention provides a support plate underlying the ceramic cooking surface of an induction range with the plate, in addition to increasing the safety of the top as it relates to particles dropped thereon, further provides means for positioning the working coils of the heating units against the undersurface of the sheet and maintaining them in proper position against lateral forces generally enncountered during transportation. The support plate is dimensioned so as to extend across the space defined by opposing flanges of a peripheral trim member engaging the edge portion of the ceramic sheet and provides structure for abutting securement to the opposing flanges through a fastening member that, in establishing the securement of the plate to the flange also forces the peripheral area of the sheet against the overlapping portion of the trim to establish sealed engagement therebetween.

Abstract: The invention disclosed is an improvement in a gas-fired range having a burner means supported in a well in the range structure below its top surface. An annular plate of a glass-ceramic including integral, plural, peripheral downturned legs is supported by the stove well in an overlying, spaced relation to the burner means. The glass-ceramic is formed of a crystallized glass having thermal coefficient of expansion in the range of -12 to +12 .times. 10.sup..sup.-7 /C.degree. over a temperature 0.degree.-300.degree.C. In its preferred form, the plate is made of a glass-ceramic having a thermal coefficient in the -5 to +5 .times. 10.sup..sup.-7 /C.degree. range over 0.degree.-300.degree.C.