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: 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 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.

Abstract: An infra-red oven for cooking food at low wattage and with infra-red radiation having a wavelength of 3-6 micron is disclosed. The oven includes a rotatable turntable with a lower infra-red emitter disposed below the turntable and an upper infra-red emitter disposed above the turntable in a vertically moveable shroud. Opposed side emitters are deposed on either side of the turntable to cook the sides of the food. To utilize the oven the shroud is raised and food is placed on the turntable. The shroud is then lowered until the upper emitter is about 1.5 inches above the food and the turntable is rotated. Rotation continues as radiation is directed on to the lower and upper surfaces and the sides until the food is cooked.

Abstract: A steam cooker comprising a heating chamber and integral steam-generating chamber in open communication with the heating chamber such that steam generated in the steam-generating chamber flows freely from the steam-generating chamber into the heating chamber, a cooking chamber supported in the heating chamber in a position to be exposed throughout the major portion of its entire surface to the steam in the heating chamber and orifices in certain of the exposed surfaces of the cooking chamber through which steam is admitted to the cooking chamber.