Abstract: An appliance for cooking food articles includes a receptacle for receiving a quantity of food articles to be cooked, and a sufficient quantity of cooking liquid to only partially immerse the food articles therein; a heater for heating the cooking liquid and the food articles when received therein; a paddle movably mounted with respect to the receptacle so as to be movable therein; and a periodically-reversing drive for driving the paddle back and forth in the receptacle to move the food articles therein back and forth through the cooking liquid. The appliance is particularly useful for frying as it causes all the surfaces of the food article to be crisply fried without absorbing undue quantities of the frying oil. The appliance is also useful for other applications including steaming food, cooking rice, and popping corn.

Abstract: A grilling appliance includes a housing defining an internal grilling compartment for receiving a food article to be grilled; an impaling member mounted within the grilling compartment for impaling a food article to be grilled; a circular array of electrical heaters surrounding the impaling member for heating the food article impaled thereon. The impaling member is non-rotatably mounted to the housing within the grilling compartment, and the electrical heaters are sequentially energized to produce a rotating heating front which rotates around the impaling member to heat the article impaled thereon.

Abstract: An apparatus for sorting plastics material handles for cardboard boxes or the like containers. The handles include a main, elongate portion with a lug at each end extending on either side of the plane of said elongate portion and subtending an acute angle at one side of the handle. A housing defining a reservoir portion for receiving a supply of randomly disposed handles includes a circulatory or rotary support and drive therefor, supporting one or more carrier rods which are displaceable through the reservoir portion. The carrier rods are each of a diameter to engage between the main elongate portion of the handle and the portion of the lug defining an acute angle (45.degree.) therewith. The handles are picked up by said carrier rods and are transported by the carrier rods only on one side thereof for further processing. Aligning plates remove the sorted handles in alignment and supply them for subsequent handling and processing.