Abstract: A door tensioning system for an oven or other appliance includes a chain and spring assembled as a pull member attached at one end to a door and at an opposite end to a base member of the appliance in a manner maintaining spring-mediated tension between the door and the base/bulk of the appliance. The pull member is routed around a bracket-assembly-mounted pulley, where the bracket assembly includes at least one movable bracket member that is movable with the pulley in a manner that will increase or decrease tension in the pull member by increasing/decreasing its effective length between its ends.

Abstract: Individual grates and a multi-grate system for a cooking range include construction of the tangs and nubs of each grate are aligned with each other in a manner providing a non-contiguous surface along a common plane. The common plane is provided by the uppermost surfaces of the tangs and nubs upon which the bottom of a cooking vessel (e.g., stock pot, skillet, saucepan, griddle, etc.) rests, with the relative position providing that a five-inch diameter bottom surface of the cooking vessel will contact the common plane sufficiently to substantially prevent tipping.

Abstract: Individual grates and a multi-grate system for a cooking range include construction of the tangs and nubs of each grate are aligned with each other in a manner providing a non-contiguous surface along a common plane. The common plane is provided by the uppermost surfaces of the tangs and nubs upon which the bottom of a cooking vessel (e.g., stock pot, skillet, saucepan, griddle, etc.) rests, with the relative position providing that a five-inch diameter bottom surface of the cooking vessel will contact the common plane sufficiently to substantially prevent tipping.

Abstract: An oven rack frame may include a front portion, a first side portion, a second side portion, and a rear portion. The first side portion may have a first corner shape that extends from an edge of the front portion. The second side portion may have the first corner shape that extends from an opposite edge of the front portion. The first and second side portions may have the same corner shape that extends from each edge of the front portion. The first side portion may have a second corner shape that extends from an edge of the rear portion, with the second side portion having the same second corner shape, extending from an opposite edge of the rear portion. The first and second side portions may have the same or different corner shapes that extend from each edge of the rear portion.

Abstract: A door tensioning system for an oven or other appliance includes a chain and spring assembled as a pull member attached at one end to a door and at an opposite end to a base member of the appliance in a manner maintaining spring-mediated tension between the door and the base/bulk of the appliance. The pull member is routed around a bracket-assembly-mounted pulley, where the bracket assembly includes at least one movable bracket member that is movable with the pulley in a manner that will increase or decrease tension in the pull member by increasing/decreasing its effective length between its ends.

Abstract: Individual grates and a multi-grate system for a cooking range include construction of the tangs and nubs of each grate are aligned with each other in a manner providing a non-contiguous surface along a common plane. The common plane is provided by the uppermost surfaces of the tangs and nubs upon which the bottom of a cooking vessel (e.g., stock pot, skillet, saucepan, griddle, etc.) rests, with the relative position providing that a five-inch diameter bottom surface of the cooking vessel will contact the common plane sufficiently to substantially prevent tipping.

Abstract: A combustion convection oven has improved energy efficiency. The oven includes a moveable exhaust damper that selectively closes off the exhaust plenum so as to inhibit the escape of heated air from the oven's cooking cavity. The exhaust damper is open when the oven is in a heating mode with the burners on, but closed when the oven is in a heated mode where the burners are off. Thus, airflow through the oven is significantly reduced or eliminated when the burners are off. The damper may have a degree of openness that is controlled to be inverse to the speed of the oven's fan.

Abstract: A combustion convection oven has improved energy efficiency. The oven includes a moveable exhaust damper that selectively closes off the exhaust plenum so as to inhibit the escape of heated air from the oven's cooking cavity. The exhaust damper is open when the oven is in a heating mode with the burners on, but closed when the oven is in a heated mode where the burners are off. Thus, airflow through the oven is significantly reduced or eliminated when the burners are off. That damper, or another damper, may have a degree of openness that is controlled to be inverse to the speed of the oven's fan.

Abstract: A natural convection steam cooking device with a cooking cavity having a floor defining a lower boundary thereof and a sidewall defining a side boundary thereof, the floor having a plurality of first holes therein, the sidewall having a plurality of second holes therein; a steam chamber disposed below the cooking cavity and along the sidewall, the steam chamber having a pool disposed below the floor; wherein the steam enters the cooking cavity from the steam chamber via both the first holes and the second holes; and wherein the steam circulates within the device in an unforced manner by natural convection. The first holes and the second holes may have a ratio of cross-sectional areas of approximately 2:3. And method(s) of providing steam to, and design of steam flow for, a cooking cavity of a commercial steam cooking device.

Abstract: A convection steam cooking device utilizes forced recirculation of gases along a primary recirculation path that extends through a steam chamber so that gases from the cooking cavity flow through the steam chamber and are subjected to a “steam bath” that alters the gases by adding heat and/or moisture. The cooking device includes a cooking cavity, a fan, a steam chamber disposed beneath the cooking cavity with a lower pool area for holding water and an upper steam collecting area disposed directly above the pool area, and a removable baffle disposed between the cooking cavity and the steam chamber with a perforated section remote from the fan and disposed at an upward angle. The primary forced recirculation path extends from the main cooking cavity, through the baffle, substantially across the steam collecting area, through a duct to the fan, and back to the main cavity.

Abstract: A gas-fired cooking device includes a braising cavity defined on its lower side by a heated surface. A more uniform heating of the heated surface is provided by a plurality of heating chambers disposed below the heated surface, with each of the heating chambers heated by at least one naturally fed gas burner. A portion of the hot combustion gases rise into upper zones associated with each heating chamber that have relatively low average front-to-back air flow therein. The upper zones have sidewalls and downwardly extending dam walls that cooperate to create the low flow zones beneath the heated surface. The relatively low flow rates within the low flow zones allow a more uniform layer of hot combustion gases to be formed along the underside of the heated surface, thereby more evenly delivering heat to the heated surface. There may be two or more such heating chambers.

Abstract: A gas burner forces a premixing of the incoming gas with ambient air by moving the front face of the gas orifice upstream from the normal location and spacing it from the front face of the venturi portion of the burner. The premix air is pulled through the gap formed thereby and enters the venturi section with the gas via a central opening. Primary mixing air flows through separate opening(s). Both the gas and the premix air flow through the central opening, and the premix air at least partially combines with the gas before the primary air combines with the gas in the venturi. The combination of the gas, the premix air, and the primary air the routed to the output ports for combustion. Such a burner combusts the gas with an efficiency factor of at least forty-five, and optionally at a rate of at least 30,000 Btu/hr.

Abstract: A more uniform heating of a griddle surface of a gas-fired cooking device is provided by a plurality of heating chambers disposed below the griddle surface, with each of the heating chambers heated by at least one naturally fed gas burner. A portion of the hot combustion gases rise into upper zones associated with each heating chamber that have relatively low average front-to-back air flow therein. The upper zones have sidewalls and downwardly extending dam walls that cooperate to create the low flow zones beneath the griddle surface. The relatively low flow rates within the low flow zones allow a more uniform layer of hot combustion gases to be formed along the underside of the griddle surface, thereby more evenly delivering heat to the griddle surface. There may be two or more such heating chambers.

Abstract: A pressure regulator and steamer oven for cooking food at low pressure includes heating elements and a cooking cavity having a pool for holding water to be turned into steam. A pressure sensor is disposed in a steam outlet passage connected to the cooking cavity. The pressure sensor is operable to turn off the heating elements when the pressure in the steam outlet passage exceeds a pre-determined level. The pressure sensor may be a float switch monitoring the water level in the steam outlet passage. The condensing steam in the steam outlet conduit may be routed back to the pool in the cooking cavity via an overflow.

Abstract: A pressure regulator and steamer oven for cooking food at low pressure is provided which conserves water and space. The oven includes heating elements and a cooking cavity having a pool for holding water to be turned into steam. A pressure regulator mechanism attached to the rear of the steamer includes a reservoir and a float switch. A steam outlet conduit connects the cooking cavity to the reservoir and extends below the normal water level in the reservoir. The lower end of the conduit is blocked by water in the reservoir. The float switch is operable to turn off the heating elements when the pressure in the conduit exceeds a pre-determined level. Thus, the pressure regulator employs a water seal and float switch to help indirectly measure the pressure in the cooking cavity and control the heating elements accordingly. The reservoir is connected to the pool via an overflow which allows condensate to be recirculated to the cooking cavity.