Abstract: A device for cooking proteins is provided. The device includes first and second pans. Each pan includes a base and an alignment wall. The bases each have a top surface with a non-stick coating. The alignment walls each include a cutout to provide a space for a food product to be disposed therein such that the top surface of the first and second pans cook a food product disposed therein.

Abstract: A temperature control system for controlling an oven temperature comprises a potentiometer and a processor. The potentiometer comprises a shaft and at least a first and a second terminal, and provides a variable resistance between the first terminal and the second terminal in response to a rotation of the shaft. The variable resistance forms a resistance output value. The processor is configured to detect one of a plurality of set point modes each comprising a different number of non-sequential temperature set points each of which span a range of resistances of the potentiometer, and convert the output resistance of the potentiometer into a temperature setting signal that corresponds with a temperature assigned to the resistance range of the measured resistance output.

Abstract: A device for cooking proteins is provided. The device includes first and second pans. Each pan includes a base and an alignment wall. The bases each have a top surface with a non-stick coating. The alignment walls each include a cutout to provide a space for a food product to be disposed therein such that the top surface of the first and second pans cook a food product disposed therein.

Abstract: A baking rack is provided. The rack includes a plurality of relatively straight wires that are each disposed in parallel to each other and an outer wire establishing a perimeter of the rack and extending along opposing ends of the plurality of wires, the straight wires and the outer wire are each disposed within a plane. A plurality of height stabilizing members are connected to two or more of the straight wires or the outer wire, such that the plane is disposed above a surface upon which bottom portions of the height stabilizing members rest. A plurality of upstanding members extend from the plane, the upstanding members each connected to one or more of the straight wires and the outer wire, the upstanding members each comprising an arched portion and an upstanding stick, wherein a second plane is disposed through the arched portion of each upstanding member is at an acute angle with a line parallel to the straight wires.

Abstract: A baking apparatus with a removable rack and adjustable pan supports provides the user with versatility by permitting manual re-configuration of the spacing of the oven racks as desired by the user. The removable rack component includes two interfaces for the oven, a locking rib on the top and a fastener or plunger on the bottom. These permit the user to manually remove the rack from the oven without using tools or other apparatus. The adjustable pan supports include offset tabs for removably and easily engaging the oven rack. The pan supports are removed and repositioned, adjusting shelf height and distance, by lifting and turning the pan supports 90 degrees to release the supports from the rack slot, removing the supports, and repositioning them as desired.

Abstract: An improvement for a combination steamer and convection oven is described. The improvement includes double access doors in the front of the oven for controlling access to the cooking cavity within. The doors are cam actuated between a closed position, a first open position wherein the doors are cracked to release hot gases from within the cavity and a second open position wherein the doors are fully open. The admission of steam to the cavity is controlled by a positive displacement flapper valve and one or a pair of the ovens can be used, and if a pair is used a single steamer provides steam for either or both cooking cavities.

Abstract: A self contained filter assembly is provided for a deep fat fryer which permits repeated filtering and reusing of the oil as a cooking media in the fryer. The filter includes a pan received in a drawer beneath the housing of the fryer which provides a filter media along the upper surface of a grid therein. Suction is applied by a suction pump mounted within the fryer which communicates between the surface of the filter pan below the grid and the fry pot itself. When the outlet valve on the fry pot is opened the oil flows downwardly by gravity into the filter pan and the pump applies suction to the surface of the pan to draw the oil through a filter media and return the filtered oil to the fry pot.

Abstract: A gas fired deep fat fryer is described wherein in a first embodiment a single fry pot is used and in a second embodiment a split fry pot or a pair of matching fry pots are provided. In the first embodiment two immersion tubes are spaced apart and extend from the front toward the rear of the fry pot with a third pass immersion tube extending from the front through the rear into a flue. Combustion products travel the length of a burner tube through an immersion tube and return through a jet impingement baffle and then make a third pass from front to rear and into the flue. In the embodiment having split fry pot, a single burner and immersion tube therefor is provided with a separate third pass baffle tube.

Abstract: A modular kiosk for use in the food service industry is described. The kiosk includes one or more structural units having upstanding sides and back, and a horizontal roof with couplings on the back thereof for coupling appliances disposed in the unit to sources of energy. The unit typically would have metal, upper and lower sections, each receiving a different appliance for cooking or storing food. The unit can include a hood disposed at eye level and a griddle or deep fat fryer disposed below the hood in the middle section. When a hood is included, the hood is intended to be coupled to a flue. The device is intended to be used in malls and open areas for cooking and dispensing food.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are described for stabilizing a thin, relatively frictionless conveyor belt against lateral movement. The typical belt is made of fiberglass and Teflon-coated and is mounted on rollers, one of which is a drive roller. The drive roller is equipped with at least one ridge disposed circumferentially adjacent an end thereof and the belt forms a track which receives the ridge as the roller rotates. The track, in turn, has mutually spaced holes along its length. The holes are disposed at least so that two contact the roller during each revolution, and the diameter of the ridge is less than one-half of the diameter of the hole. This tracking device then will maintain the belt during operation against lateral movement relative to the rollers.

Abstract: An efficient convection oven is described. The oven utilizes a single inlet centrifugal induced back draft fan disposed in a sidewall thereof between vertical burners and combustion chambers to constantly mix products of combustion from the combustion chambers with air from within the oven cavity and recirculate the same. The fan design of the instant invention permits air changes within the oven cavity in the range of 85 to 100 per minute and the vertical burner fan combustion chamber combination permits a dramatic increase in the rack space within the oven cavity for a given oven exterior envelope.

Abstract: A belt grill is described herein for continuously cooking fast food products on a conveyor formed of counter-rotating heat conductive belts. The belts are heated by platens disposed above and below whereby a run of the belts passes in heat conductive relationship between the platens, and the food to be cooked is placed in the nip between the rotating belts. The device further includes means for tensioning the belts which can be automatically released by increasing the distance between the platens whereby when the distance exceeds a predetermined maximum, all tension on both belts will be released so that the belts can be quickly removed for cleaning or replacement. The belts are preferably Teflon coated fiberglass and may be disposed at an angle to the horizontal to facilitate grease removal from the cooking process.

Abstract: A conveyor oven is described having increased efficiency from enhanced flow therethrough. The oven consists of an upper plenum, a lower plenum, and a return plenum. The upper plenum is disposed above the conveyor and dispenses heated air through nozzles downwardly. The lower plenum is disposed below the conveyor and dispenses heated air upwardly. The upper and lower plenums are tapered from a maximum width of 21/2 inches to a minimum of no more than 15% thereof across the path of travel of the conveyor. A blower having a vertical axis of rotation is located at a midpoint between the upper plenum and the conveyor and a burner is located below the inlet between the inlet thereto and the return plenum. The outlet from the blower directs air through scrolls onto a baffle plate having rounded edges and from there into the upper and lower plenums.

Abstract: A ventilated conveyor oven is provided. The oven uses a makeup air fan to admit air to the plenum extending across the front of the unit and across the top of the unit. Exhaust channels are provided on the sides spaced above and below the conveyor oven entrance and exit and extending across the top to an exhaust fan outlet. The exhaust channels on the top are superimposed over the air makeup plenum. Vertical exhaust plenums are provided at each of three corners, with the fourth corner mounting a control panel and an air makeup external channel thereover.

Abstract: A conveyor oven is described which is compact and suitable for smaller commercial establishments. The device uses mutually spaced nozzles which extend across the upper and lower portion of the cooking chamber which direct heated air currents respectively downwardly and upwardly onto food passing therethrough. Each nozzle is a duct which extends perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor and has a foraminous plate on the side adjacent the conveyor for dispensing heated air currents therethrough. The nozzles are fed from a common plenum with heated air under pressure. As the air enters each nozzle, it encounters an angled diverter plate which is disposed at about a 30 degree angle to the longitudinal axis of the nozzle and downstream of the plate a flat stabilizer plate which extends a substantial length of the nozzle terminating about two inches before the end thereof.

Abstract: A conveyor oven for cooking food products using infra-red radiation is described. The oven uses upper and lower etched foil heaters which are disposed above and below the upper flight of a conveyor belt passing therethrough. The oven also includes a controller for governing the speed of the belt, the time of exposure to infra-red radiation, and a range of radiation wavelength between about 4 and 5 microns for cooking the food in the oven.

Abstract: An improved conveyor oven for cooking food products more efficiently is provided. The delivery system for hot convection currents includes a lower delivery system using tapered slot nozzles which are mutually spaced along the length of travel of the conveyor and extend laterally thereto. The upper heat delivery system utilizes an upper plenum with openings in the lower surface thereof which coincides with the upper surface of the heating chamber. The openings are initially in a first plate, rectangular mutually-spaced openings which extend both laterally and the length of the path of travel of the conveyor. Beneath the rectangular openings tapered slots are provided in registry therewith which extend laterally across the path of travel of the conveyor and open away from the entrance to the upper plenum for the heated air.