Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The presen-t invention relates to an industrial cooking
machine provided with an endless conveyor and having both a
preheat region and a cooking region. The conveyor is
reversable so that when preheating is not required the food
loaded on the conveyor can be moved directly to the cooking
region.
; BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Most restaurants and food outlets require a cooking
machine having substantial capacity to meet customer demands.
These cooking machines must not only be able to accommodate
large amounts of food but in addition should be capable of
reaching cooking temperatures within a very short period of
time for maximizing customer satisfaction. Most presently
available industrial cooking machines require substantial
time to reach the high temperatures required to cook many
! foods. In addition the same presently available machines
generally require a non-use period when switching from one
type of food to another to allow for either further heating
of the machine or cooling of the machine for a new cooking
temperature required with the change of food in the machine.
Some foods are kept frozen prior -to cooking while
others are simply refrigerated. Those that are frozen
should be preheated by warming them prior to actual cooking
of the food. Those that are refrigerated need not be
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preheated and can be cooked immediately upon removal from
refrigeration. Therefore there is a need for a machine
capable of cooking either frozen or non-frozen foods.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides an industrial cooking
machine designed with the intention of meeting present day
industrial cooking demands. The machine comprises a housing
having a cooking region as well as a preheat region in the
housing, an endless conveyor passing through both of the
regions and a pair of accesses to the conveyor separating
the preheat region from the cooking region and enabling
loading and unloading of food on-to the conveyor between the
regions. The conveyor is reversable in direction of travel
such that when it is moved in one direction, food loaded
thereon at either one of the accesses is movable through
the preheat region past the other access to the cooking
region back to the access at which the food was loaded.
However when the conveyor is reversed the food loaded at
the loading access is movable directly through the cooking
region to the other access which is located with respect
to the two regions to permit unloading of the food wi-thout
passing through the preheat region. Accordingly the machine
is capable of the preheating and cooking of frozen foods as
well as the cooking of non-frozen foods without preheating.
The cooking region is preferably heated by means of
radiant heaters which reach high cooking temperatures almost
immediately. In addition the speed of the conveyor may be
adjustable so that the degree of cooking for different types
of foods at constant temperature can be varied by adjusting
the speed of the conveyor.
BRIEF DISCUSSION OF THE DRAWINGS
The above as well as other advantages of features of
the presen-t invention will be described in greater detail
according to the preferred embodiments of the present inven-
tion wherein:
Figure 1 is a side perspective view of one form ofa cooking machine according to an embodiment of the present
invention;
Figure 2 is a perspective view looking down on the
lS machine from the opposite side from that shown in Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of a section of the
food conveyor carrying different forms of food baskets
used to carry food in the cooking machine of Figures 1 and 2;
Figure 4 is a side view of the interior of the machine
shown in Figures 1 and 2 with the machine housing shown in
dotted lines;
Figure 5 is a perspective view showing a section of
the heating system used in the machine of Figures 1 and 2.
Figure 6 is a side view of an autornatic unloading
system for use on the cooking machine at its forward access.
And Figure 7 is a perspective view looking down on
an automatic loading system also for use at the forward
access of the machine shown in Figure 1 and 2.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION ACCORDING TO THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
The cooking machine shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises
a housing 1 provided with an interior conveyor arrangement
generally indicated at 7, which runs through a preheat
region 18 and a cooking region 17 as is well shown in Figure
4. The machine is supported by a plurality of legs 2
extending downwardly from the housing. The conveyor is
exposed beneath the housing at either end of the machine to
provide a forward access 3 and a rearward access 5 to the
conveyor as shown in Figure 4.
The unit further includes a drip pan 9 supported by
lS the legs beneath the conveyor and of sufficient length to
catch drippings from the food regardless of where it may be
positioned on the conveyor. Drip pan 9 is provided with
vents 10 for flushing of the drip pan through the vents.
Located above the conveyor is a chimney opening forwardly to
a filter and grease trap 11. The chimney is used for the
venting of gases and smoke from the housing and the filter
and grease trap catch the grease carried by the smoke. The
filter is removable for cleaning or replacement.
In addition the housing is provided with a front
doorand a sidedoor, which can be seen in the drawings as well
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as a rear door which cannot be seen in the drawings. Each
of these doors includes a window for viewing the interior
of the housing. The positioning of the doors enables easy
repairs to any of the interior components as well as easy
cleaning of the housing. All of the doors are made to be
easily opened which acts as a safety precaution in the event
of explosions within the housing.
The unit is heated by means of a plurality of radiant
heaters 13al 13b and 13c strategically located within the
housing. All of these heaters as well as the conveyor are
controlled at an exterior control box 15 shown in Figure 1.
According to this preferred embodiment the heaters are gas ;
operated with the gas being fed to each of the heaters through
feed system 17 at the side of the housing. This system
includes a manual as well as an automatic sparker for the
individual burners as well as a plurality of valves 19 for
each burner. Therefore the amount of gas flowing to each
burner is easily adjusted according to the level of heat
desired.
The arrangemen-t of the heaters with respect to the
conveyor is best shown in Figure ~. ~t the front end of
the machine to the left of the Figure at forward access 3
the conveyor initially travels downwardly and then returns
upwardly passing around a series of pullies. From here the
conveyor)travelling horizontally well below burner 13c,
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approaches the center of the unit where it climbs and drops
vertically around roller 16. From there the conveyor travels
to the rear access 5 where it is again spaced well below the
rearward burner 13c. During -this portion of the travel from
the time the conveyor leaves the forward access until it
reaches the rearward access there is very limited exposure
of the conveyor to the direct radiation of the hea'ers thereby
providing a preheat region 18 where the conveyor is located
a substantial distance from the heaters. However above and
to the sides of the preheat region 18 there is a cooking
region 17 where the conveyor is in close proximity to the
heaters. The cooking region begins as the conveyor leaves
the rearward access and travels immediately below rearward
burner 13c, then upwardly past back burners 13b and finally
beneath top burners 13a before the conveyor again starts
downwardly past the forward burners 13b to the forward burner
13c in advance of the forward access. It will be noted in
Figure 5 that the conveyor climbs and drops essentially
vertically through the cooking region and is at all times in
a position such that food carried on the conveyor cannot drip
onto any of the heaters thereby substantially reducing the
cleaning required to the heaters as well as reducing smoking
from the unit.
The radiant heaters provide an extremely effective
method of cooking without subs-tantially raising the tempera-
ture of the unit outside of the cooking region. As a resultthe exterior of the housing as well as the areas around the
cooking region remain at a relatively low temperature while
the cooking region itself reaches extremely high cooking temp-
eratures. Furthermore with the use of gas these heaters reachand are maintained at that high cooking temperature in an
extremely short period.
Conveyor 7 which is controlled from box 15 is adjust-
able in both speed and direction of travel. Therefore the ~`
degree to which food is cooked by the machine may be varied bythe speed at which the food is passed through the cooking
region rather than by varying the temperature of hea-ters 13.
Accordingly it is possible to cook one kind of food having
certain cooking characteristics and immedia-tely thereafter
cook a second kind of food of a different cooking character-
istic without waiting for the oven to either increase or
decrease in temperature.
The conveyor which is shown in section in Figure 5
comprises a pair of endless chains wrapped around the pully
arrangement of Figure 4. Provided on these chains are a
plurality of horizontal bars 24. Each one of these bars is
secured internally of the chains to the conveyor so that
they do not interfere with the pullies enabling continous
revolutions of the conveyor through -the unit. An adjustment
mechanism 8 is provided at the rear pullies of the conveyor
to permit tightening or loosening of the chains on the
conveyor.
In addition each of the heaters 13 is secured to the
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housing through a nut and slotted bar arrangement 14 so that
the heaters are adjustable towards and away from the conveyor
where the food is carried past the heaters.
A number of different preferred food carriers are
shown in Figure 3. Each of these food carriers has a differ-
ent shape adapted for the particular type of food to be
carried. For example, in Figure 3 food carrier 21 which has
a concave supporting surface is shaped to carry small meat-
balls and the like which due to the shaping of the food
carrier are not likely to fall from the conveyor as it moves
through the cooking machine. Food carrier 23 on the other
hand is shaped for carrying flatter type foods such as small
pizzas and the like, while food carrier 25 can carry either
of the above types of foods. These carriers can also be
combined with one another for increasing b~th the size and
the versatility of the carriers.
Although each of these carriers has a somewhat
different shape it will be noted that all of them are pro-
vided with open ended hooks 27 adapted for hanging over the
carrying bars 24 of the conveyor. According to this arrange-
ment all of the food baskets or carriers are self levelling
so that they hang vertically on the conveyor regardless of
their position in the cooking machine.
The operation of the cooking machine as described thus
far is as follows. The food is loaded onto the conveyor
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at ei~her of the accesses although forward access
3 is preferably used because of its increased conveyor
exposure. If the food require~ preheating in advance of
cooking the conveyor is adjusted to move in the anti-clockwise
direction whereby the food baskets are carried by the conveyor
from the forward access to the preheat region 18. This pre-
heat region receives a certain amount of heat from heaters 13
but is spaced sufficiently far from the direct radiation of
the heaters so that it does not reach cooking temperatures.
From the preheat region the food then travels to the
rear access 5. For some foods such as bacon and breaa the
preheat is all that is required and the food is unloaded at
the rear access. However where cooking is required the food
remains on the conveyor which continues past the rear access
upwardly into the cooking region 17. In the cooking region
the food baskets travel essentially vertically, one above
another in close proximity to the radiant heaters. The heat
generated in the cooking region will in many foods such as
hamburgers, steaks, etc. cause the meat juices to exude from
the food and due to vertical alignment of adjacent food
baskets the drippings from the higher baskets fall onto the
food of the lower baskets providing for self-basting of the
food while in the cooking region. In addition heaters 13 are
set up to radiate heat around substantially all of the food
product being carried in the food baskets to ensure complete
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cooking.
As mentioned above the food can either be carried
quickly through the cooking region to limit the amount of
cooking or it can be carried through more slowly to increase
the degree of cooking. This of course is up to the choice
of the individual who is cooking the food. However an
alternative method of controlling the degree of cooking is to
vary the burner intensity by either lowering the gas fed to
the burners or by actually turning some of the burners off.
This is made possible by the provision of individual burner
controls at box 15 allowing independent control of each of
the burners.
After the food completes its travel through the ~ ;~
cooking region it is then returned to the forward access
where it can be unloaded either manual]y or automatically
as will be described later in detail.
In some instances the food may not be completely
cooked in the first pass through the cooking region however
the food will generally not require further preheat and
accordingly it is desirable to avoid the preheat region for
further cooking of the food. In addi-tion some foods may not
require preheat whatsoever. Both of these situations are
easily taken into account by simply reversing direction of
travel of the conveyor in which case the food moves in the
clockwise direction from the forward access directly to the
' 25 cooking region avoiding the preheat area. The food after
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having passed through the cooking region then moves to the
rear access between the cooking and preheat regions where
the food can be unloaded from the conveyor.
It should be noted that if one wishes to work from
the back of the machine the same requirements for cooking
of the food can easily be met, i.e. the food can be moved
from the rear access through the preheat past the forward
access into the cooking region and back to the rear access
or it can be moved directly from the rear access to the
cooking region to the forward access for unloading without
any preheating whatsoever.
In the event that the conveyor should fail the cooking
machine is provided with an automatic shut down for turning
off the heaters 13 so that any food which remains in the
cooking region is not burned as it otherwise would be if
the heaters remained active with the food stationary. This
automatic shut down has a slight delay to eliminate inaaver-
tant on/off switching of the heaters caused by slight delays
and pauses in the conveyor. In addition the machine is pro-
vided with a thermostat 20 shown in Figure 1 near the upper
end of the machine. This thermostat is set to turn the
burners off in the event of excessive heat build up in the
cooking region to prevent overcooking of the food or damage
to the machine.
If the machine does shut down automatically the
operator must determine where the problem lies in order to
rectify the situation. For this purpose both -the conveyor
drive box 22 and the thermostat 20 are provided with a set
of condition indicating lights which register either normal
or shut down condition at that particular station. By
reading these lights the operator can easily determine
whether the problem is in the cooking region or at the
conveyor or at both stations and adjust the machine accord-
ingly.
The loading system shown in Figure 7 is one which is adapted
for au-tomatic loading of food baskets 21 shown in Figure 3
onto the conveyor at the forward access. The loading
arrangement comprises a supporting member 41 secured to one
of the supporting legs of the machine near the bottom end of
the forward access.~Provided on suppor-ting bar 41 is a small
upright shaft 45 with a limited rotation wheel 43 fitted over
the shaft. Feed bar 47 secured to the wheel is provided with
a forward vertically projecting tongue 49 as well as a tray
bearing rod 51 carrying tray 53. Tray 53 is in turn provided
with a pair of locaters 55 at either end of the tray for
locating food carrier 21 in position on the loading device.
Locaters 55 act as a guide to ensure that the hooks 27 of
carrier 21 fit between the stop members 25 of the conveyor
bar 24 as the carrier is automatically loaded onto the conveyor.
The system additionally includes a return spring 59
5 normally biasing the device away from the loading position
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as well as a bumper 57 on the inner side of support bar 41.
The operation of the loading system is controlled by
the movement of the conveyor as it travels in the anti-
clockwise direction. Tongue 49 of bar assembly 47 is
positioned such that it extends into the path of the conveyor
however the depth of the vertical tongueis such thatit does
not impede the progress of the conveyor bars. As each one
of the bars rides downwardly over the vertical tongue and
around the lower most pullies on the conveyor system, bar
assembly 47 is pulled inwardly toward the conveyor by virtue
of the contact between vertical tongue 49 and the conveyor
bar. As assembly 47 is pulled inwardly wheel 43 is rotated
forwardly against the pressure of spring 59. This carries
the supporting rod 51 as well as tray 53 carrying the food
basket 21 forwardly toward the conveyor bar. The timing of
the pulling action is such that hooks 27 of basket 21 are
eased over the conveyor bar at its lower most position on
the pullies. As the conveyor bar then begins it upward
travel, hooks 27 are locked into position and the food basket
is carried upwardly with the conveyor. At the same time the
conveyor bar rises to the extent that it clears beyond the
upper end of vertical tongue 49 at which time spring 59 pulls
the entire bar assembly rearwardly back to the initial posi-
tion for loading of a second basket onto the conveyor, either
by hand or by an automatic ramping means feeding the loading
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device. ~umper 57 absorbs much of the impact as the bar
assembly is pulled back into the loading position.
The unloading arrangement shown in Figure 7 is also
adapted for the use at the forward access of the machine and
can be used simutaneously with the loading arrangement
described above.
The unloading system includes a fixed shaft 61 extend-
ing completely across the front of the housing. Sleeve 63
provided with a spring loaded ball 65 is fitted over shaft
61 which is notched to receive the ball at predetermined
fixed intervals, therefore the sleeve is adapted to rotate
about the shaft when subjected to a force great enough to
overcome the spring ball and -to lock into predetermined
positions with respect to the shaft.
Shaft 63 is provided with a plurality of outwardly
extending arms 69 which are adapted to grab bars 24 of
conveyor 7 to the outsides of locaters 25. The sleeve is
additionally provided with a plurality of interference members
71 off-set from and located interiorly of arms 69. The unload-
ing system further includes a take-away ramp 75 for carrying
the food baskets away from the machine after they have been
automatically unloaded.
The unloading system is set up such that interference
members 71 when set in an interference position, i.e. the
position shown in Figure 7 engage the bottom sides of the
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food baskets as they come into contact with the interference
members. The interference member then lifts the food basket
to the extent that hooks 27 are released from the conveyor
bar and the food basket is carriecl away down ramp 75. The
weight of the food basket is not adequate to rotate sleeve
63 about shaft 61.
Each of the interference members terminates slightly
short of the conveyor so that the conveyor bars are permitted
to pass by the interference members without contact. However
the conveyor bars which are moving downwardly on one side of
the bottom pu:Llies and upwardly on the other side of the
pullies come into contact with arms 69 at either side of the
conveyor to rotate sleeve 63 about shaft 61 to bring a new
interference member into the unloading position. As will be
unders-tood from the above, the force of the conveyor ~s more
than adequate to overcome the small spring on the ~all
arrangement 65 between the sleeve and the central shaft.
Each of the interference members 71 is provided with
a central. hinge 73 which permits collapsing of the interference
member to the extent that it is moved out of an interference
position therefore the unloading device can be set up to
unload all of the passing food baskets by extending each of
the interference members to the interference position. How~
ever the device can also be set up to allow every second,
third, fourth, etc. basket to clear beyond the unloading
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device for either unloading at a different position or for
continued travel through -the machine by simply collapsing
the appropriate interference member out of the interference
position.
When the unloading system is used with the loading
system the two are se-t up such that the unloading arrange-
ment is above the loading arrangement at the forward access
of the machine. Both arrangements are easily controlled in
that they are conveyor operated and will perform their -,
separate functions according to the speed at which the
conveyor is operated.
It will now be seen from the above that the present
invention provides an industrial cooking machine capable of
cooking large quantities of food in a short period of time.
According to the type of food being run through the machine
it can be used simply as a preheater, as a preheater and a
cooker or strictly as a cooker. In addition the degree of
cooking can be controlled by a number of different methods
including ad~usting the conveyor speed and/or independently
controlling the operation of the individual burners.
The machine is provided with a number of different
safety features which help to reduce the likelihood of either
damage to the machine or excessive cooking of food carried
through the unit. The provision of automatic loading and
unloading devices also act as a safety precau-tion in that
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the operators' hands are generally maintained away from the
machine out of the way of the conveyor.
From an energy saving standpoint the radiant heaters
which are used in the cooking region are extremely efficient.
In addition, each of these heaters is as well shown in Figure
5, bordered by a heat deflector 30, Each of the heat deflec-
tors is reflective to reflect the radiation from the heaters
at the conveyor thereby maximizing the heating effect of the
heaters.
Although various preferred embodiments of the invention
have been described herein in detail it will be appreciated by
those skilled in the art that variations may be made thereto
without departing from the spirit of the invention or the
scope of the appended claims.
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