# US 11,079,367 B2 · Method and apparatus for assessing the current state of doneness of a cooking food item

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- Number: US 11,079,367 B2
- Document ID: US11079367B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/501,380
- Filed: 2019-04-04
- Published: 2019-08-01
- Granted: 2021-08-03
- Earliest claimed: 2016-10-14
- Applicants: Samuel Elliot Lipsey
- Inventors: Samuel Elliot Lipsey
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11079367B2

## CPC

- G01N 33/02: Food
- B26D 3/18: to obtain cubes or the like (ice harvesting F25C5/02)
- B26F 1/16: Perforating by tool or tools of the drill type
- B26F 1/44: Cutters therefor; Dies therefor
- G01N: INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIR CHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (measuring or testing apparatus or processes other than immunoassay, involving enzymes or microorganisms C12M, C12Q)
- B26D: CUTTING; DETAILS COMMON TO MACHINES FOR PERFORATING, PUNCHING, CUTTING-OUT, STAMPING-OUT OR SEVERING (for growing crops or plants A01D, A01G; for fodder or straw A01F; for bulk butter A01J; for dough A21C; slaughtering A22B; for tobacco, cigars or cigarettes A24; marking-out, perforating or making buttonholes A41H25/00; manufacturing footwear A43D; brushmaking A46D; surgery A61B; disintegrating, mincing or shredding in general B02C; cutting wire, making pins or nails B21F, B21G; of the kind used formetal B23; cutting by abrasive fluid jets B24C5/02; hand-held cutting tools B26B; perforating, cutting-out, stamping-out or punching, or severing by means other than cutting B26F; for wood B27; for stone B28D; working of plastics or substances in a plastic state B29; making boxes, cartons, envelopes or bags, of paper or similarly worked materials, e.g. metal foil, B31B; article or web delivery apparatus incorporating cutting or line-perforating devices B65H35/00; for leather or upholstery B68, C14B; for glass C03B; making matches C06F; for peat C10F; for sugar C13B45/00; for textile materials D06H; civil engineering, building, mining, see Section E; for light guides G02B6/25; cutting processed photographic material G03D15/04)
- B26F: PERFORATING; PUNCHING; CUTTING-OUT; STAMPING-OUT; SEVERING BY MEANS OTHER THAN CUTTING (marking-out, perforating or making buttonholes A41H25/00; shoemaking A43D; surgery A61B; punching metal B21D; drilling metal B23B; cutting of metal by applying heat locally, e.g. flame cutting, B23K; cutting by abrasive fluid jets B24C5/02; details common to machines for severing B26D; drilling wood B27C; drilling stone B28D; working of plastics or substances in a plastic state B29; making boxes, cartons, envelopes or bags, of paper or similarly worked materials, e.g. metal foil, B31B; of glass C03B; of leather C14B; of textile materials D06H; for light guides G02B6/25; of tickets G07B)

## Abstract

A method and apparatus is provided for assessing the current state of doneness of a cooking food item. In a preferred embodiment, a sharpened hollow tubular cutting member of relatively small diameter is rotationally activated to cut and remove from a cooking food item a cylindrical core sample, preferably throughout its entire thickness, without substantial distortion of the shape of the sample. Upon expulsion from the cutting member, inspection of the core sample permits visual determination of the current state of doneness of the food item.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method for assessing the current state of doneness of a cooking food item comprising:
selecting a food item to be cooked selected from the group consisting of meat, poultry, and fish;
exposing said food item to heat from a cooking surface sufficient to initiate the cooking thereof;
periodically sampling during the cooking process a cylindrical transverse cross-section of the cooking food item while heat continues to be applied to the food item from the cooking surface by contacting the exposed outer surface of the cooking food item with an electrically-driven, rotating cylindrical extraction tube, with a length sufficient to pass through the entire transverse thickness of the cooking food item, an interior diameter of from about 4 mm to about 5 mm, a sharpened interior edge on the entire circumference of the end of the tube contacting the outer surface of the cooking food item, and a coating of a food-grade oil on the exterior and interior surfaces of the extraction tube;
applying sufficient pressure to the rotating sampling tube to effect cutting through the entire transverse thickness of the cooking food item without distorting the shape of the severed cylindrical sample formed inside the extraction tube;
withdrawing the extraction tube and the transverse cross-sectional sample contained within it from the cooking food item while continuing the powered rotation thereof and while continuing to heat the cooking food item;
expelling said transverse cross-sectional sample from the extraction tube by activation of a piston slideably mounted inside the extraction tube by application of force to the opposite end of the piston sufficient to expel the entire sample onto a viewing platform while preserving the sample's cylindrical shape as representative of the cross-section of the cooking food item;
inspecting the gradations of color across the longitudinal length of the expelled cylindrical sample corresponding to the transverse thickness of the cooking food item to assess the current state of doneness of the cooking food item; and
removing the cooking food item from the heated cooking surface when the visual inspection of the most recently expelled cylindrical sample reflects the desired state of doneness of the cooking food item.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

A method according to claim 1 wherein the assessment of the state of doneness is conducted by comparison of the expelled cylindrical sample to a chart of standard images of cross-sectional cores extracted using the method of claim 1 from the type of food item being cooked, labeled in accordance with the corresponding degree of doneness.