Arabic bread oven

#1. Field of the Invention

#This invention relates to ovens for the baking of bread and the like and is particularly concerned with an oven that is capable of continually baking flat Arabic-style bread that rises to a limited extent during the baking process and that desirably has a relatively hard outer crust and that is quite chewy in comparison with the usual American-style breads.

#2. Prior Art

#FIG. 1 is a perspective view taken from above and at one end of the oven of the invention;

#FIG. 2, a vertical, longitudinal section, taken on the line 2--2 of FIG. 1;

#FIG. 3, a vertical transverse section taken on the line 3--3 of FIG. 1; and

#Referring now to the drawings:

#In the illustrated preferred embodiment, the Arabic-style bread oven of the invention is shown generally at 10. As shown, the oven includes a supporting frame made up of interconnected legs 11 with casters 12 thereon, cross braces 13 and 14, and sets of spaced apart side rails 15. Each set of side rails 15 is held apart by three slotted spacers 16, 17 and 18, each of which has a vertical slot therein. In addition, a spacer 19, at the discharge end of the oven, has an elongate longitudinal slot 20 formed therein.

#Journals 21 are formed in the spacers 18 and the shaft 22 of a head pulley 23 extends through and is rotatable in the journals. An endless, mesh belt 24 is trained around the head pulley 23 and a tail pulley 25 (FIG. 2) to provide an endless conveyor for the oven. A shaft 26 of the tail pulley 25 extends through the slots 20 of spacers 19 and through blocks 27 that are mounted to reciprocate within grooves provided therefore in the spacers 19. The blocks 27 are threaded onto rods 28, such that the turning of the rods 28 within supports 28a provided therefore on the spacers 19 will reciprocate the blocks. This, moves the pulley 25 towards or away from the pulley 23 to adjust the tension in the conveyor belt 24. Angle irons 29 extend parallel to the rails 15 and are secured to the spacers 16, 17, and 18 by bolts 30 that extend through holes provided therefore in the angle irons 29 and through the elongate slots provided in the spacers. Nuts, not shown, are threaded onto the bolts 30 to secure the angle irons 29 to the spacers. Spaced apart tubes 31 interconnect the angle irons at each side of the oven and a burner 32 is provided in the upper portion of each tube 31. Tubes 31 are interconnected by a line 33, that extends parallel to the angle irons 29, and which is connected to a gas supply line, not shown. The tubes 31 extend between the upper and lower runs of the conveyor belt 24 and are movable up and down with the angle irons, simply by releasing the bolts 30 and sliding them within the elongate slots of the spacers. This allows the burners to be moved up and down with respect to the upper run of the conveyor belt 24 and thus to be movable towards and away from the products carried by the conveyor belt. The lower burners are spaced below the housing and extend from adjacent to the head pulley to a location past the midpoint of the housing.