Abstract: A cooking or baking oven can include a hood having a vent outlet and a cooking chamber having a rack positioned therein. The cooking or baking oven can also include a heating chamber separated from the cooking chamber, a fuel burner, a fuel burner blower operably coupled to the fuel burner, a burner tube having an inlet end and an outlet end, the inlet end coupled to the fuel burner, and a flue having an inlet end coupled to the outlet end of the burner tube and an outlet end coupled to the hood, the flue having an opening. The cooking or baking oven can also include a damping system having a damper lid coupled to the flue, the damper lid moveable between an open position and a closed position, the damper lid in the closed position covering the opening; a damper motor; and a damper arm coupled to the damper lid and the damper motor, the damper motor rotatably moving the damper arm to move the damper lid between the open and closed positions. Related systems and methods are also provided.

Abstract: Devices, systems and methods for thawing, heating and/or glazing previously frozen baked goods and other dough-based products, wherein the products can be thawed in an environment having a selected temperature and elevated humidity; the conveyor is configured to prevent early and excessive insertion of the products into the oven; the oven is configured to heat the products to greater than a selected surface temperature; and wherein the glazer is configured to apply glaze to the products when the surface temperature of the product is within a desired range.

Abstract: Devices, systems and methods for operating a deep fat fryer are shown and described. In one particular embodiment, the fryer incorporates a cooking pan, a burner, and flue wrap; the pan has a substantially flat base; the burner is positioned under the pan, and the flue wrap is adapted to receive gaseous combustion products from the burner and direct it toward the pan.

Abstract: Devices, systems and methods for thawing, heating and/or glazing previously frozen baked goods and other dough-based products, wherein the products can be thawed in an environment having a selected temperature and elevated humidity; the conveyor is configured to prevent early and excessive insertion of the products into the oven; the oven is configured to heat the products to greater than a selected surface temperature; and wherein the glazer is configured to apply glaze to the products when the surface temperature of the product is within a desired range.

Abstract: A doughnut making machine and apparatus has a hopper for the dough of a type which exudes gluten or other sticky substances when compressed, the hopper terminates in a lower cylinder which co-acts with the cutting surfaces on a lower cutting piston. An extruding piston pushes the dough out between the cutting edge of the cylinder and the cutting piston and, thereafter, with retraction of the cutting piston, the dough is severed into a conventional toroidal shape and falls in cooking oil in a frying tank. Cooking oil from the frying tank is distributed onto the cutting edges of the piston and the cutting edge of the cylinder by various distribution techniques. Cooking oil is picked up from the frying tank using a dipstick and is transmitted to the dough cutting surfaces using gravity and capillary action.

Abstract: A doughnut making machine and apparatus has a hopper for the dough of a type which exudes gluten or other sticky substances when compressed, the hopper terminates in a lower cylinder which co-acts with the cutting surfaces on a lower cutting piston. An extruding piston pushes the dough out between the cutting edge of the cylinder and the cutting piston and, thereafter, with retraction of the cutting piston, the dough is severed into a conventional toroidal shape. Edible release oil is distributed onto the cutting edges of the piston and the cutting edge of the cylinder by various distribution techniques. The method by which doughnuts are extruded in a generally toroidal shape while distributing a film of edible release oil onto the dough cutting surfaces and then severing the formed toroidal shaped doughnut from the cutting surfaces whereby the doughnut contacts the release oil on the dough cutting surface and freely releases from the cylinder's cutting edge.

Abstract: A turner arm assembly for a doughnut fryer has a pivot axle on one end that is provided with a hardened ball mounted in a cylindrical hardened bearing of the sidewall of a conveyor assembly. In an alternative form a straight diameter pivot axle is provided in a crowned internal diameter of the hardened bearing. The opposite end of the turner arm assembly is drivingly connected to a drive axle fixed to a cam. A removable stop prevents the pivot axle from moving outwardly of the sidewall of the conveyor assembly. The turner arm assembly is removed by moving the stop, shifting the turner arm axially until the turner arm is free of the drive axle, then sliding the turner arm back inwardly of the sidewall of the conveyor assembly while the pivot axle connection with the sidewall of the conveyor assembly gives complete free movement of upward pivotal movement of the turner arm to clear the opposite end of the turner arm over the sidewall for removal.

Abstract: A burner for a hot deep-fat fryer for doughnuts or the like has a restricted opening for entrance of secondary combustion air. The heating tube in which the burner emits its flame is provided with a series of V-shaped, elongated baffles.

Abstract: A small, inexpensive doughnut fryer has a conveyor and separate elevator that are driven from the same shaft without interference with one another. Sprockets for driving the elevator are recessed to receive rods from the conveyor. The entire conveyor assembly is provided with a quick release coupling to the power supply. A method and apparatus for moving objects to be fried through a hot frying liquid by producing intermittent waves and eddies in the liquid in the desired direction of travel to propel the objects in a straight line.

Abstract: A small, inexpensive doughnut fryer has a conveyor and separate elevator that are driven from the same shaft without interference with one another. Sprockets for driving the elevator are recessed to receive rods from the conveyor. The entire conveyor assembly is provided with a quick release coupling to the power supply. A method and apparatus for moving objects to be fried through a hot frying liquid by producing intermittent waves and eddies in the liquid in the desired direction of travel to propel the objects in a straight line.

Abstract: In an apparatus to apportion and dispense dough, wherein dough is discharged through an outlet having a lower, circumferential cutting edge and is cut off by a piston having an upper, circumferential cutting edge, the piston has an upper, integral, coaxial boss, which has a convex, frusto-conical surface extending upwardly and being spaced from the cutting edge of the piston. Also, an annulus providing the outlet has a concave, frusto-conical surface, which flares upwardly.

Abstract: A miniature size doughnut fryer has a portable hopper easily removed from the frying machine and which is automatically positioned in an aligned cutting position when installed on the machine. An improved safety cut-out device is provided for a belt drive to assure that the doughnut conveyor stops in an overload condition but which signals the operator that the overload condition is existing. The drive and safety cut-out are provided housed within the heater housing adjacent the frying tank of the machine for ease of assembly and manufacturing cost. The heater element housing is mounted on pivots which allow easy pivotal removal of the heating elements from the frying tank as well as providing a wide stance support for the heating elements when pivoted out of the tank. The drive and control circuitry for the conveyor and the cutter head are interlocked to prevent repetitive cycling of the cutter head during a conveyor overload position. An improved dual head doughnut cutter is also provided.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for making filled products of various shapes and sizes and the products. The products can be toroidal, rings of interconnected knobs, crescent-shaped, spherical or other shapes, each having one or more discrete spots or globs of filling material within. The filling material can be injected in any direction without the product, for example, sidewise along the midline of a toroidal product, or radial in the toroidal product. The amount of filling material and its location within the product can be varied. The filling material flow is controlled by positive and negative pressure.