US 4,233,495 A · Food warming cabinet

Abstract

The invention relates to a cabinet in which food packages, such as prepared school lunch packages, can be heated prior to serving, and maintained at a desired temperature before and during serving. The cabinet comprises an upwardly opening well closed by removable lids, a housing connected to and surrounding the well on the sides and bottom thereof and being spaced from the well so as to form a substantially enclosed air circulation chamber adjacent the sides and bottom, and a plurality of louvers in the side walls defining air inlets and outlets between the well and air chamber. Electrical heating elements are mounted within the air chamber directly below the bottom of the well so that heat generated thereby will radiate upwardly thereby heating the well bottom and, to a lesser extent, the well side walls. A thermally conductive baffle plate is disposed within the air chamber beneath the bottom of the well and functions as a heat sink to disperse and even out the radiant heat. An air circulation system comprising a pair of blowers for circulating the air over the heating elements and through the air chamber into the interior of the well through the side wall louvers.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A food warming cabinet comprising:

an upwardly opening well having a pair of side walls, a pair of end walls and a bottom,
a housing connected to said well and surrounding the well on the sides, ends and bottom thereof and being spaced from the well so as to form a substantially enclosed air chamber immediately adjacent the side and end walls and the bottom of said well,
a plurality of inlet louvers in one of said pair of walls and a plurality of outlet louvers in the other of said pair of walls providing communication between said air chamber and the interior of said well,
heating element means within said air chamber positioned beneath said well bottom so as to radiate heat upwardly to said well bottom,
a thermally conductive baffle plate positioned between said heating element means and said well bottom, and
a pair of blower means located at opposite ends of said air chamber for drawing air from the interior of said well through said outlet louvers and blowing the air across said heating element means in respective streams inpinging on each other in said air chamber beneath said well bottom, and causing the air heated by the heating element means to flow through the portion of the air chamber laterally adjacent said well and through said inlet louvers into the interior of said well.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Food warming cabinet

Life of this patent

Food warming cabinet

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11